More about Gotcha Day

I wanted to write more about what happened on the day that we received Grace. On Monday, July 30 we went downstairs in the hotel dining room to fill out the paperwork before we were to go to the civil affairs office that afternoon. We each had to sign papers in that were written in both Chinese and English. All of  them required our passport numbers too. After we finished some of husbands and a couple of the wives went with Michael, our Chongqing guide, to the bank to exchange the US dollars into RMB, and then wire the money to the orphanage. Later DH told me that he felt funny about how things were handled at the bank. When I asked him why, he said that there was a woman from civil affairs that walked in to the bank by herself with a big bag of Chinese yuan. She proceeded to take bricks of RMB out of her bag and count it. Once the proper amount of money was counted out, the money was turned over to the bank and wired to the orphanage. Only after that did Michael collect the US dollars from each of the families. He said we would get our receipt and change later. DH said that the women took the money, over $30,000 USD, put it in her purse and walked out again. That was it, no guards, no Brinks truck, just a woman with her purse! I can't imagine feeling safe with all that cash in my purse!

So once the money was paid we met in the lobby of the hotel and rode over to the civil affairs office, which was about a 20 minute ride. We took the elevator up to the proper floor, walked about 30 feet before entering the civil affairs office area. It was white with some red decorating the walls, and was very friendly looking. We were told that the babies weren't there yet, and it would be about 10 more minutes before they got to the office.

After about that amount of time, 4 women and a man came walking in through the same entrance we walked in from, each woman holding 2 babies in their arms. We were not allowed to touch the babies, but everyone was totally excited. We were all taking pictures and trying to determine which baby was which. Grace was in the arms of her nanny and another baby. I can't remember which baby was with her, but DH and I figured out pretty quickly who Grace was. She looked so tiny! She was dressed in a black and white polkadot two piece baby outfit, and pink sandals. She looked so cute! Shortly after the nannies were done reporting in, they called all of us adoptive parents and family members into a big conference room to receive the babies. Alison, our guide, had told us the order that the babies would be handed over. We were number 2. So the first baby was being handed over, when I decided to ask one of the other adoptive moms to take still photos, while my dad took video. I was trying to show her how to use my dad's digital camera when they called our name. DH walked up and took Grace in her arms without me! I was and still am disappointed that we didn't go up together, and that I wasn't the one to take her from her nanny's arms! At any rate, she didn't cry or fuss at all. She just looked at us trying to figure out what was going on. She was so cute and sweet!

After everyone received their babies, we were brought a bag a formula and rice cereal along with one bottle already mixed and ready to give her. Grace started fussing, and we determined later that this is what she does when she needs to poop. She finished her duty, and we got her bottom cleaned up before we signed the trial adoption papers. We also were given the chance to ask Grace's nanny any questions and have them translated by Alison. Here's what we asked and her nanny's response:

Did our baby have any cribmates?
All the babies slept alone in their own crib.

Did her nanny have a nickname for our baby?
ShanShan

Was there anything that the nanny would like to tell us about our baby?
She asked us to be good parents to her, and to love her (At this point the nanny got teary eyed, so we know that Grace was well loved!)

I was also able to have both Grace's nanny and the orphanage director sign the "When You Were Born in China" book! (I asked DH to get Alison and Michael, our guides, to sign it too, but we ran out of time right then and didn't have them do it yet. I will take care  of that later this week.)

Each family had a photo taken with their baby's nanny and the orphanage director, and handed over the gifts each had brought from the US. We had brought 6 Tshirts: 3 of the Indianapolis 500, and 3 of the Colts Superbowl Champions, as our gifts.

We then all piled back in the bus and drove back to the hotel. We were to get to know our baby and decide if she was the baby that was meant to be ours before we headed back to the civil affairs office on Tuesday afternoon to sign the paperwork.

Here are some photos of our Gotcha Day.

Announcing our baby daughter Grace Minshan Coombs

We got Gracie at about 3:30 p.m. today. Everything went very well. She's had a bath and is taking a bottle now. Here are some photos of her back in our room after her bath. I'll try to post more later from her actual Gotcha time later.

Enjoy, 'cause we are!

Ni Hao from Chongqing!

We made it to Chongqing last night. The city is really beautiful. It's hilly like San Francisco, but humid and sticky like the tropics! Since we haven't had much time in our room up until now, it's been hard to blog. I think things will change today after we get Grace. We'll be in our room more, but don't know how much free time we'll have! We get her at around 3 p.m. our time, which is about 3 a.m. back home. Pretty exciting!!

I'm a little nervous, but looking forward to this big change in our lives and hers too! Please pray that all goes well, and that she is healthy and not grieving too much. Please pray to put Grace in the Lord's hands!

Here are some photos from Beijing and the Great Wall.

We're in Beijing!

We made it to Beijing yesterday afternoon without incident. We even got to fly first class for the trip from Washington, DC to Beijing. That was sweet!

According to our guide, today is the day that is meant to wear us out, so we'll sleep and be adjusted to the time difference. So we did lots today. First stop was the Great Wall. It was pretty amazing! The section that we climbed was very steep. We only climbed to the first tower because of lack of time. My dad did great. I was a tad worried about him when we were coming down, but he didn't have any trouble.

The next stop was the cloisienne (sp?) factory and jade factory. We bought a little something at each. The craftsmanship in both of these places was incredible! The people that work in these factories are truly artists.

Next stop was lunch. We had, what else, Chinese food. We had sweet and sour chicken, dumplings, some bean egg roll wraps, rice, french fries (for the little girls in our group), and some kind of stuffed fish. The fish was not a big hit. Noone from our table tried it, but most of the other food was really good!

