From Beijing we boarded the bullet train to Zhengzhou (pronounced Jeng-joe), this was a good way to see some of the country in three hours. The train traveled at speeds up to 307 kmh (190 mph) with six stops before ours. The guide gave us a note with each stop listed so we could check them off in order and be prepared - the train stops for less than five minutes at each station. The boarding passengers were semi-patiently waiting in line for the departing passengers to clear the way. We made sure we had our luggage together and got off as quickly as we could.
There was a lot of agriculture in the areas between the cities. It was difficult to tell what was being grown but looked like mainly grains and potatoes. Much of the work appears to be done manually, we saw few, if any, farm implements. There were very few residences outside the cities. Every city we passed through or stopped in had multiple large construction projects underway - usually apartment buildings.
Zhengzhou had several large building sites using cranes and a great deal of infrastructure work (mainly roads) being done. From the train station it was a 30-minute van ride to the hotel. We stayed in the Zhengzhou Hilton which is beautiful. The morning after we arrived we met the guide in the lobby at 9:00 AM to travel to the Henan province governmental office that handles adoptions. Arriving at the office, there were a total of nine families from multiple adoption agencies there to receive their children. It was incredible watching the children and families meeting for the first time. There were many tears of joy, a couple of the children cried and needed to be comforted.
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| The train station |
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| The Zhengzhou Hilton |
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| The orphanage official |
We were told Jade would be a little later due to the distance she was traveling to meet us. As we were sitting and watching the other families get to know one another, Heather turned to her right and saw Jade walking toward us. She was wearing an outfit that we had sent to her in a care package and carrying a pink backpack. The nanny spoke in Mandarin using the words 'ba ba' and 'ma ma' and she walked up to us. They explained that she had been car sick on the trip so would need to be changed. She was very shy and timid (this has since changed) but pulled out the photo album we had sent her and named each of us as we turned the pages. We were amazed at her willingness to sit with us. There were no tears. We asked her orphanage official if she cried when they left that morning and the official said no. It was only a matter of minutes until she was sitting on Danielle's lap and they were coloring together. We passed a ball around. She is fearless and brave and smart. After all the children had arrived and met their families, we headed back to the hotel to bond and love on our children for the remainder of the day.
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| The registration office |
Some of Jade's physical needs are greater than we anticipated - from the spina bifida she is incontinent and wears diapers - but her walking is far better than we expected. We are confident that with some additional care and therapy both of these will be improved. She warmed up to us very quickly and we have had few communication problems, even with the language barrier.
The next morning we met the guide in the lobby and went back to the same office. After our paperwork was reviewed, we were asked a few questions:
if we still wanted to adopt the child and would we care for the child, then had a short ceremony placing Jade into our family. This happened fairly quickly as there were only two Bethany families in our province. We then headed back to the hotel to meet our car headed to the city where the orphanage was located. The orphanage visit will be the next post.
