In China
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Sunday, May 3, 2009 ETHAN IS ADORABLE AND WONDERFUL AND SWEET AND OURS! Hi Everyone, First, let me thank all of you who posted your support and encouragement. Your messages were a tremendous help, particularly last night. Despite my high hopes to be able to sleep, I was able to get only about 3 hours; all I could do was stay awake and count the hours and run through this entire journey up to this point in my head – from the point when I had my own “gotcha” realization to wanting to adopt NOW, to all our research – domestic options, international options, all the country options, to our initial meetings and discussions with agencies, to the exact moment when we made our decision, and all the things we outlined under Our Story. And it all led here - to this time, this experience, this child. At that moment, lying in our hotel room in Beijing, with two children’s beds next to ours, a toy bag, and toddler foods spread out, I had crafted in my mind some wonderful prose about all the emotions running through, and in the wee hours of the morning it was truly brilliant, but frankly…..its time for the good stuff………. Emma woke up at 5am and said immediately, “How many hours ‘til we can go get Ethan?” We had breakfast, and I had some copies of documents to make at the Business Center , and then we met Veronica at 9am , drove to the bank and then at 10am on the dot, we arrived at the Beijing CWI (Children’s Welfare Institute). We spent an hour in a small room at the entrance gate filling out paperwork and running through our questions with the head of the nannies at the orphanage, a Ms. Hen. She was very thorough with her answers to all our questions about his routine, his habits, likes & dislikes. Apparently, Yunhui was actually brought to the orphanage almost a month ago – much longer than we thought. Sadly, and apparently out of the stress of these last weeks, he has been grabbing and scratching at his cheeks and some parts of his hand, so you’ll see he has some wounds (we’ve started with Neosporin, but we’ll keep our eyes on them.) She described him as a good eater, not picky, no serious dislikes or sensitivities, and several of the nannies loved him. Because of the flu scare, we were not allowed into the orphanage, and Yunhui needed to be brought out to us. We found out there are 600 children at the orphanage, in various buildings. Our photo is only one of several buildings; you can’t see the others from the entrance. The entrance, by the way, includes an armed guard. And then at just before 11am , we see him coming to us. This small, sweet, handsome little boy, clutching his panda and looking terrified. And then he was right there. When he got to us, under the very strict direction of Ms. Hen he said, barely above a whisper, Mama, Baba, xie xie (thank you). And he gave out little lolly-pops to the three of us. This sweet little boy wanted to cry, but he would not. He just looked down, and then quickly at Emma. He was so so scared, but he didn’t make a sound. He is so sweet and so gentle and so cute. We had less than 10 minutes and then we were told we had to leave, so we picked him up, got back in our van, and drove to the Carrefors (sort of a small Kmart) to get a few things like a stroller, his formula they supplement his meals with, a portable potty, and some pull ups for the evenings. We held him the entire time as he watched the cars, the store, all the people and sounds. Then we had to go to a Kodak shop to take a family photo for the ceremony tomorrow, and then finally we went back to the hotel. The poor little guy was so overwhelmed, but ever so compliant and so so gentle. We had sent him a couple of toy cars and other things in care packages. He had all of it with him, but I don’t think he could have seen the cars before today because he has been absolutely fixated on these cars – for HOURS. He loves to open and close those little doors, and watch the wheels. Seriously, for over 3 hours, he has been examining and playing with these two cars. We brought food back to the hotel so he could have some quiet time, and his nap time was completely thrown off, so we just wanted to give him a chance to get settled. He ate like an absolute champ – congee, fried rice, spring rolls – he ate almost as much as Gregg. We then brought him to the bathroom, and thankfully no issues there, and then into the bedroom into his bed, and we let him play with his cars as we sat with him.

Beijing CWI Children’s Wing CWI playground On his way to us Getting closer Finally, we all get to meet In bed playing with Emma

Then we got out the beach ball – he loved that, but I wish you could see how sweet it is to see him smile and then catch himself and then try to hide it. He has a way of cocking his head to the side when he’s embarrassed or nervous. Finally we all just got into the big bed together to watch Happy Feet and at last at 3:45 (3 hours after his real nap time) he fell asleep, next to Gregg. He’s very taken with Gregg (he loves to watch what Gregg is doing), and he has started watching me. He holds my hand tightly and would lean into me when I carried him – more out of fatigue than anything. It took a few hours to be able to hold his gaze for any of us, but he’s comfortable doing so now. He whispers to his cars, but he is still afraid to talk to us, not even to ask for anything or indicate he needs something. Its all natural, and I think it shows just how gentle a soul he has. Over the course of 4 hours, we were able to get him to eat, go to the bathroom, and nap. So I would say it’s a very successful afternoon. He is so wonderful, you guys. So so so so sweet. And his demeanor is just perfect for us. We are so incredibly fortunate, and we’re falling in love. Emma is being absolutely fantastic. She is doing everything she can to make him comfortable and feel loved. He’s still shy with her as well as with both of us, but we have no doubts it will be wonderful in its right time. Tomorrow we finalize the adoption with China. And shop for more clothes for the little guy. And we’ll take it day by day. Stay tuned, but know, we are all so happy, and he is just perfect. Lots of love overflowing, Dawn, Gregg, Emma, and little Yunhui   Emma’s Corner Hi everyone. Today I met my little brother. He is so cute and so sweet. He loves his cars. He is taking a nap now; before he fell asleep we played with his cars and a beach ball and I got to blow bubbles for him. He is starting to smile but he is shy. He is very good at sharing – when I took a car from him, he let me show him how the wheels worked. It was a very exciting and stressful day because he isn’t speaking right now, and I want him to understand me. I’ll write more tomorrow. I miss you all. Love, Emma

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