It’s actually the early morning hours of Day 3 for us right now but I’m working on getting caught up on our posts. I’ve been up since about 4:15. This time change has been kicking my butt. Top that with being on such a wonderful high since getting Lila – it makes for very little sleep.
So, yesterday was Day 2 (Tuesday) and we had a very nice day together. Lila had a rough night (which meant I had a rough night). She didn’t want anything to do with her crib so she ended up in bed with me. Our room here at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha has 2 beds but they are tiny. I would say they are in between a twin and a full. Not big enough comfortably for 2 adults so we have been sleeping separately. Lila woke probably every hour scared and crying. I would pick her up and walk for a bit and she would fall back to sleep. According to our paperwork the nannies would have to do this sometimes to help her sleep. It works!
We went back to the Civil Affairs Bureau for all the official paperwork here in the Hunan Province. We had 2 short interviews asking us questions about our intentions adopting her. They asked us if we were happy with her and made us promise to never abandon her. Then we were able to meet briefly with the 2 orphanage directors. One is a man and the other is a woman. Right after we walked into the room, before our actual meeting he came over to us. He was smiling and calling Lila by her nickname: Chen Chen. It was very sweet. He took our picture with Lila. When we did actually meet, they were both very nice. She reached out for Lila and started to speak to her in Mandarin. Lila reached right out for her. She held her for a few minutes while we were asking them some questions about her orphanage and the town that she is from. Our guide Daphne was interpreting for us. I couldn’t believe it when they told me that there are only 20 children in the orphanage right now. I knew that it was small but I didn’t realize that it was that small. We asked a few more questions and then we thanked them both for taking such good care of Lila and for loving her. It was emotional for me to see the orphanage director hold Lila. Lila was obviously very loved and when she handed her back to me we both had huge tears in our eyes. I cannot imagine what a difficult job it would be to take care of these sweet babies and then let them go.
The rest of our day was very low-key. We hung out in the room and then went out on a little shopping excursion in the afternoon. We bought a few more dresses for Lila and 3 pairs of shoes. The prices are insanely cheap. The shoes were like $3-5USD per pair. I have a strong feeling that my shoe addiction will be passed down to little Lila.
One of the best parts of the day was the evening. She let Daddy hold her for a few minutes! It was so good to see. I was teary (of course). I had to snap some pictures. I wonder if she’ll be a Daddy’s girl. They say that things really turn around by the end of Day 3. I’m praying that her heart remains open to us and that Daddy gets to experience her in the way I have.
So, yesterday was Day 2 (Tuesday) and we had a very nice day together. Lila had a rough night (which meant I had a rough night). She didn’t want anything to do with her crib so she ended up in bed with me. Our room here at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha has 2 beds but they are tiny. I would say they are in between a twin and a full. Not big enough comfortably for 2 adults so we have been sleeping separately. Lila woke probably every hour scared and crying. I would pick her up and walk for a bit and she would fall back to sleep. According to our paperwork the nannies would have to do this sometimes to help her sleep. It works!
We went back to the Civil Affairs Bureau for all the official paperwork here in the Hunan Province. We had 2 short interviews asking us questions about our intentions adopting her. They asked us if we were happy with her and made us promise to never abandon her. Then we were able to meet briefly with the 2 orphanage directors. One is a man and the other is a woman. Right after we walked into the room, before our actual meeting he came over to us. He was smiling and calling Lila by her nickname: Chen Chen. It was very sweet. He took our picture with Lila. When we did actually meet, they were both very nice. She reached out for Lila and started to speak to her in Mandarin. Lila reached right out for her. She held her for a few minutes while we were asking them some questions about her orphanage and the town that she is from. Our guide Daphne was interpreting for us. I couldn’t believe it when they told me that there are only 20 children in the orphanage right now. I knew that it was small but I didn’t realize that it was that small. We asked a few more questions and then we thanked them both for taking such good care of Lila and for loving her. It was emotional for me to see the orphanage director hold Lila. Lila was obviously very loved and when she handed her back to me we both had huge tears in our eyes. I cannot imagine what a difficult job it would be to take care of these sweet babies and then let them go.
The rest of our day was very low-key. We hung out in the room and then went out on a little shopping excursion in the afternoon. We bought a few more dresses for Lila and 3 pairs of shoes. The prices are insanely cheap. The shoes were like $3-5USD per pair. I have a strong feeling that my shoe addiction will be passed down to little Lila.
One of the best parts of the day was the evening. She let Daddy hold her for a few minutes! It was so good to see. I was teary (of course). I had to snap some pictures. I wonder if she’ll be a Daddy’s girl. They say that things really turn around by the end of Day 3. I’m praying that her heart remains open to us and that Daddy gets to experience her in the way I have.
1 comment:
It's hard to believe, but she actually got MORE beautiful when she landed in your arms. Congratulations!
love, steph
Post a Comment