Copied from Friday, December 3, 2010 Travel Blog

Our Lyric day – Thursday, December 2nd

The morning of the 2^nd  Kevin woke up and checked his alarm twice – turns out he had set it wrong so he tried to fix it in the night - he was so incredibly tired!  We went back to sleep and woke up again later.  Kevin looked at his watch and saw that it was 6:50!  We had 10 minutes to get everyone dressed and the rest of the stuff packed up and into the lobby.  I don’t think we had ever moved that quickly, but we made it! 

We got two taxis to the airport with Kevin, Laurel and Tyler in one and then Carissa, Brad and I were to follow after we checked out of the hotel.  While checking out, the hotel staff asked Brad if we knew anything about a missing pillowcase.  Hmmm… I thought I would get away with that one pillowcase but I guess I was wrong :) They let us go in spite of the missing case. 

We made it to the airport in good time and Brad took us as far as we could go.  One of our bags was checked b/c it looked like something was in it that wasn’t allowed, but when they looked there wasn’t anything there and the guards apologized.  All of us had to walk through the metal detector but Tyler was the suspicious one this time and had to stand on a little stool in order to get a wand waved all over him in search for anything dangerous – no worries there, nothing was found!  (We keep all our dangerous items on Laurel - she is the innocent looking one - grin.)

We didn’t have to wait long until we could get on the plane.  It was bigger than the one we flew on from Indy to Chicago and smaller than the one from Chicago to Beijing.  There was also a lot more leg room than in the other two planes and it was very nice.

We were served drinks and a meal on the plane with a choice b/t beef or egg noodles.  Kevin picked beef and I picked egg for the girls and I.  Hmmm… there was some kind of meat in my egg noodles.  I didn’t eat it b/c I didn’t know what it was.  Laurel had fallen asleep and wasn’t very hungry so she only ate her muffin.  Carissa ate hers and some of Laurels – we had missed breakfast.

On the plane I was trying to catch up on my blogging by writing in my notebook with my red pen when I realized I had red ink all over my hands – the pen had leaked.  I was glad it didn’t get on any of my clothes!  Laurel decided at this point that she needed to use the bathroom so I walked her back thinking that I could also wash the ink off my hands. 

While she was in the bathroom at the back of the plane I looked towards the front of the plane – all I saw was a sea of black-haired people and one brown-haired girl (Carissa).  Kevin blended in with his hair and Tyler was too short in the seat – I couldn’t see his head.  It was interesting getting that perspective on the plane – no wonder we are stared at everywhere we go.  We are so very different!

Waiting for Lyric

We had a nice landing and got to walk down steps to get off the plane and then we went onto a shuttle bus for a short way.  It wasn’t long before our bags were there and we walked out to see our guide, Vicki, holding a sign with our names on it.

Guiyang is very, very different than Beijing.  There are mountains surrounding the city here and it is very beautiful!  I also noticed that there isn’t as much written in English here and not nearly as many people speak English, hardly anyone does – even at our hotel.

Vicki, our guide, is very nice and got us settled into our hotel.  We had about 45 minutes to get ready to meet Lyric!  We unpacked a few things, grabbed some items for Lyric, the paperwork, video camera and my camera and headed back downstairs! 

Room we got Lyric in - Guiying, Guizhou Province

In the van Vicki asked if we were nervous.  I was a little nervous – but I was more nervous for Lyric.  I can’t even begin to imagine what her thoughts would be or how she would feel being given to people who look completely different than her and being taken from all she has ever known. 

It wasn’t long until we were at the office.  We had to take an elevator up and then walk up one more flight of stairs.  The office had two rooms in it – one had the Chinese flag and the American flag in it.  We sat on some couches and gathered our paperwork for our guide.  It was nice to have it out of the way before Lyric came in.  We also had a chance to write down some questions that we wanted to ask.  That was good, b/c I had meant to do it but never got to it.

Our 4 incredible blessings!

A short while later we heard people coming up the stairs – she was here!  Oh my, she was so tiny – smaller than I imagined and they had her dressed in a beautiful traditional-styled red outfit – she was so little!  And she was happy!  She had a little bag of candy or crackers that she was eating held in her hand.  The director of the orphanage was with her.  They told her I was her mama and that Kevin was her baba.  They had her kiss us.  She did!  It didn’t bother her at all doing it.  I’m not sure if she recognized us from the photos we sent but it was the very beginning of her learning that I was her mother and Kevin was her father.  Oh – the kids were very nervous also!  Tyler said his belly was flipping and flopping before she came in!  They were all very excited to get their sister, and I was so proud of them.

Lyric loved the Dixie "stacking cups" Laurel brought with her for Lyric all the way from home!

There were lots and lots of pictures taken and a lot of video taken as well.  I was really surprised to see the orphanage staff doing a lot of the picture taking and even some video.  Maybe it was because they will miss her?  I would.  She was with them for 3 years.  It has to be hard to let her go.  I think they really enjoyed seeing our kids play with her – they did so well and it let us get the paperwork done that we needed to.  Oh!  Laurel had made little stacking cups out of Dixie cups we had back home and brought them all the way to China with her in her backpack hoping that Lyric would like to play with them – and play she did!  The kids would set them all out on the table and Lyric would stack them inside each other time and time again.  She loved it and was very good at it!

