Big Day for Pan Pan

On Sunday, we were told to wait in our rooms for a call around 3pm.
It came about 15 minutes later, but we found out that the babies from
our orphanage, Jianxin Social Welfare Institute, were running an hour
late. Only the three babies coming from other orphanages had arrived,
and we were welcome to go down and watch their arrival. Of course, we
did, as this was much more exciting than sitting in our room trying to
kill time and gave us a chance to see what we would be experiencing.

After their welcoming ceremony, they met with the orphanage directors
to ask about their babies, and around the time that was wrapping up,
we were told that the six Jianxin babies had arrived. My name was
first alphabetically, so Norman asked if I would like to go first or
last. Of course, I picked first. It seemed we were standing there
forever waiting.

And then we were united with a lovely little girl. She came into my
arms willingly, but a little scared. Like all five babies, we
discovered, she had gotten sick on the long ride to Nanchang from the
orphanage. The orphanage is in the countryside, in Fengxin County.
After a few bottles of water and milk, she got some energy back and we
started to see her darling personality. She has a delightful smile,
and even a cute cry.

I think she was well-loved for in the orphanage. First of all, the
orphanage staff who brought her over seemed very fond of her. And she
seems able to let us care for her and engage with her, which is so
important in an adopted child. Today, I would say she downright had
fun, especially with her playful dad.

And other than a rash and a cold, she appears quite healthy. As we
expected, though, she is developmentally not like a 14-month-old child
who grew up in a family. In the orphanage, each nanny takes care of
somewhere between six and ten children, so they don't get the direct
attention and encouragement to do things like sit up, crawl, and
walk. She and the other girls are behind in all of these areas, and
we know from many other families that this is common and that the kids
catch up very quickly. Still it is a little surprising given our
expectations for her age to have to help her sit up. But I swear she
has made lots of progress in just one day!

On Monday morning, we went to the county civil affairs office to make
the adoption official, take pictures, and then to a notary office to
get the documents notarized. In both places, I had to swear not to
abandon or abuse her. That was a very easy promise to make. And now
everything is official, as far as China is concerned. I am RPB's mom. We just have 17 days to go until we can get her
U.S. visa. That gives us plenty of time to get to know each other....