Our last day in Hefei

Sadly, today we left our daughter's birth city. We did the usual routine of waking up early. The sun is out here by 5:30 a.m., so our biological clocks are now adjusted to waking at the crack of dawn. We had our last breakfast at the Holiday Inn's revolving restaurant that overlooks the city and then finished packing.

Yesterday afternoon we were shown where Anna Grace's finding spot was. Ironically, it is literally caddy corner from the hotel where we are staying. We passed it at least 15 times throughout the week, and never knew it was there. This morning we took the opportunity to walk over there and take pictures. It is definitely a very public place with much hustle and bustle, which puts my mind to rest about her birthmother definitely wanting her to be found right away. I forgot to mention yesterday that we were blessed with a copy of the birthnote that she was left with. Her birthmother even included the time of birth. I know this is not a real common occurence, so it is something that we will treasure and plan on passing on to her when she is older. Also, from yesterday, as with Kai, we asked the assistant director to please write her a note for when Anna Grace was older. She did and we had our guide translate it. Another memorable piece of her past that she is blessed with.

After visiting the finding spot, we went back to the hotel checked out and were taken to the airport, joined by our guide. Our agency has been magnificent in planning out every detail of the trip and we have had to worry about nothing. Our guides now in YiWu and Hefei have both been wonderful and have gone above and beyond. Doris, our Hefei guide, was so very sweet. She was so gentle with Anna Grace and truly made sure that we were pleased and satisfied with every step of the journey in our daughter's birth city.

Our flight was non-eventful. Anna Grace fell asleep during take-off and awoke when the flight attendants were passing out our midflight snacks. How appropriate, since she loves food! :) Kai was again filled with delight as the plane went up and he beamed with joy watching the clouds go by.

We arrived in Guangzhou and were greeted by Bob, our guide, who also happened to have been our guide for part of the time when we were here with Kai. He remembered us and our stay in Guangzhou began with a great start! He checked us in to the White Swan and memories flooded my mind as we walked into the lobby filled with red couches. The same silk screen stood behind the couch that I took the picture of Kai which now graces the cover of his adoption announcement. It was almost like being home again. It was a warm feeling to see a familiar face and familiar surroundings. Shamian Island is very "Americanized". After checking in we agreed with Bob to meet in the lobby at 8:30 a.m tomorrow morning to take Anna Grace to have her visa picture taken and to do her medical. We then walked over to Lucy's for a delicious dinner. Scott savored every bite of his pork chops and mashed potatoes and it was wonderful seeing so many adoptive families with their little ones. The days will now fly by for us.

This has continued to be such an awesome and memorable trip, it's bittersweet that in a few days we will be heading home.

Saying Goodbye...starting a new life.

This morning we awoke bright and early again. We went up to breakfast and prepared for the day. Anna Grace woke up in a more cheerier mood and did not fight with me to feed her. Actually, she even let me play with her a bit at breakfast! Baby steps, but we're moving along.

At 9:30, we met our guide in the lobby and prepared for what I was expecting to be a nightmarish, hellish, emotionally charged few hours. We continued the same routine of my sitting in the back of the van alone with Anna Grace so that we could spend one on one time bonding. Today she was so much better. She laughed and we took turns giggling. The drive time to the orphanage blew by and I was loving every minute of it. I even stole a kiss or two on the way.

As we made the left turn and headed up the dirt hill path that led to the orphanage gates, I carefully watched her eyes. She knew her surroundings. My heart began to race thinking that all of that joy and glee we had just spent together would be washed away in a matter of minutes.

As the van pulled up the main building, we noticed the assistant director waiting for us outside. She greeted Anna Grace, who had now become much more stoic, with a smile. A very small smile was returned. I tried placing her on the ledge next to a statue at the entrance to take a picture, she refused to look at the camera. I figured I wouldn't push it.

The assistant director them came and carried her, as she told our guide that we would head to the Sunbeam Village apartments to meet the foster family. Anna Grace completely knew where she was going and, although a bit confused, went in the arms of the assistant director with no problem.

As we entered the building she was greeted by an older lady who apparently knew who she was. Still no reaction. We went up the elevator and turned down the hallway to meet Anna Grace's family for the past year. Suddenly there we were, standing before the two people who we owe so much to for caring for our beautiful daughter for the past year. I immediately recognized her foster mother from pictures that I had. Both she and the foster father was present, which is rather unusual because most foster fathers have permanent jobs and are not permitted time off of work. Well, he was there, and soon we understood why.

