A Year Ago Today || November 17, 2017
November 17, 2017
After touring the orphanage on November 16th, we took our first flight with Tristan from Shanghai to Guangzhou , where the U.S. Consulate is. Here we would stay for the remaining time of our trip to finalize everything with the Chinese and U.S. Governments.
The flight was itself was smooth. However, the sitting on the tarmac with a screaming 2 year old at nap time wasn’t so much on the smooth side. This was the first time I cried after having Tristan with us. And my sweet girl sitting next to me just put her hand on my arm and said, “It’s okay, Mom.” Bless her.
Once in Guangzhou, we met up with the rest of the families we were traveling with and stayed at the China Hotel, which is where the majority of adopting families stay. It is a wonderful hotel and we really enjoyed staying there. Not to mention, the breakfast bar was loaded! Haha! This is also where we learned Tristan’s love for eating all the things, within his PKU diet of course. We also quickly learned that he did not know how to chew food… For the past 2 years, he had only been bottle fed in the orphanage…
After breakfast we headed to have medicals done. Before the adoption can be finalized and we can get our kids’ visas to bring them home, they all have to have physical examinations done and their blood drawn before the paperwork can be processed and approved. It’s a huge moment and a tad overwhelming for the kids to be poked and prodded again by more strangers. But thankfully, it was somewhat of a quick and smooth process… And thank God we were there in November… there was no A.C. in that building and it was SO warm. I can’t imagine being there in the dead of summer when the heat and humidity is unbearable with little ones…
Up next, well, WalMart of course! LOL We were brought to WalMart to get a few essential items that we needed for the rest of the trip. It was actually quite a fun experience. :)
No, these are not for your fish tank.
After a LONG morning and afternoon, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed time of rest. Sweet little Mr. fell asleep in his stroller and I didn’t have the heart to move and risk waking him up. And while he rested, Brooklynn enjoyed swimming with the other kids down at the pool. Although, I’m sure we stressed the pool attendants out with the desire to play vs swim laps and get exercise. Haha.
That evening we headed to a local restaurant with near our hotel with our group for dinner. Sadly, I don’t have any photos of our time, but it was a wonderful meal.
Adopting internationally is such a whirlwind of a trip. There is so much official business taking place and also so much “dead time” while you wait for things to be approved. But one thing is for certain, the relationships and friendships that were built during our trip will last a lifetime. The tears that are shed, and the support given during this transitional phase is hard to put into words unless you live it. But I am so forever grateful for the people we traveled with and their stories that lead them to say YES to adoption. They have obviously impacted the lives of these children, but they have also impacted mine in a BIG way.
