Our Daughter Lina

Yesterday was a crazy and amazing day. The thirteen families in our group all had seats together on the crowded flight from Beijing to Guangzhou. Anticipation and excitement were thick in the air, and it all seemed disorganized and chaotic as we gathered up our loaded carry-on bags. That’s when it hit me–on Friday we’ll be doing the same thing with thirteen babies!

The bus ride from the airport to the Gloria Hotel was just a half hour, but it seemed longer. Lina (our coordinator) and Mary (our local guide) explained what would happen next and gave us some advice about caring for our babies, including the right mix ratio for the local formula (seven scoops for an 8 oz. bottle) and bottle temp (very warm). Also, we got a reminder that “some babies come with a cold”, so we should keep our babies bundled and warm. In China, this appears to mean at least two jackets if it’s under 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Our appointment was delayed to 4:30 so we had some extra time in the hotel to prepare, but honestly I don’t remember any of it. Then we were back on the bus to the Civil Affairs office. We had heard that we’d go into a room and our names would be called one by one. No one told us that to get into that room we’d be marched through the middle of another room full of nannies holding our babies! When I saw Lina, I nearly lost it. I saw her badge first (it had her referral picture on it) and then she turned her little face to me. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t stop because I’d block all the other families behind us.

Fortunately, we didn’t have long to wait. Our names were called and we went back into that room. We showed our passports and Stephanie took Lina from the nanny’s arms. She was so calm and good. Happy babies, crying babies, happy parents, crying parents; it was beautiful pandemonium in that room.

Roy & Debbie ready to fly

Here we go…

Do we look excited?

Eddie & Kathleen are ready.

Lina, our CHI coordinator

I think we have enough.

Gloria Hotel

View from our room–we got lucky. Debbie & Roy got the “projects” view on the other side.

Waiting for Lina

Papa prepared a bottle in advance.

The babies are just in the next room (we just came through there).

First picture of our family

Sutton & Seely

Debbie & Lilyanne

Happy families

David & Ashley

Rain protection can be cute.

Rebecca & MinXi

First diaper change (thanks Mama)

With the nannies and the orphanage (social welfare institute) director

Time for bed after a big, big day

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 05:14 and is filed under lina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.