Day 4 China

Day 4) Today we woke up as just Shirley and Holt, but we will go to bed as Mama and Papa. We get what can be called a temporary custody of him today at 10 am this is standard procedure to see how we adjust to him and how he bonds with us and for us to make sure he is right for us. Okay on a side note just thought I would add an interesting observation from someone who has never left the continental United States; at each hotel we stay at in China we are given a breakfast buffet as a part of our package. Okay so maybe I am a little jaded but I find it odd as to what is included on a buffet for breakfast here in China: hard boiled eggs of some texture, steamed buns, steamed veggies, fried rice, several types of Congee, salad makings, fruit, bacon, sausage, cold cuts, cheese, bread, omelet’s, and a selection of cereals. So Congee is boiled rice porridge with no flavor at all you add other things to it to give it flavor and texture. I don’t think I will complain about the air quality in the US ever again, here in China it seems to have a constant haze to it never truly bright and clear. I am still amazed and in awe that I truly am in another whole country half way around the world and feel just as at home here as I do in Orlando, Florida. I thought that on the day that I got too see Liam for the first time in person that I would be a lot more nervous and anxious about the whole thing, but as of now I seem to be okay. I look forward to the time that I see him, but I will update this again this afternoon to let you all know how it really went to relay my emotions of the experience and how Mama did with the whole thing.
As we arrived at the Department of Civil Affairs, there 14 families slated to become “Forever Families” that day also. We did have to wait for about 15 minutes for the Director and staff members from Liam’s orphanage to arrive. Some families already had their babies and had started the process of taking custody. While Jin our guide was trying to find out where Liam was we enjoyed just observing the other families interact with their child. Shortly thereafter Liam and his Nannies arrived, Mama got very emotional when she saw him for the very first time. It almost seemed to be a little surreal right at that moment because of the time and energy we have spent to get to that point. Papa was emotional but not visibly showing it at the time, his emotional outburst came about an hour earlier at the bank when we were stopping to change the money over to Chinese RMB’S. They took us to a smaller room to get our first family photo. Followed by the first set of formal paperwork that would give us the 24 hour custody of Liam. After the paperwork we headed to the hotel, were Jin helped us out making the first bottle of formula for him since we don’t read a lot of Chinese. After feeding him and attempting to settle him down, we tried on some of the clothes that we had brought for him only to find out that most everything that we brought for him was just a little big. Then finally around 5 p.m. he did crash for a good 2 hour nap as did both Mama and Papa. After waking him up around 7 we went the hotels buffet for dinner for the first of many family dinners. Came back bathed him in a soothing warm bath and put him in his pajamas and put him down in the crib for the night. He slept soundly until 6 a.m. the next morning.