Welcome to Hefei -
Chelsea milestone reached
Our daughter is out there somewhere. Actually Chelsea is from Huainan about two
and a half hours outside of Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province. The city boasts a population of 5 million and
is considered a small city by Chinese standards. We started our morning as usual around 3:00
AM, then 5:00 AM when everyone was awake.
Breakfast was at 8:00 where we dined on a large buffet breakfast on the 29th
floor. The view would be impressive if
it were not for the smog and enormous amount of construction.
Next we went back to our room and prepared for the next
milestone, meeting Chelsea for the first time. We cleaned up the area grabbed
some cameras, I-pads and gifts and headed for the bus. A quick fifteen minute
ride brought us to a non-descript building.
The Avery Horde went inside and began filling out paperwork. We had been there for about 45 minutes when
Chelsea walked in. We immediately
recognized her from the pictures. She
may have as well because she turned and told her escort she wanted to go back
to the orphanage. Now! She was scared, terrified to be more
exact. She knew she was coming to meet
us and the gravity of it all was just too much.
The tears began to flow quietly at first then it turned to sobs and
eventually bawling. Chelsea was not
about to allow anyone to hold her. Any
touches were rebuked by a hand pushing the attempt away. Myriam was able to stroke her hair and wipe
her tears but nothing more. Eventually the time came to separate from the orphanage
official. This required Michael to pick her up and pull her away from the
official and turn and literally run into the next room.
It is always hard for the child, especially an older child,
to separate from what they know to what they do not. The orphanage staff is
accustom to this and knows the best way to do it based on the child. Soon Chelsea, not seeing anyone from the
orphanage turned toward Jane (our Chinese guide for the area) and Myriam. Shortly after this Jane withdrew and Chelsea
has been by Myriam’s side the entire time.
She has not looked at Michael much, probably plotting her revenge for
the initial extraction process. She has
not smiled yet but has come close. Chelsea appears to be warming up to Chase
especially
We returned to the hotel where we quickly skyped with
friends that knew Chelsea. Her best
friend was first then others who had taken care of her in the orphanage that
had also been adopted. The distance
seemed to fall away as she first waved at her friend with a few fingers. By the time we were done skyping with
everyone a full hand and arm movement was needed to say goodbye.
Technology has proven to be a wonderful universal language
for us. She likes the I-pad we showed
her and enjoyed playing with our phones.
Google translation works when you type the words in so communication has
improved somewhat. We have also taught
her a few sign language hand motions that she picked up immediately. She has decided that one of the I-pads is hers. When Chelsea walk into the room she picks up
the I-Pad immediately and begins touching and playing with it. Now she will
hold anyone’s had (except for Michael) as she feels the need. Tonight she let Sophie brush her hair before
bed. Meals have gone well, she picks out the food that she wants and especially
likes fruits and vegetables. It is 8:00
PM now. We have had Chelsea for almost 9
hours. We have gone from her being
terrified to our guide telling Chelsea that she would be spending the night
with us. She told Jane she understood
and has not shown any sign of tears. We
will see what happens tonight. Keep your
fingers crossed.
We go back to town tomorrow to complete more paperwork that
will eventually pave the way for us to get home. We will go to a part about 10 minutes from
here tomorrow to walk and play. (Yes we
brought a soccer ball) Our goal tomorrow is to get her to smile and maybe even
capture it on the camera.
 |
| Chelsea Chun Tai Avery waiting for her first meal with her new "forever family." |
No comments:
Post a Comment