May 23, 2004

May 23, 2004

Email from Joel:

Well, we arrived in China about 36 hours ago. The flight was a little challenging since we were in the air almost 17 hours in 24 hours. Not the most exciting way to spend your day. Since we got little sleep prior to our departure, we have adjusted to the time change fairly well. I am waking about 5am.

Today we fly to Nanchang to get Alaina Brooke. We are traveling with our CCAI group of about 28 folks (12 families). It has been a great experience so far. We did some sightseeing around Beijing yesterday, including the Great Wall.

Hope all are doing well. Please pray for us as we continue to adjust to food, water and time differences. We will be flying several times again within the country of China. Please pray for quick transition of Alaina Brooke who has been in foster home for her entire life.

Gotta run now. Since Trina is along, we will undoubtedly have plenty of photos to share soon.

Joel and Trina Miller

Sunday morning, May 23, 2004

Email from Trina:

Hello friends:

What a day! We arrived in Nanchang around 1P.M. and received the babies about 5P.M. It was so amazing. We just walked up when our name was called and they just handed her to us. All the other babies were crying. Alaina kind of held it back trying to be so strong. I could feel her little chest beating so hard. Joel started giving her cheerios. What a lifesaver! She ate and ate and ate. I think she was hungry plus scared. We came back to the room and attempted to make our first bottle. She didn't care for the nipple. She continued to eat those cheerios and continued to attempt the bottle. I held her for a solid two hours. When I would try to put her down, she would start to cry. She followed Joel around the room wanting to know where he was at all times and what he was doing. We decided to go eat about 7:30. What an amazing thing happened. Alaina, the scared little baby, became the real Alaina. She loved the placemat in the restaurant and actually laughed out loud. Tired Daddy missed the picture of the big smile. I'm sure we will have more smiles tomorrow.

Well, it's about 10:30P.M. our time and about 10:30A.M. your time. I'm assuming you all are in church praying for us. Cont. to pray as she gets use to us. We have a very big day tomorrow morning. We meet at the registration office...very important day in the adoption world. She becomes ours...officially!!! She has already been ours before the beginning of time and this makes it final! P.S. she wet on me at dinner...daddy didn't fix the diaper right.

She's sleeping like an angel. We will try to figure out how to send pics.

trina

Here is an article we wrote for the newspaper about our Gotcha Day:

The Miracle of Gotcha Day

Our miraculous Gotcha Day was May 23, 2004. Our itinerary was scheduled for our Gotcha Day to be May 24 so when we landed at the airport in Nanchang, James, our CCAI representative surprised us with the news. We were to get the babies in a few short hours. Incredible excitement and nervousness filled the airport as our travel group #608, 12 families hurried to the bus. While walking out to the bus, we were surrounded by small children begging with their hands reaching out to us. Their ages were probably 8 to 12 years old. Debbie had heard about this happening so she brought candy to give them. We were already emotional just hearing our news that we were going to get the babies. Seeing these children broke our hearts.

We had a long ride, or what felt like a long ride to our hotel. After carrying our luggage into the hotel and had our group meeting, we were off to get the babies. We can't explain the emotions at this point. After giving birth three times and knowing what that is like, this was an incredible experience that is beyond a miracle. Half of the couples had biological children and half of the couples were experiencing the "birth" of their first child. We had waited so many years for this moment, and within minutes, our Alaina would be in our arms.

We stood around in a small room waiting and watching as each family's name was called. It wasn't long before it was our turn. We walked to the front of the room and the sweet Chinese nanny released Alaina as Trina reached for her. We walked to the back of the room, holding tight to our precious Alaina. She was ours!!! Almost all of the other babies were screaming. These precious little ones had never seen people that looked like these Americans. They had been loved and cared for by loving foster families all their lives. Alaina was strong and tried not to cry. She was scared with tears in her eyes and her little chest was pounding. What a precious little face, and little hair that stood straight up on top. She was beautiful! Holding her close, we decided that maybe Cheerios could help the moment. She ate her first Cheerio that day and continues to love them even now.

Within 24 hours, she wouldn't let go of Trina. She cried instantly when Trina would leave the room. The Snuggly was a blessing. Within 24 hours, she said "Mama" and looked for "Da da" but didn't want him to hold her, not yet anyway. Within 48 hours, she could blow a kiss. We learned quickly, her most favorite time of the day is after dinner. She entertained in China with all our friends and she continues to entertain her brothers and sister at the dinner table every night. She has an amazing smile that melts our hearts. It didn't take long for her to sound out, "Daddy, Daddy" when Joel enters the door at the end of the day. Within a month, she had an amazing comprehension of everything that was said. It wasn't long that she was saying everything she heard.

Alaina is incredibly smart and continually amazes us. She is such a joy in our lives. It feels like she has always been with us. We believe God created her for us and us for her. He knew before the creation of the world that Alaina would be in our family forever.

Loved by siblings, too:

Alexis, Zachary and Joel B.

Next Day...

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