Our first meeting was way different than anything I had dreamed about. We had arrived at our guesthouse at about 1AM to just walls and a bed, no water, no food...nothing! We slept for a couple hours but knowing we were meeting our girl in a matter of hours made sleeping difficult.
We were up around 7, ate a Cliff bar and anxiously waited for the orphanage director to be ready to go to the babies home. On the way she stopped at a local grocery store and sent us in to buy food. We got most of what we didn't need, how could I think about what we would eat when we were minutes from meeting our daughter. We did get enough water to get us through a couple days.
When we got back into the car, the orphanage director let us know we would be taking her home with us that day. We had been told we would visit until we had legal custody of her. But, because of an early meeting with our lawyer and court the next day she didn't want to go to the orphanage the next day to pick her up (the orphanage moved about an hour away from where we were staying). We thought it was odd and were sad that Noeline was going to have such a stressful and hard day. We knew this would be one of the hardest days of her life.
We were excited but extremely nervous. What would she want to eat? How does she sleep? We were totally unprepared to bring her home with us. We weren't expecting to do that for weeks! Thankfully, the suitcase with her stuff was the only suitcase that arrived so we had clothes and a few toys for her...but no diapers!
After a long and dusty ride we pulled into the orphanage. The director pointed to a door and said, "she's in there." We walked into an all concrete room with about a dozen or so kids eating. We quickly scanned the room and locked eyes on our girl. She gave us the biggest grin and offered me some of her food. They brought in chairs so we could sit but because they were far from her I just sat on the floor with her. We didn't touch her or hug her because we didn't want to scare her.
About 5 minutes later, they took her away, gave her a quick bath and dressed her in an orange tank top, blue shorts and red Puma shoes. A sweet girl, who was recently adopted by our sweet friends brought her out to us and we were left alone with her in a huge room. The look of terror in her eyes is one I'll never forget. She was so so scared, we tried to distract her with books but nothing helped much.
She eventually was so overwhelmed she fell asleep. We loved the cuddles but hated knowing her body just couldn't take any more. About 15 minutes later the orphanage director came back and said we were leaving. Within 20 minutes she met us and was now leaving everything she'd ever known.
These pictures are so difficult to look at and so precious at the same time. We were meeting our daughter, she was gaining a family but we were also stripping her of all her comfort. It's crazy how different she is today, she was such a baby!
When we got back to the guest house, she let us cuddle her a little more and let Daddy read to her!
She spent the rest of the day pretty sad and overwhelmed. She slept in my arms most of the night which was great because the next day was COURT!!
We were up around 7, ate a Cliff bar and anxiously waited for the orphanage director to be ready to go to the babies home. On the way she stopped at a local grocery store and sent us in to buy food. We got most of what we didn't need, how could I think about what we would eat when we were minutes from meeting our daughter. We did get enough water to get us through a couple days.
When we got back into the car, the orphanage director let us know we would be taking her home with us that day. We had been told we would visit until we had legal custody of her. But, because of an early meeting with our lawyer and court the next day she didn't want to go to the orphanage the next day to pick her up (the orphanage moved about an hour away from where we were staying). We thought it was odd and were sad that Noeline was going to have such a stressful and hard day. We knew this would be one of the hardest days of her life.
We were excited but extremely nervous. What would she want to eat? How does she sleep? We were totally unprepared to bring her home with us. We weren't expecting to do that for weeks! Thankfully, the suitcase with her stuff was the only suitcase that arrived so we had clothes and a few toys for her...but no diapers!
After a long and dusty ride we pulled into the orphanage. The director pointed to a door and said, "she's in there." We walked into an all concrete room with about a dozen or so kids eating. We quickly scanned the room and locked eyes on our girl. She gave us the biggest grin and offered me some of her food. They brought in chairs so we could sit but because they were far from her I just sat on the floor with her. We didn't touch her or hug her because we didn't want to scare her.
About 5 minutes later, they took her away, gave her a quick bath and dressed her in an orange tank top, blue shorts and red Puma shoes. A sweet girl, who was recently adopted by our sweet friends brought her out to us and we were left alone with her in a huge room. The look of terror in her eyes is one I'll never forget. She was so so scared, we tried to distract her with books but nothing helped much.
She eventually was so overwhelmed she fell asleep. We loved the cuddles but hated knowing her body just couldn't take any more. About 15 minutes later the orphanage director came back and said we were leaving. Within 20 minutes she met us and was now leaving everything she'd ever known.
These pictures are so difficult to look at and so precious at the same time. We were meeting our daughter, she was gaining a family but we were also stripping her of all her comfort. It's crazy how different she is today, she was such a baby!
When we got back to the guest house, she let us cuddle her a little more and let Daddy read to her!
She spent the rest of the day pretty sad and overwhelmed. She slept in my arms most of the night which was great because the next day was COURT!!
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