Early Morning Update on Our First Day with Sarah

Well, so much for no jet lag! I was up at 3 am...Yikes! So, I might as well blog!

As was evident from the photos, our time at Civil Affairs, meeting Sarah, was very difficult and very traumatic for her. That is the reality of international adoption of a toddler for many people. However, over the course of the evening, the transformation in her was incredible. She has been having fun with us now. She was incredible at dinner! Bedtime went very well. I was right next to her and rubbed her back. She was asleep in less than 5 minutes. And she has slept soundly all night (and I can not say the same about that for myself!)

Bathtime (before dinner) was traumatic. I had Rupert put his bathing suit on and get in the tub with her. I knew washing her hair would be traumatic and it would be better for me to do that for her. She did calm down eventually. After dinner, when we got back to the room, Rupert took his polo shirt off to put an undershirt on just in the hotel room and Sarah freaked out hysterically crying. Clearly she thought he was going to make her take a bath again. Later, she had a messy BM and I decided to put her in the tub to make sure she got really clean. She took one look at Rupert and got right in the tub, clearly showing him - I CAN DO THIS MYSELF!

Today we meet our guide (Alexa) at (9:30 am) to go back to Civil Affairs to legally adopt Sarah. Hopefully returning to the same building as yesterday (minus the orphanage staff) will go alright. It should only take about an hour, and then once we are back in our hotel room we will attempt to go outside with her. It may be too overwhelming for her, but we will at least try.

Some things I want to share:

- She was NOT wearing the butterfly dress! She was wearing a t-shirt and pants I had sent her (with butterflies on them). Those were 18 months and clearly a bit snug.

- She looks very tiny, but her height is pretty good. The 24 month dresses we brought barely go past her bottom.

- She ate egg, rice, and NOODLES (LOVED THEM) at dinner. Like Aaron, I doubt she had much or any meat at the orphanage, and not a lot of chewing was necessary (probably foods were very, very soft and boiled down).

- She's very, very smart. Even with the language barrier, she is understanding a lot of our directions.

- She is very observant, watches us carefully, and imitates us. For example, she learned to take her shoes off when entering the hotel room for the first time, and did so when we came home from dinner, as soon as she saw me doing so. We played a few different games with the beach ball in our hotel room and she was able to copy what we were doing.

- She's extremely focused. We've seen that with the stacking cups and other toys.

- She is doing a lot of THINKING.

- She is covered with bug bites (mosquitoes). All over her legs she has fresh ones and there are marks from old ones all over her legs too.

- She cries very easily. Since being back in the hotel room, we have been able to console her, thank goodness.

- She is in need of some hair styling! Melissa, get ready for your next client! When she came to us, she had 2 pigtails, with 4 rubberbands in each. They were so tightly done that I feared we would have to cut them out. Luckily, on the van ride back to our hotel, she was distracted by the scenery and I was able to get them out. We will be sticking to barrettes in, in the days to come!

- She has very good hand/eye coordination.

- She sat on my lap the first 10 minutes of dinner, and then was easily convinced to sit in the high chair beside me. And ate a great dinner.

- She LOVES the toys we have shown her so far.

- She learns fast. When it was time to go to dinner, I had her put her toys in her little Minnie Mouse backpack and she became hysterical. I realized she had no idea the backpack was coming to dinner, and feared they were being taken away. So I took the toys back out and she carried them. I carried the Minnie Mouse backpack to dinner. When dinner was over, I picked up the backpack and unzipped it, held it towards her, and she put all her toys in it. When we got back to the room she took them out and put them on the couch to play with.

- She is making excellent eye contact, has fed us treats (Cheerios), and when we pick her up, she is not limp or trying not to touch us. She holds on tightly to us. We've had a few smiles.

- As with Aaron, I think Bao'an did NOT prepare her at all for meeting us. Everything from our care package we sent her looked exactly as it had when we sent it - tags still on.

- She loves dresses and having her hair styled. I'm awful at the hairstyling! Clearly I'll need some lessons.

- The young woman who brought Sarah from the orphanage in the van was the same one who brought Aaron in 2010. We recognized each other right away. She came right out (before she brought Sarah out) and asked about "Bao Xin Sheng" (Aaron).  Here is a photo of us with her.

Forever In Our Arms (Day 4 of our China Trip) Lots of Photos at Bottom of Post!!

