August 17, 2009

 

This morning we slept in until 7:10am.  We finally got our body clock switched to China time.  We got ready went downstairs for breakfast around 8:40am.  Ariel who has been air/motion sick acted like she felt great this morning when I went to get her from my mom's hotel room to get a shower.

Now suddenly she feels sick and doesn't want to eat.  I had to give her some medicine and she did get sick.  Neither mom nor Ariel can go with us today.

I barely got breakfast before it was time to leave.  Ariel has been a bottle of nerves this whole trip.  I guess she is having the reaction that I had last time.  She keeps asking me if she will die here. I guess she is feeling really bad.  She will just stop eating and then get sick.  It's not like I didn't bring tons of stuff here to eat.  She just refuses to eat.  Since she did not get to go with us to get Amelia I think she has decided to eat now.

 

 

 

 

We were supposed to meet our guide in the lobby at 9:30am to go to the civil affairs office.  (We have never been asked to wear our mask nor have we

volunteered.)

 

As we were not having a "normal" morning, our minds were not in the right place to go get Amelia.  I mean we kept walking to the elevator forgetting things.  The last thing that Brian forgot and we did not remember until we got there was the battery pack for the only camera that we took.  Thankfully there was a family that we met in the airport just the day before getting their daughter also.  The whole family was there (parents plus 3 boys) and they were happy to video and take photos for us.  Xin Yu Lu showed up first.

She was dressed in a white dress with flowers and butterflies on it, black sandals, and Mickey Mouse socks.  She wore a white necklace.  Her fingernails had been painted and had almost rubbed off.  She had her hair in pig tails with beautiful hair bows and clips.  She was looking oh so adorable.  She walked in with her photo album and a very scared look on her face.  I went near her and sat on the floor and talked to her gently.  She tried to walk back out the door that she came in.  Kayli kept talking to her and she looked absolutely terrified.  She just stared into Kayli's eyes.

She then started to tear up and kept looking for the friendly face that brought her.  (the director of the orphanage)  She found her and told her she wanted to go back to the orphanage.  I already had tears in my eyes and oh wanted her to know that we would always love her and take care of her.

She sat in my lap and ate a few of the gluten free cookies that I had brought and Kayli ate her package.  She never made a peep.  Brian had already started the paperwork and I just held this scared little girl.

Pretty quickly after she arrived we had to go get her photo made for her Chinese passport.  Her clumsy parents couldn't get it together.  We brought a dress that matched the girls for her to wear if she wanted to change. We left it in the car.  They said the white dress was to light to wear for the pictures so they had to find a little t-shirt to put over her dress so she could pose for her picture.  Then Brian and I had our photo made with her for her adoption decree. 

 

After this we went back to the civil affairs to do more paperwork this time putting our fingerprints on all of the documents and signing our names.

They asked us some questions like why we wanted to adopt Xin Yu Lu and also asked if we promised to e-mail pictures to the orphanage director throughout her life. This was a request that we were surprised to get.  We agreed and got the e-mail address.  Apparently the cameras that we sent were broken??

They did say that they would send us pictures of her via e-mail after the e-mail and internet systems are restored. 

 

 

 

Our next stop was to the notary office. We did more paperwork here answered similar questions as before and waited for paperwork to be processed and fees to be paid.  Xin Yu Lu wanted to go with the director and the director kept telling her that we were her mommy and daddy now and would take care of her. She tried to bribe her with candy but couldn't find any in her purse.

She did run around with Kayli screaming, hollering and having fun.  The other little girl with the other family cried the entire time.  Amelia kept going up to her telling her not to cry and Kayli helped with this.  The little girl (Hannah) continuously snubbed.  (so sad) 

 

With all of the excitement and forgetting things we did manage to bring the important things (passports and paperwork)

 

Amelia was a pro at the squatty potty we found out pretty quickly.  She needs no help in those.  The western potty is a different story.  J  She needs help getting up and down.  She is very independent.  She loves to do things by herself. 

 

Ha!

I struck gold with her because in the civil affairs office at one point she was crying and the guide asked her what was wrong.  She told her that her shoe was hurting her foot so badly. She was then told that her mommy and daddy would buy her some more.  We took her sock and shoe off and began to rub her foot. She did have some marks on her feet.  When we did come back to our hotel room is was around 1:40pm.  I showed her the Cinderella light up shoes that I had bought for her.  She was so excited to get the black sandals off of her feet.  The light up shoes are slightly too big but at this point way better than what she had.  I think we will stick with slightly too big.  At this point anything smaller would probably aggravate

her hurt foot.   She loves these shoes.  She continuously plays with them

and will not take them off.  I showed her that my shoes were off and she took them off for a little while and then went over and put them back on again.  We asked the guide to ask her if she liked her shoes.  She said, Yes I like the shoes my mama gave me."  Brian was like hey what about me?  Later she told the guide, "I like the shoes that my mama gave me that my ba ba bought for me."  Brian is a little jealous. 

 

 

 

We have seen lots of emotions from her today.  She was sad at first, and then started hitting Kayli and Daddy.  Also we have seen the mischievous side where she tried getting into things that she shouldn't.  (all within the first 2 hours)  After we got back to our hotel she met Ariel and Mammaw.

Since this time we have only seen the very sweet gently side of her.  I can't imagine all that is going through her mind.  She will not let mama out of her sight.  She has given us a few kisses today and held onto me holding her while we walked across the street.  She is warming up to us quickly. I'm not sure if she has ever had a toothbrush.  She saw mine in the bathroom and

I could tell she was curious.   I got hers out of the bag and we videoed me

brushing my teeth with her.  She watched and did a very good job herself.

(There will be lots of dental work in her future)  She is very independent wanting to do things herself.  She did let me hold her while she slept on the bus today. I did lay down with her at night and she went to sleep.  I got up after she dosed off and she woke up saying mama and wanting me to lie down again.  I did and she did great.  She whimpered when the girls went to their room to sleep and knew it was time for bed.  She didn't cry loudly but whimpered softly like she was grieving. 

 

I am so thankful to have 3 beautiful girls. It has been an amazing day.  The Lord has truly blessed us. I saw tears in Brian's eyes several times today and tonight I asked him if he was happy!  He said, "How could I not be, I can't believe that I am a father all over again."

 

  I'm so glad that were able to bring the whole family along.  Kayli has done beautifully and Ariel has except for her not eating and motion sickness. 

 

Kayli was slightly jealous today when she woke up from her nap. Kayli got a bath with Amelia that quickly melted away.  The orphanage noted that Amelia does not like a bath.  After having toys and playing with Kayli in the bath tub I'm thinking she's not minding it too much.  We dressed the girls in their matching pj's and posed them for a picture.  You can tell Amelia is so tired she had no more smiles for the day. 

 

 

 

All in all Amelia is a trooper.  We have been practicing our Chinese with her and sometimes she looks at us funny and then corrects us. J  I hope that she can keep her mandarin.  I hope that our friends at home will help us with this.  I brought flash cards and also bought some books here at a local department store.  She likes to point to the pictures and tell us the Chinese.  We do know how to ask her, "What is this" and she will tell us.

It is a lot of fun.  We are trying to call her by her Chinese nickname Lu Lu

and she will respond we are working Amelia in with it.   

 

I'd better get back to sleep.  It is about 3am.  I just had to get up and type before forgetting about our day.

 

Tomorrow we head for Heavenly Lake.