Three years ago today

On Monday, May 15, 2006 we met our precious Hannah for the first time. It was a very quiet ride from the hotel to the Civil Affairs office for the ten families in our travel group. That was unusual for us. We walked into the room and our babies were already there, each sitting in the lap of a different travel nanny. They had about a 4 hour ride to get to Changsha that morning. We all stood on one side of the room trying to pick out our daughters. They were wearing new outfits, heavy quilted tops and matching split pants, which seemed inappropriate to us for the heat, and matching bright pink shoes.

You would think you would know your own daughter after staring at her picture for 2 months, but the photos we were given had been taken at the beginning of December and it was now the middle of May. Babies change a lot in 6 months! I thought I knew which baby was our Hannah, but guarded my heart until one of the grandfathers with us, who speaks Chinese, went up to the nannies and started asking names. When I knew for sure she had my whole heart and the tears started flowing.

The day before had been Mother's Day in the US and with the 13 hour time change (China is 13 hours ahead of Texas) it was still "technically" Mother's Day when we met Hannah at 10am in the morning. Hannah cried (read screamed) and was very scared. The head nanny said she was afraid of strangers. She kept looking for her nanny. My heart broke for her, but I knew she would be okay. Stacy called her "Hurricane Hannah" because she was crying so hard.

Hannah grieved for a few days with terrible night terrors, which continued some for the first couple years home. On the fourth day we went on a tour of the countryside. Hannah had not been interacting with us at all or eating very much. She took a long nap while we were walking around and then woke up on the bus a changed girl: eating, playing, laughing. That night for dinner she was sitting in Stacy's lap and reached across for me. After that day, Hannah would not have anything to do with a Chinese person and would get upset if they came too close. We were her family now.

God has given me an awesome privilege by allowing me to be Hannah's mother. It's not always easy, but it's (almost) always fun. She is such a smart, funny, sweet, loving little girl. And just to remind me of this precious day three years ago, "Hurricane Hannah" just had a 45 minute temper tantrum because it wasn't her turn to push the elevator button. Some things never change, and I thank God for that!

Happy Adoption Day, Hannah!