She's Finally Ours !!!!

Dear Maya Fans :

Boy, do we have a lot of catching up to do !!!

Paul and I arrived in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, on Sunday February 5th. We traveled by bus from the airport and arrived at the Gloria Plaza Hotel around 3 pm. We had very little time to unpack our luggage, and to put together the gifts which we had brought for the orphanage director, nannies and foster mother. At 5pm we went downstairs to the lobby and both of our lives changed, forever.

We went into a small conference room, all 20 families !!! to meet our babies for the first time. We were the first couple to receive their child. It was complete and utter chaos - and the most joyous moment of our lives. Maya was placed into our arms by one of the two nannies who came to Nanchang with the director. We were then able to return to the peace of our hotel room with our little girl. They told us that Maya had traveled over three hours by bus to Nanchang. She hadn't eaten since morning and our first meal with her was cheerios - straight-up !

We were told that the director would come to our room at 7 pm to answer any questions which we might have. Maya was the only child from Heng Feng orphanage, but we needed a guide to be our interpreter during the meeting. At 6pm Paul told me that the director and the two nannies were sitting on the floor by the elevators waiting for us. We didn't have our guide, but we invited them into our room, to at least sit at a table. It was difficult trying to communicate but we managed to offer them some tea, and they chatted amongst themselves. Unfortunately, they had forgotten to bring Maya's formula but she waited patiently until it arived. When it did, she downed it in about 30 seconds. She didn't cry, she didn't anything, she just sat there in Paul's lap.

The meeting with the director was awkward. Paul waited outside with Maya in his arms, and I asked the usual questions: about Maya's eating habits, sleeping, medical history, etc. We were told that Maya had left her foster mother about a week ago, and had been in Heng Feng SWI since that time. It was a confirmation of what I had expected would happen. We had hoped that Maya's foster mother would come, but we knew that it would be unlikely to 0ccur. We were told that Xu Xiang Feng had another child in her care, a five month old little girl.

We gave the director two photo albums which contained photos of two other little girls, Leah and Olivia. Olivia had been fostered by the same foster mother, and when I mentioned Xu Xiang Feng's name, he looked very perplexed. He obviously was wondering how I knew this lady's name. When I told him that I had corresponded by email with their mom's Diane and Lori, he smiled and looked very pleased. I told him that their little girls were very happy and that their mothers had spoken very highly of both him and the foster moms/nannies. The meeting took about 30 minutes, I think. Time has a way of standing still when your life changes so profoundly.

Paul and I had decided that we wanted to purchase a gift for the orphanage. When I asked him what he needed, he laughed. I interpreted that to mean 'everything'. He spoke to the guide, and we were told that he felt guilty - we were one family, and he was embarassed to ask us for a gift. After some persistence on my part, he told us he would think about it and speak to us later (at the Civil Affairs office the next day). I asked him if we could visit the orphanage, and he responded that it was a three hour trip each way (which we knew) . He also said that he couldn't say yes or no, because only the officials in HengFeng city could grant us a permit to visit the orphanage. Other families have received the same response in the past and some have traveled to HengFeng. A few have been welcomed into the SWI with open arms. We are still hoping to travel to HengFeng on Thursday, and our guide Mary will tell us tomorrow if that dream will materialize. I'm not a fan of the word 'impossible', so we'll have to wait and see.

Sunday night was very painful for Maya. She sobbed. All 17 lbs of her shook with each breath when we held her. Neither she nor we slept much that night. She went to sleep at 11:30, woke at 12:30, woke at 3am, woke at 5 am , and we all got about an hour of fitful sleep.

On Monday we completed some paperwork for Maya's Chinese passport and for her adoption. In the afternoon we went to the Civil Affairs office and completed the 'paper' portion of her adoption. Again, it was chaos, very warm chaos. It's about 20 degrees celsius in Nanchang and with all of our bodies in that room, it was uncomfortably warm. How families survive coming to China in July or August is beyond me. At about 5pm on Monday February 6th, Maya became our daughter. We never saw the director again.

On Monday evening, yesterday, we all slept for at least eight hours. We could sleep many more, but it was blessing for us all. This morning we went shopping at a friendship store(a government run store) to make purchases for Maya. It was quite like going to the Bay, only in Chinese. We bought some outfits for Maya, but we would have preferred to go to the local Walmart. (this from an anti-WalMart shopper !!)

Nanchang is an amazing city, and really haven't begun to explore it. Tonight Paul and I (and Maya !) went to a pedestrian mall which is near our hotel. It's warm this evening and Chinese New Year will begin soon. There are red lanterns everywhere, and we often hear small firecrackers being ignited in the streets. I hadn't expected to feel the way I do about this beautiful, strange place.


p.s. Thank-you all for your comments - we read them everyday and treasure this connection to 'Home'. We promise to take more pictures and will try to post them tomorrow. The computer is next to Maya's crib so we have to fit blogging around her schedule. All our love, Paul and Angela