Meeting Max

What a roller coaster ride of a day! Last night would fall under the "brutal" category. Lori's sickness has worsened and she spent almost the whole night coughing. I think we got in a good two hours of sleep last night. Just as she was winding down, McKaden woke up at 4:00 and was wide awake. Lori went to the "doctor" this morning. There is actually a walk in clinic in the hotel. A large bag of medicine later, Lori was back in the room with about 6 medicines to take a day. You can all pray for her as this combo of no sleep and being really sick has wiped her out.
We met another adoptive family for lunch and then met with our adoption liason, Rebecca. She is awesome; very fun and competent. We then left in a van to meet Max. It is a very different experience for us this time. For one, last time we traveled with several families the whole time. This time we were the only family in the van. It is also very different adopting a 3 year old rather than someone less than one. We were very prepared for a difficult day due to the fact that he is bound to be attached to his care givers, which is actually a very good thing. Today proved to be a tough and utterly amazing day all at the same time.
We met Max at the civil affairs office. With our adoption of McKaden, we had our travel group and they quickly brought the babies in a couple minutes after the other. This time we had time to really spend with Max. It was so cool to see him; he is a cute (he'll hate me for that description several years from now. .) little guy. McKaden and I almost missed the grand entrance as she had to use the facilities. Rebecca came yelling at the bathroom door, so we got there just in time. A couple of his nannies from the orphanage came with him and it was very obvious they care very much for him and he is close to one of them. That was great to see. It was such a surreal, special thing to see McKaden and Max meet; she was a great older sister today and he loved the toys that she picked out. Our initial meeting was very smooth as he played with all of us and with Mac. He liked the snacks we brought and things were going smoothly. But then his nannies had to go and he melted down. We both anticipated this and prayed through our response and just to understand how difficult this really is for a 3 year old to be in such sudden transition. He went crazy and was the loudest wailing kid in the room. His athletic future looks good with how strong he was trying to break free to get back to his comfort. He had a hand oustretched and was just wailing.
We managed to get him back in the van and eventually he calmed down a bit. When we got back to the hotel we played in a room they have at this hotel, which has a lot of toys in it. We then came up to the room and played for awhile and then had pizza. He started to flash his awesome, dimple filled smile several times as we played, but the real joy came when he had his first pizza! The boy does like his food. We had a great meal in our room and now McKaden and Max are taking a bath. As far as we know, this is his first bath, as he has had showers.
We are so appreciative of this wonderful new addition to our family. He is an adorable kid and we feel that God has so orchestrated this and gone before this, that we have felt a lot of joy today. Thanks for all your prayer and support in so many ways. Max is awesome!!!!