On Sunday our lives changed forever and changed for the better when we met our daughter, Nora Mei-Li. We arrived in Nanchang about 1:00 p.m. and took about an hour ride from airport to hotel. Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi province, a city of about 4 million people--more on the city later. Our group was met at the airport by the Nanchang rep of CCAI, our American adoption agency. We were told that our babies were on their way to the hotel from the orphanage in Fuzhou and that we would be meeting them at 5:00 p.m. We had just enough time to drop our bags in our room before a 3:00 p.m. orientation meeting, again led by the great folks from CCAI--we'd really be lost without them! That meeting lasted till about 4:30. Only half and hour to grab our cameras (and check our batteries!) before the babies would be brought to the conference room where we had been meeting.
Just before 5:00 p.m. 12 babies with their nannies from the orphanage came into earshot--imagine the anticipation when you've never SEEN your child but can HEAR the babies just outside in the hallway! Waldschmidt being at the end of the alphabet, Nora was the last child brought in. It was love at first sight.
The reactions of the babies to their new parents was what you might expect--some were terrified and screamed almost from the start. Imagine being taken from your foster mom and dad and being given to a stranger who looks, smells and talks differently from anyone else you've ever seen in your life. A side note--all the girls in our group were actually in foster homes, not the orphanage itself. The foster moms brought the babies back to the orphanage yesterday and the nannies from the orphanage escorted the babies to Nanchang. No foster moms are allowed to come to the hotel--as you can imagine--that could make for quite a scene.
Nora's reaction to us was a bit of timidity, but no crying. She was mesmorized by the huge chandelier in the conference room. After posing for a few family pictures, she was 100% in our care--after having been 100% in our hearts for so long!
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