Meeting Day

On Sunday October 18, 2009 life as I knew it was changed. Daren and I woke up earlier that we wanted to in Bangkok. We knew today was going to be exhausting so we tried to sleep-in but unfortunately could not. We were up walking the streets close to our hotel in search of a Starbucks. We finally found one that was open before 8:00am (i know, wierd huh). They did not have any of the things i like to drink so i opted for a green tea latte. I do not recommend it, im just sayin...

The time seemed to drag by if not stand still. We were so excited and nervous. We sat in the lobby of the hotel just waiting for our social worker to pick us out of the crowd. "Are you Neely's?" "YES!" And we were off! The moment we have been waiting for and dreaming about was here.

We were escorted to a conference room along with another couple where Mo, our Holt social worker went over some things with us and informed us of some more details about the next few days. We could hear a baby crying in the hall and we were trying to guess who's child it was that was crying SO loud. I knew for sure it was Reese because that would be par for the course for our kids, but it wasnt.

As the other social workers brought the 2 girls in i saw Reese and she took my breath away! My first thought was how tiny she was and then quickly to how absolutely beautiful she was. She walked in holding the social workers hand and I slowly walked up to her and knelt down to talk to her. Daren kind of kept his distance and stayed a few steps behind me. We sat in the floor and began playing and interacting. I tried to reach out to her at one point and she didnt really know what to do so i thought no biggie we'll try again in a minute. The SW (social worker) finally placed her in my lap and she began crying. I stood up with her and we went over to the window and that distracted her. From that point on she seemed to be ok with me holding her as long as she could see her SW. We eventually went outside to the pool and fountain area where she walked around and we splashed in the water. When it was time to go in i reached my hands out and she came right to me.

After about and hour or so getting familiar with our babies we went to KFC, yep, The Colonel is alive and well in Bangkok! We ordered Reese fried rice and chicken and she ate all her little tummy could hold. After lunch we visited our hotel room and the SW's came along with us. Reese was great, she played with her new toys and sat on our bed. The ladies took her to the bathtub to kind of introduce that to her and let her play in the water. Reese was so sleepy that as she was sitting on the bed playing she began falling asleep while sitting up. The SW got her to sleep and she took about an hour long nap on our bed.

All in all meeting our daughter was more than i could have hoped for but after all thats the kind of God that we serve. One who does far more than you could ever hope or imagine.