Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Trina, Nick, Jesse, Catherine and Faith!
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November 21, 2006
Wow, Faith slept all night! What a blessing. She went to sleep about 9 pm last night and didn’t wake until 7 am. Trina and I were pleasantly surprised. However, we were quickly reminded that it takes a lot longer to get ready when you have an infant than it does when you are by yourselves. After changing her, feeding her, washing her hair, and showering ourselves we were finally able to go to breakfast at 8:15. We have taught her when she is fed that we hold her tightly and look at her. She is finally looking at us in the eye while she eats and holds our finger. She is also a thumb sucker! But we have slowly broke her from that, she will take a pacifier and only needs it at naps and night time.
Today we went to the registration office to “interview” and answer some questions. Are we adopting Faith voluntarily; will we give her a good home; do we promise never to abandon, neglect, or abuse her; will we support her no matter what our financial situation in the future? Then it was back to the hotel where we picked her up at to answer the same questions with the Chinese adoption director, with the orphanage director there also. Only they added that since we already had three children, could we care for her the same, and will our children love her. Well, they have been waiting with as much anticipation as Trina and me for two years! And they have to wait even longer to see her!
Once all the questions were answered all of the families were “approved” and we were given the adoption certificates stating that we are legally her parents. Of course, they were quickly taken back to have everything verified again before we travel to Guangzhou. But we have verbal confirmation: Faith is OURS! Gifts were exchanged all around, and we received one from the orphanage director.
The kids were all very well-behaved during all of this. We were all in a reception room that had some play toys in it. Faith and another child, Joleigh, were having a lot of fun playing together, so we wondered if they knew each other from the orphanage. After the ceremony that said we were her official parents we were given the chance to ask questions of the orphanage officials. We didn’t get to talk to the director, but one of the caregivers instead. This was a real blessing. We learned that Faith had been in foster care since she was 7 months old. This was answered prayer to Trina. She also told us that the foster parent took her to the orphanage twice per month, and that she did play with Joleigh. Faith has little circular scares on her legs. Trina thinks they look like cigarette burns. We asked the care giver what they were from and she said from mosquito bits. Her foster mother would take her outside to play under some trees. We saw this in the pictures from the foster mother that was given to us in a gift bag along with a gift from the orphanage. We also learned how old she was when she crawled and got her first tooth. I, Trina, can not express enough how important it is to sit down and think about the questions you want to ask the orphanage. If we had just assumed she was in the orphanage and not asked questions, we would not have been blessed with all the information about Faith’s life before us. After seeing the pictures being developed from the orphanage and the foster mom, Faith has a beautiful smile. We have seen a little example of it but from the pictures her smile can light up a room. I, Trina, can not wait until we get to see that smile.
When you go to these appointments, they tell you to leave your diaper bags in the van DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!! We all ended us leaving our bags in the van and the girls needed a diaper changing and some even needed to be fed. Faith is the youngest baby in the group and she was really hungry and wet. Also these offices are HOT so dress appropriately.
We came back to the hotel and had the rest of the day to ourselves. We fed Faith again, and put her down for her nap. Joleigh’s parents and Trina and I decided to order McDonald’s to be delivered. Well, nobody at McD’s spoke English, so we had our coordinator order for us. China Travel Tip of the Day: When ordering at McDonald’s, DO NOT order a hamburger with only ketchup! What you get is a hamburger bun with only ketchup. No meat!! Yeah, everyone had a good old laugh at Jim’s expense this afternoon.
After lunch, at 3:00 pm, Trina and a few of the ladies went back to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items that were forgotten yesterday, and to take a break. They have been run pretty ragged in a short amount of time. Faith was still sleeping, so I read a little and took a nap myself. When I woke up at 5:00, Faith was still asleep! I checked her breathing, moved her covers around, turned on the TV, nothing woke her up. Trina came home a few minutes later and asked why I let her sleep that long. Well, she opened the curtains, took her blanket off, and Faith kept right on sleeping. She finally woke up about 5:30, and was ready to go. Now she has no problem with daddy holding her, even if mommy is there. She was in such a good mood.
We decided to check out the pool, hoping for warm water. Trina and Joleigh’s brother, Jacob, thought it was good enough to swim in, so we came back up to get our suits. When we got back to the pool the sun was going down quickly, and the breeze picked up. I stuck my foot in the pool and told Trina there was no way that I or Faith was going in. Jacob still wanted to swim, so Trina played in the water with him for about 25 minutes, until Faith got too cold to be outside.
Back to the room to change again, feed faith, and then go down to dinner. Even after her bottle, Faith ate some congee, banana, and dessert. She has a good appetite. After dinner she was getting a little cranky, so we lay down with her and she went to sleep for the night. Trina and I fell asleep, too. Trina is still sleeping, with Faith, as I write this, so I will sign off for the night. More tomorrow. We are going on a local tour of Nanning. The next day we get to travel to her village and maybe see inside the orphanage. We can’t wait!