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” ~ Author Unknown

Today was one of those incredible, breathtaking days…I’ve experienced a few of them in my life (the moment I saw my husband for the first time J; our wedding day; giving birth to Donovan; meeting Aaron; and today…meeting Sarah.) After our meeting Sarah at Civil Affairs, I'm a bit breathless still (or exhausted!), and so impressed with how Sarah has adjusted so far. 

  

The sad reality is that there are 153 million orphans worldwide. But today our world has ONE LESS orphan. And our family has one more child in it, a daughter. Sarah Alexa is wanted and will be cherished for always.

The lyrics of “Swept Away” by Geoff Moore perfectly express how we (as the parents) feel about today. I had hoped to post a link to the music online, but YouTube is completely blocked here in China (even with the incredible VPN, Pandapow, that we are using).…So here are the lyrics.

Swept Away by Geoff Moore

We would say your name

A hundred times a day

Like speaking words in faith

And with a mixture of

Hope and fear and trust

We prayed for strength to wait

And dreamed of how we’d feel the day

You’d be in our arms and …

Swept away

Caught up in our love

Home to stay

You’ll never be alone

You’ll be amazed

At how much you are loved

Life will never be the same

Once you’re swept away

What once was just a dream

Is now reaching up for me

And I hold her in my arms

Lord thank You for the way

You held her all the days

That we had to be apart

And now I see the impossible dream

Is holding me and I’m swept away

Caught up in your love

Hold this day

I’ll never be alone

And I amazed at how much I am loved

Life will never be the same

I’ve been swept away.

Swept away

Caught up in our love

Hold this day

I’ll never be alone

And I’m amazed at how much I am loved

Our lives will never be the same.

Swept away,

Caught up in our love

Hold this day

You’ll never be alone…

I know what everyone wants…pictures, and so I’m going to post those in just a moment, and then take time this evening (depending on how bedtime goes) to compose what I want to say about today’s events. For everyone who has been there (BTDT), you know…it’s overwhelming…as an adult, you’ve waited what seems like forever for this moment, and you're at Civil Affairs, and the children are escorted in, and it’s chaotic and you’re trying to stay in the moment, and you are faced with this beautiful child who is scared beyond belief…and honestly, you just want to get OUT of the Civil Affairs building and get back to your hotel and get to know your child…Today we were "that family," whose child was screaming for 55 out of the 60 minutes, uncontrollably...Sarah was so very scared. THINGS ARE IMPROVING. Back in our hotel room, we had smiles within 2 hours and a fantastic dinner. 

Over the years, the term “Gotcha Day,” which has often been used to describe the day a family finally meets the child they have chosen to adopt, has come under quite a bit of controversy. The newer idea is that it is a term which does not show a true understanding for all the child is going through; all the child is losing, as the parents think or feel, finally, “GOTCHA.” And so while certainly within the adoptive community and FB groups and RQ, we all use the term “Gotcha,” it is not anywhere in Aaron’s scrapbook and will not be in Sarah’s. Today is the day we met Sarah. Tomorrow is the day we legally adopt Sarah. Some people have terms they use instead, such as “Forever Family Day.” My students can attest to this…I’m a matter-of-fact kind of person. (Some of my students would say I am brutally honest.) I am NOT big on cutesy terms, not at all. So, while “Forever Family Day” works for many, I just say (to Aaron for example), “3 years ago today we met you.” So, today was the day we met Sarah and we recognized it was a life-changing day for us and for Sarah, one we have dreamed of, and one she has not – she is too young to understand the significance of this day, and she was very, very scared at how her life has changed. But things are improving!

The photos are the reality of adopting!

A very scared and upset Sarah meeting her new parents...

Making her opinion of Mama known! 

If it was the blond hair that freaked her out the most, she's over that now!

                            
This is how she was for 55 of the 60 minutes at Civil Affairs...

Daddy's Girl!

FINALLY (55 minutes later) someone from the orphanage handed me a sweet cake 

treat that FINALLY allowed her to stop crying. (Note: We had quite a few Chinese snacks with us, but none interested her until that cake.)

Her hair is totally wet from sweating and crying for 55 minutes.

Her pigtails had 4 rubber bands in each. TIGHTLY wound.

Wanting more cake and allowing Mama to feed her.

in the van

EXHAUSTED!

Looking at herself in the mirror in our hotel elevator

Forget the bubbles. She was scared to death of them.

Looking at herself in the mirror in our room

Smiles for Daddy!!

Smiles while playing ball with daddy (2 hours after meeting)

After a bath, a new dress, and an attempt at hairstyling, Sarah was ready for dinner.

Planning to bring Minnie Mouse and her car to dinner.

