A Look Back at Hannah Day

Since the blog we used during our adoption of Hannah is no longer online, I thought I'd share Hannah Day pictures and memories from 2010 with you today.

Five years ago, on the other side of the world, we asked our guide to take this picture before we left to pick up Hannah.

Hannah lived in Taizhou, Jiangsu, so we went to the Nanjing civil affairs office.

We were nervous and excited.

This was the culmination of a journey that began in the fall of 2008 and meandered through foster care licensing, and learning to wait, until we saw her face online in January of 2010 and changed directions to pursue her.

And now, we were seeing her in person for the first time!

Here she comes!

She was so brave.  She didn't cry, even through she had to have been terrified.

It's a surreal experience, being handed a child.  A little stranger who now is part of your family.

The woman in the blue coat is one of the directors of the orphanage.

The woman in the red coat was one of Hannah's nannies.  It was obvious that they were very close.

We headed back to the hotel and spent some time hanging out together.  I showed Hannah the picture book of our family, so the faces would be familiar to her.

Baba (Dad in Mandarin) built Lego creations for her.

When it was time to eat, Baba scored points by feeding Hannah mini M&Ms off a butter knife.

We were thrilled to be seeing smiles, knowing that many kids grieve heavily that first day.

It was a special day of getting to know each other, and playing.

At bedtime, I gave her a bottle, and her eyelids got heavy.

Our first day together ended with sweetness.  We were and are unimaginably blessed to have this amazing girl in our family.

The past 5 years, she has continued to show her trademark resilience to everything life throws at her.  She is beautiful inside and out, and it is an honor to get to be her Mommy.

Selfie taken in the fire engine on Thanksgiving.

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