Getting Sydney - Day 4 - GOTCHA DAY

We started the day at about 4:45 AM and finished packing up our bags. We had our last breakfast in Beijing and then were on the road heading to the airport. It is such a strange feeling to be the only white faces on an entire plane full of people. Not only that, Chinese see so few Americans that they stare and point and talk about us. It's almost like being celebrities...we've even had a few people want to take pictures with us.

We landed in Guangzhou (pronounced gwong-joe) and got to the hotel around 1:00 PM and had to be ready to leave for the Civil Affairs office for 2 PM. Needless to say it was a frantic sight to see Ginger trying to gather up and arrange the gifts for the officials as I was bringing in bags, getting the girls changed and in decent shape, and trying to grab a bite to eat. We were so rushed that we left a few baby things in the room, but thank the Lord we brought all of our necessary paperwork, passports, etc.

We arrived at the Civil Affairs office with bags in tow. Tim (the other adoptive parent) and I let the ladies go up 1st because the elevator was full. By the time it came back down and brought us up there, they already had their baby. The nanny happened to be in the lobby when they arrived and she just gave them their daughter (they named her Miata.) It was a surreal moment...Sydney had not come yet so we enjoyed seeing their reaction to each other. She turned out to be a very outgoing and "active" child...she smiled a lot, laughed easily, and seemed to fit right into their family. She cried a little bit when the nanny tried to leave, but she quickly became attached to their 13 year old and was doing fine. You can follow their story here

Then our moment came:


Sydney wasn't as interactive with us as the other child was. She was very quiet and checked us out for quite a while before warming up to us a little bit. She let Ginger and the girls hold her for a while, but there was no emotion. There was a lot of paperwork to fill out, and several meetings with officials right there in the same building so we were there for a couple of hours. By the time it was over, she was playing with us and cracked a smile a few times.


Here is a picture of Sydney with one of her caretakers:


Our guide talked to her for us and found out things like her schedule, what she liked to eat, what words they used to comfort her. We found out that she is slightly alergic to fish (though we're not sure which type), she plays well with other children, and that she poops after breakfast and pee every 1.5 hours :)

Here is a picture of Sydney with her new friend Miata:

We got rooms next door to this family and will be together for the next 2 weeks. We've already formed a friendship and I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time together over the next 2 weeks. We want to let our children play with each other because they familiar facial features. The Lord just worked this out so well...we were originally planning to travel with our neighbors who have 2 girls the same age as ours. We were looking forward to spending time with them and their kids with ours. But lo and behold, the other family has a 13 year old daughter and our girls have just been hitting it off splendidly. They have really been having a great time together sharing the experience of becoming new sisters.

After we finished the paperwork at the Civil Affairs building we paused for a quick picture...

and then it was on to some other building where we picked up our final piece of official Chinese documentation. They gave Sydney to us at 2:45 PM and by 5:00, as far as the Chinese government is concerned, she is ours. We still have some things to do with our government, we can only hope that they are as efficient as the Chinese!

Here's a picture of Sydney and Ginger on the bus:


Several weeks ago we sent a package to Sydney's orphanage including a disposable camera and a little baby picture album with some pictures of us in it. When they gave her to us they returned the camera (having taken pictures of her in the orphanage) and it seemed like she was familiar with the pictures. She fell asleep in Mommy's arms and was gripping the little album...I couldn't resist a shot of those sweet little fingers.


Then we got back to the room where Sydney seemed right at home.


She has not cried once yet (thanks for all your prayers) and she is now sleeping peacefully in the little portable crib that the hotel gave us. She quickly went from being aloof and serious, to smiling and laughing out loud at our antics. She reaches for the girls and has allowed me to hold her, but she's still hasn't made up her mind about me yet. I can make her smile and laugh, but when I get too close she pulls away. At least she doesn't cry about me like Rebekah Jackson did for so long :)


In the orphanage papers sent to us a few months ago, the caretaker remarked, "Sucks fingers while she sleeps." Yep! We got the right girl! She's doing what I need to do right now--getting some sleep! But, I knew my friends who are adopting would never forgive me if I didn't get this out tonight so here it is. I've also taken some short video clips with my regular camera. I'm not sure if this will work or not (the internet connection here is very slow) but try clicking on the following links for a few cute videos.

The 1st two are at the Civil Affairs office (the girl holding Sydney is the daughter of the other adoptive family) and the last one is daddy cutting up with his new little girl.

I'll try to find a better way to get some more videos on the web, but it's too late for that now. Good night and thanks again for all your prayers and well wishes.