Not Quite Adoption Stories

One of my favorite shows over the past couple of years has been Adoption Stories on the Discovery Health Channel. It's a half hour show following various families and their adoption process. Some are domestic - some international - some traditional families - some non-traditional. Even before we started our adoption process, I loved the show. Of course, since we started our adoption journey, I can't stop watching it. I think I've seen all of the episodes by now.

So, I was totally expecting to have an Adoption Stories moment. You know, Jay and I sitting there in the lobby of the hotel, waiting. Me - nervous and starting to cry, Jay - trying to be strong for me. And then, we see our Foster Mom bringing Alex to us from across the lobby. I jump up and cry, and grab him while Jay hugs and thanks our Foster Mom. That's how it works on the show.

This is how it went for us.

We were told that they would be bringing him to us at 9:00 on Saturday. We've also been told to be prepared for Guatemala time. (which is sort of like Senate time - if something is supposed to start at 9:00 it might start at 9:15 - 9:30 - 9:54 - maybe later) Our facilitator called us at 8:00 to check on us and told us it would probably be more like 9:30. At about 9:15 I couldn't stand it much longer so we decided to take everything we needed down to the lobby and try to get the wireless internet access to work. So, we packed the camcorder, digital camera, laptop, and foster mom gifts and headed down to the lobby.

The Marriott actually has two lobbies. One near our elevators, and one around the corner from the front desk. As we came around the corner I saw a group of people sitting on a couch. At the same time, I realized that the women sitting there with the baby was our foster mom, and she recognized me. She jumped up and came to me very quickly with Alex in hand, and gave him to me. I didn't have enough time to even realize what was happening.

I don't know what Jay was doing. I guess I should ask him. I do know that he must have been able to put everything down and get the camcorder out pretty quickly, because we do have video of those first moments.

It was absolutely magical. I just couldn't believe that I was actually holding him and he was real. We then waited about 45 minutes for our lawyer and facilitator to show up and translate for us. Our foster mom is the best. She brought everything we would need to take care of him for the weekend. I wouldn't have needed to pack two suitcases just for Alex. :)