WELCOME HOME FU YUN AND FU JIA HUA

June 22, 2009

On Monday, June 22, our driver pulled up in front of a large white building with huge green glass walls. Our translator didn't need to tell me we had arrived at the FuZhou Social Welfare Institute. I recoginzed it from numerous pictures I had seen.We were allowed inside and directed to a second floor conference room. The table was set with fresh fruit, red decorations were hung throughout, and on one wall were two huge banners with white writing against a red background. WELCOME HOME FU YUN was for my daughter, and WELCOME HOME FU JIA HUA was for Madeline Cleeff. The girls really were "home".

Vice Director Zhou You Ping and Director of Children's Services Miss Lu came and met with us. The original paperwork from 1995 was spread out on the table and we were allowed to ask for any clarifications. Although the staff was very helpfu, there really was nothing new to learn because back in 1995 when Hannah and Madeline were born, not much paperwork was prepared. Today there is often more detailed descriptions of what the chiild was wearing, where she was found, and a copy of the finding ad from the newspaper is kept in the child's folder. Hannah and Madeline have none of that in their folders.

Suddenly, in walked Zhou JinQin, Hannah's foster mother, followed by her husband and her son. I was the first one up out of my seat...I ran across the room and we embraced. Then Hannah came over and there were more hugs. Hannah does not cry easily, but tears were flowing down her face as she saw her Mama Yi, as we call her (First Mother).We brought gifts for the Vice Director and the Children's Services Director, and we also acted as courier for two families who have a child referral from FuZhou. One family has not yet received permission to travel, and the other family adopted their daughter several years ago but want to send a gift to the nanny. First I gave the gift for Fu Yan Cong. Vice Director Zhou asked me who she was and I explained that she is a FuZhou baby waiting for her American family, and that I brought a gift from the American adoptive family. I then repeated this process for the Headrick family from Louisiana who had sent a gift to their adopted daughter's former nanny. Honestly, Vice Director Zhou and Miss Lu were not familiar with the names of the children or the nanny...they are administrators, not caretakers. I wanted to find out if Fu Yan Cong lived at FuZhou or lived with a foster family, so I asked that question, The answer was "some childre live at the SWI, and some live in town with foster families". In other words no one knew off-hand where the girls lived, and no one was inclined to go look up that information. I was disappointed. Originally we had been told we could volunteer at the SWI, but due to concerns about the H1N1, no foreigners are allowed into the children's area. Again, I was disappointed, though I totally understood the need to keep the babies safe.

Eventually it was decided that we would go to a local restaurant and enjoy a dinner in honor of this occasion. When we got back to ground floor, there was yet another surprise....Hannah's foster Grandmother, foster aunt, and foster nephew were all waiting for her. More hugs, more tears.Dinner was delicious, but I hardly noticed what I was eating, I was so focused on Hannah and her foster family. She was obviously very happy, and also very shy. I asked our translator to explain that she was shy sometimes so that they didn't think she was ignoring them or being rude.After dinner we drove the Vice Director and Miss Lu back to FuZhou SWI, and Hannah's foster family also got out of the van since they live near the SWI. We promised to meet again the next day. Then we drove to our hotel. Marilyn and her kids left around 4:00 p.m. for NanChang where they had to catch a late flight to BeiJing. I took more Advil, more Pepto, and drank some fluids., I slept for the rest of the day and night. My family went to the local mall (where else do you go with teenage girls?) while I tried to shake this bug I have. Unfortunately I am still sick, and spent most of last night in the bathroom again. The only bright spot is that so far I have lost 4 pounds.More later,Cathy=============