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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

“I am singing at the top of my lungs, I am so full of answered prayers.” -Psalms 13:5

I am still a day behind, but luckily Drew is doing a great job with posting the pictures right away. Tuesday is the day Jia-Li became officially ours in the eyes of the Chinese Government. It was a long day.

We started out great with Jia- Li having a huge breakfast of watermelon, mandarin oranges, cheerios and congee. When we went to leave I tried to put her coat on her and from that point on it was no more Momma for Miss Jia-Li. She hasn’t given me the time of day since, refuses to look at me, let me hold her and won’t take anything from me. Now, I know from everything I have read and from everything everyone has told me that this is completely normal and to be expected. That these little children usually reject one parent and it is often the Mom as they see the mother figure as the one that rejected them when the foster parents gave them up. But is is SOOO hard. On top of the homesickness and the strangeness of this place it makes for a difficult time. Hopefully, with God’s help things will get better each day.

Back to the proceedings from yesterday, we went back to the same very cold room as the day before. The orphanage director was there and the provincial official. We sat down at a table and answered questions that were translated by our guide Ira.

Katie and Jia-Li

The official was a very stern woman who asked us why we wanted to adopt Jia-Li, what our intentions were for providing for her, questions about our employment, and then studied our passports for a few moments. Then she said “not to offend, do you have a criminal record?” When we responded in the negative she then made us sign about 6 forms and put our fingerprints on them in red ink. Then they had to put Jia-Li’s footprints on the forms in red ink. This did not make her happy as she had socks, pants and tights on. At the end of the whole thing the official offered to give us money back, as Jia-Li has a dislocated hip, of course we said no, I think that was just a formality. Then Drew had to go to several different offices and pay the fees—all in cash. Up to that point we were nervous wrecks as Drew had been walking around with $3, 600 in a money belt around his neck. He said they took each bill and ran it through a machine to check to see if it was counterfeit and wrote him all kinds of receipts-it took a while.

When we were all done there it was back to the hotel. Jia- Li had a great time playing with her play-dough cans, she sorts them and stacks them but will not open them up, she has a great aversion to anything she thinks is dirty or messy. She drank some milk and had some more cheerios, and then Dad and Katie took her off to the Carre-Four. Anna is feeling very uncomfortable about being stared at so she and I stayed in room and watched repeats of “The Nanny” the only English program that was on. Later we saw the Heat game with Chinese announcers—Yeah Heat!

Ms Jia-Li is a true Parnham—shopping is in her blood! She came walking back into the room very pleased with her purchases, she had her pink sunglasses on, her snowsuit and a big box of cookies with straps on them that her dad bought her over her shoulder. It was hilarious—she looked like she just bought a coach handbag! Her other purchases included a new set of pjs (All of the clothes we brought for Jia are WAY too big—the tiniest thing I brought was the outfit that she has on in today's pictures, it is a 24 month size and I had to safety pin her pants to keep them from falling off. She is the teeniest thing I have ever seen!) and some really cool pink Disney sneakers that light up when she walks. She also brought us some Kentucky Fried Chicken, so we had a floor picnic for dinner. Tastes just like home and she loved it. We gave her little pieces of chicken which she insisted on putting on a little plate first and then eating it off the plate. She is so neat. Wait till she sees Anna’s room!

We had a shock to our system yesterday- we sent some dirty clothes to the hotel laundry-they came back clean but the equivalent of 1 laundry load cost us $80 US—yikes! Won’t be doing that again.

Katie is totally in love and is quite the little mother, they are thick as thieves and are still asleep, hugging each other in the next room.

I will try to post in a more timely manner, the days seem to get away from me quickly. Today we are going to sightsee. We are going to the Yellow Crane Tower.

Please pray that Jia-Li finds a little space in her heart for her Momma today. Also, pray for Katie, she has a little cold, but refuses to take any medicine.

Today I would like to thank my lunch buddies at WCY—The Glamorous Griffin Girls, My BFF Erin, the Cavaliers, Joyce, Carol, Paul and of course my Magicians-you rock!

Anna and Katie request a “shout out” to Mrs. Cabrerra, Mrs. Alt and Mr. Larson

We love you all and are very homesick, can’t wait to see you again!

Mrs. P’s Kids:
Everywhere we have been in China has a Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

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