Gotcha Day- Knox Fam 6

Well, I wish I could say it was all smiles and roses... but it was not. The good news is... we have our precious little ones and we are very thankful for that! Today was so very hard. It is quite chaotic when receiving your child (or children in our case) in a room with 20 to 25 other families doing the same thing. Timothy had to take a 4 to 5 hour drive this morning to meet us in Guangzhou, and Annabelle's ride was about an hour or so. When it was our turn to "receive our kids" there were no smiles from Timothy and Annabelle... just lots of tears and lots of crying.

I was supposed to hold both children so they could attach to me first, but that was impossible. Timothy, bless his heart, was terrified (understatement). At first he came up to me to meet me and I thought he was going to smile but then the person dropping him off did just that.... dropped him and moved onto the next child so he tried to run and screamed and kicked and hit and cried and kicked and hit and screamed some more. So, I held him first. Let me tell you. He is heavy! And he is a fighter! He is three and the oldest from that bunch. He truly knew something was up and he was not happy about it. I talked to him and sang songs and prayed over him with all my heart. Poor Alexandra, it was breaking her heart to see him and Annabelle so upset. She just cried and cried. Hunter, too, felt helpless, but we could not have gotten through this day without the two of them. They did whatever they could to help us.. whatever we asked. They were troopers and such great big siblings. Chris and I are so proud of them!!!!

Annabelle was also scared and crying but she was not as "lively" as Timothy. Chris held her first, but then we switched after a bit because Timothy had been fighting me for so long. My arms were  giving out. I just had to have a little break. After a little bit we switched back and I had Timothy again. Finally Annabelle settled but no smiles. All the other children had long since settled by then. Timothy did not calm down even a hair until after we left that building and were in the bus on the way to the supermarket to get some items they would need.

Then, praise the Lord!!!! While riding in the bus Timothy started playing with a dog we sent him in November that has mine and Chris' voice in it. He kept squeezing the paw and it talked to him. He finally looked at me in the eyes and realized it was my voice. Then I got some smiles and even some kisses.

Annabelle was fine by the time we were in the bus and prefers her daddy over me (even though I did get a few kisses). She has a little of her big sister in her in that she prefers her daddy :) and also in the "bossy" department too. But, if she turns out like her big sis that's ok with me because I think she is pretty awesome!

Timothy is like his big brother.... he's a builder. We had some fake duplo legos in the room (real legos cost at least 3 times as much here... yikes!) and he went to town building with them.... for a really long time.

We have a tough road ahead of us. Timothy was very close to a specific nanny in the orphanage and they took such good care of him there. He will  miss them as Annabelle will miss her foster mom and dad. We desire your prayers so much as we tackle these next few days. They must get to know us and learn that we love them and that we are their family forever. This will be a hard and tiring task but we know that God is faithful and He will give us what we need.

All FOUR kiddos are asleep and so is the hubby. We had a very exhausting day and must head out early tomorrow. So.... I'm off to bed.

Thanks for praying.
Blessings,
~B