Kirby's Forever Family Day 1 & 2

Written- 10:50 AM EST, 10:50 PM NanChang

We left the hotel in Bejing at 5:30 AM (Monday) and headed to the airport with 3 other couples adopting from the same province.  It is the most unbelievably huge and beautiful airport I have ever seen. Before the flight the 8 of us prayed for our day and our children. It was so amazing, in the middle of the Bejing airport, to bow and pray aloud. I'm sure we had plenty of stares. We had been told that we would arrive in Nanchang and go to our hotel and then at 3:00 we would go to the cival affairs office where the girls would be. But when we arrived in Nanchang our local guide told us that the babies where already in the hotel lobby and we would be there in 1 hour. After all the moms instantly started crying and the guide was prompted to ask, "you do know you are getting babies?" Well then we were laughing and crying all at the same time. When we got to the hotel we went up to the second flour and the doors opened and there they were!!!!!  They took a few minutes to hand each child to the mom and take some pictures. We were the last couple to be presented our child. She came straight to me and grabbed the rattle I had and then just stared at me. No crying at all. Attatchment is such a major issue with children who have been in an orphanage. We have been praying for months  that the Holy Spirit surround her and comfort her and that when we get her she feel that same Holy Spirit in us and be comforted. Certainly God has ben faithful to answer that prayer because she has taken to me right away. God is good!!

We went the Cival affairs office that afternoon and filled out more paper work. It was a room on the 26th floor with only a free standing ac unit, so it was hot hot hot. While David, the paper work captain, was doing paper work, I took Kirby over to her nannies who where there also. I wanted to watch how they interacted with her and try to learn some more about her. They started making a clicking noise to play with her. I would try to make the same noise but they would laugh and laugh at me. This probably went on for 20 minutes. The rest of the day we spent in our room just looking and playing with her. We have been given some formula and told she likes a very hot bottle, other than that we are just guessing, but David, the bottle captain, got it right.  She takes a bottle so hot that she sweats  when she drinks it. We skyped  with the children for a bit and then she fell asleep about 8:30. We only realized then that we had not eaten lunch or dinner and had only had breakfast on the airplane, so we ordered room service and went to bed.

She woke up at 6:30 on Tuesday. We had left her in her clothes from the orpahnage for the night. Our guide suggested that the smell would be familiar to her and help her.  So this morning we gave her a bath and dressed her in an adorable dress and leggings. We have to dress her warmly until she gets used to air conditioning which she has probably never had. We tried to give her a little congee (a rice dish like oatmeal) but she did not care for it. Then we went to the notary's office (more like a judge) where we were inteviewed again. They asked the same questions as the interview the day before. "Do you like your baby?, "What do you do for a living?", "Do you promise never to abandon or abuse her?".  We answer nicely but I always want to scream "I love her and I would never dream of hurting her or leaving her!"  David did answer yesterday "We love her!"

Shopping at Walmart with all our new children

Then we headed to WalMart, and just like at home we ran in for diapers and left over an hour later with a cart full. The WalMart is 2 stories and was quite an adventure. You can't read anything. David needed shampoo and we can only hope that is what we bought. There is also a fresh food section with fish and turtles and snakes and smelled much too strong for me so Kirby and I just walked around. Thats when the people, especially the ladies, would come up and just look at Kirby and try to talk to me. They were all very sweet and smiled so genuinely. One young boy wanted to practice the one English phrase he knows and ran up to me to ask "Whats your name?". He was so proud of himself he dashed off to tell his mom before I had finished answering. 

Tonight we walked to KFC for supper. It's about 4 blocks and was like stepping into a different world. Our hotel is completely modern and very nice, but as soon as you get just one step away nothing at all is familiar. Again, more stares. In KFC we were offered an English menu and we pointed to the picture of what we wanted. It makes me more understanding of the difficulties the deaf have in our own community. 

Kirby is doing great on her first full day as a Dennis. She can sit for much longer periods and rolled over a few times today. She even scooted about 6 inches to reach a new toy (WalMart item). But best of all she seems happy to see David and me. She played on the floor a long time with David today and will go to him more readily today. All day I have had in my heart the prayer of Hannah in Samuel, "For this child I have prayed and the Lord has granted my petition". Those words take on a whole new meaning when we have waited so long for her and finally hold her in our arms. We thank and Praise God for choosing us to be the parents of this beautiful child.