China Day 8: Adoption Day

We woke up after a great first night’s sleep! Lila drank her bottle quickly and we headed down to breakfast. It is crazy that we had to ask for a table for FIVE! We all fixed our plates and Miss Lila went to town eating bananas, pears, and pineapple. We tried feeding her congee, a rice porridge she had at the orphanage that is a very common breakfast item here, but she wouldn’t even have a bite. I think she is done with that stuff. We may try it again just to be sure, but I think she prefers fruit and puffs for the moment. :) Here she is walking to breakfast!  

After breakfast we went back upstairs to get ready for our appointment at the Civil Affairs office. This is the same place where we met Lila on Monday. We headed that way with our guide around 10:15am. We walked into an office and spoke with an official about Lila. She asked our ages, how long we had been married, why we chose to adopt, and then we signed some papers. Then we went upstairs and waited for the notary office. When it was our turn, we were again asked a few questions. We were asked to promise to never abandon or abuse Lila, and we signed papers, and she became ours! It was very unceremonious- I didn’t even take a picture of us signing the papers! Another family adopting did offer to take a picture as we were waiting. I am thankful we have this picture as a family of five! 

 
After we finished up at the Civil Affairs office, we headed to Aeon, a big grocery store down the street from our hotel. It was INSANE! Our guide didn’t realize it until later, but because it was the last day of the month, they were offering their members double points. It was completely packed out, but we were able to go through the store and find things like Peter Pan peanut butter, bread, Pringles, Frosted Flakes, milk, ramen noodles, Coke, Oreos, and bottled water. Sounds like a great grocery run to you, right??! We were SO happy to have these items so we don’t have to eat out every meal! 

See what I mean?! Crazy!! We headed back to the hotel and ate peanut butter sandwiches and chips for lunch. We were so happy for an everyday meal like that! We put Lila down for a nap, and she slept about an hour. She woke up very sad. So far, pretty much every time she wakes up from sleeping, she is sad. We have to comfort her and distract her with a toy, and eventually she cheers up. We tried feeding her some food, but she was not into it at all. So, we just played and hung out in the apartment.

I am on a ton of Facebook adoption groups. One of them is just of families who have a family (gotcha) day of June 29th like us. Some of them are in Guangzhou right now, and some will come here after getting their child from another province. Every adoption has to come through Guangzhou because this is where they issue the child’s visa. Anyway, one of the girls on the Facebook group and her family are here and had their family day yesterday too. They are adopting a sweet 11 year old boy. We saw them a few times over the last couple of days, and we decided to meet up with them for dinner!

It was so fun having interaction with other Americans! We headed to Tekila (hilarious spelling, I know) for some Mexican food. It was as good as you can expect for Tex-Mex in China! The kids were so happy to have chips and cheese quesadillas. There was a little playroom right by our table, so it is definitely a fun place to go to with the kids. I’m sure we will be back many times! The other family has a 6 year old daughter with them, so she and Chloe became fast friends. It was just such a nice experience to hear their story of why they chose to adopt and encourage each other during this time! I will forever be thankful that they are here with us throughout our time in Guangzhou. Here is Lila enjoying some chicken!  

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and got everyone ready for bed! Sweet Lila was sad again at bedtime, but she only cried a few minutes before falling asleep. We transitioned her to her bed just fine. She woke up a few times throughout the night crying. It is so hard to see her starting to grieve, but I know this is part of the process.

I get overwhelmed with thankfulness that we adopted our Lila. She needed us, and we needed her. I can’t stand her little legs being covered with bites and bruises, and she has a cough that sounds terrible. It makes me so happy that she is in our care, and that we can give her medicine and help heal her little body. It also makes me so sad for all of the other children in her orphanage. I know there are many just like Lila, sitting there in their cribs with no one to rub cream on their boo-boos and wipe their tears away. At one point today, Jack was sitting next to Lila and a huge tear rolled down her cheek. Jack reached over and wiped it away and said, “Lila, I wipe all your tears, just like Jesus.”

No words, y’all. Just a perfect moment I will never forget. Sweet Lila, we are so happy to be the ones to wipe away all of your tears right now, and your heavenly Father is preparing a place for all of us who believe where there will be not only no more tears, but also no more orphans. We will be His sons and daughters forever! He is making all things new!

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:4-5