Family Day with the Details

So here is how the big day went…. It’s long! I want all of you reading to endure what I was going through as I waited to see the big moment actually happen!

Still in Beijing, I woke up very antsy this morning. Neither of us could sleep! Our guide, Tom, said to meet in the lobby at 5:45 a.m. so we could get checked in to fly to Guangzhou! We Kings were early… imagine that! We all loaded up and headed to the airport! We got through security and just as I was picking up my bag, a security guy said, “Open your bag”! In my mind I thought “here we go again” because I wasn’t worried at all because I had been so careful to put things in baggies 3 ounce limit! So I opened my bag and he pulled out my liquids in the correct bag and took everything out. You can imagine that I was getting very impatient! All I wanted to do was to get on the plane and hug my Mia!! He said “no” to my hair gel and hair spray and my hand sanitizer because they were flammable! What?? Me without hair gel, hair spray, and hand sanitizer??? Not wanting to risk a major international incident, Kevin grabbed my arm and away we went without those 3 items in my bag.

Then we had to be searched with those wands. Well my lady searched me very well, I'll leave it at that!

Then I was over on my luggage weight for in-China travel and our guide said he would take care of the issue for us. So all 15 of are ready to go and Tom (the guide) turned to Kevin and said “I need some $ for the overweight luggage”. Well you know Kevin is wearing the money belt and Tom is waiting for Kevin to give him the money, but Kevin doesn't want to take his pants down in the airport. So Kevin asked him where the bathroom was but Tom just wanted his money and then Kevin could go to the bathroom. Eventually it was all sorted out – Tom got his money and we were able to take all of the luggage minus the three things that were “flammable.” So it worked out fine but I’m still missing my hair gel!

Finally we were good to go and we still had 1 hour to waste before our flight took off at 9:15. I was so impatient, nothing could occupy my time …all I could think about was getting Mia. Well at 8:45 when we were supposed to load the planes the line wasn't moving. At 9:00 the line still didn't move and then finally at 9:15 we had to take a bus and then the bus took us all over the airport to get on our plane. Then on the plane, the pilot said that we would get there by 12:00 and it was already 12:30. It was so crazy.

This whole time I’m thinking I have to get checked in before we leave for Mia and grab our paperwork and her bag. So Elvin, our Guangzhou guide, (after we met him) said that we would be getting to our hotel by 2:00 and leaving at 2:45 to pick up the babies. Then he said that our copies of stuff had to be a certain size so everyone had to go to the 2nd floor and make more copies. So, I told Kevin to go ahead and go make all the copies. I went to our room to wait on the luggage.

Now we didn't even get to the hotel until 2:15 (now we only have 30 minutes) So I went to the room and our luggage never did come and never did come. Finally at 2:45 it came. Panicking, I got all our things out to take with us and flew down to meet the group in the lobby. Well Kevin had just put together the orphanage fee (cash) and handed it to me in the room. Well neither one of us made it downstairs with it. At that point I was stressed. So after many minutes of not knowing where that envelope (!!!!!!!) was he found it in our room.

So now were are ready to go get Mia. Our appt. at the Civil Affair was at 3:00. It was now 3:10. Elvin got a call and said that one of the babies was not there yet and it shouldn't be much longer. Well it was Mia. Even more confirmation that she was my daughter because she was late!

Elvin explained to us the process, so we would know what to do. He said we would be the last family called. He warned us that 25 children were scheduled to be handed to families just before us, so it might be a little chaotic. We got there and rode the elevator up the stairs and could hear babies crying everywhere. We looked in the small room and it was filled with crying babies and families everywhere. We could not even get into the Civil Affairs Office. We finally scooted our way into the room, literally! and we were told to stay put in the tiny spot. Well in our group there are 7 children and grandparents plus parents. Our group was huge and we wouldn't fit anywhere. The 7 other children were getting so antsy because it was soooooooooooooooo loud in there. Since I knew we were last, I was taking pictures of the Short family receiving their hysterically crying twin girls!

And then Elvin called out the “King family.” This was not the order Elvin had told us, so Kevin was over by the window watching the Shorts’ other children. I looked over and didn't see anyone, but through a tiny peep hole spot between some adults’ bodies I saw this beautiful girl with black piggy tails all over her head and the most beautiful white dress on (like an angel)… there was no one with her and she was just standing by Elvin. I hollered for Kevin and he came running over and we knelt down just as Elvin said “Meet your new daughter.” I just stared at her because she was so beautiful! Her hair was cool too. So we all got on the floor and by this time children were running around this small space like crazy and out of control crying. We tried to block out the craziness and began playing with Mia. She started playing with her new toys. I didn't want to scare her, but I sure wanted a hug and a kiss. After a few minutes I reached down and hugged her and gave her a sweet kiss. Then she and her daddy started playing games and she began giggling. They started playing silly hiding your face games and Mia would just belch out a laugh. We couldn't believe that we finally had her.

When we came back to the room, we gave her a bath and she loved it. She looks like a completely different child now. Today was a great day and I am so thankful that things went so smoothly. As I write, Mia is sleeping soundly, she has a family, and we have another daughter. God has blessed us all.