Chloe Ann Guo Die is Ours!

What a wonderfully exhausting day!  Yesterday was a great day.  It was extremely long and exhausting but well worth the effort.  The first thing in the morning we went back to the civil affairs office to complete some paperwork.  I signed a lot of documents, all written in Chinese, so I hope I was signing the forms completing the adoption!  It took about 30-45 minutes and now it is official, Chloe Ann Gou Die is ours!  What an exciting moment. 

After that we took off on our all day journey.  We are traveling in basically a mini-van and it would take us 4 hours to get to her city.  It was just us, our guide and the driver.  We drove through some absolutely beautiful country.  We drove through some mountainous areas which is definitely a stark contrast to the city.   There seemed to be some little villages along the way but I could not tell if people lived there or it was deserted.  We arrived at her city, Datong.  Again it looks like any big city in America with amazing numbers of high rise apartments.  Our guide had told us about 2 million people live in Datong, the second largest city in her province.  Here too, they are doing lots of construction.  There are cranes everywhere building more high rise complexes.  We went to a government office there and literally took less than 15 minutes to complete her passport paperwork.  I didn’t even sign anything there.  It is kind of funny to drive 8 hours round trip to do 15 minutes worth of work.  But the pay off was getting to see her orphanage.  It was amazing.

We got to her orphanage and the road was closed.  There was a big hill to get down to her orphanage.  Our guide looked at us and said “We have to walk.”  Kevin looked at me and said, “Are you sure you want to do this?”  Of course I was sure.  We were this close to seeing the place she has been raised and we could not give up that opportunity.  So with heavy back packs on our backs and a 20 pound bundle of joy in our arms, we walked down the hill. 

This is what Kevin wrote in an email he sent yesterday about the orphanage and I definitely could not have said it any better.  “Today is a little bittersweet.  Chloe is officially a member of our family, but we are taking her from her culture and a home where she is loved.  We have such a small adjustment to make but Chloe has to adjust to everything (people, language, food, smells, traveling). 

We toured Chloe’s orphanage and we thank God that He has provided for her.  It seems Chloe was in a foster care family for the first several months of her life.  Then she moved to the orphanage which our guide says is among the best in all of China.  It was started by outside donations several years ago which established a very high standard of care.  With the country’s growing affluence, the government now operates it.  It is as nice a facility as you will see in the States.  There was a play room, music room, therapy room, sensory stimulation room, dining room and even a swimming room with two whirlpool spa like tubs.

All the nannies knew all the children by name.  Of course they knew our little Die Die (sounds like dee a (short a) and is what they call her which means little butterfly), as did several of the children who were there and called out to her.  She was among the youngest so she probably spent 9- 12  months at the facility.

There were 40 other small kids there waiting for adoption or to be moved back out to foster care when they start primary school.  The children were so precious and sweet; very friendly and wanting to engage.  Many had cleft lip and some were repaired.  Others had a range of disabilities.  There seemed to be as many boys as girls.  I wish we could have taken them all home.  It is our prayer that all of these children find loving homes as quickly as possible and we thank Him for watching over little Die Die long before we knew her.

Thank you for years of prayers and support- God heard our cries and has blessed us beyond measure.”

Now back to my final thoughts.  Wow!  What an amazing day.  Chloe is so smart and observant.  And I think is she finally warming up to us.  Yesterday afternoon she would smile at us if we smiled at her.  Also, at the orphanage the nannies would hold her and then she would reach her arms out to me to take her back.  It warmed my heart.  I think she knows she belongs to us. We started using some baby sign language and we were using the sign for more.  Next thing we know she is using the sign for more for more food!  I was amazed.  She is learning so fast.  And we found out she loves to eat and is eating more than Caleb.  Our guide said that she will eat everything on her plate because that is what the nannies encourage at the orphanage. Kevin and I laughed.  I wonder if they tell the children to eat everything on their plates because there are starving children in the USA! Ha!Ha!  She still is a little timid about things and prefers for things to not change.  If we change her position or something she fusses just a little bit.  We went to a traditional Chinese market this morning to buy a stroller.  It was interesting to see.  She didn’t like the stroller at first, but then was ok.  What a great job for big brother to do is push her down the street.  We have a down day of rest and relaxation today and I feel like we need it.  I don’t think we will do much.  We may go back to the park this afternoon if feeling up to it.

We are going to try and post some pictures and maybe even video, but it is much more difficult to post pictures than anticipated.  Thanks again for the comments and support.