We are one of 4 families which traveled to Nanchang, Jiangxi Provence, the day after we arrived in Guangzhou. The babies all came from Tongu which is a rural area 4 hours from Nanchang.
We received Mei Lin in the hotel from the SWI director and a care giver. The same day we all went to 2 government offices for the interviews and to do all the documents. The photos I sent previously were taken at the the Jiangxi Provencial offices. We also got the opportunity to talk to the SWI director there. Jiangxi Provence is famous for its porcelean. They gave us a porcelean cup as a commerative gift with a picture of farmers planting lotus seeds. Lotus flowers and seeds have an important symbolic meaning in the Buddhism we practice so this was significant indeed to Dottie and I.
The woman who is leading our group for the adoption agency is the same woman who led our group to Chengdu when we got Mimi 6 years ago.We are so happy to be with her again. We loved her then and still do. Her name is Grace and she is in the attached photo with Mimi and Mei Lin. We also have a woman from Nanchang named Sissy who is doing a wonderfull job taking care if us. She is in the second photo with Mei Lin.Grace used to love to carry and hold Mimi when Mimi was 19 months. Mimi of course doesn't remember this but she immediately became very attached to Grace and always wants her to pick her up and hold her. It makes you wonder, although Mimi is also the same way to Sissy.
Mei-Lin is wonderful. She is healthy (eats like crazy), very happy and everyone loves her. At first she wanted to be held all the time and would cry if you set her down (about the only time she does cry). Dottie got her over that though. She is close to the same size at 7 months that Mimi was at 19 months. She is wearing some of the same clothes Mimi wore when we fist got her.
Mimi is adjusting very well to Mei Lin. She is already being the big sister and watching out for her and trying to help take care of her. She watches me when I feed Mei Lin with a bottle and tells me what to do (doesn't that sound like Mimi).This is good news since she was having difficulty for a while before we left. I took Mimi swimming in the pool yesterday and Dottie swam with her today so that we are spending time with her too.
Seeing China and interacting the Chinese people we have been meeting (more about this on another occasion) is an experience for Mimi that I don't know that I will ever fully grasp the significance of and this is just the first few days. I am so happy that she had the opportunity to come.
Greg
