We woke up at 3:45 and were the only people in the lobby at 5:30 AM. Breakfast was yummy! Huge buffet with everything you could imagine. I had cereal and toast. Mike had cereal, pan cakes, fried rice, a hot dog, toast...you get the picture.
We left at 8 for New Day and arrived there at 9 AM! Watch the video below and you can see us meeting Ethan for the first time. Our guide, Candy, is so sweet and she videotaped the whole thing.
First he spotted Mama...
Then reached for Baba...
We have the sweetest, cutest boy in all of China!
He could not stop hugging us and would tell everyone "Mama Baba".
We played inside and celebrated Vincent's birthday! The cake was beautiful and all of these sweet children sat around patiently waiting on their piece. They all had to have their fruit first.
Then we went outside and it was just us and Ethan. Despite us speaking no Chinese and Ethan speaking limited English...we communicated! He didn't like to go fast...he would say "smaller" and use his hands. Too cute! He is SO tidy and cleaned up after himself with whatever he was playing. His split is going to give Cameron some serious competition! We ate lunch together and Ethan is a great eater. Not picky at all and loves spicy food! He had seconds and cleaned his entire plate. Then he looked at Mike and told him to clean his plate too.
While he took a nap (yea...he still naps!), Mike & I met with his doctor, teacher and nanny. They gave us all of his artwork, a cd of pictures for the past 2 years, his medical information...New Day is truly amazing! You can feel the love the minute you walk in the door and you see the love on every single adult and child's face! If you haven't visited their website...please do!
(Click the words: New Day to see their site and click the word blog to see the ND blog)
The other little boy we couldn't wait to meet was Jace (known to many of you as Robert). He has the sweetest smile in the world and looked wonderful! While he was eating cake, I told him his mama and baba couldn't wait to come bring him home...he smiled and said yes! He shared his bag of chips for snack with Ethan and you could truly see how close they both are.
We left at 4 to head back to our hotel. Ethan was hugging Mike's leg and didn't want us to leave. We had such a wonderful day and cannot wait until Sunday when we get to keep him with us!
Tonya & Mike
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Precious! Can't wait to see the photos---what a happy boy.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
YEAH!!!! I just love the video. What a sweet hugger Ethan is. He sure was glad to finally get to hug his Mommy and Daddy. Thanks you so much for sharing this with us. It makes all the praying and advocating for these precious children that much sweeter.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!
Karrie
big bawling baby over here crying my eyes out over the sweetness of your boy. how amazing that he came to you and hugging on you both like that. So thrilled for all of you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful day!
OMG!! That was the SWEETEST!! Gotcha moment I believe I've seen maybe EVER! What a darling little guy!! and how WONDERFUL you got it all on tape! Thanks for posting and sharing..I stumbled on you blog from Erin's site but will be back!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou had me in tears over more than one lil' guy. :) Ethan was so precious hugging you guys! Congratulations on getting there at last! Thanks for sharing the videos!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful video, he looks like an amazing little guy. Our little girl is at NewDay as well. I never thought we might be able to go visit the foster home. We will need to look into doing that..
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! So wonderful to see Ethan hugging his parents...he is so adorable. We are praying for your family! Thank you for sharing the video! Can't wait to hear more.
ReplyDeleteGive our Lucy Kate a hug for us if you see her at New Day!
Soooo absolutely precious!!! Ethan is just so loving and we can see the pride you both had when he met you! New Day is wonderful! We will be bringing home sweet Isaac from there! He will be our second child from New Day. Our first was adorable Abby that we brought home in November 2005! We have visited New Day twice since then and can't wait to go back! Blessings from our hearts!!! The Jares Family in MN
ReplyDeleteOh Tonya,
ReplyDeleteThe post I couldn't WAIT to see!! I am flooded with emotions seeing you there at NewDay, it brought me back to out time there just 9 months ago. Khloe always loves seeing photos of Ethan, so she is peaking over my shoulder at this post, too! She wants to touch every picture of him... thus the fingerprints on the screen! ;) It's wonderful to see Ethan embrace you with open arms and I can't wait to hear more. I noticed his photo has moved to the "adopted" section on the NewDay website today... praising God that he is with you now and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers as your precious Ethan transitions into your family this week! Enjoy your time in his homeland and soak in every moment of his culture that you can. How fun that you got to experience the Lantern Festival celebrations while you were there. A true gift! I TOLD YOU New Day was AMAZING!!! It's impossible to put into words just how wonderful they are and how blessed we are to have had our children in their care while we waited to bring them home. Welcome to the (NewDay) family, my friend!! Sending love and hugs your way! <><
CONGRATS and God bless!
love from Minnesota,
Tanya (and Khloe!)
Absolutely amazing video! The anticipation was killing me, though. I just wanted that lady to stop introducing you to everyone and get on with meeting Ethan. :) When he jumped into your arms, I swear my heart was stuck in my throat. So happy for you all!!
ReplyDeleteLauren Hand