Adoption Day!!

I am a bit behind on posting, so I will begin in the order of events as they occured from the last time I posted and try to catch up before we get to Guangzhou, which is later tonight. I also want to say thank you for all of the comments and guestbook entries. I am trying to slowly answer email. We all gather as a family and read them....and it, no doubt, brings smiles to our faces to know that we have so many hearts with us in spirit.


Tuesday morning, June 19, we awoke to a very sad little girl. After going down to breakfast and a bit of coaxing we were able to break a little smile on her sweet face. We met the guide downstairs and headed back to the Civil Affairs office to legalize the Chinese portion of our adoption. When we arrived, we could tell that she recognized the building. She was a bit unsure of what was happening. It was raining and we scurried so she really didn't have much time to think. We then went up the elevators and down the same hallway where I had paced and sat on the floor trying to comfort her little heart, just one day before.


We again entered the room with the long tables. As we entered, the first person I notice sitting right by the door is that assistant director of the orphanage. I sort of clenched a smile and nodded hello, praying that Anna Grace would not leap from my arms into hers. She didn't!! She saw her as gave a half smile as the AD spoke to her. Then the AD turned to our guide, (who by the way has been EXCELLENT) and commented on how well she was doing.


We took a seat towards the back of the room, a bit away from the AD. The adoption legalization was very different from the process we went thru with Kai in Hangzhou last year. This was very informal. We would be called to go see the notary in the next room. We'd grab her gift, gather our papers, go sign papers and come back. This occured 3 times with three different people. It was funny because to finalize the adoption, they remove the child's shoe and rub their foot in red ink, and then press it down on the paper we signed. Well, my Mom and I were taking pictures and videoing while Anna Grace was going thru the process. Once she finished, I look down and there stood Kai with his shoes off, waving his foot at our guide. We all laughed. He, too, went thru the foot inking process. :)


Afterwards, we were called again to the other room where we stood behind the red sheet that would be our first family picture and our on red adoption booklet. I remember with Kai we stood before everyone and had to raise our right hands swearing that we would never mistreat or abandon this child and love him forever. It was very emotional for me. With Anna Grace, the questions were asked differently and we were not asked to raise our hands and swear anything. It was very business like. Regardless, it doesn't matter how we said yes, the bottom line is that we did say, "Yes, she is our daughter and we will love her forever!" Today, June 19, 2007, a little girl from Hefei SWI known as Lu Feng Qin, became Anna Grace Fengqin Bombardier, and we couldn't be happier!!!


We left there about 11:30 a.m. and went back to the hotel for some lunch and then met the guide at 3:00 p.m. to visit the countryside. We headed to the outskirts of Hefei after driving about 30 minutes. We turned on a long 2 way paved road lined with trees on both sides. After turning, we had fields on both sides. We passed many rice paddies, bean fields and beautiful areas where the lotuses were already beginning to bloom. They have a large grape festival there every year. It was neat to see the green grapes on the vines.


We continued on this road for about 5 minutes and then stopped at a small lake where a fisherman was just pulling in a small fish. We got out and took some pictures. Anna Grace was playful, but reserved. Kai was.....well, he was Kai. :)


We then crossed the street and went to a duck breeding area. There we saw hundreds of ducks. These ducks are sold, after a month of being born, to the local restaurants and villages. For some reason, this area reminded me a lot of the Napa Valley.


Again, we boarded the van (which is the highlight of Kai's days), and this time went to visit some local families. When we arrived, a lady with pretty good English approached us. She was the town's middle school English teacher. We walked down the dirt path. Kai saw all of the children and soon became excited. Anna Grace remained very reserved, but I let her follow Kai. Children came running out of the dim small, concrete homes to take a peek at the foreigners. The word had spread and many families then came out to greet us.


Kai, with his outgoing personality, gathered crowds and we were asked numerous times how did we get twins. At one point, I had seen 4 beautiful children together and asked them to line up to take a picture. I need to explain something though before I continue. Kai, since he came home has this word that he loves saying, or shall I say, yelling. The word is "Mona". No idea what it means. I couldn't wait to get to China to see if it was a Chinese word. It's not. But whenever he is playing or gets excited he screams, "Mooooooonnnnnnaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" Anyways, back to the children. They are all standing against the wall. And here comes Kai, prancing over to them. He stands in front of them (they were between 9-11 years old) and yells out, "Mooooooonnnnaaaa" at the top of his lungs. The children all giggle hysterically and begin yelling, "Mona!" I take the picture of them, all of this while Anna Grace is standing wide-eyed looking at everything going on. Then a crew of about 10 more kids come on bicyles and on foot from around the corner. The four original kids tell them about Mona, and we now have a village full of kids running and laughing while screaming, "Moooonnnnaaaa!" at the top of their lungs. When we got in the van and began driving away, they followed us down the road yelling Kai's famous, "Moooonnnaaaaa". Aaaah.....it's nice to know we have taught these children something. heh.


The people of Hefei have been very nice and we've enjoyed our stay here thus far. Our trip has been magnificent. I think the days before receiving Anna Grace, God truly wanted to prepare us spiritually, and He did. Since receiving her, we have felt much peace over her grieving and are filled with patience, which we knew we would need. We love her dearly and hope that each day brings her heart a little closer to ours.


Amanda, AJ, Tito, and Adam:


I'm really missing you guys soooo much!!!!! Sending you all lots of kisses in the wind and counting down till we all are together.


Love you as much as the whole wide world.....and back again,


Mom