Day 2 From China!

Hi everyone, this is Carolyn, posting for Jeff, Jen and the girls.  Just want you all to know that the pics and video they tried to send didn't come through.  I begged them to try again, so hopefully we'll get something soon.  I promise to sit by the computer all night and get it on here asap.  They are able to read their comments so keep them coming!!


Day 2 “Gotchya Day”

Okay, so the title kind of gave what today was all about away. But like all good things, you’re going to have to wait for more on that! I have broken today up into sections, if for no other reason than so that I can better remember what happened as it was a busy, eventful and remarkable day.

Ready-Set-Go

Our day started out at 4:AM, if I can say one thing about the Chinese is that they like to get an early start on things!! Everyone met in the lobby and loaded on to the bus to head to the airport to fly to our various destinations.  Our little group, lead by Yulin headed to Nanchang, included Cara and Randy, and Marina and her friend and support mechanism Kathy. Everyone was excited, especially Cara, about the day that we would all remember forever. The trip to Nanechung was uneventful and other than the fact that smoking is permitted on the plane, leaves really nothing for the memory, and unfortunately, no noodles to be had.

Guess What?

As we got through the airport we chatted about what we thought was going to happen next as we were a little short on the exact details of the day. The only thing we knew for sure was that by the end of the day, all our families would be plus 1. We met our guide “Mary” a very nice Chinese lady at the airport. Mary would be our pathfinder for the week navigating us through the chaos that would ensue.  It was raining, pouring in Nanchang for the better part of the day but the clouds and the rains could not damper what we were about to experience. On the way to the hotel “Mary” (okay, the reasons I am using quotations is because I do not believe her name is actually Mary, or those of the other Chinese guides we have met, Faye and Vivian, they are actually using their own names, instead using fake names so people like us do not butcher their language…I will stop the quotations now) was running through the day’s schedule and started off by telling us “the hotel is about 40 min away…and your babies are there waiting for you”. Talk about here you go, our surmising and thoughts on what was going to happen, were all thrown out the window. No time to mentally prepare when we get to the hotel, boom here’s your baby!

As you can imaging the anticipation level went through the roof at that point and then!!CRASH!!… no not us, no one worry, just trying to build more drama and suspense, did it work? I like blogging…someone check on Pauline. The bus in front of us (about 250 meters with no one on board) hits the guardrail, spins and stops sideways on the road. So what do we and the other drivers on the road do…well we just drive by and I’m sure our driver yelled “Dumb A@#” as we drove by. A case of too much speed, too sharp a corner and too top heavy a bus me thinks!

The 40-minute ride to the hotel combined with the news that our girls were waiting for us sent our thoughts racing. All these years of waiting, the pictures, the paperwork, and travel were all about to accumulate to what we all wanted in the first place, a new addition to our family. I think it became most real for Kennah, who in the midst of the excitement fell asleep. Although this would impact us all, it would perhaps impact her the most as she would have to “share the spotlight” so to speak. And for someone who shines a pretty big light, K would perhaps have the most adjusting to do.  She has, over the past couple of weeks, as we got closer to coming to China, expressed her thoughts about maybe not coming to get Tya. Know from a psychological perspective, this was a relief, yes a relief, as she was expressing the same feelings any other child would with their family expecting a new arrival.  Nonetheless, it hurts your heart that one of your children may feel in any way displaced or not loved as much because of a new addition.

As we rolled up to the hotel there was a nervous silence and as the doors of the bus opened so to did another chapter of our lives.

Gotchya!!!

Another nice hotel, massive and marble everywhere greeted us and the walk  and the elevator seemed to stretch for a mile. Everyone crammed into the elevator, very little said, smiles a few welling tears and the elevator door opens to the 2^nd floor, I step out and quickly….get pulled back in because the babies are on the 3^rd, not the 2^nd, my bad. Once on the 3^rd floor we enter a small meeting room, as usual are the last to enter the room so all we hear are babies crying and new parents trying to comfort them.  Where’s ours? We are looking and there seems to be one short, our Tya. “Mary” (last time I swear) comes to us and leads us behind the door where there is the tiniest, and I mean tiniest little girl I have ever seen bundled in layers upon layers of cloths.

Now I would like to say and give you some detail on Jen’s reaction, but as I said it was a small room and in between trying to see Tya and people walking in front of me I did see Jen’s first reaction, although the seconds later what I did see was a smile reminiscent of the of when she saw Savvy and K for the first time…and of course when she seen me waiting at the alter. Tya, which I think will be typical of her personality kind of looked at us with this “do I know you?” expression on her face. With the recognition that we were indeed the people who came for her and something in Chinese from Mary, the director of Tya’s orphanage handed her to Jen, somehow making the end of one journey and the beginning of another. The director also gave us a book of where she was found and her orphanage, a chain, and some other documents.

