Update!

Thursay 1:30 am China time…..Zhengzhou/Holiday Inn Crown Plaza
　
Hi everyone!!! We are doing fine and I have a few moments to tell you everything as it is 1:30 am and I just woke up from a deep 2 ½ hour sleep. I have such terrible jet lag because of the 12 hour difference. Hopefully, I will feel sleepy again once I spend some time catching you all up. This trip has been a whirl-wind. Every moment I have had to keep thinking, “What’s the next step?”. Yes, it’s been scary but I just keep taking this journey one new unchartered step at a time. I have already spent over 18 hours flying between 3 different flights. Four more flights to go.

I arrived in Shanghai around 9:30 pm China time after a layover in Tokyo. After some scary uncertainty as to which Ramada I was registered to stay at (so blessed to find an American man who helped me out…Dan. He and his wife were getting their son from the airport.) I made it to Ramada, slept o.k., and woke bright and early the next morning to prepare for the flight to Zhengzhou and meeting XiaoXiao. The flight was late to depart but I made it there and was so happy to meet my guide, Sarah. It was another 1 hour drive to the hotel. It was pouring rain but I was so thankful to have a good driver. I had 2 hours to go make copies of the Power of Attorney forms and to eat something before we left for the ride to meet Xiao Xiao. I could only eat a twix candy cookie.

All day yesterday I only ate 2 slices of watermelon, a croissant, a cookie and French fries. The sun was shining as we left to fetch a taxi to head to the civil Affairs office. We got a new taxi driver who didn’t know his way at first. We arrived at the front of the office, walked though the gates, past the guards and started walking around the side of the building when before I knew it Xiao Xiao was standing by a van waiting for me. I walked up and gave her a big squeeze. (No chance for a photo) We headed right into the building and going up the stairs she grabbed my backpack and said, “Mom, I will help you.” So sweet. She was accompanied by an orphanage worker who assists in the adoption paperwork, Madame Lee, and one of her Aunties who had cared for her for at least 5 to 6 years. I signed many documents and fingerprinted them with red ink. I wrote a promise to the Chinese government that we would be good parents, provide her a good education, not abuse her and never abandon her. Then I was told to explain my choices of names to Xiao Xiao. I spoke right to her, the guide translated, and she chose Lorelei.

During the moments when the others were working on paperwork, I showed her photos of her brothers and sisters, a letter from her new sister, wrote down their names and ages and gave her her camera and translator to play with. The batteries were dead on her translator!!! UGGHH!! Her English is very limited even if I speak slowly. The translator is a must for all families. Then we all left together in the van she arrived in to go back to our hotel….it was good, I thought, because she would have a few more minutes to say good-bye to the one special Auntie. But somewhere along the way the driver stopped and our guide, Sarah, explained that we needed to catch a taxi for the rest of the way. We were on a busy street so we hurried out and Xiao Xiao really didn’t get to say good-bye. Oh my heart, she tried to hide her tears and wipe them away as we waited for a taxi. Adoption is no fairy-tale ending!!! I want to stress that. It’s not “poof” your life will be magically different now. Xiao Xiao loved her Aunties. I could see that her Auntie loved her.

We arrived at our hotel and the look on her face was so sweet. The guide told me she asked her if she was staying with them and wondered where she was. Sarah told us to take the rest of the afternoon and evening to get to know each other. I told her I just planned on ordering room service and hanging out looking at photos on my laptop. That night I showed her the menu and she pointed to French fries and with joy said, “I like!” French fries it was then with hot and sour soup and chicken cordon bleu for me. We can only say so little to each other but with the help of the translator we are able to communicate so much more.