Every adoption in China takes place in the capital city of the province where the child is from. Our daughter is from Shaanxi Province, and we spent this week in Xi’an, the capital, to complete her adoption. She was found and cared for in a city called Baoji which is 2-3 hours from the capital. Though we knew this was quite a journey, we thought it would be a trip we had to make. So, we set out today for Baoji to see her orphanage and find her finding place. The drive wasn’t a bad one really. Since there are no carseats here, Lydia enjoyed her freedom in the back of the car with Mark and me. And, we enjoyed looking around and asking our guide many questions. We saw lots of farms with winter wheat, old houses, and lots of cave dwellings right up to the city even. We stopped at a dumpling restaurant for lunch and met up with some American English teachers who know my parents. So nice to meet up with them and know that we have a connection to Baoji through them. 

 

Next stop, Lydia’s orphanage. The director met us at the gate and walked us onto the grounds of the orphanage which was in a sort of compound all gated with the home for elderly on one side and the home for children on the other. They told us that the children’s home is moving to another location entirely come May or June. Their current building will be used for more housing for elderly. We are the first family who has visited since before the swine flu scares and the last one to visit this location. There were no people except for a few elderly folks sitting outside when we arrived. But, we drew quite a crowd as staff came out to see us and dote on Lydia. They all were calling her name “YueYue” and trying to get her to smile which she was doing quite readily. Her favorite ayi came out and held her and told us that of all the children (110 they have, 95% of which are special needs children), YueYue was her favorite. And, you could tell that she was telling the truth. They all were loving on her and giving her kisses. Of course, we were chided once again for not dressing her warm enough despite the fact that I put a footed sleeper underneath her clothes so that no skin would show. The director said we could not go into the orphanage because of the swine flu and fear of hand, foot, mouth disease (really?) but that they would take our camera in and take pictures for us. So, they did while we visited outside with all the doting nannies. I am disappointed we couldn’t get in, but I’m thankful for the time we had there nonetheless. It was wonderful to see how much the staff cared for our daughter, and we can tell her much more about her history than we could have otherwise. They gave us a bag with the blanket she was found in (I was picturing a thin receiving blanket. It’s more like a big, furry blanket for a twin bed or something. I don’t know how we’re going to fit this into our luggage!). They could not locate the dress she was found in because they have reused it for other children. But, they did give us 4 pieces of clothing that Lydia wore when she was younger which was very gracious of them. And, finally, we took pictures by the front gate which is where our sweet baby was left and found. I took pictures up and down the street there on both sides as I know her birthmother or birthfather walked that street to bring her there to be cared for safely. Did they know she would be adopted? Did they live right there in the city? Did we drive right past their home? Did they come from the cave dwellings and bring her into the city to leave her somewhere better than in a remote spot where she wouldn’t be found quickly? We will never know. What we do know is that she was found. And, we are so grateful that we get to be a part of her story and she is such an important part of our story. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, after doing a sightseeing trip, we are headed to the airport to fly to Guangzhou where the U.S. Consulate is. We will do more paperwork there and apply for Lydia’s visa, then we’re coming home. 

Oh, and I cannot forget to mention that Lydia walked today for the first time! She took about 10 steps without holding our fingers! 

Thank you so much for all the encouragement we got after our last blog post. We were miserable yesterday. We have no idea what it was that made us sick. We have been so careful about the water and have been neurotic about hand sanitizer. I can say that it was good that we were forced to be in for the day. Lydia made great strides yesterday with opening up to us. By evening, she was moving around a lot more and showing us a little bit more of an opinion (like fussing when I took away our room key card that she wanted to suck on). She was smiling more readily and even reached out to me once–big progress since she hasn’t paid much attention to me. 

As of 7:20am Thursday while I’m writing this, we have a lot more energy and are going to attempt to eat something at breakfast. Our plans are back on for today–a trip to Baoji to see Lydia’s hometown and see her orphanage and pick up the blanket that she was found in (something I am so thankful we can have as something from her birthparents). We are also hoping to meet up with an American couple who used to teach with my parents who happen to live now in Baoji. It’s going to be an eventful day—pray that our health continues to improve and that we can make it the 5 hours in the car today with no problems for any of us. Also, pray that we see more progress with her attachment to me especially and me to her today and that visiting the orphanage doesn’t set us back at all. 

We’ve taken over 900 pictures on this trip so far, but we took NONE yesterday. But, I’ll post a cool picture we took from the top of the city wall when we walked it the day before last. 

 

 

Thanks again for all the comments—keep them coming. And, just a little plug here for our wishes quilt for Lydia–if you haven’t contributed to it and would like to, we need a handful more. We’d love to have our “commenters” who have become part of this story to contribute. 

