Family Fun

July 4th and 5th were spent having fun in Hefei. The big girls spent their saved allowance at the pedestrian only shopping area. The park and rides close by offered family fun. The weather was hot and humid. Quinn continued to help with interpreting and Kerry Wa is quite the story teller. We are so lucky that Quinn can help us understand her despite a bit of a dialect difference; Kerry loves to entertain. It has helped her open up about her life and it is so interesting to here her version. She amuses us with her cute voice and spunky personality. She can count to ten in English now, knows most of the colors and is recites many songs in Chinese for us. She is animated and funny and sweet and spicey all rolled into one cute 38 lb body. She loves dresses and her new sisters. She asks to swim everyday. We plan to go a waterpark in Guangzhou. We skyped with Summer today and she wants red/blue nails just like sissy who had done them for the 4th of July. Summer gave her a tour of the house and she seems happy to know that her "jie jie" is waiting there for us. The only fireworks we had on the 4th happened when Robert was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A guy was welding on the third story of a building in the pedestrian shopping area where we were walking. A bunch of sparks fell down and landed on Robert's head who then quickly doused the flame, but not before he had a burn spot. After some choice words, which Ting now loves to repeat (thanks Robert) we were off again. Kerry saw a policeman and and quickly yelled to Quinn to tell them for her baba. Happy 4th of July. We will leave for Guangzhou the 6th and look forward to meeting 16 more families.

park walk

Kerry Wa

Best dad in China!

getting the scoop from Kerry Wa

Huainan sisters

jie jie

Bitter Sweet

Returning to finalize and say goodbye

Civil Affairs Office

It's official

July 3rd we returned to the Civil Affairs office to promise not to abandon this beautiful gift of ours and finalized her adoption. Two hours later we arrived at the gates of the Huainan SWI for Kerry Wa to say goodbye. We were greeted by many curious faces. Kerry's Believe In Me preschool teacher picked her up and held her tight as tears streamed down her face. Her foster sister had just returned that morning from college and was so sweet and happy to see her and sad to say goodbye. She told Quinn to make sure we take good care of her and to be strict with her if she is naughty. She gave us her email so we could keep in touch and send pictures. We spent time in her classroom as she was surrounded by her friends,teacher, foster mom and sister giving last minute advice and love. Kerry Wa was so sad as she said goodbye to all the people that have loved her since she was left at the gates of this orphanage as a dying newborn. I was so happy to see how much she was loved, but hurt to see the pain in her face as she was leaving. Even though she knew she was an orphan and was prepared to come home with us, I was amazed at how brave she was. At the end of the visit, we pulled away leaving behind three women who will always be remembered for giving our girl love. I didn't look back, but Robert told me they were huddled together comforting one another. On the ride home, she was still, but allowed me to comfort and hold her. Words cannot express the sadness I could feel as I held her limp body. To have loved and lost. We will be here for her now and love her forever and I believe they will always be in each others' hearts. I thank God for this and for our sweet, smart little girl. She bounced back and put on a good front, but in her eyes I could see the sadness. Lucky is a good word. We are Lucky to have our Kerry Wa.

Teacher saying goodbye

classroom and teacher

foster mom (also a nanny in baby room) and sister

foster sister

WaWa will be missed

WaWa will miss them

Younger Believe In Me children

Would have taken her home if they let us =)

This is not the place for a child to live their life; She deserves a forever family too.
More pictures from the day are on the link:
http://kerrywacomeshome.shutterfly.com/

Looking in the window as we got ready to leave....your mom is coming soon!
She has a family and we gave her a letter from them.

Gotcha Day: July 2nd, 2012

Kerry's backpack

Waiting for the ride to meet Kerry Wa

When I woke up I thought about my daughter leaving Huainan and the only home she had ever known on the way to be united with her forever family. What a brave little girl. I felt a great appreciation for the foster family and love she had been shown which started with Love Without Boundaries saving her life. We arrived at the civil affairs office with two other families and there she was directing traffic and ran up to me "mama" - it was that easy. We gave her the backpack full of toys and people asked us how we knew her. As the other families struggled with screaming toddlers, we had fun playing with our little "sprite" as someone had called her that met her in the past. She is that and more. She is funny and smart and beautiful and perfect! She asked me to hold her and hugs so tight. After a fun morning playing, we had noodles and naps and then went to the pool. She loved the water and wanted so much to swim like her sister Ting who she calls Mei Mei. She is a sweet addition to our family and we couldn't be happier.

