Family Day

First we want to say thank you to everyone for leaving us such loving messages and for your love, support, and sharing in our excitement on our journey. We love hearing from everyone!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!


What a day yesterday was and now today, it is all really unbelievable. I want to recount it before it all becomes a blur.


We woke to "Family Day" on Monday morning with so much anticipation and lots of nervousness. By 2pm we all boarded a big bus and started our trek to the grocery store. Along the way our guides gave us information about the babies, the process, the orphanages, bonding, Chinese history, economy, and culture! I think it was a tactic to keep us all from getting sick with excitement. The grocery store experience was crazy, we all had to run in this MegaStore with three floors and find the formula the orphanage used, pampers, juice, and whatever else.


Then we boarded the bus on what seemed like an endless trip to the Adoption Civil Bureau Office, with all of the traffic we pretty much crawled there. We were rushed in and told to quickly hop an elevator to the 8th floor. When we got into the room we knew the babies were in the next room and everyone was trying to get a peek. The only one we saw was a 5 year old boy being adopted, the only boy in our group. I was choking back tears the whole way in the place and when everyone saw this little boy, we all started to cry! That family went first and before we knew it, we were asked to step forward, only 4th in line, it all happened so fast. I have no idea who brought her out, who handed her to me, I never saw a face, I only saw Magnolia's. Everyone said she looked at us like she had just been waiting for us. The only thing I remember when she came out of the room was the gasp in the room exclaiming over her head of hair and then truly the room fell silent and it was just the three of us. I never heard anything else besides the two of us telling her we were her mommy and daddy and how much we loved her. She was so silent, never made a peep, never cried, and was simply stunned. She seemed to love all the kisses we were giving her and never resisted them. Soon the room came alive again and everyone went around seeing the babies with their new families. Three of the families in our group each have 6-7 year olds they adopted from China. They were wearing "Jie Jie" tshirts which means big sister. Before all the babies came out I glanced over to see them bumping hips with each other doing a "we're gonna be big sisters" dance. After all the families received their babies, these girls went around and exclaimed how adorable our new daughters were and asked their names. It was a complete delight! Then there was some signing of paperwork to do, orphanage donation to be given, and our gifts to the aunties and orphanage director. George did all of this and I really have no recollection of any of that. Then our agency guide brought around an auntie and allowed us 5 minutes with her to ask her anything we wanted and she would be the translator. One of the things I asked was who was the main caregiver of Magnolia and they quickly pointed her out...a younger woman who came over and said goodbye to Magnolia, told her I was her Mommy, and gave her a last pat and made her smile. George took pictures of us together and I feel so blessed to have that. We noticed Magnolia kept brushing her hand over her ears with all of her fingers spread until she landed her thumb in our mouth. I knew it! In one of the referral pictures, her thumb was red and I knew what that meant even though her medical report claimed she did not suck her thumb. All the babies came with colds and the room was probably 95 degrees so for a minute we thought she had a fever and possible ear infection. They asked the aunties and they said no ear infection. We have come to learn that Magnolia just loves to run her hands over her ears and also runs her fingers through her hair.

When we all received our babies we all walked out. Just like that. We walked out with our daughters onto the crowded Guangzhou streets. That was surreal to me.

The bus trip home went much faster! The second we got into our room George had to go and do all the paperwork. No sooner did George leave did Magnolia fall asleep. This was at 7pm. So, if you can imagine...you've waited for a baby for 7 years and she falls asleep after three hours of having her, we wanted more of her! She slept from 7pm until 6am without waking once. George and I hardly slept at all. Watching her and hoping she'd wake up. George was lying next to her when she did wake up and she just opened her eyes and just stared at him without making a peep. Since she went to bed before we could bathe or feed her, we did that right away. She did not make a sound, not a single sound, she just let us change her, feed her, and bathe her. We think it was her first bath and she seemed to like it.

We had to leave by 9am to go back to the Adoption Civil Bureau Office. On the way we were told that we were meeting with the notary and registrar and since the night before we were only guardians of Magnolia, today is the official adoption day! On the way we learned to say "Goodmorning" and "Thank You" to the officials. We had to promise never to abuse or abandon her and confirm that we want to adopt her.

Since all the babies are sick, the agency guide wanted us to go to the hospital to make sure they are okay and give them medicine. We all lined up and got our babies examined. Magnolia had no fever, no ear infection, but a little red throat, a cough, and runny nose. They said give her Tylenol. They also weighed Magnolia... 16.6lbs! She is very petite. She's wore 3-6month today and we had to take her out of her 6-9month sleeper because it was too big. Oh, she's so adorable her in sleeper.
As soon as we got back to the hotel and we were alone just the three of us, Magnolia started to blossom, she was no longer stunned. She was loving all the attention and throughout the day, she very very quickly became attached to me. Now I cannot leave her sight. She's just crawling but would rather be held but if she comes to look for me, she will crawl! We've been doing "mama" "dada" all day and she's already saying it. She "talks" a lot! She wants kisses all the time, she kind of reminds me of Strudel, my childhood cat, who would climb up around my neck to get as close as possible, that's what Magnolia does! :) OMG she's stolen our hearts, we are so in love. We never knew it would be this fast that she would start attaching. She makes a lot of eye contact and leans in toward us when we hold her. We feel so blessed, so lucky. She loves us like crazy and we love her like crazy.
I have so much more to share about what we've been doing and the things we are learning about Magnolia. Here's a big surprise we learned today, she has a dimple. One little dimple! I about died when we got her to smile and I saw it! It is so cute.

We quickly got to shop today and we discovered the most beautiful store where everything is made by local artisans and all proceeds go to orphanages. We were in such a rush, we just grabbed and bought. Can't wait to go back. I think we will buy one of everything in there! Oh, and you can't seem to spend money here. How wonderful is that.

More tomorrow. Don't worry, it won't be this long...ever again. It took up nap time and some of bedtime for this one. :) I'm beat.