Note the dress is a 24 month dress. While she looks tiny, the dresses just barely cover her bottom. So her height is quite good.

Ready to go to a restaurant for the first time. She did INCREDIBLE!

Embassy Closures...(Not Guangzhou at this point)

I woke up to multiple emails from folks letting me know about the US Embassies closing (22 of them at last count) and asking if it is impacting us. At this point, from the news we are able to receive here in China (ironically we do have CNN! but I suspect it is prerecorded and the government here in China blocks the stories they don't want the people of China to see), it seems those 22 US Embassies/Consulates are in the Middle East.
Please email me (either to my yahoo email or through Facebook - both of which I can get here in China), if anyone hears anything about a closure of the US Embassy/Consulate in Guangzhou, China.
We are PRAYING this will not impact the US Embassy here. (We have heard that the ones that have been closed are closed through the end of August. At this point we can't even go there in thinking of What Ifs...)

Meeting up with Friends on the Other Side of the World...

We were so lucky to have the chance to get together with the Wilks family this evening. They came over to our hotel and we got to walk through the Pet Market with them, over to Shamian, and then on Liwan pedestrian street, near out hotel. I've known Fannie from an online adoption group we are both in, and it was wonderful to meet her and her beautiful family! She and her husband met their son last Monday and will be leaving China on Wednesday. Here is Nicole with Fannie, Matt, their daughter Katie, and their new son, Chengbin (who is 5 and from an orphanage in the same town as Sarah). So glad to have had this opportunity to meet her in person, in China.

And totally unrelated, but we tried a new fruit tonight. At our hotel, they deliver a plate of fruit delivered each day to our room. Today there was this very exotic looking fruit on our fruit plate. It is a Dragon Fruit. Inside it looks VERY DIFFERENT from any fruit I've ever seen before. It tastes like kiwi, but a little bit softer.

The fruit in the center is Dragon Fruit.

 This is what the inside looks like. It tastes similar to kiwi.

Day Three (Sunday)

Nicole in front of the walkway to our hotel.

It's SO HUMID our camera keeps fogging up! It's NOT foggy outside. It's a very clear day. We never saw the sun or blue sky when we were here in 2010, so this is a nice surprise for us.

 Area outside our hotel. It's Sunday morning (8:30 am) so shops not open yet.

Suitcase which will serve as Sarah's toybox!

*** Funniest moment so far today was when a boy about 9-11 years old apparently proposed to me :) We were walking around on Shamian Island and there was this group of 9-11 year old boys (reminding me of the students I teach) and they kept looking at me, and then they all yelled, "Hello, Hello, Hello." and I said "Hello," back and then this one boy in the group yelled (very loudly), "I LOVE YOU." This was followed by tremendous laughter by him and his group of friends. (Probably two of the few English phrases they know.) It was SO FUNNY! As a friend reminded me, 10 year old boy antics cross all cultural barriers. As a 5^th grade teacher, 10-12 year old boy antics are my favorite J (and I am serious about this. I LOVE this age!)

We were up at 6 am and we are ON CHINA TIME. (No jet lag - yeah!) That was our experience last time too. We enjoyed a great breakfast and walked around the area around out hotel. Bought things at the bakery, snacks for Sarah, and water. 

In one of the bakeries the young cashier asked me to help her practice her English. She said she is 19 and did not learn any English in school because she was not going to university. (Only students who are going to attend college take English; those who are getting jobs do not.)  I asked her, "How are you today?" and she replied, "I am 19." :)  She was very kind to us and then gave me a free "lemon water" (think this is like lemon ice tea). We were polite and took it but of course it was tossed when we got back to our room. ('Cause you just DO NOT drink the water here!). 

Two people came up to me so far and touched my hair. (Adults, not kids).

Oh, and as for that "no shirt, no shoes, no service" rule in the U.S. well, that is not the case here. Tons of guys (including storekeepers) with no shirts on. It is SO HOT. SO HOT.

On Shamian today we did see 5 or 6 other families with their newly adopted children, and a few like us - most likely getting their children tomorrow. I wish all of us on RQ had T-shirts with our RQ screennames on them so we could identify each other!

Now turning to more serious things…Tomorrow is a monumental day for one very special little girl, and for us.

“Adopting a child will not change the world, but for that child, the world will change.”  ~ Author Unknown

Tonight my thoughts are of a woman I will never know…the woman who gave birth to Sarah…While tomorrow will be a day filled with tremendous joy for us (and fear for Sarah), there is much sadness and frustration tonight, (on my part) at never  being able to say thank-you to her for the incredible gift we will receive tomorrow – our daughter.

