It's Official!

Both pen and thumbprint were put to paper this morning, and we are officially a family.  It was a wonderful, memorable day.  The picture tells the story, and, as I sit here at the keyboard tonight, I can't think of any better way to say it.

H..E..R..E..'S TENLEY!

Here's our beautiful Tenley.  She is a sweetheart!  We were picked up a 9 a.m. this morning and taken to a government building for our meeting.  Tom and I had hoped we would arrive before she did, but when we got to the door of the room, there she was sitting at the table, and our first glimpse was perfect.  When she saw us, the recognition went immediately to a smile.  Oh, what a sweet smile.  In Chinese I said to her, "I am your mama," and her smile grew.  If she were an infant, she would have been smiling and kicking her feet.  She had that kind of body language.  Tom received the same response when he told her he was her dad.  Her first look at Maryn was one of curiosity and disbelief that Maryn was the girl she had known before, but then she said the nickname everyone called Maryn, and a smile came to her face.  I had Maryn remove her glasses, and Tenley nodded.  Mr. Zhou told us Tenley found out right after spring festival that she had a family, and she was very happy.  I asked him when she found out Maryn was her sister, and he said about a month ago.  Without a doubt, that fact had removed a small amount of her fear, as we had hoped, and we are so thankful for that.  While we completed today's paperwork, Maryn would get close and then retreat.  Without a doubt, Maryn had gained a small amount of fear, but going through Tenley's backpack with her allowed some of that to dissipate.  We came back to our room, where Tenley changed into something cooler while we finished with our guide, and then we walked to get something to eat.  She is eager to hold our hands, as both Tom and I discovered, but she's not needy about it.  As we walked back I encouraged Maryn to hold her hand, but before she could agree to it, Tenley took her hand.  Maryn looked back at me with that 10 year old, shrug of the shoulder, knowing glance thing, and it was priceless.  We went into Wal*Mart so she could pick out some treats for our visit tomorrow and walked back hand in hand with hands changing among the players.

When our day was done and showers were taken, I dried Maryn's hair.  Tenley appeared at the door watching us.  When I finished, I gave her a nonverbal, "do you want me to dry your hair?"   She nodded, and we shared a great couple of minutes together.  I told her in Chinese that she's beautiful, and she said, "Xie xie (thank you) mommy."  I'll go to bed reliving the day's events smiling and kicking my feet.

Deja Vu

May 21, 2012

August 3, 2009

So happy to be reliving this dream.  It's finally here.  Tom and I feel great, maybe a little bit of nerves.  Maryn is talking a lot, even more than she normally does, throwing in a little silliness, and she has whispered to me that she is a little nervous.  Time to hold hands and say a trio prayer knowing we are in good hands, His.  Let's go!

Women Ai Nimen

The title of this post translates to we love you (plural).  These beautiful people are Louise's parents and her friend.  They drove three hours to meet us at the Shanghai airport!  Do I need to tell you how fun it is to walk through the doors through immigration at an airport in *China* and see the smiling faces of three people who are there to meet you?  One of those faces we even recognized from having met her before, and she was beaming.  What joy.  Good thing the interpreter, Candy, was there because we really wanted to be able to tell them how much we love their daughter.  They walked with us to another terminal in the airport so we could get something to eat and visit.  Candy was having to play both sides of the net, but she did a great job.  Louise's mom is a fantastic knitter and sewer, and she gave us a few dresses that she had made for Maryn, Tenley and me.  Beautiful.  (For Christmas this year, Louise game me a camisole her mom had knitted on, I'm not lying, needles as big around as toothpicks.  The stitching, including cabling, is perfect and looks like it was done on a machine.  It is a good thing I saw her knitting one when she was staying with Louise for six months back in 2008 or I wouldn't believe she'd done it herself.)