Playtime while Baba (daddy) does the paperwork and mama takes the pictures!

The coffee tables were made of glass and she loved looking through them at her hand or our hands below them.  There were 3 toys in the room also.  One toy airplane, one bouncing seat that could be pushed, and one chair that a child could sit in and rock back and forth in.  Lyric flew the airplane, pushed the bouncy seat and rocked in the chair – busy girl!  She was happy the whole time, even when we took her hand to dip in the red ink in order to put her handprint on a document.

One of her nannies also came to the office with her.  I’m so glad she did.  She sang a song that had hand motions with it to Lyric and we were able to record this.  It will be a treasured keepsake for a long time!  I’m hoping that Jieying knows what this song is so she will be able to sing it with Lyric also.

Lyric thought it was really funny that Tyler put the Dixie cup on her foot!

The time came for us to ask some questions, and I’m really glad that I had written some down!  There is only one that I regret not asking and that is if she has ever been sick – like with chicken pox.  Maybe we will still see if we can find this out.  The one question I am really glad I asked is if she was potty-trained!  The answer was different than what we had gotten before!  We were told before that she would go during the day when she was told and that she didn’t need a diaper, but that at night she would use one on occasion – so we brought pull-ups for her!  Well… the answer we got now is that she is always in diapers and she is not potty trained!  Hmm… a trip to the China Walmart is a must on the way back to the hotel!

Oh, we also discovered that she has a Mongolian birthmark on her side.  I’m glad that FTIA, our agency, wrote that this is common for the Chinese people.  It isn’t big, kind-of cute actually :)

We got all the paperwork done and it was time to leave.  Lyric didn’t cry at all.  She was happy for awhile and in the van she sat on my lap and enjoyed watching all the cars/trucks and buildings go by.

Kevin is a head taller than everyone else!  The woman in the middle was one of Lyric's caregivers, the gentleman right next to her is the director of the orphanage, and I'm not sure who the other gentleman is.

We get a lot of stares as we walk down the street or when we are in our hotel lobby.  We learned in Beijing that it is strange to see white people and especially white people with 3 children – and here it must be even stranger!  They don’t see nearly as many white people as what Beijing sees and then to have 3 children with you (blond hair and all) and on top of that to be holding a sweet Chinese girl.  What must go through their minds as they look at our family?

We dropped some things off at our hotel room and then Vicki took us to a restaurant for dinner just down the street.  She helped us order our food and then left us alone so we could spend time together as a new family.  The restaurant didn’t offer a high chair for Lyric so I just held her on my lap and fed her with my chop sticks.  She ate rice and bean sprouts very well.  Our meal wasn’t anywhere near as good as the food we had in Beijing – but then, Brad only took us to the best places to eat.

After dinner we went back to our hotel to meet Vicki again and the accountant and his wife.  The accountant was going to exchange $6,000 US dollars for us into rmb.  (Kevin had carried all of this money with him in a money belt from the states.  He was really glad that soon he wouldn't have to carry it anymore!  It even came on the Great Wall with us!  On our way up to our room with all of us in the elevator we discovered that Lyric had went to the bathroom – diarrhea… It went up her back, on her beautiful clothes, and some even got on my jacket sleeves – yucky.  She didn’t like it any herself.  All of us, my family, our guide, the accountant and his wife all got into our hotel room and I was a little flustered about what to do.  I took Lyric into the bathroom and stood her up in the tub and then took off my jacket with the yuckiness on the sleeve.  I had Carissa and Laurel watch her while I found some clothes for her.  I didn’t think we would use it, but I’m sure glad the hotel brought a baby bathtub into our room for us!  By this time we got to hear Lyric’s first cry – it was so gentle and not very loud at all.  She didn’t like the mess on her either!  I got her clothes off and cleaned her up the best I could and then put her in the little tub with warm water – she really liked it and stopped crying.  Carissa and Laurel played with her while I got rid of the dirty diaper in a plastic baggy and then I washed her hair and body – we weren’t planning on giving her a bath so quickly!   

During all this, Kevin is in the next room exchanging all that money!  It was a little disconcerting for him to do it this way.  That’s a lot of money to exchange without using a bank! 

Lyric loved getting her hair washed and didn’t cry when water got in her eyes.  She just rubbed her eyes – but no tears!  All clean now, we got her out, put a new diaper on her and new pajamas.  She looked so sweet.

Our water baby!

We played for a little while and then it seemed like she was getting tired.  She would NOT fall asleep with me holding her so I reluctantly laid her in the crib the hotel provided for us.  It didn’t take her long and she was fast asleep… without a whimper or another word…

We were all tired from such an emotional day and soon went to sleep ourselves.  During the night, I heard Lyric say one word but that was it – nothing more.  She is a heavy sleeper.

And that was the end of the day when we first met our new daughter, Lyric Xinyu Burgess.  What a wonderful blessing God gave us.

Karen