http://kerrywacomeshome.shutterfly.com/

link to pictures at Huainan SWI visits

The surprise meeting - Happy 5th Birthday WaWa

Huai Feng Nuan

Huainan Social Welfare Institute

Happy Birthday WaWa

On July 1st we entered the gates of Huainan SWI as we did 9 years ago, this time to drop off toys. It was Saturday and Kerry's foster mom works as a nanny in the baby room. She had just arrived with our daughter and as the van pulled in, there she was. It felt so perfect to see her this way, the way she had lived for the last five years. The mom in me had been hoping to be with her on her birthday. We hadn't planned to meet her this day but it became clear that this was the perfect plan that allowed our daughter and her foster family to get to know us and trust us and start to let go. We were welcomed as "Huainan family". Kerry Wa took Ting's hand and led her on a tour showing us around the orphanage and then to the baby room where she helps her foster mom on the weekends. There were eight beautiful babies. Kerry passed out toys to each of us and held our hands. We were then treated to lunch by the assistant director. Kerry Wa and her foster mom rode with us in the van to the same place we had eaten with our group in 2003 which included 7 babies. We ate with Zhang Ming, the orphanage doctor, Kerry's foster mom and the assistant director who remembered Amy Nuan. Ting and Kerry quickly became buddies and laughed and played and ate together. Everyone was smiling as we said goodbye. WaWa knew that gotcha day would be Monday. Her foster mom knew to expect to see us all again on Tuesday when the foster sister would arrive home for the summer from college to say goodbye to Kerry Wa. We then went onto to walk around Huainan with our Amy Nuan. She had a wonderful experience returning to her orphanage as did we all!  btw, I missed the barbies being handed out, but I here they were a hit =)

sisters

moms

toys in the baby room

  

baba

sharing ear phones on the way to lunch

Spending time in the baby room with Amy Nuan brought back memories of our return with her to see the nannies when she was 11 months old. As we entered the courtyard, we heard some of the nannies calling her name "Nuan" which means warm breeze. She smiled constantly and had the most kissable, rosey cheeks. Amy Nuan has been a wonderful sister with a big heart, graciously sharing her mom and dad with her new sisters. I am glad that she was able to spend time in  the place where she lived in the beginning of her life. Huai Rui Wa and Huai Feng Nuan share a special bond as Amy and Kerry become forever sisters. Amy Nuan was our first adoption and will always have a special place in my heart.

http://kerrywacomeshome.shutterfly.com/
This link is to more pictures from this visit.

Huai Feng Nuan- Amy Nuan's Day

                  Saturday, June 30th, 2012  Happy Birthday Kerry Wa

Waiting to go on a tour of Huainan

We are settling into Hefei, a city with 8 million people. It has changed a lot in 9 years. Less bikes, more scooters, more apartment buildings. Things are always in flux in China as the new replaces the old. After filling up at the buffet on the 29th floor with a bird's eye view, we met Zhang Ming who was to take us on a tour in Huainan.The driver brought along Becca, his 5 yr old foster daughter in the Love Without Boundaries program who lives in Hefei. We learned she has a family. She and Ting became instant buddies and played and read books during the 1 1/2 hr ride to Huainan. She was sweet and sang along to pretty Chinese songs. We planned to spend some time with Amy Nuan in her birth town and see some local people and places. We were all thinking about our Kerry Wa on her 5th birthday as we looked at her pictures that Zhang Ming had from visits to the orphanage in May. We had an amazing day with a surprise to share later.

Here Comes the Sun

by Amy Nuan

Our visit in Shanghai was complete after a morning in the park relaxing with local Chinese people. The sun brought people out and about and the city was alive with activity. We navigated the Shanghai train station with the help of our expert translator Quinn YunQing =) and arrived in Hefei at 6 p.m. Zhang Ming, a kind man who works with Love Without Boundaries met us at the train station. He knows our daughter and hearing about her bubbly personality makes it hard to wait now that we are so close.The people in Hefei are much warmer than we found in Shanghai. We walked the promenade on a bustling Friday night. We were quite the attraction and had fun people watching. We will make this a day to celebrate our Amy Nuan and Zhang Ming will take us to Huainan to visit and tour. Today is our Kerry Wa's birthday- Happy Birthday sweet girl. We will meet her Monday. Thanks for all of you that are sharing our journey and have posted back.

a beautiful morning

China park by Amy Nuan

mom and dad by Amy Nuan

c

the photographer by Amy Nuan

walk in the park