Turns out that “Gotcha Day” is really just an extended test drive. Apparently — and amazingly — some people will reach this point in the process and decide to back out. The Chinese child welfare authorities go to great lengths to prevent episodes of buyer’s remorse — where parents, after getting their newly adopted child home, decide that maybe this isn’t the kid they wanted after all and try to send him back.
I cannot imagine what would happen that would cause a person to do that, but apparently it’s happened enough to make Chinese officials want to put in safeguards against it. At many points during the process, we were required to acknowledge that we knew what we were getting into. We did, and there was no way were going to go all this way and not come back with a baby. That kid was getting adopted whether she liked it or not. Here and there, we were getting the least little tiny signs that she might grow to like it.
August 27, 2019
Better today. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do.
It was better on day two. No great, but tolerable. Laine was still very suspicious of me, but she had decided that she would let me hold her and play with her for brief periods. It helped that she liked to play with empty Coke bottles, and I am the number one supplier of empty Coke bottles in our family.
August 27, 2019, by Rachel
Laine’s favorite toy is this empty coke bottle. She and Jason were playing back and forth with it and she reached out for him for the first time. It was so sweet to see her joyful face in his arms yesterday.
The paperwork was just a formality, albeit an adorable one.
August 27, 2019, later
Laine makes it official with a foot stamp.
It was a precious moment, but we were still fighting through jet lag, and Laine was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on. So, we finished the day back at the hotel, drained, as we all would be most days on this trip.
August 27, 2019, still later
If there was a Mom Heisman Trophy, this week would be the highlight reel they showed at the award ceremony for Rachel.
