Our email is finally back up and running again. Thank you all so much for all the emails.
We love reading them. We laugh and cry as we read them. It helps us feel connected to home!
We thought today would just be a travel day, but, it turned out to be our Gotcha Day!
Sim took us to the airport in a bus. He got our tickets for us and directed us through the airport.
Our flight from Beijing to Nanchang was about 2 hours long. We were all ready to get off the plane
asap. It was too soon after our long flight to get back on a plane again. We sat next to another
adoption couple from our group. They are very nice. There are people in our group from all over.
We have families from FL,GA,TN,AL,KY,WS,OK,MO,CA,and TX. Between rides on the bus,
airport waiting lines, flights, and eating meals together, we are starting to get to know each other.
Everyone has different stories of how they came to the decision to adopt a baby girl from China. Everyone also
has different stories of the red tape and paperwork they went through. We all understand the frustration
we have all experienced through this 2 1/2 year process. Although we all enjoyed the sightseeing very much,
you can fell the anticipation of everyone to continue the journey to our daughters.
Our two new guides for Nanchang were Bruce and Liping. They are very nice also. Bruce's English is
pretty good. They lead us to a very old bus. We were told to sit in the back of the bus. After we
were all on the bus, they loaded all our luggage onto the front of the bus. The bus also had a very bad smell,
the seats were damp, and there was no heat. It is very cold and dreary in Nanchang. The bus ride to the
hotel was about 40 minutes. Bruce told us that they had changed our hotel to the Jiangxi Hotel which
is a 5 star hotel. We were very excited because the hotel listed on our itinerary was only a 3 star and we
were not sure if we would even have an internet connection. We also received big news on the bus.
Bruce said that we would arrive at the hotel around 3pm and that we needed to check in and then
meet in the lobby at 3:30 to get back on the bus to go get our babies at the government office.
Everyone on the bus cheered and the mood changed immediately on the bus.
Our babies were from 3 different orphanages and they had already brought them to Nanchang.
Then he said he had bad news for one couple. He asked who are the Reeds. Vaughn raised his hand.
Bruce said that our baby's orphanage was 3 hours away and that the weather had been very bad and
that the road was blocked. They were not able to bring Amelia to Nanchang. He said that we would
have to just wait and see. We, of course ,were disappointed. I think Vaughn was more disappointed
than I was. We arrived at the hotel and checked in. We were very excited at how nice the hotel was.
We went to our room to settle in while the rest of our group grabbed some of their baby gear and
headed to the government office to receive their babies. We spent the next hour or two unpacking
and getting the room organized. I was able to unpack all of Amelia's stuff and get ready for her.
This made me feel so much better. It would have been very stressful for me if we would have had to
bring Amelia back to the hotel and not had anything ready for her. After getting the room ready,
we decided to venture outside. We heard there was a KFC down the street. We thought that sounded
great for dinner. We walked down the street and found the KFC. We ate a wonderful chicken dinner.
We were so excited. It was also fun to people watch. We wondered if Amelia would look like the older
girls we saw at the restaurant as she grew up. Since we were in the province she was born in, she will
probably look similar. It was funny to see how the locals reacted to us. There are not very many
Americans around at all. They just stare at us. On our way home, we saw a "department store".
We decided to go inside to look at the children's department. I wanted to get a heavy coat for Amelia.
We found a cute coat with a hood. We returned to the hotel around 9 pm. We had only been home
for about 5 minutes when the phone rang. It was Bruce. He said that they had begged the orphanage
director to please try and make the trip tonight so that we could stay on schedule with the rest of the
group with all our government appointments and not have to stay longer. He said that they should
arrive around 10pm that night. He told me the different paperwork that they needed. I ran the paperwork
up to Bruce and Liping's room. We did last minute things around the room and then we waited.
We received the call around 10:15pm that they had arrived and to come to Bruce's and Liping's room.
We raced to the room. Janet had the camcorder and camera ready to go. The door to the room was
already opened. I was at the doorway when I saw Amelia. She looked so big to me. But, that was because
she had 3 layers of clothes on and a coat. We entered the room. The orphanage director checked our
passports and paperwork and then her assistant handed us Amelia. She of course started to cry and
reach for them. We thanked everyone and left for our room. She cried all the way back to our room.
I think we practically ran. The first thing we did was to change her diaper. She was
wet through all 3 layers of clothes. She started to calm down a little after we changed her diaper and
put her in a sleeper. She looked very healthy, just dirty. We talked to her, read her stories, showed her
toys,etc. She gradually started to relax some. We then called my parents with our webcam.
It was 1am by the time we put her to bed. We did not go to bed until 2am. She sleep through the night
though. The whole event is still a blur. We have waited so long and in an instant it just happened.
We know that God orchestrated the entire evening by giving us time to prepare the room and then
giving us a private setting to receive her in. We know that God has a special plan for Amelia's life
and that He has watched over her and will continue to do so. We are so blessed to have her.
It is like she has always been with us. I did not think I could feel such a love for her so quickly.
I thought it would be something that would grow over time and I am sure it will. even more. We are just in awe
of her. She is so precious and sweet! She is a very content baby.
The orphanage director gave us two gifts for Amelia to have. The 1st was a necklace with an engraved dog pendant and the 2nd gift was a bracelet.
We were told that Amelia was also living with a foster family that had 2 biological sons and 1 biological
daughter.
We also found out that the orphanage director is the one who named her. Her Chinese name is
Du : Duchang, the place she was born
Xin: New
Qi: One kind of beautiful jade
As we gazed down at Amelia Grace in her crib, Janet said,"She is one precious jewel".
We agree, she certainly is!
January 22, 2008 Gotcha Day!
Love at first sight
Let me introduce you to your 1st granddaughter (through the use of the webcam)
