In the eyes of the Chinese Government...it is official..she is OURS!!

(Click the image to see more photos / slideshow. Note there are 3 pages of pics)

I thought I would catch you all up on what we have been doing over the past few days in Nanchang. Sunday was Gotcha Day…the day we got our beautiful daughter! The Chinese typically bundle their babies up in layer upon layer of clothing and Caroline was no exception. When we got her she had on the little green fleece suit and orange and yellow hat that you saw in the pictures, but under that she had 2 more sets of pants and 4 sweaters. It was like peeling an onion to get down to our baby!! The sweaters were hand knit by her foster mother. We gave her a bath which you can see from the pictures…she really loves. She took a bottle and slept great the first night.

On Monday, the three of us went downstairs to breakfast which is a buffet in one of the Hotel’s restaurants. Although I think she is used to being held and fed, she sat in the high chair and did pretty well. She LOVES eggs…prepared pretty much anyway. She also loves rice and watermelon. Surprisingly, she didn’t care for the congee which is kind of a rice porridge. The babies here are used to a bottle of formula mixed with some rice cereal. They also like to drink water. She has been taken her bottle pretty well, but she has not been interested in water or apple juice at all.

After breakfast, we had meetings to fill out the official paperwork for Jiangxi Province concerning the adoption. Our CCAI representatives here in Jiangxi are Kiki and Evelyn and they have been great. They are so helpful as everything is in Chinese and of course we can not read it.

At noon the Orphanage Director came back to the Hotel to tell us more about the Orphanage and answer any questions that we might have. He took pictures with each family and gave us all two gifts. One is a Provincial coin in a lovely wooden box and the other is some soil from Ruijin which was in a beautifully wrapped package.

Jiangxi is an agricultural province where over 80% of the people are farmers...hence the soil is very important to them and their way of life. Another interesting characteristic of the soil is that it is red from the iron and other minerals. In China, the color red means lucky or good fortune and the word for red is Hong. All of the babies found in 2005 from the Ruijin Social Welfare Institute have the name Hong as part of their name.

The Orphanage Director knew each baby by name because he is the one who actually named each one. He went around the room and told each family why he had chosen the name for their baby girl. Caroline’s Chinese name is Jin Hong Mei. All of the babies have the same surname of Jin and the babies found in 2005 have the first name Hong which means red. He said that he named our baby Mei because Mei is a beautiful plum flower which grows in China. It is a beautiful and hearty flower…able to survive. He told us that they have been calling Caroline the nickname MeiMei.

Later that afternoon we took a bus ride to the Notary Official’s office where we had a short interview and signed more paperwork.

Then we went to the Wal-Mart in Nanchang. Wow…it is amazing that we would fly half way around the world and end up back at a Wal-Mart!! We all needed diapers and other baby items so it was really quite a convenience, but I have to say that this Wal-Mart is not like any other I have ever seen. It was definitely an experience. Our guides gave us a little tag to wear around our necks that explained in Chinese the reason that we were in Nanchang. When we walked into the Wal-Mart, we were like rock stars. Everyone stared at us and come up to us speaking Chinese and touching Caroline’s cheeks. They are friendly and after showing them the little tag…they would all give the thumbs up sign to us. Many of the people have never seen Westerners before and they just want a closer look and some want to practice their English. We had Caroline riding in the seat of the cart which she enjoyed and we found ourselves surrounded by about 6 Chinese people all touching her and talking to her in Chinese baby talk. Everyone was very friendly, but it is still a little intimidating I have to say.

On Tuesday, we ate breakfast at the buffet in the Hotel and Caroline decided that she would eat the congee...but no eggs. She also tried the apple juice and really liked it too. We saw the pediatrician, provided by our agency, around 11:00 am. He said that she looked very good and healthy, but prescribed some antibiotics for her runny nose and cough. The pediatrician visit was a little traumatic so after a nap…by all three of us…we bundled up and took Caroline out for a walk on the streets of Nanchang. Sean carried her in the Snugli that Sarah Mae Terhune let us borrow and Caroline loved it. The weather is cloudy and the temperature is in the high 40’s. Again, we got a ton of stares and a few folks stopped us to talk, but of course we could not really communicate due to the language barrier. Everyone is on bicycles or mopeds and they zip all over the sidewalks in between the crowds of people walking. There are little storefronts of dimly lit noodle shops where women are cooking huge pots of noodles and such and people just pop in and sit down. We saw a group of older Chinese gentleman playing some sort of board game on the sidewalk and conversing with great animation. There was an old man walking the street with two wooden barrels attached to a board that he carried over his shoulders. He would stop and serve steaming bean curd to folks on the street.

There are 4.4 million people in Nanchang…it is a large city to us…but it is not large by China’s standards. It is interesting to see the rural nature of the people and the living quarters in what appears to us as as such a big city.

Nanchang is truly such a different place and we are loving being able to experience it.
Our guides, Kiki and Evelyn keep reminding us that Nanchang is not a tourist city but they are eager to show us the flavor of Nanchang. They say that the people love to eat spicy and flavorful food. They took us to a “real” Chinese restaurant for dinner and the food and the presentation was amazing. They served steamed eggs for the babies which has the consistency of flan or custard. This is the first time I had seen steamed eggs and Caroline got so excited when she saw them. She proceeded to make quite a spectacle of herself as she ate 3 bowls of steamed eggs and them promptly feel asleep in my lap. It was hilarious. Once her little belly got full…she crashed. Kiki said that she would give me the recipe for steamed eggs since they were such a hit!

Tomorrow, we will take a half day tour to the Teng Wang Pavillion. This ancient Chinese Pavillion is a symbol of Nanchang the capital city of Jaingxi. On Thursday, we will take a tour of the country side outside of the City to get a feel for the area.

Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement. So far…things are going so well and we are truly so blessed. We thank God everyday that this little girl was meant to be our daughter. After only three days it is impossible to imagine life without her.