There comes a point in every trip (at least for us) where the thrill of being in a new place begins to get a bit thin. When the experience of being away from home begins to wear on you. For us, that point is usually around ten days. Today is day 11 and we’re just tired.
The adoption process is different in every situation. We have friends who adopted domestically who visited their child-to-be in an institution for several months before bringing them home and others who got a call and brought their child home the next day. We have friends who travelled to their child-to-be’s country several times over several months before finally bringing them home and we have friends whose child-to-be was brought to them at a US airport. In China (in general), the adoption requires a visit to the country of about two weeks. Most people recommend that you spend a few days in China to aclimate to the time change before you meet your child. Then you spend 5 or 6 days in your child’s province doing the actual adoption and finishing paperwork there. Then you spend about a week in Guangzhou presenting your paperwork to the US Consulate and waiting for your child’s US Visa so that they can go home with you. We happened to come at the end of the Spring Festival and lost a day to the President’s Day holiday, so our trip this time is 17 days. That’s a week past the “ready to go home” threshold. We’re tired.
We spent the day doing some shopping at a local mall. We got some very good deals on some clothes that fit Sophie better. We also picked up some gifts for people back at home – the Asian habit of hospitality is rubbing off on us. Daddy got to play tea party with Sophie and her stuffed animals, during which he was lectured in Chinese about where to sit, when to pick up his cup (the lid to a bottle of water), when to drink, when to help the stuffed animals drink and a host of other things tea party related. It was very cute and Sophie runs a pretty tight tea party.
Sarah is adjusting well and enjoys pushing her sister in the stroller. She enjoys her daily Starbucks chocolate cake and she is starting to enjoy being a big sister. She gets some extra cuddles from mommy and daddy which helps too. When she gets tired, some of the luster with her new sister wears off, but for the most part they are getting along really well.
The boys are at home being boys, but there is no permanent damage. They’re eager for us to come home too. We really like China, but next weekend can’t come fast enough for us.
