How not to do Gotcha Day: Part One

I really do not like the term "Gotcha Day"... I had romantic notions of calling it "Our Day" instead... getting Elisha dressed in her new clothes, saying our goodbyes to everyone, strolling out the door after spending teary last moments kissing all the darlings we leave behind...
but...
it really was more like a "gotcha"... like, "grab her, throw her coat on, train arrives in fifteen minutes, hurry up, oh wait, you forgot WHAT?, oh mercy, are we gonna make the train, grab her and run and aahhh, breathe, all is well."

So... Gotcha Day:
Elisha's orphanage is about a three hour drive from where the courthouse is. On Tuesday, we spent our time taking care of all the documents that officially released Elisha from her Russian orphanage and the care of the state, thereby legally becoming our daughter. After a full day of moving from one building to another, getting all paperwork completed, we were on our way to the orphanage. We arrived in the evening and still had one last paper to complete and train tickets to purchase. Once this was complete, we went to our hotel to prepare for a early and eventful morning.

There is only one hotel in Elisha's orphanage city, and being our third trip, the staff has come to easily recognize us. It isn't a grand place to stay by any means, but it is decent and clean, and the staff are friendly (even though none of us understand each other.) I was hoping to bring a gift to the hotel staff as a "thank you and goodbye" type thing, but we were so overpacked and overloaded with orphanage donations, and had arrived so late in the evening, that it just wasn't possible. Maybe I can send something with the next family who visits. :)

We were downstairs and ready to go at 8:30am, with train tickets for 11:55am. We knew there were a few errands to run, but with everything in close proximity, the timeframe didn't seem to worrysome.

We arrived at the orphanage, chatted a bit with the director (whom I adore, as she is very progressive in her thinking, and because of this, the children are well cared for and Elisha is as healthy as I could possibly have ever hoped.) Soon after, we headed upstairs for our final visit. We walked into the main room and found all the children were busy on the potty. This was perfect, as it us time to get out the video camera.

If you can get back my dirty unbrushed hair (yep, I forgot a brush this trip, geesh,) you can see our marvelous daughter who came RUNNING to me as soon as the bathroom door opened. She knew exactly who we were and why we were there.

(Part two coming soon.)