We have Sarabeth-- Finally!!

Well, for the first time during a China adoption, we experienced BIG surprises this afternoon during our Gotcha time. We knew going in that Sarabeth has been with a foster family for most of her life and that the transition to our family would be difficult not only for her, but for her foster family here in China as well.

We were told to be at the Jiangxi Province Adoption Center by 4:30 today. When we arrived, there were two other families there waiting. Their children quickly arrived, but no Sarabeth. The director of the Nanchang City Social Welfare Institute (the orphanage in Nanchang that placed Sarabeth) gave another family their 3 year old, then came over to us and said that we would have to wait until tomorrow because the foster family thought it was too late in the day and Sarabeth takes a long time to eat.

While I was digesting this, Mary (as I'm sure you all can imagine)- shall I say "expressed" her dissatisfaction with this information. "The string has to be cut sometime, and we are here now!" The director immediately phoned the foster family, had a rather loud conversation, and left the building.

3 hours later, after numerous phone calls between our guide, the director, the director's assistant who stayed with us, the foster family etc and several false alarms of "they are almost here", we were told the foster family had Sarabeth downstairs, and had been there for quite awhile but didn't want to bring her up because they didn't trust us to take good care of her. The director was talking to them and we were told they would be up within 5 minutes.

All this time, Mary and I are absolutely freezing! The office was on the 26th floor of an office building and the heat was OFF for the weekend. We were sitting there for over 3 hours and getting colder by the minute.

A few minutes later, the whole foster family walks in with Sarabeth. It was painfully obvious that this family LOVES this little girl to death. The foster mother and father, their 2 older daughters, a son-in-law and a grandson all came with Sarabeth. There were greetings and smiles all around and much talking in Chinese as the family tried to explain her complicated diet to our guide/translator. They brought several of Sarabeth's favorite things and the photo album that Mary had sent several months ago. Sarabeth was able to name all of us as she pointed us out in the photos. She especially loves to say "Juliana"! The foster mother also gave us the most precious gift imaginable, a photo album of Sarabeth from her early months up to today. We also were "snuck" an address and phone number so we can keep them updated about how she is doing- which is a rare opportunity for an adoptive family.

Now- about Sarabeth. She is speaking fluent chinese and knows quite a few english words and phrases. It is very obvious that she is VERY intelligent. She is reading a lot of chinese characters and can write several things- her name and her foster father's name for example- in chinese.

At first, Sarabeth would not come to either one of us. In fact, she tried to hit Mary when she first arrived. While we did all the talking and exchanging of gifts, Sarabeth just ran around and played with her big sisters, avoiding us as much as possible. Finally, when it was time to leave, I put my hand down for her to hold and she pulled away. I said "Jing Dong, qing" (qing is pronounced ching, which means please) and she immediately took my hand as we walked to the taxi.

Once we hit the hotel, she's been a different child. She is very inquisitive and is investigating everything in the room. She sat on my lap at the computer to look at pictures of the family and she allowed Mary to bathe her while I was typing this post. She is certainly not underfed, even with her eating disorder. The foster family took GREAT care of her and we expressed our appreciation to them.

So, as we get ready for bed we ask you to pray that Sarabeth will continue to grow in her trust of us, that we will be able to meet her needs in terms of feeding her appropriately, and that all the paperwork tomorrow will go smoothly. We also ask for prayer for her foster family, as they are certainly grieving her leaving their home.

Looking forward to bringing Sarabeth home for you all to meet. John and Mary