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Our 10AM meeting on Gottcha Day to fill out paperwork. This minimizes chaos during "the handoff" at the Civil Administration Bureau, especially as we only have one hour before they shoe us out. Our guides Candy and Deborah (not shown) officiate. They are very patient...they must have worked with nutty expectant parents before.
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While the adults work on the adoption paperwork, the kids work on the "real" important stuff.
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The adoptive families get together at 12pm for a Chinese lunch at the hotel's restaurant The Taipans before taking "the trip". The food was unlike any Chinese food in the states - it had a very soft taste (e.g. the sweet and sour chicken was not sweet but quite delicious) and some was quite spicy. We ate family style, not remembering what we had ordered (I bet the servers laughed at us after we left). Zachary chewed up a big piece of bell pepper all to find out that it was a REAL pepper...he did everything but cry. That is one a'spicy meat-a-ball...
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It is 1:15pm. Time to take the lift to the lobby. Tina mentioned that for the first time, there is no task to complete before we get Renée. This is it...here we come. Zachary seems very excited about this day (though the picture does not show it) and only wanted to wear his "I'm the big brother" t-shirt.
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ALL ABOARD... Time to get on the bus to take us to Renée. Our guides Deborah and Candy are standing to the left and the driver to the right. The four ladies in yellow and green work at the department store next door. We visited it yesterday...what a neat shopping experience.
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Deborah gives us our final words of instruction and some information on Chongqing during our 30 minute ride to the Civil Administration Bureau (CAB) of Chongqing.
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Get out of our way! We are coming through!!!
A picture en route to the CAB. We have not seen the sun, moon or stars since arriving in Chongqing.
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We arrive at the Civil Administration Bureau at 1:45pm and take a picture its red sign.
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A close-up of the red sign. The first two upper characters are Chongqing.
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Entering the Civil Administration Bureau.
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Still entering the Civil Administration Bureau, Tina and Zach appear to be nervous and Eric, well, is being Eric. Afterward, we took the tiny lift to the 4th floor.
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Our grand entrance into the Civil Administration Bureau. The next time we crossed this doorway, we were a family of four.
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We arrived before the babies, so we handed in our paperwork and made our first payment. Not only are these not US$1 bills, they are crisp, brand new US$100 bills. And when they ask for crisp, they mean crisp. One adoptive family had their bills rejected because they were not crisp enough. Our two guides are on the left and an adoptive parent on the right.
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This is a big sign inside the CAB. Zachary's homework is to translate it.
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We are given a photocopy of Renée's finding newspaper ad. Ad was posted March 9, 2004 when Renée was 18 days old.
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"The babies are here!!!" was the abrupt cry of one expecting mother. Just after 2pm, they brought in the 5 babies quickly and the room instantly became quite chaotic. As each baby was named, the new parents showed their passports and then received their child. Fu Ai Jun was the third name called. This was the picture of Renée just before being handed to Tina. Note the startled look on Renée's face. This transaction was quick - from the time the babies entered the room to the time all parents had their crying babies was less than 90 seconds! The man holding Renée was one of a group who brought her from the orphanage...he was not her caregiver though. We think he is Social Welfare Institute's Vice Director Chen.
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The Handoff...
This is the first time a Chester touched and held Renée Ai Jun Chester. Both Renée and Tina are crying. It is an indescribable moment.
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Crying turned to fear for both mother and daughter. "The handoff" was so quick that Zachary was still playing his imaginary Star Wars game and really did not have a clue what was happening.
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And fear for both turned to shock.
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The first photo with Zachary and Renée. Renée wants nothing to do with Tina - we think this was because of her light hair.
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Now it is time for our "official" photo. This is where Eric, Tina and terrified Renée had a photo for a document stating that she is ours. In hindsight, wish we had waited 20 minutes when everyone was calmer.
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| To add to the confusion, the next batch of babies arrive for the 3pm group. They are in pink to differentiate from our children dressed in yellow and green. Since we only have one hour before the next group arrives, we do not ask many questions. When we go to the orphanage on Friday, we can ask our questions. We received a photo copy of her lost child newspaper ad and info on her schedule and personality and diet.
Though interesting, her schedule was of little use to us. None of the families (including families who adopted elsewhere) could rely on it and many chuckled at it. Eric's thought is that these children are not stimulated at the orphanage/foster care - when they are adopted, they are overstimulated, requiring more sleep.
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Need some Dad time...
Since Renée would not stop crying and fussing, Tina handed her to Eric. As we had anticipated (probably due to my dark hair), she clung to Eric, holding him tightly with her fists. In my arms, she started to acknowledge Zachary but wanted nothing to do with Tina, who was still more in shock than facing disappointment. Since it was her snack time, Tina and another mother prepared lunch (warming up a pre-made bottle) while we had our first father-daughter walk. She hungers to walk but does not have the balance.
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When Tina came back with a very warm bottle, we wanted to try to get Renée past this fear of Tina. So, Eric handed Renée to Tina who began to feed her. Renée shrieked, so Eric walked away a good 40 feet, which is why the next few photos look zoomed-in. After 20 seconds, she settled down and began to drink. You can see she still is quite unsure, but her appetite is greater than her fear.
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Poor Zachary... We ask Zachary to join the feeding, but he is shell-shocked. We have had Renée for about 10 minutes, he did not know what to do with Renée's crying, his mom's crying and his father at a distance. Notice how Renée comforts herself by playing with her hair (note to self - do NOT shave her head).
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Tina asks Zachary to sing a song in Mandarin. He did and this seemed to be the turning point. Renée, Zachary and Tina all started to relax. Renée seemed to find comfort in hearing familiar sounds. And Zachary no longer feels like a bystander. Only a few minutes after Zachary started singing, Eric was able to rejoin them without having Renée jump to him. In retrospect, we are amazed at how quickly this "fear" was calmed, especially as we have heard horror stories about how this "fear" can last days, weeks and even months. Zachary did a great job...we are so proud of him!!!
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Hello Gege (older brother)...
Renée studies Zachary for the first time.
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Renée starts to take initiative. While still consoling herself by rubbing her hair, she starts to hold the bottle. She chugged the entire bottle. Though her eyes look tired as it is her nap time, she never took a nap and stayed up until bedtime.
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