Sarah Day

Howdy friends and family!
Unfortunately, I am unable to post pictures on this blog until we get home. There's an issue with our portable computer reading the SD cards with the pics on it...sorry! :( We will keep posting pictures from our portable devices but the actual camera pics will have to wait for now. We've been posting some pictures on facebook.
However, I thought I could at least update you a little on the last couple days or so. Let's start with Thursday....SARAH DAY!
We started the day after a full night of rest (thank you Lord!). Early in the morning, I started calling Ms. Roy (the orphanage director). We didn't get ahold of her, so I went downstairs for a foot massage (very nice) and had breakfast with Chad. As the morning progressed, we still couldn't get ahold of her and were starting to get a little concerned. Thankfully, we did reach her around 12pm (another praise!). She told us we could come at 3pm. We gathered the donations, went over the questions we were going to ask and were all set to go by 12:30pm. Now what!? lol Since our driver was coming at 2:30, we decided to just lounge around the room a little and enjoy the last few hours of our childless day. We had hoped to do a little sightseeing earlier in the morning, but we didn't want to miss a call from Ms. Roy. Oh well, we enjoyed the down time too :)
At 2:15pm our driver arrived. We hopped in the car rested and refreshed...ready to receive our baby girl! As we started the journey, we began to see the poverty in Kolkata. There's nothing that I could say to describe it. I pray those images stay with us forever. Then, before we knew it, our driver pulled over. He was lost and asked for directions.....yikes! We both prayed silently in the back of our car. Thankfully, we made it to the building. We were a little later than expected but we got there.
We started the visit at the special needs building (where our baby girl was!). It looked just like the pictures we had seen. Small, little pieces of clothing were drying outside and one of the staff members was outside waiting for us with a big smile. First, we climbed up the spiral staircase that led to the toddler/infants. When we got up there, many of the kiddos were sleeping. The staff member introduced each little one by name and we loved on all of them. So many precious moments. Then, at the end of the line of cribs, was our precious Rukmini (Sarah). She was standing up in her crib looking right at us. Our first moments were not "story book moments" but after lots of tears and attempts she let me hold her. Her Ayah (caregiver) went in the other room and gave me a moment. I paced around the room with her and hummed "Amazing Grace" in her ear. After only a few seconds, she relaxed on my shoulder and for the first time we bonded. It was precious. I will never forget that moment.
After this, I gave her back to her Ayah so she could say goodbye and asked many questions. It was such a HUGE blessing from the Lord that her Ayah was there that day. I learned so much by watching her care for Sarah in person and telling me what she knows. We then toured the downstairs area and loved on all the older chidren. After we were finished, we went back up the stairs one last time. I then huged Sarah's Ayah and thanked the woman who lovingly cared for my daughter for her first 18 months of life. With tears in her eyes, she huged me back and smiled. She then turned away because it seemed she was overwhelmed with emotion. I thanked her again and we left.
After all of this, we went to the other building where many of the newborn babies and other healthy children and infants were. We did a quick tour of that building and met Ms. Roy. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for all her hard work and dedication to get our children home. After we took some pictures, we started signing our adoption papers. It was very exciting!! Once we finished, she answered several of our medical questions as well. When we were about to leave, the Ayahs fed Sarah for us. I am soooo thankful we got to watch them prepare her food and feed her!!!! Thank you Lord for this blessing!! When her tummy was full, we went back to the other orphanage so her Ayah could see her once more. Then, we were a family of four.