January 9, 2007

Before any internationally adopted child can obtain a United States visa, they must go to an approved doctor who will fill out a medical exam form on the child. Thankfully in China, everyone who is adopting goes to one location here on Shamian Island. In Haiti for Micheline's adoption you had to hunt down the office of one of 3 or 4 approved doctors. Our hotel here is literally not more than one city block away, so it was very convenient.

Jeff, Caleb and I all got up very early to be... more

This is a continuation of our travel to Caleb. We are back in the States, but I will post the remainder of our trip on this blog.

January 8, 2007

We are back at the Victory Hotel which feels like home, having been here just a week ago. Before I retire to bed, I need to say that my heart is full....filled with love for the sweet little 11 year old boy who is quietly snoring in the next room. Ben sleeps silently, I so can tell just by sound when Caleb has finally dropped off to sleep.

He... more

Continued from part 1

I don't know that I have seen before the color truly drain from someone's face from top to bottom as his did. He dropped his head and when he looked up his eyes were red and welling with tears. His voice was very emotional as he said, "Well, actually, that day my mother died."

I think I felt small enough to crawl under the door as he shared his apologies for what happened that day and said in his halting English, "Actually I did come, but I was late. I know it is not excuse because it is my job and I must be there."

"You mean there is no one whom your... more

I am so glad to be back on Shamian Island where the weather is almost balmy and we are surrounded by many other adoptive families. We were starting to tire of Wuhan and the cold weather, so it is nice to have a break before we head off to Beijing which will be even colder than Wuhan.

Caleb admitted that he was afraid of flying and worried that the plane would fall out of the sky, but our guide in Wuhan assured him that he would be safe. His eyes grew large as we accelerated on the runway... more

continued from part 1

Both days of formal touring with a guide, lunch was included in our tour and they took us to fancy restaurants that were a bit too fancy for the young ones. Caleb is starting to test limits and see how obnoxious he can be and decided to put his chopsticks in his glass, bang them on his gold plated plate, etc. We told him no, but he would grin and finally a restaurant manager came over and chewed him... more

Continued from our-second-day-in-wuhan-part-3

We leave Wuhan this afternoon after finalizing our adoption this morning. We got Caleb's passport, his adoption certificate, birth certificate and abandonment certificate at two different offices and it only took about an hour total. When we were here 6 years ago for Ben's adoption we had to listen to a speech about Chinese/US relations that seemed to go on for quite awhile, but since we are the only family here this time, we grabbed the paperwork and were done. Yea!

We are more than ready to go as this city is cold, grey and filled with exhaust... more

Continued from Our second day in Wuhan part 2

After Pizza Hut which was a nice break from the Chinese food that Alyssa won't eat, we headed out for some shopping. I had hoped to hit some market type streets where we could bargain for good prices, but instead our guide took us to shops that were no different than what I could find in America. We went in a Jeans West store and bought some scarves and hats and gloves so at least we will be warmer now and won't freeze to death next week when we visit the Great Wall. What we bought is good quality, but I had hoped for cheaper prices.

After some... more

Continued from part 1...

After the paperwork, we gave the orphanage directors our gifts of blankets and knitted caps, and at least these two sweet women didn't tell us to send money instead like Benjamin's orphanage director did. They were very appreciative of what we gave them and gave us ideas for future gifts from families who have adopted from Yichang. When we left, they told us that Caleb had been a very popular and much loved child by others in the orphanage and we can see why, because he is quite the clown when he wants to be. He will have to be reigned in a little tighter because he thinks... more

Yesterday Jeff, Caleb, and I went back to the Civil Affairs office to finish the adoption registration. The first day, we filled out paperwork for the registration, and signed papers that gave us temporary guardianship for 24 hours. Then yesterday, they asked us if after 24 hours, we felt that Caleb was the same child who was promised us in our referral papers. I had to stifle a grin because Taylor had told me the day before to tease them and say we had decided we didn't want to keep him. I told Taylor that maybe we would get away with a joke like that in America, but no way was I going to say something like that to a Chinese government official. So, instead of teasing, we told them that he... more

One thing that the workers got a laugh out of, but was painful because it was at Micheline's expense was that two of the toddlers were deathly afraid of her. Having never seen a black person before, when she approached two of them, they screamed in fear. Shasha started to explain to her that they had never seen anyone who looked like her, which I was not happy with. I tried to gloss over it and tell her that they were afraid just because they didn't know her. Thankfully, none of the other children reacted this way and she was able to interact with some of the babies very positively.

As we left the orphanage, the vice director thanked us once again for coming and asked us to please... more