I wish there was some way for her to know that the child she chose life for twice, will tomorrow gain a family forever. (She chose life for Sarah, first by giving birth to her, and then by choosing to abandon her so that she would be found and taken to an orphanage.) As most people are aware, the country of China has a One Child Policy/Law, forbidding families from having more than one child. What many people do not know is that even for a FIRST child, the family must have a permit to become pregnant. In Guangdong Province, where Sarah and Aaron are from, the fine for an illegal child is $46,000.00. (That is an insurmountable amount keeping in mind that in 2009, 362 million Chinese people lived on less than $2 per day, or $100 per year! In 46 YEARS, they would have $4600.00 – nowhere near the amount of the fine!)

So, it’s against the law to have a 2^nd child, and it’s against the law to have a child without a permit. Ironically, it is ALSO against the law to give your child up for adoption. So, in China, if a family is going to abandon their child, they almost always do so in a public place (outdoor market area; train station; park). There, the child will be discovered and the authorities will be notified. A search will be made to attempt to locate the child’s family, and if unsuccessful (almost always the case), the child will be sent to one of the thousands of orphanages in China.  (The fact that the majority of Chinese people have no knowledge of these orphanages or the MILLIONS of children living in them is beyond heartbreaking to me…)

It is truly risking one’s life giving birth to a child you do not have a permit for, and then abandoning the child and hoping your secret is not discovered.

I wish that the woman who gave birth to Sarah could know that she survived; that now, she has been CHOSEN by us; that she will be cherished by us always; that she will be loved; that she will have access to an education and medical care; that she will have two older brothers to look out for her; that one of those brothers shares much of her same experience as he was adopted at age 3 from the same orphanage as her; that she will be loved for always by us. And that we understand she will be torn from all she has ever known, and will embark on a whole new journey (and that this will be very frightening for her). Her entry into her new life and family will be filled with new faces, new smells, new language, new foods, new everything.  And we will be there to help her navigate this new world she is about to enter.

2:30 tomorrow is when we meet Sarah.  Please think good thoughts for her (and for us…we are going to need all the emotional strength possible!)

One of the most powerful things I have read about an adoptee’s experience is a story comparing the day a child meets his/her new family, to an adult having his/her spouse suddenly replaced. I’ve had trouble putting my hands on the story, but essentially it asks you to imagine you are very happily married and content with your life.  One morning you wake up, to find that your spouse is not there…but has been replaced by another man. This is a man you do not know. And this man is speaking to you in a language you don’t understand. He prepares foods for you that you have never had before. You have no idea who he is or where your husband has gone, and if he’s ever coming back.   This will be the experience of Sarah. She will be torn from all she knows and will be handed over to strangers. She has loved before, and she will love again, but the months ahead of us will be a time of her learning to trust us, learning what a family is, and learning to love.   

Day Two - We are HERE!

We are HERE…at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Shifu.  It’s 11 PM (11 AM for those of you on the East Coast of the U.S.) Ready for bed!

Our flights were FANTASTIC (and it’s not too often you can say that about a 13 hour flight plus another 5 hour flight). After flying on Cathay Pacific in 2010 and being disappointed, I can say that ANA (All Nippon Airways) is INCREDIBLE! (I know I sound like a snob here regarding Cathay, but after hearing so many fantastic things about Cathay, I was very disappointed. I found the fixed back shell seats so uncomfortable and the service was not great at all.) Today, we were seated in Premium Economy. As soon as we were in the air, the flight attendants were coming around with lunch, drinks, drinks, snacks, etc. Service was impeccable.  Seats were comfortable.  I highly recommend ANA. INCREDIBLE. Oh and they served Haagan Daz ice cream after lunch. Seriously.

One thing that is a very interesting experience (to me) is that I was one of 3 caucasian people flying between JFK and Tokyo, and then the only Caucasian person flying from Tokyo to Guangzhou. It is a very different experience being the only person who looks like you do, surrounded by people all speaking a different language and having different accepted customs. For Sarah, this will be her experience soon, so I appreciate the opportunity to feel for a little while how she will feel. (I realize our family situation is unique in that her dad and one brother are both Chinese.) That is part of why we chose the hotel we did. It is in a very “real” Chinese area. I’ll take photos tomorrow to post so you can see what I mean. Here's one I took in 2010.

Two humorous situations at the JFK airport.  For people who know me well, you know I HATE to attract any attention. Both situations today attracted attention – unwanted attention.

