We Have Hope!!!!

Where do I even begin?
Sunday night, we flew in from Beijing to Nanchang. Nanchang is the capitol of Jiangxi Province and Hope is from the city of Shangrao. We were very tired. On this flight, there was a very feisty group of Nanchang locals. They were hilarious to watch. They had no idea what "indoor voice" was about. They were determined to push and shove. They didn't know what half the things were in their seats, so they kept pushing the flight attendant button. One tried to figure out the headset and had a surprising "volumn-high" discovery. Owen and I were laughing until we cried.

Monday, the next day, we woke up with great anticipation. Our in-country adoption guide told us that our adoptive daughter, Hope would arrive at 11:30am. This was the moment, our family was waiting for. I was so nervous. We had our camera all ready, our video camera all charged and Hope's outfit set on her crib.

Just before 11:30am, we decided to test the video camera and guess what happened? The screen decided to malfunction. The most anticipated moment of this adoption and the little monitor breaks. So, we had to use the small view finder.

At precisely 11:30am, someone rings our doorbell to our room, Rm#1619 at the Gloria Grand Hotel in Nanchang. With cameras ready we open the door and guess who it was? It was the cleaning lady. Talk about a "downer." She's probably never seen such a disappointed set of people.

Finally, around 11:45am, someone rings the doorbell and to our wonderful surprise it was our Hope. Two female officials from her orphanage had arrived with her. They had all taken a 4 hour ride to our hotel. Hope went straight into my arms and NO CRYING. She had beet red cheeks and was dressed like the "Michelen Man." She was dressed in three layers of clothing with the traditional Chinese outfit as the outerwear. She went right into Owen's arms with NO CRYING. Faith was playing with her instantly. The caregivers provided a large can of baby formula and powdered rice cereal. This was her usual food intake. We didn't pack any formula thinking that at 14 months, she would be weaned from formula but that is not the case.


When the caregivers left, Hope didn't cry a peep. She has a cold which comes with a runny nose and chest congestion. She only cries when we try to suck the mucous out. She warmed up to her big sister Faith immediately. In fact, Faith was the first to make her smile. We're noticing that Hope has a very mellow temperament. We're not sure if this is because she's sick or that she really is a mellow kid.



We immediately bathed her and we can see some of the old scars from bad diaper rash. Her nails were all so long and filled with dirt. She has 8 teeths already, 4 upper and 4 lower.
One challenge we see is her development. At 14 months, she is unable to crawl and not even used to "tummy time." She's like a little panda bear. Our very own panda bear.


The same day, we had to go to three official places. First to the Chinese Child Adoption Affairs Dept. We took our first family picture, given a very short interview and signed documents. In the waiting area, we met a couple from San Ramon who were also adopting from the same orphanage as us. The husband was a Oakland High graduate like me. Small world.
Second place was the police dept. Third place was some other local gov't dept. All in all, Hope just went with the flow with no crying. Afterwards, we went to Walmart, Supercenter. Yes, Walmart in Nanchang. We had to buy a bottle because Hope was not used to our Advent sippy types of bottles. She didn't like the Gerber stuff either.

As for my mom, Po Po Annie, she is not feeling well at all. She either ate something bad and has food poisoning or she's got the stomach flu. She's been vomiting and has been in bed. It's been difficult caring for a baby and an elderly mom.

So today, Tuesday, I (Grace) have not left the hotel room. Only Owen and Faith have gone window shopping and swimming at the hotel pool. With Hope still very congested and my mom still sick, someone's got to stay behind. We are absolutely estatic that we have Hope and it's been love at first sight.