from the sky

yesterday promptly at 3 oclock we were herded into our small van for the 10 minute drive to the civil affairs office. we arrrived and entered the incredibly humid, hot building to await the arrival of the babies. there were other things going on there too so it felt really chaotic. hazel arrived first followed by sam, and much later victoria. after getting all the papers together, the signing of the “harmonious period agreement” took place. sort of a trial run so to speak. basically i had to agree to take good care of the baby for the 24 hours before the official adoption and answer some questions about why i wanted to adopt from china, and what i could provide for this child. then it was back to the hotel for a meeting with the swi folks and more official business. hazel fell asleep in my arms in the van and would likely have slept for a couple of hours but we needed to have our photos taken. so i had to do what i hate to do - wake a sleeping baby! for this province, the photo needs to be in a “strong color” so she was zipped into a red sport-themed jacket for the official photos.

after we were done, coming back to the room, i could see in her face it began to dawn on her that something had changed. her sadness spilled out, and she made "the scream" face with streams of tears. she started to fall asleep- then she would open her eyes, look at me and begin to sob. tears running down her face, her whole little body shaking. i knew to expect that but its so hard to watch and not be able to explain to her what going on. she finally fell asleep exausted at about 5 pm and woke up for a bottle later but then slept all night.she woke up reserved, no tears but not many smiles yet either.

today was the official adoption as far as china is concerned. more chaos at the cival affairs office where i placed my official red thumbprint on the adoption decree and her red footprint was stamped on the papers to signify thier legality. then on to the notary for more questioning and paperwork and it was done. legal and binding i am her mother!

when miss chen said goodbye and kissed her before she left to return to yunxiao, i was overcome with emotion. i am so grateful to her for her care of hazel while she has been in the swi, somehow thank you doesn’t quite seem to cover it.

our hotel here in fuzhou is a 20 plus story glass monolith that seems to sway slightly. through the smog you can sometimes make out the vague outline of what are rumored to be beautiful mountains. yesterday while sitting watching hazel sleep after coming back from the civil affairs office, i noticed something floating outside our window. as it drifted downward i saw that it was money- twisting and spinning on its way from somewhere above us to the ground. quite sureal. rather like becoming a mother via adoption in a chinese city half way around the globe from home.