Orphanage visit

Today we visited Annie’s orphanage in Shaoxing.  It was very emotional for me to visit the place that my daughter spent her first nine years. I was basically a puddle of tears. L The orphanage is a VERY good one—the children are obviously loved and well cared for, and the place is bright and cheery. But still—the rows of beds with bamboo sheets for mattresses, the baby room with a dozen adorable babies laying around on the floor—it is just heartbreaking that these children do not have families. (They asked us not to take photos, by the way, so we cannot show you the adorable faces we saw.) And more heartbreaking is the thought of what will happen to these kids if no one adopts them. Life here is very hard for orphans. This orphanage just started doing international adoptions this year (which is why Annie had not yet been adopted.) In China, there are over 500,000 orphans by most accounts, and only about 15,000 are available for adoption.  Many orphanages just don’t bother to prepare children's files--they lack the resources to have the medical evaluations done, to prepare the files for the government, etc.  

Annie was thrilled to show us around her home, introduce us to her nannies and friends; she told them that she was already very happy with her new family.  I had some time to chat with the director and her assistant and they told me that they knew Annie would do well---that she is very kind-hearted and adaptable. I have seen that already—she is unbelievably kind and considerate of Ellie---honestly, I couldn’t have hoped fro a better start for the relationship between these two.  

After we got back to the hotel, we again went to the girls’ favorite spot---the POOL! They make women and girls wear bathing caps here (but not men and boys---ahem!). Oh well, it did make for adorable pictures! (of the girls, at least—not so much for Michelle and me. J)

It's Official!

Just a quick update today--we are having issues with the WiFi in the hotel.

Anne Maureen Gallagher is officially my daughter! We went for a lovely little formal adoption ceremony in the Civil Affairs Office, and then the obligatory trip to a Chinese Walmart, which is always hilarious! In the afternoon, we went to the hotel pool, which was I think the highlight of Annie's day! She is doing just great!!  We are off this morning to visit her orphanage, so I will try to post more later tonight.

Sisters!

I am not sure I could even put into words how amazing this day was, and how lucky I feel to be the mother of these two little girls. Annie came into the room at the Civil Affairs office, looking a little shy and scared. I walked over to hug her, and Ellie pretty much jumped in her arms saying, "Ni Hao Annie, don't be scared, it's OK. I'm your sister!" :-)   The two of them have been pretty much inseparable all afternoon. As I watched a room full of children find their families today, children from age 2 to 14, I was struck by the absolute miracle that this whole adoption process is. There are just no words . . . .SO grateful to God for my daughters. and for all of the people who helped to bring "God's promise" and "God's grace" to me today. :-)

You know you're in China . . .

Ooooh, the jet lag is tough on this trip--yesterday on little Ellie, and today on Mommy and Aunt Michelle.  Hoping we all feel a bit better to greet Annie tomorrow. So, here are some chuckles of the day from China:

Our room service menu:

I especially enjoy my jellyfish with vinegar; don't you? :-)


Ellie contemplating hot milk vs. cold milk at breakfast:

And our personal favorite, the "old school cash register:"

Yup, that's an abacus!! :-)

We're here!

We finally made it to China! It was a long, crazy trip. The international flight was fine, and Ellie was AWESOME on the flight! We expected that to be the worst of the travels, and were due to transfer to a short flight to Annie's province later in the day. Well, there is this little ummm......TYPHOON hitting China right now that has wreaked havoc with flights. Anyway, long story short, we arrived at our hotel at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday after 30 hours of travel!  We are beyond exhausted (especially my little trouper), but happy to finally be here. Will just catch up on sleep and relax today and tomorrow (we expect heavy rain from the typhoon, but nothing terrible in this area), and we get Annie on Monday at 9:30 a.m.!

Well, the day is ALMOST here!!! We leave early in the a.m. and have a good 20 hours of traveling to get to Annie's province (non-stop LONG flight to Guangzhou, then a short layover, and short flight to Hangzhou.) Then some rest and catching up to the time zone for the weekend, until we become a family of THREE on Monday!

Will be able to Skype with Annie one last time tonight, and FINALLY answer the question she has been asking each time: "WHEN are you coming?"

NOW, little girl!! We are coming NOW!  :-)

The beginning of the adventure . . . 

As soon as I saw her, I knew. My daughter. I can't explain to you how that happens, but I just knew. It was late August, and my agency had emailed a newsletter with pictures of children on the front page.  There were about six children on the page, all adorable, all amazing, but as soon as I saw her, I knew. But then, if I am really an honest storyteller, I should tell you that  I said to myself, "NO, OH NO, you cannot even think about it. You're not ready. Ellie is still young. You don't have the money yet. Just STOP---stop looking at her. And you know nothing about her. You don't even know if she is available for adoption---she could be a child who is already home!" And I deleted the email.  And tried to put that little face out of my mind. I assumed she had been adopted. 

Two months later, I was speaking with Charlotte, the social worker from my agency, in preparation for sending Ellie's two-year report to China (it's something we agree to as adoptive parents so that China knows that children adopted here are doing well.) I shared that I probably would go back for a second daughter, but not now--- maybe a couple of years from now, and she made a face. You know---that face that says, "REALLY, why not now?" And she said, "Well, OK, but why don't you at least speak with our China coordinator, because we have this really great orphanage partnership now, and I happen to know that there is a little girl there with albinism. You should at least speak with her so she knows you're interested in going back eventually." Yeah, eventually. :-)

A few days later, I found myself waiting for an email with the file of a little eight-year-old girl, after hearing from the China coordinator (who had spent some time with her in China) how amazing, smart, and spunky she was. And of course, my heart and head were arguing with each other.  Some of you know the story of the ups and downs with Ellie's adoption process. At the end, when I was ready to give up, I truly just prayed that God would give me a clear sign about the child that was meant to be mine. And so again, as I waited for this file, I prayed for a clear sign. 

Annie has a Chinese name, but as some of you know, when agencies begin to advocate for children in order to find families for them, the agencies assign them an English name, both for privacy purposes and just for ease of talking about them to prospective parents.  And speaking of names, my plan for when I went back (you know, "eventually" :-) for a second child was to name her Annie. My Mom's middle name was Ann, and it means "God's grace."  Elizabeth (Ellie's full name) means "God's promise," so I figured they would be a great pair:  God's promise and God's grace! :-) 

Anyway, as I opened the file of that little girl with albinism, AMAZINGLY I saw the face of the little girl I had seen two months earlier, and my heart began to race. And THEN, I scrolled down to see that the English name the agency had assigned for advocacy was . . .  you guessed it . . . Annie.

And so, the adventure began!