In China
All Days  |  Previous Day  |  Next Day

Monday, July 23, 2012 What an exciting and exhausting day! The day started out as usual. Waking at 2:00am, FaceTiming with friends and relatives. Trying to go back to sleep to no avail. Too much anticipation to sleep. After breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather before the incoming typhoon and walk to the park across from the hotel. The park was really nice and we enjoyed walking around and people watching. Carson was fascinated by the Chinese hackysack and we bought one and tried to play without much success. At least our ineptitude provided some good entertainment for all the local people. We made our way back to the hotel and battled with the decision of what to do for food. We are a family of picky eaters and that has been a major challenge throughout our trip. After lunch, we packed to go to the Civil Affairs office where we would get to meet Sadie. We arrived earlier than scheduled and were the first family there. Our guide told us we would see her come out of the elevator. We were extremely nervous at this point and wondered if we would recognize her from her pictures. A few other families arrived and we all waited for the children to come. Each time the elevator opened we all sat up to see if it was Sadie. As soon as Sadie came out of the elevator, our guide told us that was definitely her. Shortly, we were united with her and it was a surreal experience. She was very calm when her nanny handed her over to us, but when she walked away, the tears came. We anticipated this would be the case, so it was manageable, but not easy. When her nanny was out of sight, she calmed down a bit. We learned very quickly she likes to be held and walked around. The moment we tried to sit, she would tense up and start to fuss. Not really cry, but she was clearly mad to be stationary. Paperwork had to be completed and some official pictures taken and we were ready to go. We arrived back at the hotel and tried to settle in. Everyone said to be prepared for a tough afternoon and evening while she gets used to new people and new surroundings. We really tried to heed the advice of a friend who reminded us that Sadie had not been waiting for us as we had been for her. This was a total and complete surprise for her. That being said we felt she bonded to us fairly well and we got her to sleep at her normal bed time and slept mostly through the night. What a true blessing! Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Today was a pretty subdued day as we just tried to spend time learning about Sadie and having her get used to us. We had to go back to the Civil Affairs office to make everything official with the adoption. We made a quick stop at the supermarket and picked up a few items and then back to the hotel. It has rained all day as the typhoon has come closer. Lindley had been feeling better yesterday, but she took a turn for the worse today. We think she has a touch of something, but are sure the time change and food issues are not helping her at all

Website by myadoptionwebsite.com