Gotcha Day Revisited

This is a long post, but I'm not sure I've ever told the complete story of Hannah's adoption, so I figured I'd do that today in honor of this past Thursday.

April 15th marked a celebration in the Beck family. It was my sister's birthday (I won't say her age.... but she's 7 years older than me. :)) It was also Gotcha Day, which is the day we celebrate bringing Hannah home. Some adoptive families call it Adoption Day, and others call it Gotcha Day (because, as we tell Hannah, that's when we "gotcha!").

I remember flying to Guatemala City on April 15, 2006. It was my sister's 33rd birthday, and it was also the Saturday of Easter weekend. We parked at the hotel near the Columbus airport that provided free parking and took the hotel shuttle to the airport for our 6 AM flight. Our shuttle driver was really friendly - asked where we were headed and congratulated us on the big day. We flew to Atlanta and, from there, on to Guatemala City. This was my first trip outside of the country that wasn't to Canada or on a cruise ship. I remember as we flew in seeing the mountains of Guatemala and noticing the potholes along the runway. The airport wasn't terribly updated. In the US, we leave through the baggage area and walk to a parking garage along a nice concrete walkway. In GC, you leave the airport and kind of meander to the chain link fence. Along the fence were guards with machine guns, and people waiting for family members were waiting to greet them. We saw a couple of pretty large family reunions with lots of tears; they probably hadn't seen their family members in months/years while they worked in the US.

We took a shuttle to our airport - a Marriot in GC. It was really nice. That day we were meeting with our attorney's representative and Hannah's foster mom. We were scheduled to meet in the early afternoon, but the lawyer's rep and Norma, Hannah's foster mother, were late (either due to traffic or just due to the distance they had to travel since they didn't live in the City). The hotel we were staying in catered to families coming to visit their child while the adoption was in process or to pick up the child and bring him/her home. As such, there were lots of other families there that week, too. We went down to the lobby to wait for Norma and the rep to arrive.

Each time a woman walked in carrying a small child came in, we held our breath. We saw 3 or 4 families united with the child they had been waiting for before it was our turn. We looked to the back of the lobby, and we saw the rep walk in with a very small woman - Norma! We knew it was her because the pictures we'd gotten of Hannah at 2 months (we got the referral at 6 days old) showed Norma holding her. I'd be surprised if Norma was more than 4'10". Another woman was with Norma, who we learned was Norma's sister. Norma spoke maybe 5-10 words in English, so the lawyer's rep acted as our translator. Norma held Hannah while we talked about her feeding schedule, her sleeping schedule, her routine, what type of formula they had been feeding her, etc. Finally, it was time to say goodbye - and hello. With lots of tears, we took some pictures, and with the rep's help, my sister thanked Norma for taking such good care of Hannah. Norma cried a bit too, and she kissed Hannah's forehead before handing her off to my sister. It was a surreal moment, a touching moment, an intense moment, an exciting moment - a moment I'm so glad I was there to see in person! We said goodbye.... and then Hannah's care was officially all on us!

We went up to the room and sort of just took it all in. Miss had purchased two hotel rooms for more space, and having a crib, a bouncy seat, needing floor space, etc. made the two rooms come in handy. Mommy-ness started early as Hannah needed her diaper changed, and Tia-ness kicked in too - I was the first one to make her laugh. :)

The hotel had a Baby Suite that all families there to visit or pick up their kids got to use during their stay. It was a large living room with a kitchen, TV, toys, bouncy seats, etc. It was nice to spend time there as other families would come in during the day, too. We met a Pakistani couple who lived in Arkansas. I mentioned before that some families were just visiting their kids, while others were picking them up to bring them home, like us. For those that were visiting, it was because there had been a delay in the process. Guatemala allowed families to come visit their children and even keep them with them for the week in the hotel as long as it had been arranged up front. That's a pretty generous allowance in international adoption. The Pakistani couple was also picking up their daughter, whom they were naming Clarice. I remember thinking it was a strange combination of factors - Pakistani... living in a very southern state... naming their Guatemalan daughter Clarice (made famous by the Silence of the Lambs). It was just interesting. But they were a fun couple and were nice to spend time with. Clarice was 8 or 9 months old and so adorable. She even had her ears pierced already.

