Yangxi Orphanage

Yesterday we spent 7 hours in a van, the trip was to Yangxi County to visit where our daughter has spent the first 18 months of her life. I have debated how much to share, as this is her story and not ours to disclose.

We ate in a local Cantonese restaurant, the octopus was delicious but she was overwhelmed from the long car ride. She was refusing to eat and drink.

We got to the SWI and met with the administration. I had photos and a letter to give them from other adoptive families and I could see them pointing and discussing as if they remembered the children in the photographs. They invited us up stairs to see her room and crib.  It housed about 30 babies in this room ranging from 10 to 18 months with two nannies. There were a few older children with visible special needs also in the room. They asked us not to take any pictures in this room except for her crib, which there was no mattress but just wood. The moment I stepped into the room Evelyn began sobbing and clung to me. I'm not trying to imply that she is attached to me, that is a long ongoing process. However this was confusing and she has a had a long emotional four days. One of the nannies brought over a baby she was close with and Evelyn swatted her away. The nanny called her over to a plastic horse and Evelyn robotically walked over and rocked on the horse whaling.

As soon as we left the baby room her tears stopped and we went back down stairs to take pictures and they brought her a bottle. She fed it to herself as if on auto pilot and the staff was concerned about her appetite and brought her some Chinese Medicine Tea. They did this because they thought her face looked red. We were only permitted to see two rooms in the large structure. We assume there is a room with more younger children. I do appreciate that they allowed us to photograph two babies for their waiting families.

The visit and her reaction were both emotional for Jim and I. It was almost impossible to envision her in that small, bare room that was void of any stimulation. Based on our guides observations, he felt that Evelyn probably received special attention from the nannies. The orphanage is in a poor rural area and has limited resources.

This visit was important but we will never have all of the answers for our daughter.

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A non-fluff Recap of the day

Today was busy with a physical for Evelyn, a trip to the Passport office, some really good Cantonese food, and Evelyn's first excessive shoe shopping trip. Gotta love the prices here.

Tomorrow brings what will probably be the one of the most emotional days of our trip. The 3.5 hour drive to visit the orphanage where our daughter has lived all of her life and to visit her finding spot. It will be a long, tough day.

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Officially Official

Today consisted of another trip to the civil affairs office this time to complete the domestic side of the adoption. We answered a few questions for the officials, signed countless documents and we were out. 
Evelyn, to be expected, woke up deciding that Jim was not to be trusted and that she would prefer I not put her down. She is still eating okay and even ran around the hotel room playing. However, she has these big, sad searching eyes. Twice she brought me the shoes she was wearing when we met her, they are too big and very dirty but they are a comfort.
We went to dinner with another family from our agency, but our shopping was cut short when another typhoon rolled in...our guide said one was coming....not sure if this qualifies.
We have a medical exam tomorrow, Ev seems fine but I wonder if she has tounge thrush, it looks like there are white patches. I am interested to see what she weighs, she fits perfect in the 6 to 12 month clothes we brought.
Here are a few pictures from today :
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Family Day

Today we clock watched until our guide picked us up until 1:45 and we took a short ride over to the civil affairs office. I finally started to shake as we rode in the elevator. Our guide has us and another family sit on a row of couches as our children had not yet arrived. Our girl had a 3 plus hour drive, and had not been in a car since infancy. We heard babies screaming and saw one little guy bolt from his new family. It was chaos...finally we were told to go to the front of the room...then they walked her out. I picked her up and we walked back to the couches. A staff member from her SWI came over and answered questions. Most significant was the theme that she is stubborn. Also her name on her referral is Manderin, however her province is Cantonese...so her name is completely different.

She sat and are puffs and mums, you could tell she was hungry and in total shock. She is absolutely stunning , the pictures do not even capture her beauty. I am surprised at how well she can do certain things, despite being in an orphanage. She can pick up puffs, build stacking cups, and walk.

We stopped at the grocery store for formula but she has not drank much of her bottle. She ate quite a few things in the executive dining room, which I did not expect. We have had a few tears...I assume they will start this evening.

She is taking in her surroundings and is very inquisitive. She keeps making tiny little sighs like "what am I doing here"

We have an early morning tomorrow that will be filled with more official paperwork. Things are going as well as can be expected, in fact I dare say better. More tomorrow.

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Beijing Day Two

So we have had some problems, with the tablet and the VPN service that we have been using and trying to upload photos, and we have tried to type this post like four times so this will be short. So here is a link to some of our photos from yesterday when we went to the Forbidden City, Taniman Square, and the Temple of Heaven. Also a picture of our guide and driver for the two days we were in Beijing, they were great.

We flew into Guangzhou today from Beijing (flight delayed for an hour). We will be beginning our next step in our life's tomorrow at 2:30 when we get Evelyn. We will post photos as soon as we can.

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The Great Wall

I must start out by saying arriving at night followed by Ambien makes for a wonderful next day. We got up and worked out, well I did, not Jim and met our guide for the day. He was funny, asking me if I owned a gun. We stopped at one of the national jade shops and heard the tales of women getting jade when they get engaged and saw carving. The woman who was leading us around asked if we had a daughter and we mentioned that we would be meeting her soon. She looked shocked and said "but you look so young to adopt, how old are you?" When I told her she mentioned that she was younger but I had no wrinkles and such pretty white skin with no tan. I suppose the grass is always greener. If she was aiming to sell me some jade, well done.

We then took a back road to the Mutianyu section of the wall, as the highway was shut down for some government official. Note to self bring ginger on long car trips...when we stopped for lunch I was digging out all of the sliced ginger to combat motion sickness. When we arrived at the wall, we took an open cable car up....uh, somewhat scary....very high. We both admitted to have thoughts of the car plummeting to the ground....our guide was behind us yelling and waving. The time on the wall could only be described as spiritual, it was the first time in many months I have felt in the present. We took a long "toboggan" ride down, which was numerous.

We thought about going to market to shop but realized we did not need to add any weight to our bags and could shop in GZ. The concierge walked us to a tiny courtyard restaurant for hot and sour soup, dumplings, and big beers.

Today is packed with the Forbidden city, Tianamen Square, Temple of Heaven, and an acrobat show...I may go down in my Peking duck.
For some reason I thought China would be busier, crazier...
Both of us are shocked that we fly out for GZ tomorrow and meet Evelyn the following day, still does not seem possible.

Itinerary

Our travel plans are set, we leave in a few days. For some of you, if you have seen one adoption blog to China you have seen them all. Big Ben, Parliament...right?

I hope to capture that raw emotion that we experience on this trip. This is how I will share with her in the future. People keep telling me to "have fun" in China. There is so much emotion that goes into an adoption trip, yes happiness but also guilt, grief, anxiety, and sadness. o much of this comes home too, it does not end when we arrive home.

I am not aiming for fun but memorable...

8/15 Flight to Beijing

8/15-8/19 Touring in Beijing

8/19 Flight to Guangzhou

8/20 Meet Evelyn Ying Yi

8/23 Orphanage Visit

8/27 US Consulate Appointment

8/28 Train to Hong Kong

8/29 Fly home


Jim and I are both in a good place...expectations are out the window.


As for big brother...he knows something is up!