Adoption is Final!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of events. We returned to the Registration office where Gotcha Day happened just the day before to finalize Arrayah's adoption. I just don't understand why this has to be, taking the kids back less than 24 hours where their lives forever changed and most are terrified. Our guide, Vivian explained to Arrayah what was happening and Arrayah did fairly well. So, as far as the U.S. government is concerned, our adoption is final. The State of Nebraska does require us to go to court and complete an adoption process there, so after we are home 6-7 months, we will go to court and have it made official with the state, which is when she will also get a birth certificate! After we got to celebrate, we left there and went to the Notary office. We climbed the 5 floors and had all of our documents submitted for notarizing and whatever else they do there. We returned to the hotel for a quick lunch, which was some left over pizza from the night before. We had pizza at the hotel last time, but boy it is so much better than before. We definitely will be ordering it again.

We then made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Luoyang, the city where both Arrayah and Anna were born. It is now required that you return to the city where your child was born to apply for his or her passport. Again, less than 24 hours after their worlds are turned upside down, we make the trip back with the kids. We are luckier than some families, as according to CCAI, some families must travel 5-6 hours one way back to their child's city. Our rep told us they are trying to get this changed, but so far, this is what the Henan province is requiring.

I had asked about leaving earlier, since our paperwork didn't take very long in the morning, which thankfully, our driver and guide were able to do. We headed straight to Maria's Big House of Hope once we got to Luoyang. The city orphanage that Arrayah and Anna both spent time at, is now built right beside MBHOH and boy has the entrance changed. It used to be just this dirt path that seemed to come out of no where and now it paved and has a gate you enter through. We were so disappointed to hear from Stephanie when we were at New Hope that when the orphanage was built, they took out the amazing play area for the kids. In it's place, a huge decorative rock and what is suppose to be a "pool" but it is more like a cement path. We were told that it is "disgusting" so obviously the "pool" isn't used. What a waste. So many volunteers worked endlessly to make an amazing play area for the little ones and as a parent, it made my heart happy the kids had such a great place to play and be a child. All gone. I don't think the priority was necessarily on what the kids needed when the orphanage was built, or at least when they made the play ground get removed.

Once we get past the now gone playground, we walked into the magical home of Maria's Big House of Hope! I wish everyone could experience this place just once. The love that is inside this home is life changing! It makes me so happy that both of our girls were loved on here! We got to meet some of the folks that I felt like I knew from facebook, but never had personally met, as well as reconnecting with some that we previously met 2 years ago with Anna. It was amazing! Everyone swarmed in and was all over Arrayah "Er Lian!" It makes a mamma's heart happy seeing how much our baby girl was loved! Some commented how it was hard seeing Arrayah "like this" so quiet, as she is usually so bubbly and full of mischief. Slowly we are seeing her smile and being more relaxed. I said after how Anna was initially, I can handle just about anything! Arrayah is quite and withdrawn, but nothing like little Anna was. So we just hung out and talked and shared our story on how we ended up matched with Arrayah, which we truly believe was God's will for us. It was so great that the folks that were in the room with us yesterday, Dan, Mikey, and Becca were some of the ones who took the kids on an outing and then to McDonald's over a year ago. It was that posting and a picture of Arrayah eating ice cream that Bethany saw on Show Hope's website and ran upstairs emphatically stating "we need to go get her" and thus, our path was started to bring Arrayah home! I loved that it felt full circle and that they made a difference in us having our girl! One simple picture, made the difference in our lives and our sweet girl's!

After we left Arrayah's room, which was the Jungle Book Room, we went back to Anna's previous room, The Tinkerbell Room. You know it still amazes me how much Anna loves Tinkerbell! In fact, before we left, we celebrated Anna's birthday (which is TODAY) and she wanted her decorations to be Tinkerbell. We walked in and the nannies immediately recognized us! They were excited to see pictures of Xue Bin! Mikey talked about Anna being so "straight faced" when she was at MBHOH so we love that we get to update them on our sassy, sassy girl! She is no longer straight faced nor quiet! They loved hearing how great Anna is doing and how her personality has blossomed. Once Arrayah becomes more comfortable, she will fit right in with her personality! We also got to see a couple of the kiddos who were asleep last time, Fahlin and Judah. As soon as Judah saw a picture of Anna, he exclaimed "Xue Bin!" Oh he is such an amazing boy! I hope he gets his family soon. We were also able to give Fahlin a blanket that our friend Jennifer's class made for her. I am so glad these students have learned about caring for orphans. One simple blanket, made with love, can change make such a difference for this little girl! Fahlin is loved by so many and sadly because of the seriousness of her heart condition, will not be able to be adopted now. I still hope and pray her heart is improved and she can go to her family. We also took a couple of bags of clothes and bibs for some of the other kiddos. I had to point out that the bags were cloth bags from Trinity Lutheran School, where Beth went to school from preschool through 8th grade. I LOVE that we got a little of Trinity at MBHOH! So our time quickly ran out, and Vivian had to remind us twice we needed to go. SIGH! Bethany has talked about coming back on a student trip and I hope she does. A few hours is just not enough time.

So we left and headed over to apply for Arrayah's passport. We were greeted by two children squatting in the parking lot and side walk, peeing away. I am not sure I will ever get use to that, but that is common here. In fact when were driving back to Zhengzhou, I saw another girl peeing and her mom, wiping her up, right there on the sidewalk surrounded by lots of people...no big deal here. Our trip back was MUCH longer, it was a Friday night, during rush hour, so we sat and sat. We finally got back and talked to Vivian about options for our weekend. We have several "free days" coming up, so we will be going out and exploring. We also got some information about various restaurants. Although we loved the pizza...we are NOT going to eat it everyday. We are in China...we will eat KFC, Pizza Hut...oh yes and some authentic Chinese Food! So we went to a nearby restaurant and had some supper and then came back and crashed. These adoption trips are not necessarily "vacations." They are exhausting, emotionally and physically, but so worth it!

Hopefully we will be able to skype with the kiddos here soon this morning. It is Anna's birthday here, July 20th, but still the 19th at home. Two years ago, we celebrated Anna's birthday with her in China! I hate not being there with her for her birthday, but she being well cared for and I know will still get to celebrate!

Here are some pictures from yesterday!