Kennah’s Reaction

Given Kennah’s growing concerns about having a new baby (and just waking up), we had planned that when Jen first held Tya, she would at the same time be holding Kennah as a way of comforting her in the new reality of our family. This was a little difficult as we did not expect Tya to be so small (the pic’s we had make her look so much bigger) and her ability to be in Jen’s one arm was difficult. Kennah’s reaction was mixed, in those very first moments she was halfway between a hug of Tya, and moments latter came to me in withdrawal. After a brief hand off we went to our room for our first feeding with only 45 minutes before we had to meet downstairs and off to complete the legal aspects of the adoption. Once in the room, Kennah stepped right into her role of big sister and was the first to hold Tya once we arrived in the room.  She became Miss Helpful, getting Tya’s rattle, her necklace, throwing out her diaper and making faces at her to keep her occupied.  While Tya was feeding K was being her normal self, running and singing, dancing and playing make believe. Since we got Tya Kennah has been nothing but helpful and loving, the makings of a great big sister.

Frogger

As I had said before, we were a little foggy on the exact details so after the feeding we quickly changed and met in the lobby to head across the street to the provincial office to complete the adoption. Now for those of you who are old enough to remember the game Frogger, where the frog tries to cross the street without getting run over by drivers who either do not see the frog or care about the frog, this was pretty much our experience trying to cross the 6 lanes of traffic between the hotel and the office building. The Chinese, much like the Argentinians and Quebecers are nuts.  They do not so much stop for you as drive around you, while going as fast as they can.  

Where Are They?

Once we made it all safe and sound to the office building we went up 26 floors to the, well to be honest I really don’t know what the place was called other than the adoption place. This place was a zoo, all families from different agencies were there going through this back and forth process of taking pics, signing papers, and paying money to complete the adoption.  Know we had planned well, had all the necessary documents in the file folder, and even went away for a night to complete the paper work. Well then they asked us for our passport pictures…and we didn’t have them! So where were they, well they were on the bed in the hotel, so off I go back across the frogger road to get the pics. Back over to the adoption office (I’m doing really  well at frogger, not dead yet) to hand over the passport pic’s and ready to complete the process.

Skill Test

For those of you who know me, I’m not, and have never been a studious person but I do like to be prepared, especially for an interview.  So when we were at the adoption office and were told Jen and I had to do an interview, well lets just say I had more questions about what this interview was and what we could do to prepare in the 30 seconds before we walked trough the door. Well it ended up being a breeze really, as the questions were easy:

            Q: What is your occupations(s)?

            A: Teacher & Business Consultant

            Q: Will you ever abuse the baby?

            A: NO!

            Q: What are your plans for her education?

            A: College, university or whatever she wants (woohoo for democratic                              freedom) or whatever she wants!

Easiest Test Ever!

Legal But Not Yet Official.

With everything completed the adoption was made legal, but not yet official, that's day 3. Apparently the Chinese like to drag things out. Nonetheless Tya was ours, legally, the passport on day 3 makes it official… apparently.

Bath Time

The rest of the day was made of somewhat regular family like, understanding we are still out of whack with the time zone change and end up running on fumes for the better part of the evening. Kennah and I went to the pool before supper, which pretty much spelled the end for K as she passed out, dead to the world before she touched even one fry, the work of a big sister ‘tis tiring! With K sleeping on the bed Jen, Savvy and I gave Tya her first official Brant bath before bed. Savvy as always was a great example of what a big sister should be, helping out in all capacity’s including taking pic’s, video and watch both her sisters while Jen and I took care of business. She has also been the socialite, getting to know the other families and helping out everywhere.

Tya’s Test Part 1

Tya applied her first test, of which we are sure there will be many more, while trying to put her down for the night.  Strike 1….strike 2…strike 3..strike 4, nothing.  Everytime we put her down, she cried!! Was this a sign of a long night? Was she going to cry all night, forever? Not sure, this was our first night remember. On the 5^th try we let her cry for about 30 seconds and the boom, off to lala land she went and slept from 8:30 to 5:45 this morning, we really want that to happen. It was interesting because in the report from the orphanage they did say “she has a habit… it is that she likes to cry really hard and long before she has a deep sleep.”

Sorry for being long winded but it was an eventful day and we are now family of 5

( Party of Five). Hope everyone back home is well and there is no snow until we are safe on Canadian soil. We are hoping the video and pic’s work so that you get to see and feel what our day was like.

Till tomorrow,

XO…by 5

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