Day 5 Gotya Day Finally

Today started early yet again. We had to be up at 4 and ready to leave the hotel at 5 am. We drove to the train station and the roads were terrible. We made it to the station and managed to drag all of our bags inside. Huge thanks to George for his help getting us set up and on the train.

The train was so nice it was a high speed train and very comfortable. We departed at 6:54 and were to arrive before noon. Next time we come to China we may use the train as our primary in country transportation.

On the ride up Shiyan made friends with a lady. The lady gave her a little stuffed doll as a gift. She was very nice and was with a company that does educational training. She and several others were also traveling to Zhengzhou like us.

We got to the train station and our guide was not waiting on the platform like we had been told. Also we had 6 bags to deal with which is difficult. When we got on the platform the group that the nice lady was with wanted to help us with our bags. They took our guides phone number and called her to find out where we should meet her. These 5 business people in their suits each helped carry our bags out to the street and all the way down to our van that was waiting. They would not leave until they knew that we were being taken care of. So nice to see someone step in to help a foreign traveler. We learned that the lady and the main man were two if the key managers of this business.

We made our way to the hotel and got checked in. We had time to grab a quick lunch before heading to the Civil Affairs building to meet Maria. We grabbed a quick lunch at the hotel.

Our appointment to meet Maria was at 2:30. When we walked in we noticed 2 ladies with a little girl but she was not Maria. Turns out another family would be meeting their daughter in the same room at the same time as us. Then the moment we have all been waiting for happened. A lady walked in with Maria. Maria immediately went to Laura and interacted with mom and dad. She had this bag of puffed rice cereal that she would not let go of.

She was a bit apprehensive about everything but overall was good. It was a bit hectic as the other family was receiving their child. Turns out they are from North Carolina and have 3 older Biological and now 3 younger like us. They are at the same hotel as us so we may get a chance to get to know them better.

Back to Maria she did very well and played while we signed papers. She liked playing with the girls. She also kept feeding us the cereal that she had. It came time to leave and we got her coat on and she came to daddy to walk outside. She is so smart she knew what vehicle she had arrived in and did not want to go with me to our van, she wanted to go back to her van. It took some coaxing to get her there. But she did fine. She sat and played with us on the ride back to the hotel. We had expected a melt down. We got back to the hotel and she was fine. She was hugging and kissing on us and very happy. Then after our guide left she looked around and realized that there were no Chinese people left besides Laura and Shiyan. She then started balling with huge tears. We got our guide back up to check on her and she calmed down.

Forrest and the guide had to go take care of some things including banking, Wal Mart etc. So this left Mommy to handle things for a while. There was another melt down during this time.

Our Guide Rita came back to the room and Maria was fine. She is very strong willed and will clearly tell you Bo Yah ( no and I mean it) if you ask her to do something she does not want. When we asked if she wanted to go eat she clearly said no. She finally agreed to go with our guide but was very nervous. She is so scared right now and does not know what to believe or who to trust. We have to work to build trust and show her we are here to meet her needs. We are learning how to understand her needs and she is getting better at making hand motions to show what she needs.

At dinner she really warmed up to us and was fine. She ate well and had fun playing with daddy. Then we got back to the hotel, she was fine until we asked to take her shoes off. Then the major melt down happened. She cried so hard and was so upset. We went ahead and bathed her since she was already upset and after bath time she was back to being fine and watching TV. She went to bed and laid down and looked at a book and drifted off to sleep.

She is so beautiful and smart. We know the next few days will be rough but everything is going to be fine.