We arrived in Zhanjiang around 9 p.m. We were expecting warm, humid weather, since we were now far south, almost to Vietnam. The area is subtropical, but our facilitator, Martin, told us we had brought the cool weather from Beijing with us. We checked into the hotel and went to our rooms. We were all together at the end of one hall. The rooms were much larger than the ones we had in Beijing. Of course, the biggest difference made our hearts beat a little faster--there was a small white crib next to our beds! Tim and I didn't talk, which isn't like us. As if in preparation for the nights of moving around the room with a sleeping baby in the crib, we silently unpacked our own things before opening the suitcase that held all the baby gear. I began laying out her things--bottles, a toy, diapers. I laid a blanket in the crib. Finally, there was nothing else to do but go to sleep. Thankfully, the jet lag assisted us and we slept soundly until early morning.
I woke up around 4:30. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I took a shower at 5:30 and Tim got up around six. I was glad to have the extra time to pray and clean up the room a little. I went down to breakfast early to meet some other parents. We wanted to try and formulate some questions in Chinese in case the caregivers were with the babies and we had a chance to talk with them.. We found out one of the women in our group was extremely ill. I felt so bad for her, being sick the day she was supposed to meet her baby! I didn't really eat much at breakfast, and at 8:30, Tim and I went back upstairs to wait. We had been told we would receive a phone call when the babies arrived, but at 9:00, one of the other guys came by our room and said "Aren't you two coming?" We rushed to grab the gifts and diaper bag only to wait out in the hallway with the group for awhile. Finally, we went upstairs to a conference room on the top floor. We were all looking for the babies every second, but didn't see them. We nervously sat down, and everyone looked like they were about to pop until one of our facilitators told us the babies weren't actually at the hotel yet. We ended up waiting in the room for about 30 minutes before our agency director entered with the directors of the Social Welfare Institute. They must have been amused to find 10 cameras pointing at them when they walked in! After introductions, John announced that they would present the babies in the order the families were listed on his roster. Tim and I were first!!! My heart was pounding, and I felt hot and cold all at once! I couldn't even look at Tim--my eyes were on the door! |
