Our Family...: Tuesday April 16

Today was a laid back day. Hannah went to bed at 6 pm Monday night and slept until 6:30 am Tuesday. She needed it! We had breakfast and then met our guide at 9 am to go to a museum. She said it was a great museum to show Mongolian history, but there really wasn't much history. There was a section on dinosaurs because apparently many dinosaur bones and fossils have been found on the border of inner and outer Mongolia. The rest of it just showed the different regions of Inner Mongolia. Mongolia is known for their grasslands, but a large section is also home to the Gobi desert. In the north eastern part there are many forests. The museum really didn't have anything about Mongolian history. Our guide told us that 80 years ago Inner Mongolia became part of China and Outer Mongolia became an independent country. I know the Great Wall was built to keep the Mongolians out, so I wonder if people in China have a prejudice even towards people living in Inner Mongolia. Our guide is a local, and she refers to herself as Mongolian.

We hung out in the hotel room most of the day and had pizza hut for lunch. We met our guide at 3:00 to finish up adoption paperwork. This time, all 4 families and the orphanage officials were all together. The notary and a government official were also there. I guess the purpose was to pay the notary to notarize all of the documents and to do an interview with the government official. We filled out all the papers yesterday, but today everything was made official. Her orphanage gave her a traditional Mongolian dress and hat. They also gave her a certificate wishing her happiness. It was sweet and we are thankful to have this keepsake.

By this time of day, Hannah was a mess. She didn't have a nap and was very cranky. We went on a walk at the park behind us and she started to fall asleep. We brought her back to the hotel for a bath and bed... but that didn't go over so well! She screamed in the shower (of course!) and would not fall asleep. It was a rough hour or so!! We finally got her to fall asleep at 6:15. I woke up to change her at 10 and we set the alarm for 3. At some point in that 5 hour stretch, her diapers came loose. We woke up to a huge mess and a screaming child who would not go back to sleep. Normally I would freak out that my child was up for the day at 3 am, but this time next week she will be almost home where it is 3:00 in the afternoon. What's the difference? Hopefully she will fall asleep early this morning and go to bed early tonight.

Today we have to meet our guide at 9 to get her passport. We don't have anything else planned, so we might go to her finding spot. We decided not to visit her orphanage. It is 1 hour away and it was only her home for 5 months. We consider SFCV to be her home and we are thankful we have so much insight into her life there. We understand that the orphanage took her in and provided her care as a baby, but for some reason we don't feel very connected to this place.

We looked up the hotel where Hannah was abandoned and we found that it is next to the train station. I think that is interesting. Who knows where Hannah is really from. Her birth mom (or whoever left her) probably hopped a train to get as far away as possible. There is a good chance she is still from Inner Mongolia, but we will never know for sure. The hotel is only a few miles down the road, probably a 30 minute walk. We are going to do that this afternoon. We will never know what room she was found in, but we can still take pictures of the hotel. I think one reason I am having a hard time connecting to this place is because Hannah didn't have a happy story. She was an older baby and she was described as being in "poor physical state, pale and vomitting." She was living with a weak heart, intestinal issues, kidney problems and hydrocephalus. Who knows why her parents decided to leave her, but I have a hard time believing they left her to be found. From the moment she was born, she has suffered. She has spent half of her life in a hospital. Yet she still smiles, is strong as can be, and developmentally on track. She has quite a story to tell and I can't wait to get it all documented. People will be amazed when they see just how special our little girl is. She really is a miracle child!