The Day I Had Waited For

Today, 1 year ago, is the day I had waited so long for.  This is the day we "officially" met Peyton.  She was in a mental hospital being evaluated to see if the diagnosis of "mental delay" in her file was accurate or not.  If not, which is wasn't, she would have been moved yet again to another orphanage for higher functioning children.  (These are not my words but the words as translated by my facilitator.)  I was so excited and really did not know what to expect.  When we got to the hospital we, the social worker, orphanage director, our facilitator and us, all got out and waited at the gate to be told to come in.  Once inside the gate we walked down a long path, down another path then another.  I remember thinking how pretty and peaceful it seemed on that walk but how run down all the buildings were.  I know I must have had a permanent smile on my face as very soon I was going to meet my daughter.  We went in to the building that she was in and waited for what seemed like an eternity.  They were very hesitant about us coming in and the words flew back and forth for a while.  Finally, we got to go in and we were told no pictures, put the camera away.  So we sat down where they told us to, a little lobby area with some toys and books, and then down the hall came Peyton.  I walked very quickly to her and just hugged her so tight.  There she was, finally,  after all these months but wait, what had they done to her.  Her hair had been cut, at least 8 inches, and she was not as neat and clean as I had seen in the pictures of her.  But none of that mattered, when I saw that light in her eyes and smile on her face that said finally, finally you are here.  The social worker asked her who we were and she said mama and papa.  Then the social worker commented about how much she looked like me.  The orphanage director asked her if she wanted us to adopt her and go to America and she said da (yes).  They gave her paper and had her write her wishes.  They then grabbed it up and said time to go.  I was really shocked as we had just got in there to see her less than 5 minutes earlier and now we had to leave.  Didn't they know how long I had waited but further more how long she had waited for her parents to come?  Didn't they care?  We were rushed out the door not knowing when we would get to visit her again.  Little did we know it would be more than a month later, the evening before court, before we would see her again. I treasure that 5 minutes we got to be with her as that day it all became real.

~Tina

my sweet girl