Gotcha Day!!

Well today was an exciting day! Sue, from Holt, met us at 8:15am to head to the Fengtai orphanage. Fengtai is a district within Beijing. God blessed us with just a beautiful day, not too cold, sunny, little smog, and even the traffic was light. Sue kept commenting how unusual today was for weather and traffic. Of course!! We got to the orphanage early, took some pictures of the facility, and got all the paperwork completed. Around 9:30am, in walked our beautiful Caelyn with her foster parents Dean and Megan and their two children Mia and Oliver. Caelyn walked quietly up to us and let us give her some small hugs. All these people were taking pictures and surrounding us. I think Caelyn was just a little overwhelmed. We got to meet and hug in person Dean and Megan and also got to meet another special person in Caelyn's life--Miss Teresa. Miss Teresa has been Caelyn's advocate within the orphanage for a couple years and really pushing to find her a forever family. Miss Teresa has been a volunteer at the orphanage for over 20 years and is kind of the matriarch of the orphanage. Caelyn showed us a painting she made for us, we took more pictures, then we headed down to visit the classroom area Caelyn grew up in. For about another hour, we got to meet some of Caelyn's friends and played with the babies and other children. Caelyn helped feed a baby. While in the classroom area, we got to meet Miss Kim, another special person and advocate in Caelyn's life. In fact, we go to Miss Kim's house on Sunday for dinner. What a great time it was playing with the other children.

We left the orphanage around 10:30am. Dean, Megan and family came back with us to the hotel so we all could have lunch together. It is quite clear, Mia and Caelyn are great friends. Mia road with us. Caelyn and Mia giggled, talked, and ate snacks on the entire trip back to the hotel. After getting back to the hotel, we headed for a walk to find some lunch. We ate lunch at a restaurant well known for its Peking Duck. It was the first time Robin and I had eaten Peking Duck. It was very good and I highly recommend it. We got to know Dean, Megan , and kids even more. A very neat family and we feel blessed that God brought them into Caelyn's and our lives.

After lunch and a walk back to the hotel, Dean, Megan and kids headed back to their home. It was very hard for Caelyn to see them go. After a few tears and shutting down for a few minutes, she started opening up again. Caelyn said she wanted to go swimming, so we did. That helped. Now, she and Robin are playing Uno. Caelyn beat Robin in the first game. She's going to fit in just fine with this family...she's a card player. Caelyn is still very quiet and guarded, but that is expected. A lot in her young life just changed today.

As I close today, I want to share with you some of the thoughts I had on the plane yesterday. I just kept feeling overwhelmed and humbled that our great God had made all this possible. Before God had changed our hearts towards adoption, he had picked out Caelyn for us. He protected her, brought people like Miss Teresa and Miss Kim into her life and then orchestrated her move to a foster family that deeply loved and cared for her and allowed her to attend an international school where she expanded her English speech and understanding. In His perfect timing, He brought us here to Beijing, China on November 29, 2012. Caelyn is now part of our family. We are forever greatful to Him for his goodness and look forward to introducing Caelyn to her heavenly Father.