Seven years ago, on a sultry Sunday afternoon in Guangzhou, China, I was handed a beautiful baby girl named Yang Guo Dan.
She was nine months old, to the day. She was slick with sweat and covered in spots (scabies, which she promptly shared with Steve). She weighed all of 15 pounds. She was gorgeous. And she looked up at us and smiled.
And, just like that, we were a family. There were seven other families in our group receiving babies that day. I didn't see any of the other first meetings, because our DanDan was the first baby and after she was in our arms we never looked up. But those other families were a part of the whole experience and somehow, they all became a part of our family that day, too.
The emotions in that room were so intense that I can never begin to describe them. All I can say is after that moment, none of us would ever be the same again.
I remember leaving that building, with Katherine Guo Dan in my arms. It felt so surreal. We had waited so long and been through so much that it was hard to wrap my brain around the physical real-ness of her. I kept thinking, "I can't believe that they just gave us this baby, that she is really ours!" Sometimes I look at her and I still think that, the incredible miracle of it all.
These seven years have flown by. Some days have been wonderful and some really difficult, but all of it has been amazing. I can remember those first minutes with Katherine as if it were yesterday. And when I look at my tall, strong, beautiful second grader, I can still see that sweet baby in her face. Happy Gotcha Day, Katherine Guo Dan...
