In July of 1995 we began our home study and the mounds of paperwork required by the state, U.S. and Chinese governments. Our paperwork arrived in China in early November of 1995. We breathed a sigh of relief and concentrated on the "fun" things - gathering items for the baby and planning and designing her nursery.
On January 3, 1996, we received THE CALL. Christian World called to say that our baby's picture and medical information would arrive the next day! 
We were so thrilled. The next night, Jan 4, we arrived home from work and, with shaking hands, tore open the package that was waiting at our doorstep - and there she was, Guo Shan from the Guixi Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi province!! She was beautiful, and she was OUR DAUGHTER! Her Medical report revealed that she was healthy - we were so thankful. We called our immediate family, and they rejoiced with us.
During the next eight weeks, we prepared wholeheartedly for our trip to China to be united with Elizabeth, who would be almost six months of age when we met her. This was the most difficult stage of our wait, because now we knew who our daughter was, and we could not have her in our arms soon enough.
We finally flew to Los Angeles in early March of 1996 to meet our CWA travel group. We all boarded our Cathay Pacific flight from LA to Hong Kong on March 6, 1997. The flight was long, but fun. We didn't sleep a wink, though - we were too excited! We arrived in Hong Kong late at night on Thursday, March 7. Our group spent the next day in Hong Kong and then took a ferry from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. After a three-hour delay at the airport, we finally boarded our flight to Nanchang. We arrived at the Lakeview Hotel (also known as the WuHu) of Nanchang in the wee hours of the morning of Saturday, March 9. The hotel was lovely, our room was beautiful, and the staff was warm and attentive. Saturday and Sunday were spent exploring Nanchang and preparing for our children. The excitement was almost unbearable when Sunday night arrived, because...
On Monday, March 11, we were to all meet our babies! Five babies were from Guixi, five were from Ganzhou, and one was from Jingdezhen. As expected, the Guixi babies were the first to arrive! All of us stood at the windows in the hallway on the 21st floor and actually watched the bus that carried our babies pull into the Lakeview Hotel parking lot! We saw one, two, three, four and five babies exit the bus with their foster mothers. They were tiny infants, so we knew they were the Guixi girls! In what seemed like ten seconds (but was probably ten minutes), we heard the words, "There they are!" and saw the babies, carried by their caregivers, rounding the corner to us. Within seconds, Marilyn, our guide, said, "This is Guo Shan, for Todd and Amy Bourland." I almost ran to our daugher, who was dressed in a pink sweater cover-all. Her foster mother cried but smiled when she handed Elizabeth to me. I cried tears of indescribable joy when we were given our daughter. We were instantly in love with her. She was so tiny, perfect and beautiful. Elizabeth was dressed in about five layers of clothing, so she didn't move much for the first few minutes in my arms. I'll never forget how her pretty little mouth opened wide with surprise with what was undoubtedly her first encounter with caucasian people (I am working on getting the photo to show up on the right - I accidentally deleted it and have to re-scan it). She also wore a white hat with a red cross on it - and when we lifted it, we saw a sea of thick, black hair. All of the Guixi babies were tiny. Elizabeth was 23 inches long and weighed only ten pounds - she was short, so she was fairly plump.
We were able to meet with the foster mother and orphanage director and ask questions about Elizabeth. They were both very nice ladies. 
Someone snapped this picture of us with them before they left our room (foster mom on left, orphanage director on right). Elizabeth fell asleep in my arms during our meeting with them, but she awoke a very unhappy camper within about 30 minutes. As I removed her orphanage clothes, Todd counted her fingers and toes and pronounced her perfect! She was quite clean, except for her hands, which were both clenched tight in fists, like a newborn. A piece of cloth tied around her tiny waist with a rope served as her diaper. I cried as I removed it, thinking of how the orphanage staff did their best with what they had. Elizabeth screamed constantly during her first 24 hours with us. We knew she was mourning the loss of her foster mother, who had done a wonderful job of spoiling her! The only way we could sometimes get her to stop screaming was to walk her around while bouncing her. 
The picture on the right was taken during a rare "peaceful moment" with Elizabeth during our first days together. She was taking a much-needed nap - the constant screaming was surely quite tiring for her, as well as us!
The remainder of our time in China was spent getting to know our demanding little daughter, who was definitely the "problem child" of our travel group - all parents "walked the halls" of the hotel to soothe their crying babies, but we probably walked the halls more than anyone, since our baby was such an avid crier! It did hurt to feel rejected by this precious baby whom we already loved so deeply. She gradually began to accept us, which didn't mean that the crying fits stopped - just that they became less frequent as the days passed. We left Nanchang for Guangzhou on Saturday, March 16.
Most of our time in Guangzhou was spent trying to comfort Elizabeth. We did manage to do some shopping and to enjoy some of the sights of the city. We were sad to leave our daughter's homeland, but we also looked forward to settling into our life at home with our Elizabeth. After a long flight on which Elizabeth screamed for at least 10 of the 12 hours, we arrived in LA on Thursday afternoon, March 21. 
We were incredibly exhausted and took turns sleeping in our hotel room that afternoon. My sister April, who lives in Phoenix, came to LA to see her new niece, making her the first family member to meet Elizabeth. The picture on the left is of April with Elizabeth in our LA hotel room. The picture on the right is our family on the day we left LA. We first flew to Saint Louis, and Todd's family met us at the airport. They were so happy to meet the newest family member. We finally arrived in Florida later that night and were greeted by my parents, who brought a big stuffed panda bear toy and a "Welcome Sweet Baby" balloon with them. They had longed for this grandchild for years and were so overjoyed to meet her.
We were extremely relieved to arrive home. Friends had decorated the outside of our house and our yard in a baby girl theme, which deeply touched us. 
This picture is of Elizabeth on her first night home. This was one of the few times she actually slept in the swing. The first day or two were spent catching up on sleep and adjusting ourselves from China to U.S. time. Easter arrived two weeks after our return home, and by then Elizabeth acted as if she had always been with us. Those first weeks at home with Elizabeth were so precious to me. We ran errands in the morning. Elizabeth loved to GO, GO GO and was always very well-behaved in the stores. I often carried her around in a Snuggli, which she loved. She grew rapidly after we returned home. Although she is somewhat small by American standards, her height and weight fall in the 50th percentile on the Chinese growth chart.
To sum up our adventure in China, it was the trip of a lifetime. We loved China and her people. We feel very positive about Elizabeth's homeland and hope to convey those positive feelings to her as she grows older. Our travel companions (all 10 families) were the greatest! We love each and every family dearly and formed friendships during those two weeks in China that will last a lifetime. We feel that our girls are all "cousins", and they all hold special places in our hearts. We also feel very blessed that Elizabeth is from a remote, rural area and was housed in an orphanage with a caring staff. The greatest blessing is that she was placed in the care of a foster mother who obviously loved her and gave her lots of attention and love. Elizabeth went home with her foster mother at night and slept in the bed with her. We know that the love and affection that she received in the first six months of her life helped to shape the loving, affectionate, happy child that she is today - we thank God every day for the wonderful people in China who helped our daughter begin her life. We will never forget them.
Click here for our 1996 Family Photo Album
Click here for our 1997 Family Photo Album
Click here for our 1998 Family Photo Album
Click here to read about our second adoption journey to China (September 1998)
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© 1997 bourlandfamily@yahoo.com
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