Lydia is doing so well though, and I have to say that even though I hate the fact that I’m lying in bed right now and our only form of passing the time is making up English words to go with the Chinese news broadcast (for the record, Mark is pretty funny at this), I’m glad she had the day to just play in the room. She’s coming out of her shell a little bit more, smiling a little more readily, making a little bit more noise. She still is not very active. If you put her on the bed, she just stays there where you planted her. Though we have practiced walking some (see the picture from yesterday when all was well), we have yet to see her crawl which we were told she does “very well.” But, I guess she will do this more as she gets more secure with us. We have noticed that even with me cutting a larger hole in a fast flow bottle nipple, she sweats a lot when she takes her bottle. Anyone else experience this?

As we were laying here moaning a little bit earlier, Mark said, “I’m glad we’re doing this.” I said, “What? Laying here sick as dogs?” He answered, “No, I’m glad we’re bringing her home.” I am too. I have to keep remembering that as I get discouraged. She’s worth all this no doubt.

 

It’s 11am Tuesday morning our time (11pm EST) and Lydia is doing much better. Her temp is down to 98.9. We’re going to keep her on tylenol today to make sure it stays down and continue with the amoxicillin for the full 10 day regimen. I’ve appreciated all the comments and emails. Sounds like this isn’t uncommon for newly adopted children which comforts us. I was pretty upset when we thought we’d have to take her to the doctor. As our doctor told us last night in the midst of everything, “glistening doesn’t equate with competence.” I get that. But, clean would sure make me feel better. I just now got an email from Lisa who received her daughter Izabella in Xi’an. She told me about a decent clinic not far from here. So, I feel much better having that info in case we need it.

I will share a little more about yesterday now–though my typing is slow with Lydia snuggled on my lap.

We had an appointment back at the Civil Affairs office for more paperwork and for our adoption interview. The orphanage directors were both there, and we got to ask them some more questions. They told us that 7 or 8 nannies cared for Lydia (who they called Yue Yue) and that they have 100 kids in their care. They said diarrhea is normal for her (we think she has giardia–she went through two sleepers in the first hour back in our room). We were told we could come by and pick up the clothes she was found in (Thanks so much, Kim, for that suggestion! I did not think to ask for those things!). We plan to head to Baoji tomorrow to do that and see her hometown.

We sat at the desk of the civil affairs official while he reviewed all our paperwork. Then, he started asking some questions (through our interpreter): How many kids do you have already? What are their ages? If you have 3 kids already, why do you want to adopt? Describe your jobs. Are you prepared and able to handle another child? Describe the plan you have for her future education and medical needs? Did you get all the information you wanted about the child? Do you have any questions about her or about Chinese adoption laws? Is she acceptable to you? Finally, the official gave us a sort of blessing, saying that she will no longer live the life of an orphan but that she will have a family and that he is glad she will have a mother and father and have a happy life. It was a significant moment to hear those words. Then, we signed a bunch of papers (there were in Chinese, so not sure what exactly we were signing. But, we knew they meant she would be ours) and even had to put our fingerprint next to our signatures. Then, Lydia had to have her tiny footprint placed next to ours. She has been marked as our own. We gave our gifts to the official, the orphanage directors, and the notary (chocolate bars with an American flag on the wrapper and a pack of handmade stationery with American quotes about the family, etc. on them). Then, the directors said their goodbyes to Lydia. They were not emotional though they smiled and seemed pleased that we were so happy with the baby. We thanked them for taking such good care of her. I really do believe they care for their children well and enjoy seeing them adopted. We had brought pictures of another child from their orphanage who had been adopted back in 2006. The mother sent it to me before we left to give to them. They smiled and seemed pleased to have the updated pictures and know she is doing so well. And, they even brought their own camera and took a family picture of the three of us.

We applied for Lydia’s passport after that then went to a big store (the Chinese name translated means “everyone’s happy”) to pick up another toy for her and a couple other little things. Then, we were on our own. We were so proud of ourselves finding a place for lunch where those smiley pictures were taken on a little playground inside there (Angie, you’ll have to go to this place and let Emma play). And, after a nap, we even took a long walk and found a famous local dumpling place for dinner—quite the adventure as the English name of the restaurant was not on the sign outside and the menu had no English on it. But, we had a good meal and walk until Lydia then got sick. 

I guess then we’re all caught up. She’s no longer snuggled on my lap but asleep in her crib. Hopefully, she’ll feel well enough after a little nap for us to venture outside and maybe walk on the city wall which looks sort of like a castle wall and is 600 years old. I also spotted a cute children’s boutique last night that I’d like to head back to at some point. I love kids’ clothes. 

(Deep breath) So, all is well for now. She’s getting more used to us though she still cries a bit when she first wakes up and sees us and realizes we aren’t who she normally sees when she first wakes up. She definitely prefers Mark to me and quiets quite easily for him. In time, I’m sure she will soften to us and become quite secure in knowing we are never leaving her.