Gotcha Day

Yesterday, the 30th, was our Gotcha Day - the term in the adoption world for when you take custody of your child.  It was... good and so sad and heartbreaking and precious.  We had one last meeting with Tate's foster mother and her daughter.  It was wonderful to see them again.  We took pictures together and some pictures of Tate with them.  But then the time came for them to leave.  It was a quick goodbye.  I ached for his foster family and ached for Tate.  They left quickly as they began crying.  Tate did okay and looked around curiously.  Then we brought him up to our room.  He looked around for a minute - I think waiting for his foster mother to come through the door.  Then he got a real sad look on his face... then he started crying... and crying... and screaming.  And Aaron and I cried and held him and cried.  It was absolutely heartbreaking.  He kept looking at the door and calling for his foster mother.  And we just kept holding him and let him cry.  After an hour (by this time is was 4:30 in the afternoon and he hadn't had a nap yet) he fell asleep in Aaron's arms.  We laid him down for a nap, and he slept like a rock.  We woke him up after an hour - as I told Aaron woke him up back into his nightmare.  He started crying again immediately.  We quickly changed his diaper and got him in the stroller to go to a park we found out about close by.  When he got in the stroller and left the room his quit crying right away.  He loved the stroller, loved being out, loved looking at people.  We played for awhile and came back for supper.  It was such a blessing that his foster mother packed his supper.  He had seaweed wrapped rice rolls, some Korean pickles, a hard-boiled egg, tiny little sardines (ate those up like nobody's business), and a bunch of fruit.  The kid ate and ate and defintely eats more than Liv.  Then we brought him back to room - resume crying - gave him a bath and Skyped our parents and Liv.  He perked up for that.  Then came bed time - even more rigorous crying and screaming and arching the back.  It was just heartbreaking.  But then after about a half hour or 45 minutes, he pointed to his blanket, laid down with it, and went right to sleep.  It was the craziest thing.  That was nearly 12 hours ago.  He is still sleeping - poor little guy.  It's nearly quarter to ten.  Whenever he wakes up we'll get him breakfast and head out. 

Some of the precious moments yesterday were playing with him.  He's such a sweet boy.  Aaron pointed out that even though he's been so sad, he hasn't been obstinate.  He lets us hold himWe ran around the little playground with him, and he liked being in our little kitchen next door to eat supper.  He'll chat and point at things.  He was intrigued with Skype and would chatter and wave and point at the screen.  He liked watching himself on video I think.  And we broke out some bubbles.  Those were a hit as well. 

So I'm going to end this post for now.  If he keeps sleeping I'll upload and post a few more pictures.  PLEASE, please pray for him and for us, especially the flight.  I feel like if we can just make it through that then we'll be home and able to move forward from there.  At 6:30 pm central time on Tuesday evening (the 31st) we'll be boarding our shuttle to the airport here (it'll be 8:30 Wednesday morning of the 1st here in Korea).  Then a few hours later we'll be in the air.  We'll land in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening of the 1st at 4:30 pm central time.  By the time we get home it'll be about 24 hours of travel.  Thanks so much for praying.  We appreciate it more than you know!