They were kind enough to stay with us the whole time even though we were less than perfect company.  Eventually we were plum tuckered out and fighting sleep, except for Maryn who actually did sleep, but they stuck with us.  And, you know, it was a good thing they did.  When we checked our bags in at the start of the trip, the agent told us they were checked through to Hefei.  We clarified:  they are checked through to Hefei, and we don't have to get them when we get to Shanghai?  Nope.  Well that's not correct, Missy, but, of course, we didn't find that out until we tried to check in for the flight to Hefei.  Turns out you can't check in without the bags you got to Shanghai, unless of course you don't care if the bags arrive with you at the next stop, and the agent at the counter in Shanghai was able to explain that to Louise's parents.  The sprint was on for her dad, Candy and Tom who had to hightail it back to the terminal where we had arrived, locate the bags, get them on a cart and push the cart at a brisk pace back to the terminal from which we were leaving.  Maryn and I stayed behind sitting down while mama waited in line with the cart of backpacks and gifts she'd given us.  As more people came to check in, she let them go around her, but she was right where she needed to be when the three of them returned with the cart o' suitcases.  Waiting in line in *China* should always be done by someone who is Chinese, or at least has years of experience doing such in *China*.  She was the right woman for the job.  When it was time to say goodbye, I teared up.  They are wonderful people, and it's hard knowing Louise has not seen them in a long time.  I gave them as many hugs as was more than socially acceptable, and then they waved to us till we couldn't see each other anymore.

This morning we had a call on our rented phone.  It was Louise's  parents calling to make sure we got where we were supposed to be.  At least that's what we believe to be the purpose of the call.  There were a few ni hao's (hello) and a few hao's (good, okay) given on both sides before a zai jian (goodbye) grand finale.  We didn't have Candy to fall back on, but we didn't need an interpreter because we know what was in their hearts.  Looking forward to seeing them again someday.

Up and At 'Em

Finally rolled out around 3 p.m. this afternoon, and the hotel maid was eager to get in and start smoking in our room.  We walked about 15 minutes down the road, only having to cross a street once, and went to a nice, big, three story shopping mall to get something to eat and stretch our legs.  It was overcast, but I gave Maryn my sunglasses so she could go undercover.  Dined at McD where they offer a photo lineup of menu selections.  Our index fingers speak English and Mandarin so that works well.  Won't order the milk next time unless I need it to put myself to sleep, but the rest tasted as delicious as it does at home.  I'll leave it to you to determine your own level of deliciousness for that.  Attached to the mall is a Wal*Mart so we went in in search of air freshener and found it on our own without a dictionary or international incident.  A bottle of spritzy *Glade* in a lovely scent and two cans of lavender gel are doing their duty in our new adjoining rooms with one king bed and two twins.  The open windows are doing what they can to exchange the air and also bringing in the sounds of Hefei which go something like BEEP, beep beep, EEEENG, HONK, squeak, rumble, rumble.  I like it because it doesn't sound like home and reminds us where we are and what we're doing here.

I must apologize for two of the pictures above.  I don't like it when I'm on someone's travel blog and see pictures of tomorrow night's dinner waiting around in cages or tubs without being forewarned they are coming up. But, this is Wal*Mart, and those snakes are not something you're going to see on people**at*wal*mart*com, or whatever that site is.  I give you my solemn word you won't see any more pictures of things in cages or tubs here so come back again.

For Ame and Jen

What's not to love about a 14 + hour flight when you have access to great TV?  The fact that there were only two episodes!  Fortunately the picture was much clearer than this one.

Land Ho!

We're here.  We're safe.  We're tired.  As a matter of fact I can hear Tom already sawing lumber as I type this.  Whoa, that one wasn't your run of the mill lumber.  He was trying to get through a redwood!  Tonight we are in a "non-smoking" room with two twin beds because that's the best way to luxuriate after a long day of traveling.  I've forewarned Maryn that daddy is going to snore tonight because he's that tired, and I might, too.  I've also admonished her that there will be no kicking, turning over, throwing her leg over me, etc.  When I'm done here I'll finish that admonishment with a kiss and an I love you.  I'll finish with that for you, too.