7 years ago today......

7 years ago after flying 1/2 way across the world, we arrived at the Dolton hotel in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Providence in the morning. It was arranged that we will get our children around 2 PM on the 8th floor conference room of the hotel. There was 6 families that were getting their daughters. We all lived with 1/2 hour of each other except for one family that lived 3 hours away. All of us were so anxious to get our daughters, and possibly more anxious due to the circumstances of our girls. We originally weren't suppose to get our daughters until June 5, but with the SARS outbreak, it was decided that they (Chinese) were shutting down adoptions until things got better with the SARS on June 1. We received this news on May 17. With one of the dad's (Joe), he wouldn't take no for an answer. We had an emergency meeting at Crossroads (our agency) Saturday the 18th of May, we all voted that we could leave now and get our children. Crossroad said they would call our china liaison (Auntie Tu) and see what she can do. Monday the 20th May as we were driving back to MN from KS (we went to see a graduation of someone who was like a daughter to us), we were in Iowa when the phone call came saying Tu worked her magic and we were able to get our children on the 25th. We were leaving on the 24th. Talk about moving fast to get Visa exprediated, changing flights information. The flights were cheap thou, since barely anyone traveling.
In our travel group, there was 3 moms (Dads stayed home with the other children because of the SARS), 3 couples (we were first time parents, except for Joe who had children from a previous marriage). There was also two other couples that were adopting toddlers in another part of China that we met up in Guangzhou.
Monika was the 3rd child to be brought in the conference room. The director was holding her. Dave was the first to hold her as an early father's day present. She didn't cry for long but did have silent tears for a while. She was 4 days shy of 10 months, she had very rosy checks and even though it was over 100 degrees with very high humid, she was and 3 other girls were in identical sweat outfits. We were suppose to get them at 2pm but the driver got lost and so they arrived at 4 PM. The babies were all hungry too. After doing the initial paperwork, we all went to our rooms to bond with our children. I taught Dave how to feed a baby and Monika looked at him so patiently. She was an "easy" baby, after the initial crying in the conference room, she was a content baby, she still had saddness in her eyes and it took us 4 days to get a smile naturally out of her. She was nicknamed our roller coaster baby as she loves the bumps that we went over when in vehicles. The bigger the bumps the louder laughs out of her. She wasn't able to sit up on her own without having her hands planted on the ground. But master that a couple a days.

There is so much to write, despite the SARS, it was a awesome trip, and a very fun trip. All the babies did well, we had one that had a little bit harder time initially adjusting to mom, but overall it was an amazing trip.

Happy 7 years Monika, Sara, Halli, Macy, Kelly, and Laura Dawn who are the spicy Hunan girls, also to Thomas and Becky who were united with their families the same day in another part of China. You kids are all amazing and we are so glad to call you our families and Monika calls her 5 Hunan friends sorority sisters.

Today is also Dave's brother birthday and my dad's birthday. We called both of them and gave them a great birthday present. Their newest family member. Happy birthday to Pat and my Dad. It is also a good friend of my birthday. Her name is Jean. I met her about 3 years ago, she is a truly amazing women and very wise. She is a mom to 9 children (7 of them are home and 2 of them are waiting in China). What a great birthday present would be a TA for her. Thank you Jean for being a great friend and we hope you have a wonderful birthday and get a great birthday present this week.