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Our Trip
November 26, 2001 - Day Nine: Mission Accomplished click HERE for Day Nine Photos Paige’s Comments: Greetings from Nanjing Technical Economic Development Zone. There are a few days in all of our lives that define us and stand out from the other 25,000 or so odd other days in our existence. Today was one of those days for Ann and I. After three years and more ups and downs and highs and lows then we would have ever expected, today we were handed outr daughter; a living, breathing, squirming little person. And it's amazing. Today started at 3 am for us at the Radisson in Beijing. (Our wakeup call was for 5:30, but like most of the couples, we were too jazzed to get much sleep.) Of the 17 families in ACAA Group 64, we were one of only two couples going to provinces solo. Most of the rest were going in groups of five or six. Ann and I were tagging along with seven other couples who were heading to Chenzhou. Their flight was leaving at 9:15 and ours was scheduled at 8:50, so we shared their bus to the airport. We finally crawled out of bed at 5 am, and killed time until we put our luggage outside the door for pickup at 6:40. We ran into some of the other "early flight" couples at breakfast. I kind of have a sense of what breakfast on the troop ships was like on June 6, 1944. Everybody talking about anything but what was about to throw our lives into turmoil. Our bus was scheduled to depart at 7:30, so to kill time, a few of us (Mark from Memphis and Kelly from DC) went to the business center to punch up espn.com and get some NFL scores. We finally were underway at about 7:45 and Ann and I knew it was going to be tight. A beautiful, blue-sky morning in the capital of China and we were going against the traffic. In a city of 15 million, we made it to the airport in 20 minutes. Everyone shouted "See you on Friday!" (we're all re-gathering in Gaungzhou on Friday from our various provinces.) as we dashed off the bus and with the help of Sheri, the local guide, made our Shanghai Airlines flight to Nanjing. (If you're ever in central Asia, fly S.A., which is a division of China Airlines: great carrier.) It was 90 minutes to Nanjing where our ACAA contact, John, met us with a car and driver and we were off for a two and a half hour drive across the Chinese countryside to the city of Changzhou where Sophia was abandoned on January 29, and where this tiny 11 month-old has lived in an orphanage ever since. We arrived at the Children's Welfare Institute around 12:30, and after a tour and a meeting with the Director, were ushered into a room for a lunch in our honor. This was by far the most authentic Chinese meal on this trip. (And, if we do get intestinal parasites or cholera, will be the meal most likely to be responsible.) Don't get me wrong: delicious. But risky for foreign travelers. We had dried/pressed mutton, spiced beef strips, various stewed and steamed vegetables, fish balls, two kinds of soups, and three kinds of local fish, straight from the local river. We graciously enjoyed the meal, and finally, when it was over, Ann, John, the driver and myself awaited the arrival of Sophia. After a few minutes she was carried into the room by one of the ten nanny's who care for the children. The adoption agencies prep you that the first hour is trauma that stretches usually into two or three days of solid screaming. The reason? The kids are being separated from the only source of love and affection they've ever known. Sophia was handed to me and immediately began to tear up as the nanny, crying, fled the room. But miracle of miracles, it was over in a minute and she has been an absolute joy. This little person is a riot. She crawls, she climbs, makes funny noises, and is the personification of inquisitiveness. And she slept for almost the entire ride back to Nanjing. Over joyed? Yes. We were mentally prepared for a night of screaming. Instead, she's sitting in our room, playing quietly and giggling to herself. We dodged the bullet on that and are now looking forward to a fairly easy next nine days of relaxation and paperwork. We're in Nanjing through Friday, finalizing all the Chinese paperwork, and then we fly to Gaungzhou to be reunited with all of our new friends and their new children. This is a beautiful city and we're on the 20th floor of the 40 story Nanjing Hilton, which is definitely in the top ten of all hotels I've ever stayed in. This is unbelievable. Tomorrow
we'll take her swimming, buy clothes for the kids still at the orphanage,
and continue the transition into parenthood. But the key info is:
we got her and she's amazing. Ann’s Comments: Today started at 3:15 when I woke up. Found out later most of the other couples were waking up about the same time and couldn't sleep. Anxiety…nervousness…excitement. The combination isn't one that helps people sleep. We had to pack, get ready, and have our bags outside our door by 6:40 a.m. Ate breakfast with Kelly and Suzanne. Did some work on the internet/email for a bit until we boarded the bus to the airport at 7:30 a.m. Our flight left at 8:50 a.m. so we were getting nervous as we sat in traffic…would we arrive at the airport on time? Would we miss our flight? Got to the airport and checked in with Sherry's help (the tour guide). They didn't weigh our bags which was good (we were well over the 44 pound per bag limit). A lot of worrying over nothing. We stood in line for about a half hour to get through security. There were long lines. Interesting thing - they were most interested in the passport than the metal detector part. In fact, what set me off in Los Angeles for one of those step-aside searches didn't even sound the alarm here. They didn't even search the lead-lined bag. We flew to Nanjing (about an hour and a half). Nice flight. Our guide/interpreter met us at the airport baggage area. Much less crowded than Beijing - and it felt much safer. We drove immediately to the orphanage (about a 2 hour car ride). At the orphanage, we were greeted by elementary school children saying, "Hi! Hello!" We went upstairs and had lunch with the division director, interpreter, and cab driver. It was really good - a lot of options. We then went to a meeting room where there were plates of oranges and bottled water. The orphanage director came in and joined us. They told us before we went in to have our cameras ready. We did, but ended up sitting and waiting for a bout five minutes. Then a nanny with Sophia (Chang Xin Ju) came through the door. She gave Sophia to Paige and then quickly disappeared. She was really good and then started to cry a bit as she looked around at us and then for her nanny. It was really sad to watch. We traded off holding Sophia when the other one was doing paperwork. Today it was paperwork stating why we wanted to adopt and that we promised not to abandon and mistreat her; and that we would care for her. There were other documents that we signed and proofread, but honestly I don't remember much about the paperwork. When we were done with the paperwork and had to pay a fee for notarization and to the orphanage, I remembered reading that you present documents/money with both hands as a sign of respect. Did it that way and they seemed to like that. After we did the paperwork, the orphanage director was kind enough to let us go to the area where she was brought up. We saw the playroom where she could crawl and explore things; the round walker and all the children in them walking around, and then the area where the babies slept. Row after row of metal cribs. They showed us where Sophia slept. We went back to the main round walker room and took many pictures of her. The director said she was the star of the room. All the nannies loved her. You could tell, too. They were all together in a row watching us and Sophia. They placed her on a chair and in the walker for us to take her picture. You could tell they were proud of her. We had to leave and as we walked out, there were a couple nannies who were on the verge of completely losing it. I felt really bad for them. Must be hard to say "goodbye" to the children who they have cared for for a long time. Drove back to Nanjing. Sophia slept about half of the way there. The Hilton here is incredible. Compared to the hotel in Beijing, this is off-the-scale luxury. Comfortable beds, marble entry way, very big room, free robes, etc. From the minute we got into the room, Sophia has been a non-stop bundle of energy. She's very inquisitive about anything she finds or is handed to her. By the end of the evening, she has been smiling, laughing, and crawling or walking up to us. (She still has to lean on things to walk. It's been interesting to watch her take an interest in anything that is in front of her. From the luggage tag to a brush to stacking cups to goldfish crackers - she enjoys each experience and new thing that she sees. Hope that attitude carries onto adult life for her. I'm pretty exhausted now so I'm going to end today's update. It's been a whirlwind of a day - but now we have our daughter. Finally. We're both happy beyond words can describe it.
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