Continuing the Journey

GOTCHA!!

A quick post for you early birds who got up to see pictures.

I probably should have named this post “Gotcha…Whether You Like it or Not!” To say that our Gotcha with Molly was awful would be an understatement of supreme proportions! I will give you the full story later, but a few pictures with the high points.

When we arrived at the Registration Office, Molly and one other boy were already there waiting. My heart sunk into my stomach and I was shaking like a leaf…
…which would explain why that darn picture was blurry!

From the first moment, it was clear that this little girl is incredibly strong-willed and did NOT want to come with us… …but things got really hairy when her caregivers snuck out, one by one, to leave. At one point, she ran screaming toward the door and was clearly petrified to be left behind. Kevin tried to hold her back from leaving and she kicked him and smacked him multiple times. At one point, she thought this might help her cause…
…as she defiantly stripped her dress off, thinking it would make a difference. Poor thing…it was thoroughly awful to watch.

While I knew Gotcha might be tough for her, seeing the utter fear in her adorable little face was more than I could handle…I ended up just sitting helplessly on the floor, crying like a baby. (Those who know me know that I am NOT the crying type, typically.) The other families were faring much better than we were – only two of the babies were crying, but they were in their mothers’ arms at least – and the support of our travel mates was so sweet…but so useless to me. I just felt like a monster, tearing this beautiful baby girl away from everything familiar to her.

We stayed in the Registration Office for about an hour, but it seemed like forever. By the time we headed for the bus, Molly was crying but at least tolerating Daddy a bit…

…but in just a few minutes, they got downright chummy on the bus! (Thank goodness!)

She was very leery of me for the longest time, but when we got off the bus to head to get our family picture taken for the official papers, she reached up to hold my hand. I nearly burst into tears again. I don’t know what changed her heart, but she seemed to be quickly softening. A few pics as we transitioned from screams of fear to squeals of laughter…
She was quite cooperative at the photo shop and held both of our hands, laughing and skipping, back to the bus. (What a change from just 30 short minutes earlier!)

I will do a longer post later…we need to get some lunch and then we have official paperwork, another Gotcha at 3:30PM, and I think another appointment – honestly, my head was spinning on the bus when Yisha gave us our instructions.

One pic of our lovely daughter back at the hotel room… …and you’ll just have to check back later for more!! Thanks for the prayers and good wishes…keep ‘em coming because I fear this little one’s transition is gonna be rougher than Carson’s was.

Love to all!!