Anna Grace was the youngest of the five siblings they cared for. She was definitely the "baby" of the family. The foster father lovingly did as much of the nurturing and caring for her as the foster mother did. They had pictures of her all over a wall in the dining room. He called me over to see the pictures and my heart almost leaped out of my chest when I saw my sad little girl with the biggest, most beautiful smile on her face. (April, one of the pictures was with the pink bunny you gave her!!! Unfortunately, we did not get it back). He then pulled off the pictures from the wall and handed them to the guide instructing her to tell me that they were a gift from him.

By this time, Anna Grace was in her foster mama's arms. But, she still remained as quiet as I have seen her thus far. There were no tears, no whimpers....nothing. I could tell she was a bit confused as to what we were doing there with them, but nothing extraordinary. The small 2 bedroom apartment was immaculate, and quite spacious from what I have seen of the apartments in China. They took us to the bedroom and showed us the bunkbeds where Anna Grace slept each night (on the bottom bunk). They made sure we knew her sleeping and playing habits, including her likes and dislikes. Her foster father even went as far as to bring me her bowl so that I know how much to feed her. Then they both proceeded, at the same time, with the poor guide interpreting at record speeds to tell us how "Fengqin is such a sensitive soul." They told us to be very careful of her feelings and if she did not want to do something, not to force her because she would get upset and that she was the "star of the orphanage". They also told us that she rarely cried because they always tried to do what she wanted to keep her happy. Ummm.....ok, sure! I don't know how long that's gonna fly at the Bombardier household, but we'll definitely try and keep her happy, although I see many tears in her future if that's what she's used to. :) (As I am typing this right now, she and Kai are having MAJOR giggling fits with Scott on the bed!) The foster mother informed us that when she gets to know us she will be very active and extremely talkative. Thus far, we've seen some rough playing with Kai and her quiet singing. She loves to sing!

Our visit was about 20-25 minutes long and they thanked us for being her forever family. We assured them that the blessing was ours. At the end of the visit, the assistant director again picked her up and told her that we were going to visit the preschool and her teachers and she carried her away waving goodbye, but not before being handed by the foster mother a little purse filled to the brim with candy. There were no tears, no sad goodbyes, no emotional breakdowns. Nothing like what I expected from either party.

Again, we followed the assistant director through the grounds of the orphanage, which were also impeccable and had beautiful gardens. We went up three flights of stairs to visit her preschool. Her nanny was unfortunately off on that day, so we did not get to meet her, but we did met several nannies who lovingly kissed and hugged her. We entered the playroom where the playmates from her group were. Her foster sister was there and quickly greeted her with a big smile. We gave the nannies their gifts and I had Anna Grace pass out candies to the children. I know a couple in her group are going home to their forever families, and my mind could not help but wonder if the other ones would find homes soon. It truly is heartbreaking to know that you are leaving so many behind.

I digress. After the playroom visit, we then met with the assistant director and the director who presented us with a most valued treasure, a keepsake lifebook that had recorded in it just about every milestone that she met. The book was also filled with pictures including pictures from when she arrived at the orphanage at only 5 days old, and pictures of her with the infamous birthday package we sent! Our guide is translating the many pages of the book for us and we should have it by tomorrow before we leave to Guangzhou. I can't wait to read what's in it!

After our visit we headed back home. Anna Grace seemed fine and continued to be playful and happy, until we entered the hotel room again. I still think it has a lot to do with being in such a confined, quiet space and giving her too much time to think about the huge changes that have taken place in her life in the past few days.

We returned to the hotel and relaxed a bit before venturing off to a nearby McDonald's for dinner. Anna Grace's first taste of fast food American food. As expected, she loved it!

Tomorrow we visit her finding place and then checkout and are on our way to Guangzhou, the last leg of our journey before heading home. Thank you all for your prayers for getting us through this day. They were obviously heard!!!!

We've enjoyed every second of our trip so far, but we miss our kids and family so much! Here are some pictures from today.

P.S. Becky, thank you for your NUMEROUS efforts in reminding me about bringing back a stone from the orphanage. Even with that, I still forgot. UGH!!!!

