Orientation Session

Well, today is the big day!

In the morning starting about 9:30 a.m., we had our orientation class with all the 9 families led by Marie, our CCAI representatives in Chongqing. After going through our introductions, we spent time completing the final paperwork for the adoption on the Chinese government side. When we go to Guangzhou about a week later, we'll be taking care of the final paperwork on the U.S. side.

Marie indicated again that we'll be receiving our babies between 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. In our group, the babies come from 4 different orphanages scattered across the Chongqing province. Baby Elizabeth is among 6 babies coming from the Dianjiang County orphanage which is about a 2 hour commute from Chongqing. The other three babies come from orphanages much further away (6 to 8 hours away). These babies spend most of their time either in the orphanage or with a foster family and rarely venture far away. So, the road trip to Chongqing is going to add stress to the child. In our group, I believe that there are 6 girls and 3 boys being adopted.

Marie also spent time preparing us for the child's possible reaction to us including constant crying and screaming and withdrawal. Unlike most of us, these babies experienced a lot of trauma when they were first abandoned eight to twelve months ago. Many of them were able to adjust to the new life at the orphanage or with a foster parent. So, now to be uprooted again, you could imagine the fear and anxiety that is going through his or her mind.

Marie also went over feeding the baby. To help facilitate the transition and provide familiarity, she recommended that we use the same formula (mixture of milk and rice powder). We could also feed her some table food such us rice congi and eggs.

Finally, Marie went over some other topics including the adoption fees, notarization process, laundry service, international phone calls, grocery stores, etc. We figured we spare you all the gory details.