We had yet another very smooth flight from Beijing to Guiyang, Guizhou. The flight took about 2 hours and 50 minutes. Once at the airport, we met up with our guide, Iffie. (I'm not sure if that's really how you spell her name, but it's my best guess) She speaks English very well and has been very talkative. :) We've learned a lot about Guiyang. It is a city of about 4.5 million! Guizhou is situated in the mountains; however they are still kind of hard to see from the smog.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we had about 10-15 minutes to get our luggage to the room and then we had to head out to the Guizhou Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption where we would meet Jonathan for the first time. When we arrived, Jonathan was already there with his foster family and came running to meet us which we really weren't expecting so we did not have the video camera ready! However, that lasted about 30 seconds because as we soon learned, Jonathan is a man on the move and ready to explore anything and everything. So between asking the foster mother about his habits, likes and dislikes and keeping Jonathan from taking pictures off the wall (quite literally), we were a bit overwhelmed.
Jonathan's foster family is an older couple who have been fostering children for about 15 years. They were very sweet and opinionated. :) We learned what we could about Jonathan through our guide's translation. The foster mother had also brought along some of Jonathan's special items. He has a small towel that he uses as a security blanket, some drinks/treats that he enjoys, a bottle with formula and cereal and a picture that brings him comfort. She also included several printed pictures of him over the last year and a flash drive with more pictures. We haven't looked at the pictures yet, but it's really nice to have them! Once we had asked all of our questions, the guide helped us distract Jonathan so that the foster family could leave without creating a scene.
Sam and Caleb have been little troopers. Sam has been titled the "baby whisperer" as he has had an exceptional ability to calm Jonathan down when he has been upset. I think Jonathan has a special connection with Sam already and gets a little fussy if he can't find Sam right away. Caleb and Jonathan are definitely taking their time getting to know each other. Both are very concerned for their new brother and want to make sure that he has everything he needs.
Once we finally got back to the hotel, we spent some time playing and getting to know each other. We were all exhausted so we decided on an early bedtime. However, it was at that point that Jonathan began to realize that we were not going back to his foster family's home. Needless to say, it was a long and sleepless night.
The next day, we headed back to the Guizhou Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption to get our finalized paperwork. It was then that we received his official adoption certificate as well as gifts of appreciation both from the government office and the orphanage. After this "ceremony" we headed to another government office to check on Jonathan's passport. Even though these appointments didn't take as long, we were exhausted from the night before and were happy to return to the hotel to rest.
After resting for a couple of hours, we ventured out in the rain to find the "Wal-Mart" of China to buy supplies such as diapers and formula. We returned to the hotel, and Jeff went to Pizza Hut to get pizza and salad. Yummy! All the boys enjoyed supper, even Jonathan who ate a whole piece himself.
Luckily, we had a much smoother night after that. We were all in bed asleep by 9:30pm and everyone slept all the way through the night. Thus I sit here typing this morning with all my boys still snoozing in bed. I am so blessed!
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