Aug. 6 (pre-twins)

Once again, I hope you can figure out my formatting. I still cannot view my work. I hope this isn't just one giant blog of text! That is something I always warn my students about. (I teach an online course called COMM 390: Writing for Managers.)

Today was a great day. It got off to a wonderful start because we slept in until 6 a.m.! It was truly a miracle.

We went to breakfast and met many other couples (including a Finnish couple) who are here at the Majestic Hotel so that they can adopt a child from Guangxi Province. I am not aware of any other couples who are adopting from Guilin, but there are many other SWIs ("social welfare institutes" or orphanages) in the province. This hotel has a partnership with Grace and Hope which is a charitable organization that facilitates international adoptions, and thus most if not all adopting families stay here.

The breakfast was again a buffet. The usual salad items and lo mein were alongside traditional fruits, cereals and breads. There also was a special "make your own noodles" pot of boiling water. You put the noodles and vegetables (or meats) into the water for a few minutes and then add the spices you like. It was not only delicious but a lot of fun, too!

After breakfast we met with Glen, our new guide. (He said he is coming with us to Guilin, too.) Glen came to our room and went over a lot of paperwork with us. He gave us some "fact sheets" about our girls, too. It was like getting an instruction manual that tells us how we can please the twins. Again it was affirmed that Scarlett is a bit shy and that Sienna is somewhat brave. The information also included what the girls like to eat (mainly congee which is a type of wet rice with either pork or fish in it) and drink ("formula milk"). There also were two types of yogurt listed by brand name as well as sleeping habits. We have seen a lot of this information before, but by now that information is about a year old. So it was time for an update! Glen went over all of the paperwork and made sure that we have the right number of copies of the various documents we will need later in the day.

Glen then went with us to the bank to cash a number of traveler's checks. It took about an hour to get them cashed, but it only cost $9.75 in service fees to get $1290.25 worth of Chinese yuan.

After that we walked to Wal-Mart. We knew we needed to get a few more specific items such as the particular yogurt. We also looked at diapers because Scarlett isn't quite potty-trained (whereas Sienna is). We got them some toys, too, including two identical Mickey Mouse dolls and two different hand puppets. I thought it would be a good idea to get different puppets because I thought that maybe the girls would then fight over them which would distract them from their potential sadness, grief and confusion. (Can you tell I minored in psychology?)

Anyway, we also purchased one other special item and that was a small folding bicycle. Peter and I have four folding bikes at home. One set of folding bikes we use when we travel by car. The other set of folding bikes is even smaller and will fit in a 30" suitcase for airplane travel. I debuted the smaller bikes on our "mystery trip" to Montego Bay, Jamaica in January 2006. (I often arrange mystery trips for Peter where he only knows the dates of the trip and he doesn't know where we are going until we get there.) We have since taken the bikes (also known as bicycletas) to Los Angeles, Canada, Panama, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Puerto Rico (but never to Europe). We are about to empty an entire 30" suitcase filled with orphanage donations, so why carry around an empty bag? We agreed to ride the bike for only 15 minutes each day (while the other parent is watching the girls nap). This will be exciting because there are so many interesting bike roads in China. And a folding bike costs less than $40 here (compared to $399 for a similar bike in the States). Coming home from Wal-Mart constituted my 15-minute daily ride of excitement!

When we got back to the hotel, we made lunch in the room (cheese sandwiches, crackers, fruit) while we got dressed and ready for the twins. We both wore red and brown to symbolize our commitment to our daughters. I wish I knew who suggested the names Scarlett and Sienna. I wonder if she realized just how clever her idea was! I also got out all of the various toys and clothes that we had brought for the girls so that they could interact with everything upon returning to the room.

While the morning was a time of joy and happiness, it was also one of sadness. I couldn't help but think about the situation in Guilin as their foster mother said goodbye to them. She has been a wonderful influence in their lives, I am certain. I knew her heart was breaking.