As we spent time with other families, a common greeting was, "Visiting or picking up?" Other families were often astonished when they learned we were picking up. To get through the process so quickly and be able to bring home your child at such a young age is very uncommon in international adoption (but not with the Lord :)). Hannah has always been small and was small even in comparison to her Guatemalan friends. Most people assumed we were only visiting because of her size, and when they learned her age (4.5 months), they were excited for us at the blessing we had been given.

Hannah adjusted well. I think back on that week for her sometimes, and it makes my heart hurt for her. She was young and doesn't remember, but for you moms out there, can you imagine your baby being separated from you and not knowing it was going to be permanent? The people around her have different skin, they smell different, you aren't in your home, they don't know just the right way to hold you when you cry, you meet new people every day, you sleep in a different crib, and to top it all off, they don't even speak the same language. I imagine Hannah was wondering where her mommy was (Norma) and when she was coming back. It makes my heart hurt to think what her little mind was thinking and how much she wanted her mommy. That said, her adjustment was pretty seamless. About the third day we saw some issues. She was a bit more fussy... but that's it!

During our time with Hannah, she rolled over. It was probably for the first time, so that was a blessing to see a first like that with an adopted child. Usually parents miss it. We walked down to the hotel restaurant each day for meals. They had really good food, and we enjoyed seeing the other parents bond with their children. We walked around the courtyard with Hannah in her stroller and took pictures. I sent emails to the family with some pictures so they could hear how things were going in Guatemala.

On Tuesday we went to the US embassy to get Hannah's paperwork completed. We took a cab there and had to wait our turn. Our first task was to pay for her Visa. He seemed like a gruff man, not terribly friendly, but he made conversation and congratulated us. We then moved to another room where we got the Visa (we had to wait between the two windows for them to get everything printed and marked as official). There, Missy got the packet of information to drop off at Customs in Atlanta, Hannah's Visa, and had to be read a statement and pledge to keep it. It was to the effect of understanding that Hannah was now her daughter in the eyes of the law, so her care and well-being was her responsibility. He again congratulated us, and we were done!

On Wednesday, we had to get her picture taken for her Visa. The driving in GC is not like in the US. the lanes, though a major city, are kind of... negotiable. I rode in the storage section of the rep's SUV since there weren't enough seats. We went to what looked like a back alley rundown store. Nope - that's where they took the Visa photos! We went back to the hotel, and our business was officially done.

Here are some other memories from that week. While on a walk to a local shop, we saw a moped that delivered McDonald's orders. In the room there wasn't much to watch on TV, so we watched School of Rock over and over in Spanish with English subtitles. We ate breakfast in the hotel each day, and part of it was open to the outside, so we ate there most days. There were dozens of Guatemalans waiting to get into the embassy to get work Visas. I got sick a couple of days (my sensitive stomach follows me even out of the country, I guess). Mom cried pretty much every day over how happy she was and kept saying, "I can't believe it." "She's so wonderful." "God is so good!"

On Thursday, we flew home. There were lots of babies on that flight, so it wasn't the quietest. Hannah did well, though. We went through Customs in the US and then got delayed due to a big storm that hit Atlanta. Our flight out of Atlanta was the worst turbulence in a take-off that we had ever had, including my sister, who travels all the time. It was a pretty frightening experience. We landed safely in Columbus and took a shuttle back to our hotel to pick up our car. Who was our driver? That's right - the same guy who took us TO the airport when we left the previous Saturday. That was a pretty cool thing for God to do! We went to my uncle's house, where we'd left Oliver for the week. Scott and his roommate, Arezo, and her family were the first family members to meet Hannah. We didn't stay long as we had to drive back home to Ashland that night. When we pulled in the driveway, our aunt Marianne had decorated the house with "It's a Girl" banners and stork signs in the yard. That made my sister feel really special. My dad and grandma came the next day to meet Hannah. One of Hannah's favorite stories is how she spit up on Papa the first time he held her... she always laughs at that.

It was an amazing experience, and we do have pictures, but they are the old 35mm film type, so I don't have any to post. I'll see if I can scan them in and add them in the days or weeks ahead. So for most Americans, April 15 is a drag or represents the most stressful day of the year. For us, it represents God's grace and goodness in bringing Hannah into our family. To have that happen on my sister's birthday and during Easter weekend was icing on the cake. What a blessed birthday gift - a daughter - and a powerful way to recognize God's goodness. On Easter Sunday, He culminated His plan for how to adopt us as sons and daughters, and He allowed my sister to have an adoption of her own.