Day 3

 

Dear Cora,
You have such a great personality, are so strong, and so full of life. I am starting to see the little girl that you are going to be. I love your spark and energy. You cannot sit still; always trying to figure out what is going on and taking control. You are so smart; learning English after only a few days. You are a perfect fit for our family and I am starting to see that you may soon be happy with us.

We got up early today so we had plenty of time to make it to our Civil Affairs appointment to finalize our adoption of Cora. It was very hard to wake Cora because she had such a bad nights sleep. I was very surprised when she woke up and decided that I was her mommy and Auntie Cheryl should not touch her anymore. It was great that Cheryl was able to comfort Cora, but I am so happy to be able to hold her.

It has been a long time since I have carried a child and tried to make a plate while keeping her hands out of everything. I feel like I have never done this before. I am so out of shape! Thank goodness for Auntie Cheryl. She helped make all of our plates, ran for new things for Cora to try, and still found the time to eat her breakfast. One thing that I can say is that with all that Cora has been through she really loves to eat.

Returning to the Civil Affairs office was a huge worry for me. I can tell that Cora is tolerating me because she knows she has no other choice. She watches everyone and every now and then she leans as if she hopes they will take her. She wants to be held but she wants to sit by herself. It breaks my heart to see her this way. I worry that as soon as we walk in the building that she is going to break down again. Amazingly she was very quiet but she does OK. I sign some more papers, take a pledge to care for her as if she was my own and give her all the rights of a child that was born to me, and take some pictures. Now it is official, Cora ShuYan is legally our daughter.

We already had our bags in the taxi so we could leave the Civil Affairs Office and go straight to the train station … we were on our way to Ningbo. My goodness, how I dislike train stations. I have never traveled by train in the US so I have nothing to compare them to. Going down steps with two suitcases and carrying a child to have to go up again just does not make since to me. Poor Cheryl, trying to take some of my luggage to help me and me having a hard time carrying a child and pulling my suitcases. Thank God that a young man took pity on us and helped with our bags. I am not sure if we would have ever made the train.

On the train to Ningbo we finally got to see some of the real Cora come through. She is almost always distracted by food. She seemed fairly content looking around and picking at the snacks we brought with us. She wants to eat trail mix, well at least the M&M’s out of them. She wants one after another and must do it by herself like a big girl. She ends up with most of it on the floor, her lap, and all over her seat. Many people are not real happy seeing this. There is an elderly man sitting behind us. He keeps playing with her. He speaks a little English and asks about Cora. He is the first Chinese person that tells us they are happy that we are adopting a Chinese child. He is very grateful that we are loving and caring for her. This child never stops moving and is getting hard to keep happy so I start picking her up over my head and dropping her towards my face. She starts laughing like crazy. This is the first time we have seen her smile much less laugh. I cannot get enough. We are now totally the center of attention but for the first time I do not care. This is the child the ayis at the orphanage described to us.

We are excited to finally be in the city that my daughter has spent her whole life. We are hoping to see her orphanage but we are starting the think it is a bad idea. Cora is having such a hard time adjusting to us. We will make that decision when we know if Enmei will even allow us to visit. We are very happy to finally be at The Crown Plaza City Center Ningbo Hotel; our home for the next few days.

 

 

Day 2 Gotcha Day!

Dear Cora,
This has been a day I have waited for so long and I am so glad it is here but it has been the hardest day that I (and probably you) have ever lived through. I am so sorry to have broken your heart when I took you from the only family that you have ever known but I hope it will heal and you will learn to love us as much as we love you.  I promise that we will love you unconditionally, forever, and  give you all that you will ever need for the rest of your life.

I woke up every hour worried that I was going to over sleep. Finally at 2:30 am China time we got up, ate, showered, and tried to keep busy until it was time to meet Emma. The hotel had a great buffet. It was like eating at a restaurant. People were there cooking as well as having prepared food. They had American and Chinese style food. We were not feeling very adventurous. After breakfast, Cheryl and I went for a walk around the hotel and took some pictures.