The Hefei Zoo & Shopping

This morning Anna Grace awoke with the same sad smile. She has taken a liking to my Mom, Scott and Kai, and I of course, the main taker, is put on the back burner. She will come to me if I have something she wants, and then it will be only under her terms. She is quickly learning that I am the “term setter”. Still we do not have tears, just a very sad, little girl with deep whimpers trying to hold it all in.

After breakfast we met the guide downstairs and headed to the Hefei Wild Animal Park. I decided to sit in the back of the van alone with Anna Grace and hold her while we were driving to the zoo. It was about a 20-25 minute ride. She was not in the mood for me whatsoever and would respond to none of my requests. I could very few times pull her out of her shell by tickling her, but this time it just brought on an onslaught of sadness. The first few tears we have seen were in the back seat that morning. She cried deeply and began calling for her “YeYe”, which means grandfather. I originally thought that she was asking for her foster father, but later have found out that at the orphanage she was a very spoiled by many of the elderly residents. One particular “grandfather” was very special to her, and this is whom she was referring to.

I know that time will make things better, and I so badly wish I could communicate with her. All I can do is have patience and continue to show her that we will get through this together and regardless of her actions, I will never stop loving her.

Hefei has a huge amount of smog. This is the fifth city I have been in China, and this city has to have the worst smog I have seen yet. We have seen no sunshine whatsoever here.

Getting back to the zoo, it was a cool morning, but the humidity must’ve been 100%. You walk outside and sweat. My hair has this funky frizz thing going on. Oh, well.

The entrance to the zoo consists of probably 60 steps up this large hill. We, of course, had two strollers that had to be carried up, and two toddlers that weigh a ton when you are carrying them up those steps.

The zoo was nice. Nothing spectacular, but much nicer than I expected it to be. The highlight of the zoo for the kids, I think, was some ancient amusement rides that they went on. Kai was in his glory. He loves rides and Anna Grace did well on the first one, and really didn’t care much for the rest. I rode with her on the bumper cars, and Scott rode with Kai. It was funny to see the look of confusion on her face as to why we kept bumping our cars together.

We walked around the entire zoo and made a couple of stops for ice cream and water. Just before leaving, we saw a group of middle school students on a field trip, who quickly left the chimpanzee exhibit where they were to run to where we were and practice their English. They were really cute!

We were also excited to see they had a panda exhibit. But, to our disappointment, there was one lonely and sad panda hiding in her enclosure to try and keep cool. Again, Kai enjoyed the animals. Anna Grace could have stayed home if it were up to her. She was phased by any of it and had no intentions of playing with anyone.

As we were leaving, I decided to carry her out. I picked her up and accidentally she tugged on a small branch from a nearby tree. The branch sprang back and smacked me in the head. Oh my gosh!! She was doubled over laughing. I then realized that this was a huge amusement for her and maybe it would break the ice and draw her out of her dark day. I grabbed the branch again and pretended to let it hit me. Again, she cackled loudly. Well, after a couple of times, the game got out of hand and by then she was outright just slapping me. I quickly put an end to it, to which she didn’t appreciate and withdrew herself again.

We returned to the hotel where she played with Kai a bit, we went down to the noodle shop for lunch and then met our guide in the afternoon for some shopping.

About 3 blocks from the Holiday inn is a “walking street”. It’s pretty much a wide street shut down to traffic and lined by stores on both sides. We went to purchase our agreed orphanage donations, candy for the children and a stroller for Anna Grace. While strolling, both Anna Grace and Kai had fallen asleep. They awoke about 20 minutes later while we were in one of the department stores. Both children were drenched in sweat since the air conditioner appeared to not be working. Suddenly a sales clerk came up to me and rattled something in Chinese. The guide turned to me and said that the lady would like to know if I wanted a quilt for Anna Grace since she seemed to be cold. HUH?? A quilt. Holy cow! The girl literally was soaked in sweat. She needed a towel to dry off, not a quilt. But, I just politely smiled and said, “No thank you.”

Another thing we found with her province was that it was EXTREMELY expensive, compared to Guangzhou. We ended up buying an office shredder for the orphanage that was 3x the amount of what we would have paid for in the U.S. That’s pretty amazing considering it was made in China. UGH!

Anyways, we have no regrets. It is an honor to be blessed with another beautiful child from this amazing country and we do what we have to.

Tomorrow we visit the foster family and the orphanage. Please continue to pray for our baby girl and her healing heart.

Missing our kiddos at home…..

Scott, Ohilda, Kai, Anna Grace & Po-Po