First 24 hours together

The first 24 hours together has been extraordinarily amazing! I came into this journey with little to no expectations thinking I didn't want to set myself up for some sort of failure. My plan was to be flexible to Hannah's needs whether they were emotional, physical or otherwise. I could not have predicted that she would be so advanced in so many area.

She spent the first few moments at the Civil Affairs office in complete shock. She knew that we were her new mommy and daddy but she only recognized us from the pictures we had sent. She was confused that we were actually real people not just images on a glossy sheet of paper. Our guide, Jin (we call her Jane), helped Hannah process this through. Hannah kept calling for her caregiver "au pua" and she sobbed, hard. She spent at least 15-20 minutes crying in each of our arms. I don't know what Hannah was thinking, but I'm sure she was very sad to leave the life that she had known for so long. We tried showing her some of the toys we had brought, but she wanted to open a "Barbie" doll that her caregiver gave her before she left. She kept telling us in Chinese that "my mom bought it." We eventually gave her some watermelon from the breakfast buffet at the hotel. She devoured this in a minute, and even drank the juice at the bottom of the bowl. When we started to head back to the hotel in our van, she quickly fell asleep in Jen's arms. It was only a 10 minute drive, so she was still tired when we got to the hotel. Hannah was up early to make a 2 hour train ride to Nanjing from Suzhou, and she was exhausted by all of it.

At the hotel, we picked up a quick lunch from KFC and Hannah fell back asleep on our bed in her orphanage clothes, all three layers. She was so hot and sweaty. The hotel runs the air conditioning only in the summer and it was turned off a couple weeks ago, so this only compounded the heat issue. I called for a fan and opened the windows, but it was nearly useless in bringing the temperature down. We continue to suffer a warm room today despite another call late last night, really a desperate plea to try to get some cooler air for sleep.

When she awoke from her nap, we decided to go for a little walk in the neighborhood to get some snacks and water at the grocer. We saw some interesting things on our walk (see below). Eventually, we got back to the hotel room and got Hannah out of her clothes and into the tubby. She was eager to get cleaned up from the sweaty nap and all the walking. All refreshed and ready for the evening, we ordered out some authentic Chinese cuisine. Lo mein noodles, white rice, broccoli and sweet and sour pork. Actually, Jin ordered this for us, we really didn't care what she fed us, we were all hungry at that point. Surprisingly, the meal was very delicious, especially the broccoli!!!

Last night was choppy sleep. Hannah woke us up around midnight kicking and punching the air. She was grunting and making lots of noises. She was having a night terror or a menacing nightmare, either of which she was not responding to my calm back rubs and rocking. She eventually calmed down when Jen laid down next to her and simply rested her arm on her. They have a special bond.

This morning we headed out to the Civil Affairs office again to officially sign (and fingerprint) all the formal documents needed to finalize Hannah's adoption. She was noticeably frightened as we walked back into the office. She clearly remembers all that happened the day before. Jen said she was holding her tighter than she has up until this point. We arrived to the office before the orphanage workers, so we sat down. Soon after, they entered the room and Hannah's face quickly brightened up when she saw those familiar faces. I watched Hannah's face closely to see if this would last. It didn't. Just as quickly as she smiled to these women, she pulled tightly into Jen's chest. I'm not sure of Hannah's real story, but I would venture to guess that it may not have involved much with these two women (the deputy director and the lead orphanage nanny). It was then our turn to meet with the Chinese official regarding our purpose of adopting a girl from China and to swear to never abandon her. We signed all the paperwork and paid our dues/fees. And that was it! We were officially named Hannah's parents forever! All of those months leading up to this moment, it was actually really emotional for me to see our picture (which they took the day before) on that official document. For me, it was like receiving a huge affirming "YOU DID IT!" The paper chase is now over and we finished successfully and victoriously!!

A few minutes of bonding in our room on the hotel sofa

We decided to take a walk to the grocery store to get a few items. Hannah was really hungry and we thought we might need a few more snacks.

We saw people eating these at the Great Wall, but we couldn't identify them out of their packaging. Looks like pickled chicken feet?

Grabbing a few snacks at the grocery store. We passed on the cucumber flavored Lay's potato chips.

A street artist's rendition of the Mona Lisa in rainbow chalk

Street food...avoiding it at all costs. No upset tummies here.

On our way back to the hotel we saw a bunch of firemen in the street training for the real deal.

A view of our hotel, Mandarin Garden Hotel Nanjing

We had a few more minutes to burn before meeting our guide, so we walked down a boulevard outside of our hotel. It is very similar to Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. We got plenty of looks from the locals.

Hannah would not let us take off her clothes, so she walked in probably 70 degree weather with a coat, two long sleeved shirts and sweat pants. And those adorable shoes that wouldn't stay velcroed down.

Hannah is a little "ham", she knew how to put a phone to her ear, so I taught her to say "hello." We did this for hours last night. She got a kick out of it and eventually she was putting it up to our ears to say hello.

On our way back to the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing. We had to sign all the formal documents today to "officially" received Hannah into our family and finalize her adoption paperwork.

We all needed to fingerprint our signatures to authenticate the documents.

Officially a family of five!!!!

Hannah has attached to Jen so quickly. She is letting her do everything for her: bathing, feeding, grooming, comforting, consoling, napping....

Uh oh...it looks like we might have another photographer in the family!!!