Personal Adoption Story
Neal and Monica
On seeing our daughter for the first time:
There we were in the hotel room, waiting for the babies to arrive. We were told they were traveling by car from their town which was about 2 hours away. We were jittery and excited not sure where to sit or what to talk about. Shortly we heard the bell of the elevator and then we saw them carrying the babies right into our room. Our baby was first and they announced her by saying her Chinese name but they didn't need to. We knew her immediately. She sat tall in his arms with an interested but very serious face. She wore several layers of clothing even though it was very hot in the room. Her eyes were huge and quite solemn. The man walked over to us and introduced us to our daughter. He told her we were her new mamma and new papa. Her lower lip went out and she held in her cry. Such a brave girl. Eventually we signed some papers and he put her down to explore. She was happy and smiling and even grabbed a pen and paper and started to draw. We were enchanted with every move that she made and marveled at her talents. Who knew that our baby was an artist? So much to learn about our darling daughter. Then one of the facilitators told me to pick her up. I was hesitant and didn't want to upset her. She cried and kicked and tried to get out of my arms. Luckily, on the trip over, I had watched a Chinese mother comfort her son and so I did the same. I clicked my tongue and sssshhhed and rocked and generally made a lot of noise. It seemed to work because I saw the facilitators nod at me as if in approval and soon Nina's eyelids grew heavy and she was asleep on my shoulder with her sweaty little cheek pressed to mine. I knew then that our long wait was over and my heart almost hurt from what we were feeling.
On coming home from the airport:
We had asked our families to limit the amount of people that wanted to meet us at the airport because we were worried about overwhelming the baby and we knew she'd be tired. As we got off the plane and walked through the terminal we could see that they hadn't listened to a thing we said because both families were there in full force. A line of 30 or so people stood there watching and waiting to meet our newest family member. Of course there were shouts and tears and too many hugs to count. The funny thing is how Nina reacted. She seemed to know that they were all there for her. She was smiling and dancing and playing peek a boo much to the delight of both Grandmas. She didn't let anyone pick her up except my husband and myself but otherwise was laughing and having a grand time. She loved the crowd and still does enjoy being the center of the party.
On meeting her brother:
We got home from the airport about 4am and took Nina in to meet her big brother. Our son who was 5 at the time, had opted to stay home with his grandparents. He was sound asleep but we woke him with our boisterous arrival. We all watched as my husband set Nina down and she and Reid gave each other a long look. She slowly reached out and touched his hair and then gave him a sweet smile. He patted her on the arm and said "Welcome home, Nina". It was almost as if they already knew each other and didn't skip a beat. To this day, my son is proud and careful with his little sis even when she messes up his room.
On going with the Full Service option from AAO:
If we had it to do over again, we would definitely go the Full Service route with AAO. Neither my husband nor myself had ever attempted something so complicated and important as international adoption and we wanted it done right. We didn't have time to learn all the in's and out's of what dossiers are supposed to say or do, we just wanted our baby! We were also busy with work and didn't have extra hours in the day to get it all done. It was so exciting to come home and have a message or an email from Edd saying that something was finished and we knew that we were another step closer. We could relax through the process and know that we were in good hands with AAO and that our dossier would be complete and correct.
On working with AAO in general:
We were so glad that we went with AAO as our agency. Everyone there was knowledgeable, professional and very accessible. Dave was always just a phone call away and always gave honest and helpful answers. Edd was extremely hard working and efficient. Several times he stayed late for us to notarize an important document so that we could get it done. All of the social workers were kind and easy to work with. I was very nervous about the actual trip to China and Amy Guo was tremendous in helping us nail down the details. She made it very easy. Cindy was very supportive and informative. I can remember at least two times when I called her, and just needed some reassurance that we would be getting our referral very soon. While we were in China, we saw evidence that AAO was well respected and communicated well with the facilitators in China. For us, choosing international adoption was a huge step but having AAO as our agency helped make it an amazing, life-changing experience