Catching Up- One Week Together- First Day in Guangzhou!

We woke up Saturday morning and after getting ready, headed down to the breakfast area for our first breakfast at the Garden.  A lot of choices again, which was nice! :)   Lovin' the little doughnuts- of course that's not healthy, but with the amount of lunches we have been skipping I think the extra calories weren't too bad! :)   They took us back into a side wing of the restaurant where we saw a few other adoptive families.  What a joy to see!   It is so amazing to me to see other families united and all of the children that are now a part of a forever family and no longer orphans.   Praise God!  A friend of mine who adopted from the same orphanage as us said it best- it's like a little piece of heaven here on Earth!  Sure is! :)   I have been a social butterfly here, but I can't help it!  I love talking to these families and I love talking about adoption and about children with special needs.  After breakfast, we met in the lobby at 9:30 a.m. to go to the medical clinic where our children would have their visa photos taken, be given a medical exam that would consist of three parts- a basic exam and heart check, a visit with the ENT to check ears, nose, and throat, and a room where they would be weighed and measured.  All children over two had to be given a TB test as well, which we would have to come back to have read. 

Once at the medical building, we headed up the elevators to a room packed with Chinese families and a handful of other adoptive families that were not a part of our group (with other agencies).   We first took the visa picture- Lena only had to sit on a chair and have her picture taken at this point, but leaving my arms was enough to set her into major tears and hysteria.   Her visa photo is not a happy picture.   Life goes on.

Then we waited awhile for the visits to the three rooms I mentioned above.  This is where our 3rd sort of bigger meltdown/tantrum occurred.   We hadn't even gone into any of the rooms yet, but it was clear that Lena was getting overwhelmed.   We worked through it with her- I am pretty sure most of the other families were either thinking 1.  I am glad it is not my child.  2. I feel so bad for that family or 3. Poor little girl.  My heart hurts for her and all that she is going through.   She yelled and cried through the height and weight part so I do not even remember what they were.  Finally she calmed down and didn't do too bad with the medical exam, which was quick, and she did great with the ENT (that's going to be important down the road).   He used this very high pitched squeaky toy like you'd give a dog to play with and she did seem to hear a little bit from her right ear.  She is completely deaf in the left ear.   It seems to us that she can only hear VERY loud or high pitch noises in her right ear- like construction work or fireworks maybe.  She cried a little for the TB test but handled that much better than she did the visa photo.  Gotta love kids!   Finally we were out of there.  Talk about a warm welcome to Guangzhou for these kids- geesh.

Not long after we got back to the hotel, it was lunch time...so we headed down the street to grab a quick bite to eat at McDonald's.  See story below for a good laugh!  Then it was back to the hotel for nap time.  During nap time, I headed to a meeting with one representative from each family to take care of some paperwork for the US consulate- visa stuff.  That took us an hour or more.  From there, many of the families met up in the lobby and we all headed to a Thai restaurant called 'Cow and Bridge.'   It is highly recommended by families who have traveled to Guangzhou before.  We sat with the wonderful Goble family from Illinois who is hear adopting their 2nd Chinese daughter, Presley.  She is around the same age as Lena and is a cutie pie!   She is always matching her adorable sister, Piper who was adopted from China a few years ago.  Piper and Evan have become buddies and hit it off. :)   They also have two biological children who are just wonderful.   We have enjoyed getting to know this sweet family better!   We had some on and off fussing at the restaurant, but all in all, we had a great time.  The food was very good.  We had chicken fried rice and sweet and sour chicken.  Evan loved his Sprite!   From there it was back to the hotel where I talked to a few other wonderful moms here about their children and their children's special needs and a whole lot of other stuff.   There are some amazing people here and they have inspired me for sure.  

The new building where the medical exam is done- off the island now.

Lunch at McDonald's with my friend Heidi and her family and Tammy and her daughter.

I hope Heidi won't mind, but I have to share the most hilarious thing I have seen yet- we are all sitting in the wicker chairs outside of McDonald's and this sweet little girl had to got potty but didn't tell her family...instead she just pulled down her pants and started going right there on the sidewalk in front of the whole world!  And she had to go BAD....it seemed to last forever and all we could do was laugh!   The funny thing is- Tammy's daughter did this in province also.  I think it is just the Chinese way for little kids. :) 

Dinner at Cow and Bridge with many other adoptive families! :)

Not a happy camper for this bath...I think she really just doesn't like her face getting wet and her hair getting washed.  She thoroughly enjoys playing in the bathtub though!