Aug. 7 - Adoption Day

Thanks to www.anonymouse.org I was able to see my blog this morning! However, I can't edit it there. I'm told by my readers that everything is okay, and I thank you for this feedback.

The girls slept about 11 hours on Aug. 6-7. (Sienna woke up after the first two hours to use the bathroom, but otherwise she slept all night and stayed dry, too!) They hadn't had their regular naps, so they were exhausted! They had a five-hour train ride from Guilin to Nanning and then they met us and played and played and played!

Peter has a bit of a cold. I think he caught it from Sienna. It isn't too bad, but it is a somewhat uncomfortable for both.

I dressed the girls in their jeans shorts and put Scarlett in a red t-shirt and Sienna in a brown one that actually says "Think Pink" and has a Pink Panther on it. The shorts were much too big for both girls, so I had to take them in at the back.

Meanwhile, the phone rang. It was Stefani from our adoption agency. She just wanted to make sure everything was going well. I cannot thank her enough for selecting us to pursue the twins. We are forever grateful to her and her assistant, Terri, as well as our kind-hearted social worker (Jeannie) who alerted us to the twins, our incredibly expert dossier consultant (Pam), our dear friend (Bev) who paved the way by doing EVERY step of the adoption process 2.5 months ahead of us, and my Chinese teacher (Cheng Mei) for helping me learn to speak and sing some simple Mandarin.

We went downstairs to breakfast, making our public debut as a family. We saw a lot of familiar faces -- plus their "new editions." Everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

Scarlett is a picky eater. Actually, she isn't much of an eater. She likes juices, milk, yogurt, banana and Cheerios, but she doesn't eat or drink enough. Sienna tried everything we put on her plate. She especially loved the lo mein noodles. I was glad that I brought bibs for the girls because they aren't used to Western cutlery. Normally they would eat rice congee with a big spoon, but today they didn't want any congee at all!

I took Sienna upstairs to use the bathroom. She was still eating and continued to pick the noodles off her bib. Peter stayed in the restaurant a bit longer to focus on Scarlett.

We all met in the lobby with Glen. We were about 15 minutes late and yet we weren't packed at all! However, he suspected we would have time to do so after our adoption paperwork.

We went in the van to the hotel where we met the girls. There we had to go before an adoption official and tell her of our plans to care for the twins. We had to promise to love them and never to abandon or abuse them. We had to sign some more documents and put our fingerprints on them in red ink. And this time, the girls had to give a footprint (in lucky red ink as well) on the documents.

Our next stop was at a notary where we had to sign some more papers. Then we had to go to a bank to deposit the orphanage donations into a special account. After that we stopped back to pick up a receipt. Everything became 100% official! The remaining paperwork -- oh yes, there is lots more! -- will deal with getting their passports and visas so they can come to the U.S.

While Peter and Glen were in the bank, Sienna kept asking where her "Baba" was. She and the driver had a long conversation about this. Meanwhile, Scarlett seiezed the opportunity for cat nap.

Back at the hotel, we packed up our belongings and had lunch in the room. Peter ordered two strollers for the girls that we are renting from the Majestic Hotel in Nanning that we take to Guilin and back. We put the girls in the strollers to make it easier to feed and contain them. They seemed to like it! We packed a lot of things that we won't need in Guilin into Peter's large duffle bag and then left it (intentionally) in Nanning. We also got rid of most of our orphanage donations (e.g., t-shirts, socks and onesies for babies and about 55 pairs of different styles of Mickey Mouse ears) when we finalized the adoption paperwork that morning and left the large bag with the nannies. So that made enough room in Peter's suitcase to take the fold-up bike.

Both of the girls had managed to spill a lot of water on their shorts, so we put them into new, red Minnie Mouse drawstring pants. I kept yellow Minnie Mouse sweatshirts handy in case the train would be cool (but the sweatshirts weren't needed).

We met Glen at 1:15 p.m. in the lobby with all of our luggage. We packed up the van and headed for the train station. The train was scheduled to depart at 2:24 p.m. (and left just one minute late). At the station, we had a couple of porters -- plus Glen -- helping with our luggage. They used a long, thin board with ropes to balance the suitcases which dangled from their shoulders. Amazing!

For some reason they let us board the train well before anyone else. This gave us a chance to settle in. There were six seats in our area (three people facing three people) with a table between us. A woman we didn't know sat with us. She seemed to enjoy the twins. In fact, the entire car was doting on them.

The scenery from Nanning to Guilin was gorgeous. But what really grabbed our attention was the saleswomen who demonstrated products in the aisle. The first woman demonstrated dress socks that wouldn't collect lint and cushy insoles for your shoes. The second woman demonstrated some silly toys. The first was a long plastic toy that had triangular sections on it. You can bend the toy into different shapes, and you can combine two of the toys into one and make even more shapes. Peter attempted to buy just one of the toys, but he quickly realized that wasn't going to work out with twins! So we bought two. The price was 10 yuan each (about $1.30). The demonstration was worth more than that!

Next the woman showed a little gyroscope that would spin on top of things or go up and down a string. This was something that only an adult or older child could do, but it was entertaining for toddlers. So we bought one of those, too, for 10 yuan. The various toys captured the attention of not only the six of us at the table but also other adults and children in the car.

In addition, a man with fruits and vegetables came up and down the aisles. I bought a pack of cherry tomatoes from him. I thought they would make a nice, fresh supplement to our planned dinner in the hotel room.

Scarlett was able to sleep for about two hours on the train, but Sienna was more restless. I took a nap as well. Finally at 7:30 p.m. we arrived in Guilin.

Two porters helped with our luggage and our new driver and van were waiting for us outside the station. Guilin City is about the size of Ft. Lauderdale (but without the neighboring populations of Miami or West Palm Beach).

It was dark by the time we got to the hotel. I was able to give my Starwood Preferred Guest number which got us not only a room upgrade (big enough to hold two cribs instead of one) and a complimentary fruit plate. Glen has his own room in a different tower.

The girls were happy to take a bath and splash around for about 20 minutes. Then we put them in their monkey pajamas and fed them dinner. Baba brushed their teeth while I figured out how to get the Internet to work. I still can't get my Internet phone to work like it does in the States, but I was able to get into my online classroom and take care of business for an hour or so.

The girls slept soundly. It is almost time for them to get up, get dressed and go to breakfast. I slept until 4:30 a.m. and got out of bed at 5 a.m. Peter slept a bit later. He wants me to do the same, but I just can't. I suspect I'll have a nap on today's river cruise.