waves

I've watched people grieve and I know it comes in waves. Today we are riding a big wave with our poor girl. She had a very full night sleep but has been dragging and sad all day. Her crying comes on very suddenly and when it does, she walks to the door and cries for Mama and says the Mandarin equivalent of, "I don't want this!"

We are sad for her and even Baba can't console her out of this. We just have to ride it until she gets it all out.

This morning we went to Panda World with Tracy, which is an underwhelming run down zoo for Pandas and a couple other types of Asian bears. Nevertheless, it was nice to get out of the hotel. We also planned our next couple of days' outings which include one of the orphan healing homes run by the organization "Love Without Boundaries," as well as touring a very famous Buddhist temple.

This is all to fill the time while we are waiting for Joya's passport to be processed in an expedited timeframe so we can fly to Guangzhou on Friday to get her US entry paperwork processed.

I forgot to mention that the orphanage director handed us keepsakes that are extremely rare for adoptive families to receive. She kept the blanket Joya was found in, the original note that her birth mother left with her, as well as the sweet little outfit she was wearing on that day. Tracy said that orphanages rarely keep clothing and blankets because of possible germs and that any notes are usually kept on file at the police station and sometimes adoptive parents may receive a photocopy. So, needless to say, we are so grateful.

We also found out who the older woman was that upset Joya so badly at the Civil Affairs office. She was the mother of the orphanage director, which sounds strange until you hear that she lives next door to Joya's foster grandmother and was in her life on a very frequent basis. Now it all makes sense. This woman was another grandmother to her. They all live in a rural town in the countryside where very few babies are abandoned, so it was a unique opportunity to care for her and why she didn't have to live in an orphanage for two years.

Again, we're so grateful.

Thanks again for all of your comments of love and support. We are reading each one several times and they make us feel connected to you even though we are so far away right now.