After lunch we did the Summer Palace. I have to say that this was a bit disappointing. Too many people! Since it was Saturday, the place was packed. We did have a nice boat ride on the lake, and I bought a couple of things from street vendors. A funny story about one of the street vendors. I bought a china tea set from her, and Roger handed her the exact change to pay for it (Alison, our guide, told us beforehand to NOT have the street vendors make change), and she started saying something in Chinese that indicated she was questioning whether the money was counterfeit. I just looked at her not knowing what to say, and then all of sudden she points to a tear in the bill, and indicates that she wants a different bill. Well, if Roger hadn't been with me, I probably wouldn't have thought too much about it, other than I didn't remember the bill being torn when he handed it to her. Anyway, Roger says to her "No, it's real. Now go away!" He realized that she was trying to trick us. The scam is for the street vendor to take the real money, pass it to another person behind her, and that person to hand back the counterfeit bill with a tear in it. So the unsuspecting customer would take the counterfeit bill, replace it with a real bill, and the street vendor walks away. Now the customer is left with a counterfeit bill.

After the Summer Palace, we went to the Pearl Market. This didn't thrill me too much, as I'm not a huge jewelry person. So not too much to say about it.

Then it was back to the hotel and meet up with Alison, our guide, in her room to pay for our in-China travel. That done, we took quick showers, and headed down to dinner.

I have to say that Alison was right. I'm ready for bed. I'll post photos tomorrow, since it's taking forever to get them uploaded!

Mary can go, but YOU can't!

Those are the words we heard today when we went to get on our flight to Beijing. We arrived at ORD around 7:30 a.m. Everything was going very smoothly. DH even commented on how smoothly things went, and said he hoped that the rest of the trip went this smoothly. Shortly after that, we went to board our wide-open flight to Beijing, AND get sure-thing 1st class seats! We were called up to the desk, and the CSA asked to see our passports. We oblidgingly turned over our passports, she looked at mine - no problem. The she looked at DH's, looked at something else, and said those words "Mary can go, but YOU can't."

You know that feeling you get when the blood runs from your head, your arms and your chest? That's the feeling I had, and DH's was just totally silent. Turns out that the Chinese visa that DH has is a work visa. He can't fly into China on work visa unless he's actually working the flight. He needs a leisure visa.

Who knew? Our agency, that's who should know. When we told our agency representive that handles travel that DH had a China work visa, he asked us to send a copy of DH's passport picture page, and the visa page. We did, AND I asked at the last pre-travel meeting if it all looked good. Mike G. from our agency said that everything was good. NOT!

So, there we were at ORD. I had my ticket in my hand, the CSA asked me if I wanted to go by myself. It wouldn't much good, as I couldn't adopt without DH there. There's lots of other paperwork required when both parents don't travel to get their adopted child.

So we scrambled. DH determined that he could get his visa expedited by going to the Chinese Consolate downtown Chicago by 2:30 and fill out an application, and pay the fee. He took a taxi there, and then called me to tell me he didn't have his wallet with the all the cash in it, and he needed a passport size photo as well (which was also in the luggage he left with me). So my SIL and I rushed downtown to meet him (Praise the Lord for my dear SIL! She is the greatest!!!), and gave him what he needed. That was at 2 p.m.. We then took her kids to McDonalds, had a Coke while we waited for DH to finish. He did get his visa at about 2:50.

We are now at my DB and SIL's house to spend the night, and will fly from Chicago to Washington Dulles, and the from Dulles to Beijing tomorrow. Those are the plans anyway! Remember "the best laid plans of man...". I can't remember the rest of that quote, but you get thepicture.

PLEASE pray that we will get to Beijing tomorrow without incident! And throw in a request for us to be able to fly 1st Class for our now 13 hour flight!!!

I'm leaving on a jet plane!

 

Remember that song by Peter, Paul and Mary? Those of you that are baby boomers like DH and I are most likely singing it right now. Sing it with me...

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go.
I'm leavin on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Well, I really am leaving on a jet plane TO CHINA! We leave in the morning, and all my bags are packed, and I am ready to go, I am sooooo ready to go! Go meet my little girl, Grace!

Oh, and I do know when I'll be back again, August 11.

All that's left is the waiting!

Well, today we finished up our packing and got pretty much everything ready to leave early Wednesday morning for Chicago. I only ran into a couple of snags. The first of which was having too many liquids for two carry-ons. My dad is going to carry on some of the baby medicines we need to take in his 1 qt Ziploc bag, so that problem is solved. I just need to get the stuff down to my brother's before we leave. The 2nd problem, has a similar solution. I called in refills for my allergy perscriptions on Saturday, pills and nose spray. Well, I went in to pick them up today and the pharmacy said that they could only refill the nose spray because it hadn't been long enough inbetween when I last refilled the pills for my insurance to cover it. The earliest it could be refilled is Wednesday, the 25th. That wouldn't be a problem, but we'll be in the air on Wednesday on our way to Chicago. Argh!!! So again, I asked my dad if he would stop by and pick it up on his way to my brother's before he leaves on Thursday morning. He said he will. Both problems solved! Good thing my dad is going with us, if for no other reason than the be our packmule and assistant :-)

So tomorrow night, we'll take the girls to their respective homes where they'll be staying. Then we'll get up really early Wednesday morning to get to the airport, and we're off!

Here's a photo I took of my bags. The one on the right is my roller carry-on. The one of the left is the diaper bag that I'm using as a backpack. I have to tell all those nay-sayers, that I was able to get everything into my carry-ons AND I even was able to pack a Thermos!!! That's DD1 laying on the bed watching tv. Boy am I gonna miss her and her sister while we're away!