About 30 minutes before our flight left JFK, I waited in line for the restroom. I had just gotten into the stall, when I heard an announcement, “Would Miss Nicole Walsh report IMMEDIATELY to the ANA customer service desk, please.” WHAT? I raced there and they said they needed to see my passport because they believed there was a problem with my VISA. WHAT? Luckily they looked at it and decided it was fine. (Which I already knew…)  I felt like one of my students when the fire alarm goes off at school and you are in the bathroom at the time. Yikes!

Before that, when we went through security at JFK, and there were about 100 people in back of me, a security guard began SCREAMING at me. SCREAMING AT ME. And I mean SCREAMING.  I had just taken off my shoes, put my laptop in a bin, and put my 311 bag (which was very organized and labeled) in the same bin as my laptop (there was room in that bin). He came right up close to me and started screaming, “NO! THIS IS ALL WRONG. YOU CAN’T PUT ANYTHING ELSE IN THE BIN WITH THE LAPTOP.” He sent me back to get another bin. Then continued to yell loudly to the hundreds of people behind me, “DO NOT PUT ANYTHING IN YOUR BINS WITH YOUR LAPTOPS. LAPTOPS MUST BE ALONE IN THE BINS.” Well, we are all clear on that now. I did notice there were NO signs that indicated this was a rule…total humiliation. At least I was not subject to any special searches after that!

We are looking forward to the breakfast buffet tomorrow morning. I still laugh about 2010 when for the first 5 or 6 mornings,  I would order two eggs “well done” with the yolks broken and the chef thought I was complimenting him and would then hand me a plate with two sunny side up eggs on it. Rupert would go and reorder them. Finally he told me I needed to say “fully cooked” because clearly “well done” was a compliment, not a way to order your eggs. This time I know! Oh and the bacon… so much for lean protein. 

Tomorrow, we will walk over to Shamian Island and poke around the shops. No need to buy a stroller this time (we brought our own). We’ll just shop around. We also need to double check that our favorite hot pot restaurant from 2010 is still down the street. If so, tomorrow night we are going to dinner with Fannie Wilks and her family (including her new son Ben from Longgang).

So, the hotel. Love it. Holiday Inn Shifu where we stayed in 2010.

Tracy A – It’s not your exact same room (ours has one king size bed in the bedroom, instead of your two doubles), but it’s the same kind of room. And it’s SPACIOUS (and you really can’t say that about hotel rooms in China!) and luxurious, and FANTASTIC!

So for those who will travel after us. Here’s why we love this hotel:

-         Large rooms

-         Location, Location, Location…in “real” China, right on a Pedestrian Street (for Vermont natives, think Church Street except with wall to wall people and open air stores – no doors to enter, you just walk right in…)

-         10 minute walk to Shamian Island, 

-         If you book on the Executive Floor you have access to the lounge (bottled water all day which is a huge savings $ wise!), snacks, drinks, etc.

-         Our room (exec.) has breakfast and internet included

-         The price is way better than The Garden

-         LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Here are photos of our room:

View looking into the huge bathroom.

And now, off to bed!

Day One (Leaving On a Jet Plane...Three Jet Planes is More Like It)

We are ON OUR WAY!

Here I am, bright and EARLY, ready to head to the airport.

Yesterday was Sarah's 2nd birthday. We celebrated. 

Bittersweet, but we know that soon she will be with us. 

Well, here’s my first post on our trip to adopt Sarah. It’s just a few hours after we left Vermont. This morning we were up before the sun, heading to our local airport around 4:30 am, for a 6:00 am flight that was delayed just 30 minutes.  (This was a HUGE RELIEF after watching countless Jet Blue flights between JFK and BTV be delayed by HOURS yesterday due to weather. We had made plans to drive to Montreal if we had to this morning to make a flight from there to China, if necessary. Luckily, things have all worked out. ) So, we flew Jet Blue to JFK, arriving at 7:30. We are now here so early that our international check-in counter is not even open yet!

So, I’m typing this in the JFK airport. Our international flight will leave at 12:30. We are flying on ANA (All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline). We will fly into Tokyo arriving at 2 PM (2 AM for those of you back in Vermont) and then have a 4 hour layover until we travel from Tokyo to Guangzhou, China.  Pretty sure that 4 hour layover (plus the 5 hour flight after that) will be pure torture. In that Tokyo airport it will be at that point that I am so ready for a shower and bed…and yet, I’ll have about 12 hours until that happens (layover, flight, border/customs entrance into China, ride to the hotel, check in).

