Tuesday, January 2, 2007

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind, “Pooh?” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” -a.a. milne

We woke up early today to have breakfast together before I went to the consulate. Everything went fine, all I had to do was swear I would take care of Jia when I return to the United States, we waited about an hour for all the paperwork to be looked at and that was it. We think there is some kind of swearing in ceremony tomorrow that the whole family will go through, and then the minute Jia-Li’s foot touches the ground in Detroit she will be an American citizen.

Today was a “sister” day. The girls have been exceptional with Jia, they are just loving her to pieces and are very, very patient. Meanwhile, Jia idolizes both of them. (Still not sure of me.) Each of the girls got a traditional Chinese shirt today and a string of pearls for their wedding day (ridiculously cheap) Anna was aghast that she would ever, ever dream of wearing such a thing, but I told her to trust me, she may want them in 15 years. We decided no t to go to dinner with the group. We stayed in the room and ordered “American” food (whatever that is…) from Danny’s Bagels.

We also got the pictures from the disposable cameras that we sent in the summer developed. They were cute, but didn’t give us much of a clue about her family, with the exception of a little boy about a year younger than her who is in every picture with her. In one or two of the pictures there is a woman standing, but I haven’t looked at them good enough to even see if it is the same woman in each of the pics.

Tomorrow we go to see “beautiful gardens” our guide Nelson is wonderful, but I think he feels westerners are like small children, he tells us very small bits of info at a time.

Today when we were in the playroom downstairs Drew had his Miramar Strikers (Anna’s soccer team) shirt on and another couple who where in there with their baby said “are you from Florida?” turns out they are from Cooper City!! (about 5 minutes away from us) what a small, small world. Their daughter is 3, although she looks much more like a baby than Jia. We exchanged numbers so we could get together once we get home. Speaking of which, we can’t wait to get home. Jia is not the shy little thing we were expecting, so we can’t wait to introduce her to all of you!

Tonight we would like to thank our parents with all of our hearts. My Mom, Sandy, who wanted to adopt a little Asian girl all those years ago, how Jia would have delighted her! My father, Lee, who gave me a tiny bit of his huge sense of adventure, wow, would he have loved a trip to China! Most of all more than anyone else, we would like to thank Drew’s parents, Doug and Elizabeth, they have taken me in as one of their own and have stood firmly behind Drew and I in every single moment of our lives together. Words cannot express how much they mean to us. We thank God everyday for the privilege of having such wonderful, caring parents.

“Rejoice in all the good things the Lord has given you and your household.” -Deuteronomy 26:11