One Month Ago today....

our lives changed forever. One month ago today Dave and I were touring Beijing (Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City). We were planning on flying to Daniel's province of Henan, having one more night of quality sleep before Daniel arrived the next day. We met Mrs. Li (our agency's contact in China) for a very good lunch in a local Beijing restaurant. Mrs. Li matter of factly told us that when we arrived in Henan, Fu Jie would be at the hotel at 5:30. Huh? Our flight was scheduled to land at 4:30. The airport is 45 minutes from the hotel. Ok, you have 15 minutes to get settled in your room and childproof for a 2 year old. No problem! As luck would have it, our plane was delayed and we landed at 5:15. Daniel was waiting for us in the lobby when we arrived. All our plans for the first meeting were tossed out the window. We had no toys to give him or no food. Everything was packed in our suitcases. Even without all those things, the meeting was wonderful. When I saw him being carried by one of his teachers toward us, I just remember thinking how small he was. All the photos we had were so deceiving. He is a tiny peanut! It was the most amazing feeling seeing him for the first time after looking at his photo for so long. Once we got to know each other a little in the lobby and got checked into our room (major chaos!), we went up to our room. The orphanage workers joined us for about 10 minutes or so. We had no food for Daniel. We thought we'd have time to go to the sore that night before he arrived the next day. Caretakers told us "Get him some bread and milk". Ok. Sure! The caretakers left and when they were walking out the door Daniel started running after them and started to cry as the door closed on him. It was pretty heartbreaking. He cried a little and within 5 minutes was on the floor playing cars with us laughing. Now time for dinner as the poor kid was in a car for 4 hours and had not eaten. So, Dave called room service and ordered milk and beef congee (rice porridge). When it arrived Dave and I laughed as it was a huge quantity. Dave looked at Daniel and said "Hope your hungry!" Daniel ate well. He came to us dressed in 4 layers. It was hot in the hotel room. We slowly removed one layer at a time so as not to alarm him. We spent the evening getting to know each other a bit. He would copy everything we were doing when we played cars. If Dave tapped the car on the floor before rolling it, Daniel did the same. We gave him a few of the toys we brought that night. Everything we gave him he either carried or sat on. He was afraid someone would take hem away. By the next day that behavior stopped.
One month ago today we were sleeping well and had somewhat quiet days. We're not sleeping as well these days and our days are spent running after a very active and curious 2 year old all day. However, we are happier and have more love than we did one month ago today. When we departed Henan, our guide Lee thanked us for giving Daniel love and a family. He said that one day Daniel will return that to us. He already has.

One month ago!

Daniel today!