Phew! All in all it will be 32 hours from when we left our house…I have my MP3 ready with the music I want to listen to on the flight (and extra batteries), and my IPOD too, and some good books (for my former students, you may be interested to know I packed some great YA dystopian novels, including Delirium, Pandemonium, and a new one I just picked up). And, I’ll be very, very happy if I am able to sleep on the plane.

Please think good thoughts for us on our marathon of flights, and also for my mom back home with Aaron and Donovan. They are great boys, but oh my…she is going to be exhausted by the end of the 14 days with them!

I am looking forward to checking into the Holiday Inn Shifu in Guangzhou. It will be almost like “coming home.” I have been dreaming for 3 years and 4 months about returning to Holiday Inn Shifu and Guangzhou, ever since we were here adopting Aaron in April 2010. We love Holiday Inn Shifu!

We will relax on Sunday and do some shopping on Shamian Island. Monday our lives and Sarah’s life will change completely and forever.  Monday 2:30 in the afternoon will be when we meet Sarah. (For those not familiar with adoption from China, we will meet Sarah at a Civil Affairs building and about an hour later, she will leave with us and return to our hotel. The next day, we will return to the Civil Affairs building to legally adopt her. The rest of the time in China we will be completing paperwork and requirements in order to bring her to the United States.)

When we meet Sarah Monday at 2:30 pm, that will be 2:30 in the morning for you all back in the U.S. So, before you go to bed on Sunday night, please think lots of good thoughts for Sarah (and a few for us too!). We hope:

-      that she will not be too frightened on Monday.

-      that she will be able to be distracted by yummy snacks and toys at the Civil Affairs building and will not be inconsolable.

-      that she will somehow see that she can trust us and that we love her.

-      that she will be able to be consoled by us during our time in China as she grieves for all she is losing.

-      for strength for us. …We realize we may be one of “those families” whose child stands for HOURS at the hotel room door, sobbing, waiting to leave, waiting to be rescued by someone she knows…there is no way to emotionally prepare for that, other than to know it is the experience of many other adoptive families. It was NOT the case with Aaron. He took our hands, smiled, and never looked back. Our time in China with him was easy and fun. I know that is quite honestly the exception. It is likely Sarah will grieve very hard. Sarah is only 2 years old. She does not understand the significance of what is happening. She does not understand that most children have a parent or parents who love them and care for them. She has been surrounded by nannies caring for orphans, including her, for as long as she can remember. She will be leaving everything that is familiar to her.

-      that none of us will get sick and need medical care in China!

Now several humorous notes (or at least my attempt at humor);

-      I hope she won’t be freaked out by my blond hair! (She’s been surrounded by Chinese people her whole life, and has not seen someone with blond hair.) I know someone who recently adopted and her daughter was petrified of her blond hair. That mom had to stop washing her hair and let it get all greasy and sometimes slick in back in a ponytail to make it look darker, or keep a baseball hat on. Pretty sure you’ll be able to tell from the photos we post how that is going!

-      Care to place a bet on what she will come to us wearing? Every single photo I have seen of her since February (from three other families visiting Bao’an, from an update, from our agency’s workers who were there), she has had on the same butterfly dress. If that’s the case, my selfish desire is that she will be willing to part with it and put on brand new dresses (‘cause we’ve packed a suitcase full of them).  (By part with it, I just mean hopefully she won’t be spending 11 days in China in it. We will bring it home with us, and pack it away for her with the items she came to us with, just as we did for Aaron.) But if all our photos the first few days of Sarah are in that butterfly dress, you’ll know she’s not yet willing to take it off!

-      Okay, and on a REALLY humorous note, here’s hoping I can avoid using squatty potties in China. (Last time the only one I had to use was at the orphanage when we visited with Aaron to say goodbye.) For those not familiar with bathrooms in China, there is basically a hole in the floor. And in some cases, forget privacy…there are multiple ones right beside each other. Or, in some other cases it is just a stream of water running across and a communal style trough.  Everyone who has adopted from China knows all about these. You can be in a quite nice restaurant, and go to use the restroom, and ta-da, squatty potty…you just never know. I try to avoid them at all costs. (So especially for my students, I’m including a photo so you can see what I am talking about! Public restrooms are bit different than in the U.S.! And remember how when we went on field trips to places like the Flynn I always made you “try” before the show – well in this case, I’d be saying, “hold it until you get back!” Luckily, regular toilet in the hotel.)

The next time I post, we will be in China!