Meeting Levi

It has been an amazing Levi day thus far, so thank you all for your prayers! When we arrived at the Civil Affairs office it was at the same time as the orphanage director and Levi! We saw this tiny little boy with a baseball hat getting out of the van and we all started yelling, "There he is!" We literally followed him up the elevator snapping pictures and speaking our few Chinese words and waving to him. He wanted the orphanage director to hold him and cried if he put him down.

Next was picture time with us and this was the first time we held him. He cried and was very upset, which was to be expected. I carried him back up the stairs and he began to calm down a little. I gave him some Cheerios, we walked over to the window, and we started to bond at that point. He also played with a toy car that we gave him and pointed at the cars on the street below.

I had the opportunity to ask the director some questions about his likes, routine, etc. The director is a young man and was very affectionate with Levi rubbing his cheek and talking to him. As the director was leaving, I was holding our son and he turned to watch the director walk down the hall. Levi waved to him so I called for the director who then walked back over to Levi waved to him and put his cheek up which Levi then kissed. It was the sweetest moment ever. There were no tears from our son but rather a smile as if he were saying to him, "I'm going to be okay with these folks." It was a tearful moment for me when I saw this interaction. GOD IS AMAZING!

We returned to the hotel and the kids played a bit. Levi has attached to me so he likes for me to hold him and go with him. He did great with eating...ate lots of meat, noodles, rice and watermelon. He gulped down a glass of apple juice. No problems with the cleft palate and eating. He's laughed and warmed up to us better than I ever expected. He is already saying "mama". After lunch he didn't want to go in the crib, but rather fell right to sleep in my arms. I have fallen madly in love with Levi :)