My head feels rather like it's been in a tumble dryer for two days so who knows what I'm actually writing? All I know is that we're here and tomorrow we meet our son.
The journey was good. Long, but good. We've had no issues thus far. Our luggage arrived. Our travel guides have all been present to pick us up and we've had no problems checking into the hotels etc.. We are so grateful. Spent the night in Beijing last night. Well, we spent a few hours in Beijing. Got to our hotel around 1:00 am and headed to bed around 1:50. We were up and going around 9:00 am to catch our flight to Nanning City. I'm quite happy not to see another plane for a few days.
Today we checked in, un-packed and met our guide for dinner. Oh, dinner. We were encouraged to try the local cuisine. Tee hee. Brent began to sweat. Our guide, Hannah, is so lovely and helpful that we were only delighted to accompany her to dinner. It was amazing. For around $20.00 we had a feast! White rice, seasoned egg plant, spicy beef, and Chinese pancakes. We also had some potato thingy...and yes, Brent ate it all...with chopsticks. I love that man. He is embracing the experience!! I was so proud of him! Pizza Hut was just around the corner too!
Now to the miracles---as we drove with our guide she told us a little more about
Will and I could literally feel my breath leave me. First, she told us that a few months ago, Will was moved into a foster family situation. He has been cared for by a Chinese couple and has two "big sisters". This is truly a miracle. Not only has he been introduced to so many more experiences, but he has learned to be a part of a family. He has attached to those people in a special way which means that the next few days are going to be really really difficult for him. However, he can healthily attach and give and receive love. Also, his foster family has been telling him about us. He even speaks some English!!!!!!!!! He may even be potty trained. Say what? This is truly a gift and though tomorrow will begin the grieving process of saying goodbye to his "family" it will also be the foundation upon which we can build.
Second, when we inquired about Gotcha Day, Hannah told us that the Nanning City Social Welfare Institute has decided to bring him to our hotel rather than make us come to the civil affairs office to meet him. This is such a blessing. It will be a quiet, calm introduction and we'll be able to spend some special time together in the hotel immediately. We never dreamed that this would happen and we're so relieved that we can by-pass the "cattle call" experience.
We also found out what HongDong means. Sorry all you SEC fans, but Hong means "big" and Dong means "east". This is apparently a very good Chinese name...and they say it a lot better than we do too!
Heading to bed shortly and trying to wrap our heads around the fact that tomorrow afternoon our little boy will walk through the door of our hotel room and become ours. I have to say that we are nervous about his reaction to us and about our ability to calm and reassure him. However, we know it will take time and we trust that we can get through it. It will be an amazing day no matter what.
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