and then came the tears....

Day 2 with MingZheng started well. The three girls decided to stay at the hotel while Anne, MingZheng and I returned to the Office of Civil Affairs (where we got him yesterday) to apply for his Chinese passport so he can leave the country with us. On the way our guide surprised us by asking him if he wanted to go back to the orphanage. MingZheng said, "no, they have good noodles." Ha! Quite understandable given that us guys are always looking for good food!

Everyone was happy until we pulled up to the office. MingZheng saw the place and screamed BOOO (noooo) and started crying and pleading that he did not want to go back. He became hysterical. Anne and I were trying to console him but he is pleading in Chinese and we are reassuring him in English. Not working. I told the guide to tell him we are his family, he is NOT going back to the orphanage, we love him and will never leave him. This went on for a couple of minutes as he was so hysterical he could not listen. Finally, we get him calmed down and go into the office of civil affairs.

Well, guess who is waiting on us? His orphanage director. She is very sweet and comes to greet him. He goes hysterical again, falls on the floor, waives his hands in front of him (literally waiving bye bye to her) and screaming I don't want to go back to the orphanage. The director was great. She came over and got right in his face. You are NOT going back! You are staying with your mama and baba! I am just here to help them take you with them. You are not going with me. We will separate. This is your mama and baba she says pointing to us. He calms down again slowly, sniffling with puffy red eyes, but does not get off Anne's lap for a l o n g time.

We were there about an hour or so, maybe longer, and MingZheng eventually returns to playing with the other 4 children being adopted and a couple of their siblings. So now we need to go to the police station (by this time, we are just handing over money and signing papers, so I have no idea why we had to go there.) As we walk out the director starts to walk out with us and.....you guessed it...he again goes bonkers. She says Mingzheng, we will separate, I will not be with you for long and goes through the whole mama/baba routine again. She decides it is best to ride with a different family. Good decision. Through all this she is smiling at us and is obviously happy that he has bonded with us so well.

I think he finally understood because at the Police Station he was his happy, smiling self....even with her. The Police Chief (a woman) came out to say hello to the director and saw MingZheng. She smiled and waived and obviously knew him. She told us congratulations and that MingZheng is a very smart boy. Later we found out the police chief volunteers at the orphanage.

As for the rest of us, everyone has been a bit off today. We are all tired and emotionally exhausted. Mia needed and enjoyed the alone time with her sisters this morning but had a little melt down this evening. Chrissy is the one holding us all together...of course!

Tomorrow we visit the orphanage. Yes, all of us. We will talk with Colin about going back to say goodbye to his friends and teachers. We want to take a picture of all of us with his primary nanny and the director. We have read and been told to have three pictures on a sheet of construction paper for him. One will be from the orphanage with friends, one will be the picture of us and his nanny and director, and then the last will be the picture of just our family. I think he pretty much already gets this but just in case, we will try it and use the pictures to retell him his story as he starts asking more questions. Of course, our plans are subject to change (like one of us staying with him and not going to the orphanage if he seems to object).

We were told today the orphanage has over 300 children in it. I expect it is one of the better state run orphanages, just from being around the director. Also, she allows two separate nonprofit groups to operate inside it and assist....and welcomes folks to visit. Have I told you that Colin was in the "Half the Sky" portion of the orphanage? From what I have heard, it is a great organization. Oh, that 12-year old I mentioned earlier (found out he is 13) was doing well today. Smiling and trying to figure out what a Ntdo DS was all about. Come to find out he has a little sister who was adopted from this orphanage a year or two ago. When adopted, she asked for a big brother. Her parents laughed and joked that the 13 year old (then 12) would be a good brother. As they continued to get updated lists of kids who were available, time after time he was passed over and turned up on the list. He would "age out" at age 14 and be "unadoptable" according to Cn law. Well, you can see where this is going---and they lived happily ever after!

Press on. I will try more pics tomorrow.

T