 When we arrived at the Civil Affairs Office we sat in a big room with a red banner across the back. We waited while Emma went to find out how the day was going to work. There was another family waiting for their daughter. I think they were from North Carolina. We traded stories about our adoption processes. I felt very rude because I was so distracted waiting and looking for Cora. We worked on our paperwork while we waited for our children. There were only 4 children to be adopted today. The family from North Carolina’s daughter came first. She was asleep when she arrived and stayed that way for the whole time they were in the Civil Affairs Office. It was so beautiful to see the parents get to look her over; her fingers, her face, her feet. She seemed so content. Then a little boy arrived but his parents were not here yet. He was adorable! He had very chubby cheeks and was happy watching what was going on in the office while his Ayis took care of his paperwork. Cora was the third child to arrive. At 10:20 Cora finally came through the door. She was so cute and very scared. They walked up tp me an just gave her to me. Tried to give he to me would be a better way to say it. She was not dealing with the fact that she was going to me and not staying with her Ayi. This was her favorite Ayi. She was in all of the pictures we got of Cora. You could tell by the look on Cora’s face that she knew what was happening.  Cora did not want me to touch her and would not come to me. The Ayi and director talked to Cora and showed her pictures of us in the photo album we sent. Cora knew our names and was saying that I was her mama but would not let me touch her. They offered Cora her favorite snacks to distract her so I could take her. Nothing worked. They spent quite a bit of time trying to coax her to me. Finally they told me I had to take her and just let her scream, and that she did at the top of her lungs. She screamed for her “mama” until we left. I have had two children and have lived through my share of temper tantrums but I have never seen anything like this. She arched her back, pushed away from me, pulled her hair. She was crying so much that she was getting over heated. He skin was blood red. She started to sound as if she was hyperventilating. I was asked to take her to a different room because she was so disrupting. I walked with her, bounced her, talked to her, and hummed… anything I could think of. Nothing worked. This was the most heart wrenching thing I have ever had to do. I loved her so much already and there was nothing I could do for her. If anyone walked by she would try to go with them. Total strangers; anyone was better than me. Cheryl came over to the room we were in to ask me about the gifts for the children because the Ayis were leaving and Cora even wanted to go to her. I was so scared when they finally said it was time to go because I never thought she would stop crying. She started calming down as we walked out of the building and instantly stopped crying when we went outside. She was so wide eyed watching everything!

We had to walk down the street to find a photo shop so we could take pictures of us (our first family photo) for the adoption certificate. Then a short walk to a taxi to find a market for needed items to care for Cora. Emma asked Cora what she wanted/ is used to eating. She asked for a bottle! The Ayis said she was still getting formula but I was surprised from a bottle at 5 years old. She asked for chocolate for being a big girl because they promised her I would buy it for her. ANYTHING to make her happy.

Cora was very scared in the car. Emma had to talk to her constantly to keep her from screaming. Simple questions like her favorite color, what she likes to do, toys she likes, etc.

As soon as we get to our hotel room she starts crying again. We put her on the bed with a lot of her toys trying to get her mind off of things. It worked for a little while. The I pod was her favorite; she was not much interested in the toys. The sucker was a good choice. Later we tried the bath just because we had run out of ideas and she loved it. She laughed and talked and sang and played and it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was so relieved that we found something that worked to make her happy.

Cora does not like the bed. We try to get her to play and copy what we are doing to get her to prepare for bed. She cried and screamed; finally I just let Cheryl take her because that is where she wanted to be. I needed her to be happy. I will worry about bonding later.  It is breaking my heart to hear her cry so much. She went to sleep finally. I hope things get better for her soon.

Day 1

Dear Cora,
It is so exciting to finally be on my way to china to bring you home. We have waited so long to get to meet you, to hold you, and to love you forever.

It was very hard to get out of the car and leave my family behind. I wanted to have everyone there to say good bye. Once I was in the airport the excitement of being on my way to get my daughter and bring her home took over. I will be holding her in one more day!

The flight went faster than I thought it would. I watched a few movies, read my book, and ate often. I think they were trying to keep us busy by feeding us. The flight was about 7,100 miles in 14hours (give or take a few min).

When we arrived, our guide Sofie was waiting for us. She was very nice and ready to help. She helped bring our suitcases to the taxi. The train station was next to the other airport that was about an hour away. Sofie got the tickets while we waited. The trains run every hour or so but they were full so we had to wait 3 hours for a train. We told Sofie we were good and she could go home, there was no reason for her to wait too. She was happy to stay and talked to us about all that we could do, where to eat, and who to ask for help. We did finally talk her into believing we would be OK if she left.

