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June 27, 2009 · Filed under Getting Qing Shuang

It’s hard to believe that our first day in Guangzhou was also the day we met Qing Shuang, but that’s the way it happened. If I recall correctly, it was in the afternoon that we took the fairly long bus ride from the hotel to the place where we were to meet her. Less than a week ago we watched the video of that day, so the ride is somewhat fresh in my mind. We had very little idea what to expect, and the anticipation of meeting our new daughter was exciting and even a little awkward.

I remember the first time I saw her. Sandy, Mitchell and I were standing not too far from where we are in the picture, and Qing Shuang was in the room in the background with the woman closest to her in this picture and the one in blue (whose face you can’t see). There were many children in the room (in the background) and there were many waiting families in the room in this picture. I caught her glance and she was looking at us and smiling. She was smiling in none of the few pictures we had of her before this time, so my heart melted when I saw that smile. I assumed she’d be scared of this day.

The first picture below also captures that smile quite well as I remember it.

The Approach

The next surprise was her scratchy voice. I guess I didn’t think too hard about what her voice would sound like, but I didn’t expect a scratchy voice. It was cute!

The two women from the orphanage introduced us as Mommy and Daddy, but we said MaMa and BaBa (PaPa) was fine, as that’s what all our children call us.

From the start, she was affectionate with us. Sure, the hugs and kisses were rehearsed, but at least she didn’t backpedal away from us!

After a few minutes together in this room (there was probably also some paperwork), we went to the room in the background, with the 2 orphanage women. That’s when they said to Qing Shuang, again, that we were her MaMa and BaBa, they waved goodbye, and left the room. This was a moment for all of us to remember, and a moment Qing Shuang may have forgotten was coming. When they left the room, the realization that she was left with us and they were now part of her past settled in. The wailing, tears, and comforting began (we have some of this on video). The bag of cookies she’s holding in her hand (but you can’t see in the pictures) became her best friend for the next hour or so. As we told ourselves then and still tell ourselves, it was good that she felt this way because it showed she was attached to who she was and that, with God’s grace, we would soon enjoy that same attachment.

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After we left the place where we met Qing Shuang (don’t have a better name for it. Might have to look that up :)), the group of us with our new children went to the store to get groceries and other things for our new young ‘uns. Qing Shuang (and we can’t blame her) was still a little sulky. At the store, we got her a couple of things that she seemed to like, but we didn’t want to fall into getting her everything she pointed at. One thing that seemed to be a hit was a little blue ball, like a small basketball. She was on my shoulders for a good part of the rest of that day, but she enjoyed watching Mitchell, others and I playing with that ball. At one point while bouncing the ball around, she reached down to my face (from sitting on my shoulders) and gave me an ear-to-ear smile.

The picture below is from the first night at the hotel. All the warnings about “overstimulation” came roaring into reality. Right away, Qing Shuang was a gadget freak (still is). As you can see from her smile below, she got quite happy. You can see the confidence in her smile as well. You can also see she liked to hike her pants up really high. We broke her of that habit more quickly than I thought we would. This picture captures her general demeanor pretty well. Sure, the first 2 nights at the hotel she cried herself to sleep. Lights out seemed to remind her of the (probably many) friends she left behind. But self-confidence is not an issue with Qing Shuang, and it wasn’t even so during those first few days.

First Night "Home"

Good Night Folks!