August 14, 2005

Well, by the time we got checked into our room at the Howard Johnson's we had very little time to rest. By the way, we were told by our guide, Jophy, that the Howard Johnson's is the best hotel in the city of Guiyang. Not quite the same reputation HJ's has in the states but this hotel is a five star hotel.

Jophy told us we need to be downstairs in the lobby to meet our new daughters at 6 p.m. Less than five hours away by the time we got to our room. Plenty of time to clean up and rest, right? WRONG! As soon as our luggage was brought to the room, we started getting cleaned up and unpacking. We'll be at this hotel until Friday. Well, our shower wasn't draining properly so by the time we both showered the water had overflowed to the rest of the bathroom. This was a stand up shower stall, not a bathtub. I know we are tired, but we aren't tired enough to let a tub fill up and overflow without realizing it. Anyway, right around this time housekeeping showed up with a crib for Hannah. Oh, my gosh, that really made it hit home that we are about to meet our daughter. We tried to tell them about the shower but they didn't speak any English. So Mark called down to the front desk. It was kind of amusing to listen to Mark try and explain what a shower is and that it wasn't draining properly. So they sent someone up to fix it as we finished unpacking. (Note from Mark: Victoria didn't mention that Housekeeping delivered the crib as I was coming out of the shower, with only a towel and robe for myself, or the fact that I tried to stop them from leaving the first time after delivering the crib. It's kind of hard to be aggressive with the staff when wet and only covered with a robe.)

Slight aside, during this time I notice Abigail rushing around the room stopping at different pieces of furniture and shaking her hands above like she is pretending to make something. It took us a few minutes, but we finally figured out that this must be how we look to a five year old as we rush around the room trying to get things done. Have we mentioned before what a trooper she has been? Yeah, I think we have. She has been amazing.

Now we are down to less than three hours. So we order room service. While we wait we rearrange some things in the room and where we put away things. We set up the safe for our money and plane tickets. We are still trying to figure out the local currency, some of their paper money is like coins to us, so two of their bills may have the same number on it but it is a different size. So paying for room service was another small adventure. After eating we get a bag ready to take downstairs with our paperwork, our donation and small gifts for the caretaker and orphanage director, and our cameras. We remembered to put a small bag of cheerios in as well. That turned out to be the single most important thing we had with us. Then we finally collapse for about 45 minutes. By the way 45 minutes may sound like a decent nap but when you've been traveling for as long as we had, it just doesn't feel like much.

Well we went down to the lobby to meet our Hannah MinZhen. We found out we had been told the pronunciation wrong so we will have a class on her name when we get back to Atlanta. Hope you can all make the class. One of the other families we are traveling with us (the Willinghams) got to the lobby just before us. Susan told us that they saw the girls being brought in by Jophy and she had them whisked away down the hall. So we wait impatiently in the lobby. We finally get to meet the Beardon's when they come down. They have been through this twice before. Then Jophy comes to get us. We have to sign something that releases the girls to us until tomorrow morning when we officially adopt Hannah. Then we are ready to go meet our girls. They are waiting in the lounge just across the lobby. We walk in and immediately the Willingham's are given Luci. They meet the orphanage director and are given some gifts from the orphanage. Meanwhile, I see the other two girls, and I recognize MinZhen immediately from her picture. She is so beautiful!! Now it is our turn, Mark has just realized that we forgot to put the tape back in the camcorder, so he grabs the digital camera out of our bag. As soon as I reach out for MinZhen she started crying. How scary this must all be for her. So of course I start crying too. But I just held her and rocked her and then a lightbulb went off in my head. Get the cheerios!!! That was all it took. But if I tried to change how I was holding her, she would starting crying again. Everything is pretty much a blur for me. I hear Mark being introduced to the orphanage director and being presented with gifts, Abigail is helping me with the cheerios, I hear the Beardons being given their daughter who also starts crying immediately. Right as I am trying to figure out how offer some cheerios to them without moving MinZhen, Jophy's friend who is spending her vacation time to travel with Jophy, comes and asks for some. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for her.

(Beginning commentary from Mark's perspective):

Shortly after this all happened, Jophy said that the families could take the children to their hotel rooms while one family member stayed behind to fill out paperwork. Victoria and Hannah headed upstairs and we began working on the documents. So much to fill out, much of it being duplicate copies that must be filled out by hand. Carbon paper must not be acceptable here for official documents. It takes quite a bit of extra time to fill things out when you are having to not only write a paragraph about why you chose to adopt from China, how you will take care of your child and vow not to mistreat or abandon her, but also must be re-written again onto a duplicate document. It's worth it, though.

By the time I got back up to the room, Victoria and Abigail were lying in the foyer to the room with Hannah. She was taking a while o get to know these new people, and I couldn't blame her. We were unlike any people she had ever seen before, We didn�t look, sound or act like anyone she knew. After some time to herself, she reluctantly allowed Victoria and me to held her. We found out by using the scale in the bathroom that she's heavier than we anticipated, which is a surprise.

Hannah allowed Victoria to give her a sponge bath, then let Victoria and Abigail put a medicated lotion all over her before getting into a (surprise!) slightly too-small sleeper. After that, she took a warm bottle along with a little cold medicine for her cough. Then she was willing to play on the bed with everyone and eventually gave us a smile, then a few more. We may just be good enough people for her after all!