Today we experienced an amazing breakfast in Guangzhou. The ladies especially appreciated the wide assortment that was more Western than in Beijing or Guiyang. Brittney prefers the donuts that she has craved for a week and a half. Many of the men still seem to prefer the Chinese assortments. Jonathan loves rice and dumplings for breakfast. Alia seems to eat most anything that we put in front of her. Everyone loves the wonderful juices, fruits, and the massive size of the buffet. Plus this hotel smells amazing and has incredible fresh flower arrangements.
The best part of this morning's breakfast was seeing three families again for the first time since Beijing, this time with their new children. It was so wonderful to meet their newest additions and such a joy to see them interact with their new families.
Everyone was kind of in a rush for breakfast though since we had all had a late arrival and we had a group medical checkup for that morning. We journeyed over across the street from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou to an office building. As we walked into the building we encountered a wine bottle dispensing machine...weird. We headed up to the fifth floor and entered into a room filled with an additional 25 American adoptive families. It was a bit crazy but encouraging to see so many families adopting from China (about 2,500 children are adopted by Americans from China each year, roughly a third of all US international adoptions).
Here is Alia playing peek a boo before her exams...
As we entered the room we all had a photo taken of our child for their medical exam. We then waited another hour or so until our paperwork was ready for our exams. We went through a series of four steps, the first being a basic height, weight, and temperature reading. Alia, at almost 2.5 years old weighed in at a whopping 7.9 kgs (17.5 pounds)...she is tiny and delicate, oftentimes we feel like we are caring for an infant. After measurements she was seen by an ear, nose, and throat specialist (not sure if a doctor or a nurse) and was passed in about 30 seconds. Our third stop was a general exam where they did a more thorough exam of her body (think annual checkup).
Poor Alia's last stop was the same as all kids older than 2 years old...a blood draw to check for tuberculosis. All parents adopting children older than two have to spend an extra two days in China in order to await test results. When they took Alia in for the blood draw we were not allowed in which was heartbreaking to hear her screaming before, during and after. No fun.
Following the medical checkup we headed back to the hotel but one adult member of our group had to head to the hospital out of some personal medical concerns. Did you know a CAT scan in China is less than $100? And an MRI is only $150? Any they are pretty much seen immediately in the ER and given their records to take with them? Pretty different than the US system, haha. Despite its low cost and speed, no one wants to go to an overseas hospital if they don't have to. Thankfully the Lord provided quick and helpful answers and no hospitalization was required for our friend.
One of the neatest parts of being in a larger adoption agency (American World Adoption Association: AWAA, we love them!) is traveling in a group. It has been so encouraging to see how we pull together as a family. When one member went to the hospital, several others went with them, and kids changed hands to ensure everyone was free to help. There is a constant process of looking out for one another and each other's kids on every excursion and while in the hotel too.
We then spent our Saturday afternoon hosting a "paperwork party." The purpose was to pull the correct documents out of our thick paperwork collections and correctly compile them in order to apply for our child's entry visa to the US. We only had one sheet of paper to fill out, but the specificity of huge process took a good hour+. Jonathan was our families paperwork party representative while Brittney stayed with Alia. Ali took a bit to go to sleep, but then took a great three hour nap!
After the paperwork party, we wandered the hotel to explore. We found a Starbucks (awesome!) where we got a passion fruit drink that had small bits of jello within, weird but good! We also found the hotel pool (just looking, no swimming yet) and a little kiddie playroom. We took Ali into the playroom and were again amazed at her intelligence and determination as she assembled large Lego type blocks into a castle. We were so proud to see what she accomplished mostly on her own. We also discovered that she likes slides (but hasn't fully figured them out yet)...boy will she have fun with her sisters!
We finished our hotel exploration by ordering Papa John's pizza (we're roughing it now) and having a hallway pizza party with another AWAA family. We got a few confused and disapproving stares for our hallway rendezvous, but we enjoyed the fun time eating and sharing together. Every family has an awesome story of their adoption and it is fun to hear it and to get to know their hearts for God's love.
The best time of the whole day was our late night FaceTime Party. We called Sophia, Lydia, and Brittney's parents. Despite the internet slowness and VPN shut offs we managed to have a great conversation with Sophia and Lydia. We miss them so much :( It was great to see them and hear how their week was going and to watch them interact with their sister. We can't wait for them to meet Alia and for us to hold them again. Thanks for your prayers and support, six more days!
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