Our third day in India was Avika's Gotcha Day! Hooray! I was actually pretty nervous this day- we'd only been waiting for two and a half years. This is us outside of her orphanage.
This is another shot from the alleyway in front of her orphanage. There is a crib in the courtyard on the other side of the wall below the opening. The orphanage takes in children that are left in the crib.
We had the privilege of being the first international adoption from this orphanage. The Sewa Bharti directors, Avika's social worker, and all the orphanage employees were unbelievably kind and welcoming. They have a ceremony for each of their adoptions. They prayed/sang/chanted, and the director gave a little speech and asked us to give speeches. The three of us were draped with marigolds and showered with flower petals, and then we had the official hand off.
We are so grateful for how well Avika was cared for here. I imagine they were sad to see her go, but they all seemed genuinely happy for her to join our family and grow up in America.
This is Avika's name in Hindi. This sign hung over her crib.
Her crib were she likely spent most of her time.
After saying our final goodbyes and namastes, we had to get to the hospital for her second medical appointment.
After all the excitement of the morning she fell asleep on the long ride back to the hospital.
This second Max Med visit was so emotional. We needed to have them check the TB test they had administered two days earlier and give them the waiver from the embassy. We initially thought her TB test came back negative, then they told us it was positive. I was very close to a total melt down as testing positive for TB would mean she couldn't leave the country. We had to stay and do x-rays which eventually came back negative for TB. After a nerve-racking couple of hours we got all the necessary paperwork and headed back to the hotel to spend the night with our daughter for the first time!
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