Gotcha Day has finally arrived!

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thes. 5:16

Wow! What an emotional day! I cannot even begin to describe the emotions that my heart is filled with. I am now the proud mother of three children. Toryn is everything I dreamed about and even more! He is absolutely beautiful!

First, let me say I'm sorry! Of all the days for the computer to not work at all, and that was today, Gotcha Day! I tried and tried, because I couldn't wait for you all to see this beautiful gift from God. Finally, with help from one of our new friends, he helped me get it going.

We arrived about 2:00pm on Monday, to the Civil Affairs Office to receive the children. There are three other families who traveled to our province with us. We have all become such good friends. They are all very nice and so much fun to be around. Of course, Termite is the clown of the bunch, can you imagine that?

When we arrived the children were already there. Toryn was brought to the office by the director of the orphanage and one of his nannies. He first came right to me, greeting me with a wave. He did good until the nannie left. It was so sad. He had a total meltdown, and cried for the entire hour we were at the office. He was mad at the world. I felt so bad for him. His whole world had changed in a split second. The only person he knew left, and he was stuck with these crazy Americans. The only thing that would even begin to calm him down was when Tessa started singing to him. It was so sweet, he loved her singing. It was so cute, in the middle of his meltdown, Tessa blew him a kiss, and he immediately blew her one back. After we left the meeting, the minute we got on the bus, he quit crying. He seemed to like being outside. Once we got back to the hotel, he begin to open up and seemed to relax a little. He still wasn't crazy about Termite and Treagan holding him. I felt really sorry for them, but they realized that he was more comfortable with women, probably because his nannies are female. He is so adorable. We finally got him to take his shoes and some of his clothes off. He had four layers of clothing on and was wringing sweat. He then started to talk a little and guess what his first word was? MAMA! Ok, that brought on the tears! The kids then was trying to get him to repeat words, and he was trying every word they said. He's so smart! Isn't that what every mother says, but I'M serious!!

I was able to see his palate. It is not as bad as I had imagined, although, he had some aweful breath. I'm sure it's because of his cleft palate, but oh man, I should have brought some Scope. lol. It also looks like his teeth are not as bad as I thought they would be either. They are covered with plaque. I wanted to brush them immediately, but I didn't want to force that on him since he had been through so much to begin with. He is eating very well. He will try anything you put in front of him. That's my boy!

Right before we put him to bed, he gave us all sugars. It was priceless! I love this sweet boy so much!



Toryn is not a happy camper! Poor little fellow!


Introducing Toryn Ling Kendrick.


Toryn with his orphanage director.


Treagan is an awesome big brother.


Our three blessings!


Daddy and Toryn


Mama and Toryn