Day Three - Placement

Day Three –

We woke up very refreshed today. I think the excitement and anticipation is holding the Jetlag feeling at bay. We met Bill (our guide, translator, official process organizer extraordinaire!) for breakfast this morning at 8:30 am. He went over all of the details of the paperwork, donations, gifts, etc…that we’d need for placement today. I can still hardly believe that after 17 months of waiting we’ll finally get to meet her today!

Thought I'd take a picture out our hotel room window for you all!


Placement isn’t until 4 pm so after breakfast, Bill took us on a walking tour around the neighborhood our hotel is in.


First we visited the famous White Swan hotel. It is more like a museum or art gallery in the lobby than a hotel. We’ll go back another day to take pictures for you all. Then we went to the public park ...

and took a stroll along the Pearl River.



You’ll be amazed what you see people doing there…

Dancing…


Singing…


Doing Tae Chi…


Fishing…


Playing Hacky-sac…


I was most amazed that everyone of every age plays this game…

I was also amazed that there were so many people in the park in the middle of the day on a Monday. Bill told us that they are all either retired or housewives with children in school. Then we looked back and saw that he was right…there were no young men around.

As we walked on, we came upon a photo studio that specialized in wedding photos. They take bus loads of brides and grooms all around to various scenic places for photo shoots.


Then Tony and I had lunch at a local restaurant.



While walking home Tony had to take a photo of the bamboo scaffolding for his father. It’s all bamboo held together with what looks like long blades of grass.



We made one stop at a local store and then it was time to get ready to go meet our daughter! We all piled into a van and took a 30 minute drive to the Agency for Adoption Affairs.

(Nervouse laughter in the elevator)


First the couple we were traveling with met their daughter. Her name is Emily and she is three. Bing, her new mommy, is Chinese and was able to talk with her and appeared to make her very comfortable.


Then Bill came and told us to get ready that our daughter was on the way. I think my heart stopped just then. When she came around the corner I had to hold my breath. She was so perfect. I cannot find the words to describe how it feels to see your child for the first time. Her nannies were smiling and encouraging her to walk and wave. (Most of this even is on video which I'll attempt to upload later, but here are the few photos we have)



But then they came too close to us for her comfort. She became glued to the inside thigh of the nearest nanny. She wanted nothing to do with the toys we brought, but she did stick her hand out long enough to tack the snack from my hand – but then quickly withdrew it once she had her reward.

After much wooing, we had to just move in and take her. That was hard. We knew it would be this way, but it’s hard to see your child so scared and upset. She was brought to us by her two favorite nannies so watching them walk away was agony for her. She screamed and threw herself around – she is very strong – until she finally passed out in the car. Thankfully, the other family’s daughter was quite happy so there wasn’t complete chaos!

When we brought her back to the hotel, she did hold on to me while we were walking, but when we arrived in the room she refused to look at either of us. She would lean forward as far as she could and look at the floor or her belly so as to not make any eye contact.

Tony had to leave to complete paperwork that was not able to be completed at the adoption agency because of her hysterics so we were left alone to some one-on-one girl talk. We put “Big Bird goes to China” on the TV and that peeked her interest enough so that she picked her head up. Then we brought out toys and crackers and drinks and she began to tolerate me. When Tony came back into the room so was back to staring at the floor, but this photo is proof that after about an hour she was willing to sit beside him and play.


So far she is most comfortable with the toys we sent her a month or so ago. They let her sleep with them and her blanket and Zebra are her current security items. Out of the toys we brought she seems most interested in the radio, stacking blocks, and nesting cups.

By 8:00pm she began to nod off – literally – so we placed her in the crib and she was out in less than a minute. I was happy that the first bedtime ritual was so easy. Not much else was easy today so I’m thankful for that!