Gotcha!

Today all ten families in our group received their babies. They age from fifteen months to thirty months. One baby was sleeping and two others did not cry but were stoic. The rest screamed and cried which is usually what happens. They are scared and confused.  I was on camera duty for two families and of course their babies arrived at the same time! I don't know how I managed but I got hundreds of pictures of both. It was truly magical and emotional, overwhelming and joyous.  It was really special to be part of the day. Of course i was crying; you'd think I was getting a baby too! There is something intimate and indescribable about witnessing families forming and bonding. Food is typically the first thing that comforts the children and most of them eat three times as much as adult. They are confused and scared but Cheerios are the universal language of love and trust.



Here we go!



It was an exhausting day for everyone, most everyone took a nap and fell into bed early. I went to dinner with Xia, she is the director of our Charity Department and works in Denver. She travels to Henan Province every other month. It was fun to see her in China!

She took me to a Sichuan restaurant that was so good. I told her I wanted something spicy and she did not disappoint! There were little green peppers in the dish and they made my lips numb. Mmmmm my mouth is watering just thing about it. It the best thing I've eaten in China. After dinner we rode a public bus to a mall. It cost about  $0.12.  Most public buses I saw were at maximum capacity but the bus we took wasn't too crowded. Before our stop Xia told me we had to stand right next to the door to jump off at the next stop. Xia wanted to buy some boots at the mall. We went in countless stores, shopping and laughing. Every time Xia tried on a pair of boots the sales person would tell her they are on sale. They are 20% off, they are 50% off. I don't think any prices in China are set in stone. We also went to a nail shop to get manicures but they would only do gel nails for me which I did not want. I felt like maybe they were trying to get me to spend more money in there and that's why they kept telling me only gel nails. Who knows. We decided to forgo manicures and left the mall. Outside there were hundreds of women doing a synchronized dance routine. Xia said they were exercising. How did the know the moves? It reminded me of the Chinese Electric Slide. I guess everyone knows the steps to that! (well, except me). It was so nice and cool outside we decided to walk back to the hotel. It was still early so we went to the White Horse Sports Bar in the hotel. It was a wonderful day. Of course I thought about what it would be like if I had adopted a child and I was wistful.

Zhengzhou is a bustling city. It's a little cleaner than Beijing but the driving is still crazy. There are electrical bikes and Vespa type mopeds everywhere and you better watch out because you will be run over. Most men smoke. Men do not doors for women or let you off the elevator first. If you catch someone's eye and smile they never smile back. They just stare at you. Pretty much everyone stares at our group though. Even after thousands of children have been adopted internationally from China people still stare and and cannot understand why on Earth people from other countries would come to China to adopt a child, especially one with a medical need. All the children in my group have a medical need such as left lip, cleft palate, heart disease, developmentally delayed, club foot, malformed fingers, and extra digits (six fingers). Each and every one is precious and perfect.