Archive for January 21st, 2009
I’ve alternated between weepy/teary and happy all day today. In a good way for both, of course.
It was one year ago today that Qi Xiao Bei was placed in our arms and we all began our new life as a family of three. It’s so hard to believe that a year with her has gone by so fast when all the years waiting seemed to drag on forever.
We left our hotel in Beijing really early on the morning of the 21st and headed to the airport where our group split and headed to 3 different provinces to meet our daughters and son. J and I were in the lobby to meet the others very early (really unusual as I’m late for everything) so we had plenty of time to ramp up the anxiety level although J and the other dads quickly started talking football to pass the time. The hotel packed a boxed breakfast for us which was absolutely horrid – I remember processed lunch meat of some sort and fruit (pears, maybe?) which we were told by the guide not to eat. I was a nervous wreck anyway and tossed mine without eating anything. The airport was huge and busy and I, along with several of the others, was feeling more than a little discombobulated (which is an unfamiliar feeling for me when it comes to travel as I’m usually pretty confident with it). Our facilitator was not traveling with us – she was leaving with another family who was traveling solo – so she got our bags checked, pointed us in the right direction, wished us good luck, and disappeared. There were 4 families heading to Hubei – with most of us being experienced travelers which helped. That said, going through security was not much fun at all. No clear cut rules and the lack of English made it a little nerve-wracking. We made it through security (finally) and took off at a gallop to the gate which was approximately 364 miles away and I’m truly not exaggerating very much. Oh my gosh, it was a hike and we way overpacked so we were toting far too many bags to gallop that far comfortably.
The flight itself must have been fine. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the flight except that there were plenty of people sneaking into the bathrooms to smoke and they kept feeding us every 10 minutes or so. I think the flight was only about an hour or maybe just over.
The Wuhan airport was much easier to navigate and our Hubei facilitator, Eric, was waiting for us right outside the luggage area. Again, too many bags and we were in desperate need of a restroom at this point so poor, patient Eric had to wait and wait on all of us to get it together. He finally loaded us up on a bus and we drove to the hotel. All I remember is that it was snowing and icy – no idea of how long it actually took us to drive from Point A to Point B. All I cared about by then is that we would be getting Ava that afternoon. He’d already confirmed that, despite the snow, the 4 babies were on their way to Wuhan from Qichun.
We checked into the hotel (very nice place – couldn’t tell you the name of it right now to save my life) and had a few minutes to get unpacked before we had to get on the road to go meet the babies. Let me tell you, it was quite a shock walking into a hotel room and finding a crib set up in there. That was kind of the moment that made it seem really, really real to me.
Once we got to the provincial affairs office and finally made it in to the building (Tip: don’t ever take the elevator in a Chinese building – people still smoke everywhere, including elevators, and it nearly killed me being in a smoky elevator smushed full of people) we were left to wait in a conference room. It was so cold in there. All of the employees of the building were wearing their coats and hats inside so I’m guessing it’s only ever barely heated. I kept taking my coat off, putting it back on, taking it off, etc. I must have been in an off cycle when they brought Ava in because it’s not on in any of the first pictures that I have with her.
The provincial officer came in and talked to the group about the harmonious period (essentially where we assumed temporary custody of Ava for the 24 hour period preceding her adoption) and we signed the paperwork for that.
By this point, they knew we were done for and the babies were brought in.
Ava was last through the door and was carried in by the orphanage director himself. I was frustrated because the other families had their babes in arms and were blocking my way so I finally elbowed through and got our girl at long last.
What I do regret is not taking a few moments to talk with the orphanage director at that time but I didn’t know (or care at that particular moment) that I wouldn’t see him again.
If you’re interested you can go back and read more about our day here.
Since J and I are still recovering from our weekend we had a low key celebration at home tonight. Chinese takeout was on the menu this year – ultimately we’ll let Ava help decide how/where we celebrate our got-each-other day. Tomorrow we’ll have cupcakes and balloons to celebrate her actual Adoption Day. Trust me, cupcakes and balloons are high livin’ to this particular 21 month old. She’ll probably think it’s Christmas all over again.
We’ve been in touch today with some of the families we traveled with. It truly is a bond that we’ll share with those families forever and I do hope that we can maintain these connections for the girls throughout the years.
I know this is a long, long post but I can sum it up like this:
J and I had a great life pre-Ava but, in retrospect, it was like living in black and white. She’s brought the technicolor (that we didn’t even know was missing) into our world and made it that much brighter.