We spent today in Beijing to start off the trip with an orientation given by our agency, Holt. It was with a group of 12 or so other families who are all going to different provinces. The fun part was receiving a red binder with 2 new pictures of Eden and some more information on her. Malia was very possessive of the new photos and wanted to carry them around with her. One interesting thing we found out was that Eden only just joined her foster family in Dec 2009, which means she really hasn't been there for very long. And she was moved back to the orphanage a week ago to prepare her for us coming. What they've explained about that is this allows the children to start the grieving process of leaving their foster family before we get there.
Malia has been such a trooper so far, very cheery and sweet even though she is exhausted. She hasn't been napping on this trip, but totally konking out early in the evening. This morning she woke up at 4:45am, was going strong all day long, and then fell asleep riding piggy-back on Paul while we were walking through a crowded market down the street from our hotel.
This video clip is from that market, and is not for the faint of heart. You can thank Paul for making sure it made it to the blog!
We leave for Chongqing tomorrow and will go meet Eden on Monday...
3 comments:
I want one of those! (not!) So exciting. Glad it is going well so far.
I am following your journey closely! I'm so glad you made it safely and that Malia is doing well. I was surprised to learn that Eden has been back to the SWI, as I wondered if they did that. I hope it helps her. My prayers are with you as you travel tomorrow and especially as you meet Eden.
Sarah (Mom to Qin Zhi)
Thinking about you guys, especially today, as you meet Eden! Glad to hear the trip is going okay so far...much love from our family to your soon to be bigger one!
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