We finally got Zhen Zhen!
At 1:30 today we met our new daughter down in the hotel lobby. Her orphanage is about 2 hours from here, and the director and her nannies drove her out to us today. I don’t know how to describe what its like to meet your new 8 year old Chinese daughter for the first time. I just can’t imagine how scary this was for her. Think about it. She doesn’t speak a word of english, has only seen a few westerners in her life, and she was handed to her new parents in the lobby of a hotel 2 hours from where her orphanage is. When she walked into the lobby she was smiling even though it was obvious she was scared to death. We went up to the hotel room with our guide and the people from the orphanage, spent a few minutes asking them through our guide some questions about her (when she sleeps, what she likes to eat, and so on), and then they left her in the room with us. After they left she just sat down in front of the window and cried for a long time. She was scared to death (who wouldn’t be), was really missing all of her friends at the orphanage, and had no way of communicating with us. After about 45 minutes or so the guide came back up to help us fill out some paperwork for the Chinese government. Zhen Zhen perked up when the guide came in and asked us a bunch of questions through the guide. Things like:
What kind of school will I go to?
Will they be nice to me in school?
Where is Qiong Qiong? (Harper’s Chinese nickname, they were friends in the orphanage)
Where is my new brother?
Will I have my own bed?
Will we ride on a plane?
When will we go to America?
Are you (the guide) going to go with us to America and help me talk to people there?
Will I ever see my friends at the orphanage again?
Will my Mama and Daddy teach me how to swim?
Zhen Zhen with her nannies and the orphanage director in our hotel room.
We then went to the Civil Affairs office across the street from the hotel and finalized the adoption with the Chinese government. You see, that hour and a half you spend with your new child in your room is when you are supposed to decide whether you want to go through with the adoption or not. You would think that no conscionable individual would decide not to go through with it, but believe it or not, people actually have. In the civil affairs office we paid most of our fees, got our adoption certificate, and exchanged gifts with government officials there (traditional asian custom). It was very hot in the civil affairs office, and the entire process took close to an hour or so. The waiting area was full of families around the world getting their new kids for the first time.
Zhen Zhen and Tiffani in the Civil Affairs office
Once we finished up there Zhen Zhen said goodbye to her nannies from the orphanage for the last time, and we went over to the notaries office to notarize all the official documents. From there we went to Walmart and bought her some toys and a movie (some Chinese cartoon). We then went to KFC (there are tons of them over here, the Chinese love KFC for some reason), and then came back to the hotel room.
I then showed her some pictures of her on the laptop that the orphanage had sent to us over the last year. We had quite an extensive conversation about them even though neither of us could understand a word the other was saying. She seems to be rather put out that her new parents don’t speak mandarin and I think part of the conversation on her part consisted of her voicing that. Afterwards she had me turn the TV on and we all watched some Chinese Soap Operas together. Its been a long day for all of us and she is now asleep. Like I wrote earlier, I really just cant find the words to describe this whole experience so far.
Tomorrow we are all going to the People’s Park together.
Anthony says:
Just came across your blog by chance looking at orphanage photos… We just went to China in March to adopt our daughter. Tomorrow we are off to the county court to do the re-adopt. We stayed in the same hotel (those beds were hard), same office to get our daughter across the street from the Galactic, we even went to the same park. We have had her for almost 4 months and I still don’t have the words for the whole experience. Your photos brought it all back. You guys are awesome for going back for Zhen Zhen. I have no doubt we will be back too. There are so many kids in need. I wonder about what these kid have been put through and why they make it so hard to get them into loving homes. It kills me. Thanks for sharing your story… God Bless.
Forrest says:
@Anthony You are right, the beds in most of China are like sleeping on a sheet of plywood. I have not had a chance to update our blog, but so far, considering we have adopted an 8 year old this time, its gone fairly well. I like visiting China (well not so much Nanchung), but it will be nice to be back home. Zhen Zhen cant wait to be home with our other 2 kids. She gets really excited every time we video chat with them. The process took longer this time than it did when we adopted our daughter Harper 2 years ago. We went special needs both times, with Harper it took around 12 months, and with Zhen Zhen it took around 15 months. I know other families that did not go special needs are waiting 3 years or more for a referral (which is just ridiculous). I think they may be just using the long delays with non-special needs kids to phase out the program – eventually having non-special needs kids up for adoption for chinese nationals only, and only special needs available for foreign adoption. Anyway, I hope things are going well with you guys and your new daughter.