Jane Elizabeth Niu Yu

We arrived in Jane's province at 10:30 am, Nov 8. Our guide, Smile,(that’s what he says his name is and it matches him) was there to meet us. We were shuttled to the hotel, The Dolton-absolutely amazing, huge toy room in our floor, bowling alley for the boys, beautiful place. We had an appointment at 3:30 to receive Jane. We have rooms next to each other. I put 4 boys in one room and Dave and I and Jane in the other. 2 reasons- bonding and the boys really wanted a chance to do it on their own. I got ready for baby when we got in our rooms.

The Dolton Hotel Changsha, Hunan China

At 3:00 we met smile in the lobby. We had to bring our passports and our Notice of Travel. This is a very important document that is exchanged for your child. When we arrived at the adoption center we were put in a boardroom type room. A family was in a general waiting area outside the room with a very unhappy little one. Screaming! About 10 minutes later I see a man coming though the waiting room door. He was holding my baby. My heart was racing and my eyes were swelling with tears. It was her in the flesh.

I waited for him to bring her in the room, he was waiting for a lady to accompany him. I think she was a representative of the adoption center. I stood up when she came in and went to Jane and the gentleman. All my men were still seated taking pictures and video. I just stood there for a moment until quite abruptly she took Jane from the man’s arms and plunged her into mine. She said “Here your new mama. Take her. Enjoy” She didn’t do this in a negative manner, she just did it as part of her job. More families had arrived in the general room, we were the only family with a room to ourselves. The other room was alive with screaming children.

                                               

I stayed where I was, next to the only familiar person to her, Mr. Xie. He had a noticeable kindness about him, Jane never took her eyes off him. He spoke lovingly to her. I didn’t move to sit with her until he moved to sit . We were on opposite sides of the board room. That is when she noticed her brothers. Well, she didn’t know who to look at first. She was very interested in Jack and John. John’s billabong hat was attractive to her I believe. Every moment or so she would turn her head to look for Mr. Xie.

I had all sorts of things ready to entice her, a nice very very warm bottle of formula, a little Dora doll, a teething ring and some Gerber puffs. She had no interest in the formula, don't like it at. She was however very interested in my necklace. It had a picture of her on it. She clung on to it and didn’t let in go until we got back to the hotel. She cried once, only once when Mr Xie left the room. After a short time we all left, stopped at a store to get some milk powder and brought her back to the hotel with us.

Once we got back to the hotel, I started to undress her a coat, 2 sweater and a pj shirt, 2 pairs of pants, socks and shoes. She was sweating! I put her in the tub and she didn’t mind it all. I dressed her in her jammies and we all played with her for a while gave her a bottle of her formula mixture, rice cereal and milk powder. She drank 2 bottles and had some steamed egg. She was a hungry girlie. Then, she slept in my arms for 7 hours, not because she was upset and had to, but because I wanted her too.

Tomorrow, we formally adopt her. We all love her so much. The boys are fantastic with her.