 Waiting was horrible! We were so tired we were falling asleep sitting in our chairs. There was nothing we could do because we would have to drag all of our luggage with us. We did a lot of people watching, they like to watch us too. Then we decided it was time to get up and move or take a chance on falling asleep and missing out train. We went in search of a bathroom with all luggage in tow. Of course they were squatty potties. It is always a new adventure. Ukraine had them too but we were lucky that we always could find a normal toilet when we needed one. Not so lucky this trip. I am just going to say that as a woman our bodies are not capable of shooting a straight steam and it is almost impossible to judge where you need to stand to keep in the potty, it is different every time. Try holding up your pants legs so they do not touch the floor but keeping your pants down and out of the way so they stay dry.

Getting to the train was a whole new adventure. We had to go down a long flight of stairs with two suit cases each. They are on wheels but there are a lot of people and no room to move. We put the suitcases one on top of the other but on the stairs they would not stay. We were getting worried about missing our train when we rounded  a corner only to find out we needed to go right back up the same length of stairs! It was quite the workout but we made it. The ride was only 45 mins.  The ride was very smooth. It was dark out so we could not see the sights.

Emma was waiting for us when we got off the train. It was nice to have help again. She got a taxi and while driving to the hotel she talked about what we would be doing the next day and the time that we would meet. We would be meeting at 8:20 in the lobby and travel a short distance by taxi to the Civil Affairs Office to wait for Cora.

The hotel was very nice and after calling home to let them know we were safe we went to bed. Well, not exactly right to bed. I had to put together the children’s backpacks and stuff them with gifts and then put together the nannies gifts. I still had to put together what I wanted to bring for Cora. It felt like forever before we went to bed but at least we were so tired that the worry about the next day did not keep me up all night.

I am so close to finally holding my daughter!

Sorry no posts while in China!

We were not able to post while in China. Once we were home Cora decided that we should not be on the computer. She is very convincing when she knows what she wants. I will post the progress of our trip as if we were there so everyone can see how the adoption progressed as well as updates and pictures of how she is doing at home.

Cora is a very happy, busy girl and we are so glad that she is part of our lives!

On our way!

I can't believe that we are finally on the way! I am trying to get the finishing touches on our packing and then off to bed. We will be up early to make it to the airport on time. Two more days until Cora is finally ours!

"Leaving on a Jetplane"

My husband walks around the house singing the old song lyrics "leaving on a jet plane; don't know when she'll be back again". I am not quite sure how to feel about this. Is he happy I am finally leaving to bring Cora home in 10 days OR is he hoping I will not come back? I will stick with the first one!

This is the copy of our itinerary:

 

3/31     Arrive in Shanghai on flight DL181 at 2:50 pm. A guide will meet and escort you to the train station so you can travel to Hangzhou by bullet train. Your guide will meet you at the train station and escort you to the Ramada Haihua Hotel.

4/1       Meet and take custody of Cora (Shu, Yan) at the Civil Affairs office

4/2       Complete adoption paperwork and travel by bullet train to Ningbo where you will stay at the Crowne Plaza City Center Ningbo Hotel.

4/3       Complete adoption paperwork and visit the orphanage if approved

4/4       Return to Hangzhou by bullet train

4/5       Fly from Hangzhou to Guangzhou.

4/6       Visa medical examination and TB test

4/7       City tour

4/8       City tour

4/9       Free day

4/10     Pick up medical documents and prepare for the visa interview with the help of your guide

4/11     Visa interview at the US Consulate            

4/12     Pick up Cora’s visa then take the train to Hong Kong where you will stay at the Harbour Plaza Hotel

4/13     Depart Hong Kong

 

10 MORE DAYS UNTILWE TRAVEL TO CHINA TO BRING CORA HOME!

We are going to China! March 30, 2013

We have our Consulate appointment on April 11, 2013 which means that we will finally get to hold our beautiful daughter on April 1^st! We have been waiting so long to hold her, tell her how much we love her, and will always keep her safe.

2 weeks to finish everything in Cora’s and Sasha’s bedroom, finish making backpacks for the children that we are filling with gifts and treats, and shopping for the Ayi’s. I am very close to being done with all of the shopping and just need to find a way to get it all in one suitcase.

Then the hard part starts; being in a country when you do not know the language, being totally dependent on others to complete something so important to us. Having to keep calm, happy and smiling even though you are so scared something bad will happen and you will not be able to do anything about it. We just have to trust that we are doing what we were called to do and that the plan will work because it was meant to be. It is the hard times that show us how hard it can be to keep the faith.