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Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Today was Lilia’s official adoption day. We went back to the
Civil Affairs office to turn over more cash and gifts and were
interviewed by two different officials to make the whole thing
official. We were again five steps ahead of the large American
adoption group, same as yesterday. All the great stories we were
told about our guide Cici are true. She is ichiban. The 8th
floor Civil Affairs office has a cute playroom with kid sized
exercise equipment (weight bench, treadmill, stationary bike,
etc.) that Luke really enjoyed. Good idea to introduce physical
fitness as fun.
Before leaving the Civil Affairs office, we were able to ask the
orphanage official more detailed questions about our daughters.
We would have done this the day before if Lilia had not needed
to be rushed to the hospital. The orphanage official said the
nannies really love Lilia as she is a sweet, easygoing baby that
smiles a lot. None of the Yang Xi babies have been introduced to
solid foods. All they know is the formula/rice cereal mix from
the bottle.
The whole adoption trip to the Civil Affairs office was less
than two hours. Lilia fell asleep on the bus ride back to the
hotel and took a good four-hour nap. We had switched Lilia to a
more powerful antibiotic first thing this morning on the advice
of the University of Washington international adoption
pediatrician we have been consulting with. By the time Lilia
woke up from her long nap, the fever had finally broke.
Hallelujah! She was already a different child, much more alert.
However, now that she is feeling a little better physically, her
emotions seem to be getting the better of her and she is doing
some grieving. This can’t be helped; it is all part of the
process. Thank goodness we have Dolores with us since her
grandma instincts keep kicking in whenever Lilia is in distress. |
There really wasn’t that much ceremonial about the process, but
we are so thankful for the gift of our daughter from Guangdong
Province.
Our group of four families from Hawaii International Child. The
Yang Xi orphanage official is standing far right in this photo.
Our family with the orphanage official. She really wanted her
photo taken with Luke, not me and Lance. |
