China Day Seven - We Get Qing Bei - and She is NOT Happy About This.

So, today we got Qing Bei (pronounced “ching-bay”).  I told the kids we would call her by her Chinese name until we got to the states.  She has lost so much here, I really can’t handle taking her name away just yet.  Overall, it went fine, but she is well traumatized.  No wonder there, since I don’t think the Chinese government could have made the whole transition any more difficult on all parties involved. 

We went to get her about 2:00.  We were in the second floor of a government office building.  The room was about the size of a small classroom and is clearly used for weddings and adoptions.  I guess in the absence of a church, the second floor of an office building is as good a place as any for a wedding.  Anyway, we were the first family to arrive, but there were actually five other families getting matched that day, at that time, in that room.  It was chaos, mostly because our daughter was such an emotional wreck. 

We thought we would meet her foster parents, but they could not come.  So, she had just been taken from her home this morning and then was in a car for four hours with the five other orphans and some caregivers from the orphanage.  The translator told us that she was “stubborn” and had refused to eat or drink anything all day.  I am going to go out on a limb and say that was more due to trauma than stubbornness, but I also admit that she had some of that foot stomping down pretty well. 

The caregivers kept trying to herd her our way, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with us.  She just kept wandering in circles, clinging to some hair bows and wailing.  Paul and Reilly finally got her interested in some bubbles while I was filling out paperwork.  After about fifteen minutes in that room, it was time to go –plus it was filling up with other families and kids, so Bill picked up Qing Bei—causing more trauma—and we left.  We had to get a photo of me, Bill and Qing Bei for the adoption papers.  This, I cannot wait to see.  She was just screaming the whole time and Bill and I were doing all we could to keep her still for the photo without hurting her.  It was great for bonding 

Qing Bei finally decided Reilly was the safest freak in the circus and sat in her lap on the way home.  She was inconsolable until I started to sing to her.  She quieted right down and was really ok, unless I paused for breath.  That was pretty much the rest of our day.  We took her back to the hotel and kept her in the room and I sang every song I know to that little girl until she finally quieted down and went to sleep.  She still hasn’t eaten, but she is allowing herself to be comforted by me, so that is a start.