Monday,
September 13, 2010
WE HAVE QWINN!
Go ahead look at the pictures!
It is so surreal right now! We are pinching ourselves and
staring at a beautiful boy sleeping! He is even more beautiful
in person. We can't wait for you all to meet him. We got mostly
video, but we did get a few pictures. I will have to just
describe the moments we missed on film:). The afternoon all went
soooo fast. Here's the re-cap.
The morning went very slowly, when 1:00 finally rolled around we
had paced a hole in the rug. The car ride over was as crazy as
ever, thinking to ourselves, we get to do this again with our
baby and no carseat! But as you can see, we made it just fine.
We arrived at the civil affairs office early. The door was
locked, and we were waiting in the lobby when he arrived! Our
guide Jane (Jin) was looking out the window, and announced 'your
baby is here' and all of us replied 'WHO'S BABY?!?' Ms. Tang is
here with your baby, Jiang Zhi Qi'! It all happened so fast, she
came through the door, hardly able to say hello, and he was in
our arms. It was recommended that we just take him right away, I
was so afraid of scaring him. He started crying, we started
crying. And then we were wisked away into the office, that had
finally opened. He didn't cry for long, maybe 5 minutes or so,
Gerber Puffs did the trick. He went in and out of wimpers,
Gerber Puffs, apple juice and rings were the magic combination!
Ben finally was able to hold him too:). He actually fell asleep
on his lap on the way back to the hotel, it was so sweet.
Back at the hotel, the miracle began! We played, we ate, and
bonded! He is such a smart little boy. We had some flashcards
with pictures on one side, he kept flipping them over looking
for the other side of the picture, it was so precious. He wanted
to put them in the box, determined to get it in the small
opening, trying over and over, such patience and determination.
He played ball with Ben, rolling it back and forth, so athletic.
At this point he as very tired, we think he missed his nap
today, so he wimpered on and off, wanting us very close by. He
has already chose some favorite toys, a small stuffed panda
bear, a teething ring, and a flashlight. We fed him, while he
intermittently mouthed one of these toys, and hugging his bear.
We fed him a familiar meal, steamed eggs, his eyes lit up. He
has quite the appetite. At one point we gave him his own spoon,
dipping it into the egg, and trying his darndest to get his own.
We still wanted him to let us feed him though, so it was mostly
a toy:). But a very exciting one! He was in such a good mood
shortly after dinner, we decided to put him to bed on a good
note, so we gave it a shot. We laid him in his crib, which is
right next to our bed, as we laid down too. All three of us were
raising our heads periodically to check in on each other, and
about 5 minutes later, he was out....with his bear in his
arms :).
We probably won't sleep much tonight, we can't stop staring at
him. We have to go back to civil affairs in the morning to sign
more paperwork, and pay some fees. We will probably have a
really low key day in the hotel room tomorrow, taking lots of
pictures. We did get a couple smiles today, it brought tears to
our eyes, but not in a picture yet. We'll work on that for
you:).
Please continue to keep Qwinn in your prayers. Ben and I may be
feeling these overwhelming feelings of joy, but we can't help
but remember that Qwinn has been taken from the only family he
has ever known. Children can be so resilient, but they still
grieve. He will go through a process, and we will do everything
we can to make him feel safe, protected a loved. We can only
pray that he quickly finds peace with his new forever family:).
Love, Ben, Shawna and Qwinn (finally!!!) |
Less than one hour to being a family.
Finally.....a FOREVER family.
We are proud as can be.
Qwinn is in good hands.
Sooooooooo cute! |
