The Story Continues.....

Did want to let you know that everyone else in our group went to a different province than we did. Most went to Gansu but I think 2 other families went to other provinces. We are in Guizhou/Guiyang city alone and are getting the royal treatment from our new guide/translator Yifei (sounds similar to Evie). Guiyang makes me think of New York but busier if you can believe it. Not an American in sight other than ourselves. Again we are the local celebrities and stalked by the Chinese paparazzi.

Okay, on with the show......... After our quick lunch with Yifei we were driven to the Civil affairs office to meet Landry and his foster family. We walked into a very smokey building to hop on the elevator to the 13th or so floor. Walked into a small 2 room 70's-ish office and there rocking on a little play horse I could see him. Wasn't sure exactly how the entire event was to go so I hesitated to run over and snatch him up even though that is what I would have loved to do. We stood in the doorway asking Yifei what we were suppose to do. She said "go on in and meet your little boy". So we slowly walked in and said hi as he looked at us like we were from another planet. Probably the first time he had seen Americans. His foster family knew immediately who we were so they tried coaxing him near us. He just stared and then made a bee line to his foster grandmother who had just retuned from the market with something for him and another little one to eat. Some wonderfully smelling products of Duck wings and chicken feet. Couldn't believe how they were eating the meat off of these slimy bones but they loved it. We left him alone as he ate and we sat with the grandmother to ask some questions. Basically his likes and dislikes, bed time routine etc. All questions translated by Yifei since they knew no English. We then took some photos, signed a few papers then the foster family got ready to leave. Landry was very close to his foster grandfather ( all older men are called grandfathers even if they are not related. Ya-ya means grandfather). Ya-Ya kissed and loved on Landry and then Landry cried as they left but only for a very short while. He settled down quickly but continued to call for Ya-Ya. Heart breaking. We were able to get their email address and promised to keep in touch.

Landry at that point was ours. This was our "Gotcha Day". The day Qingke became Landry and now part of our family forever. We brought him back to our hotel with no car seat. He just sat in the middle of the back seat between us. Seemed so strange to me as we would never take our little ones anywhere without a car seat in the US. We took him to our room and immediately took his clothes off. We were told to leave them on by our agency because it is the last familiar thing they have but while we were at the Civil Affairs office he had an accident and had no diaper on. He was soaked plus covered in duck wing odor so we just had to bathe him. We stood him in the tub where he cried this deep but quiet cry. We tried to get him to sit but he would have nothing to do with it so we rushed and then I wrapped him a towel to put PJ's on. I rocked him while in his towel to help comfort him and within just a few minutes he was fast asleep. Deep sleep. We put a diaper and PJ's on the limpest human alive and he never woke up until we had to wake him the next morning. Since then he's giggled, grinned, played, eaten everything in site, Skyped with family and transitioned like a champ. Our guide seems to be amazed at how well he's done. I too am amazed at what a great God we have who has blessed us with this sweet spirit. Just can't wait to get him back for you all to meet.

There is still more to do here in Guiyang so the story will continue along with photos as soon as I can get them downloaded. Truly working as fast as I can so bare with me.