Monday Afternoon, Dec 9

At 1:45 our guide and driver picked us up at our hotel. “ We are going to the Civil Affairs Office” she told us, “Where we will sign some papers and you will meet your daughter. “ I felt strangely calm, not a trace of the anxiety I had felt that morning. By the way she described it I imagined a large office building, where we would go inside, sign some official documents and wait in a quiet room for her to be brought to us. 
Let’s just say it was NOTHING like either of us had imagined. 

We drove down what seemed like a narrow alleyway but what proved to be the entrance to the Civil Affairs office. As we exited the van I saw a number of caucasian families crowded around the doors, smiling, calling out and holding iPhones and videocameras. A shocked and smiling American couple were cooing over twin 15 month old girls . “ We didn’t realize they were ours” they said happily. As it turned out they ran into the nannies outside as their little girls were being brought in.

That’s when I saw her. 

A chinese girl walked quickly past us. Bundled in her arms was a little girl with big brown eyes. I caught her eyes as she walked past me. “ That’s her,” I said, “ That’s Maylia” Todd disagreed but I insisted. Our guide ran up to the nanny and said something in Chinese. She turned to me and asked, “ That girl is Chan Wei Yang. Is that your daughter?.” I said yes, savouring my ‘I told you so’ moment as I looked at Todd and smiled. Not only had we seen her. But she had seen us.

We ended up in the same elevator...along with a number of other families and nannies and babies. I tried to catch a glimpse of her again but in a few moments we arrived at the civil affairs office and she was whisked into another room while we were told to wait on the couch. 

We sat down and tried to take in the scene. Mom’s and Dad’s, nannies and babies, siblings and toddlers; some crying, some laughing, others filming, gushing, and fawning over their new little ones. It was a birthing room unlike any other. There were families of all shapes and sizes. Some were couples, receiving their first child, or children, in the case of the twins. There was a lady who appeared to be in her late 50’s or early 60’s , there with her sister, adopting a little girl. A family of 4 , with an older chinese daughter, and a young caucasian boy crowded around a little chinese boy of about 3. A young couple on the side of the room held and tried to comfort another little boy, clearly in distress over leaving his nanny and being placed in their arms. He flailed and screamed and banged his head as his new parents and nanny tried in vain to comfort him. Another  family of three with 4 different camera’s waved hands and called out to a little girl who had just joined their family. Over on the next couch, another couple sat waiting, like us as I’m sure we both wondered what our own experience would be like. 

And then it was our turn. Our guide came out of another room followed by two ladies, the oldest of whom was holding our little girl. They whispered something to her in Chinese and then placed her in my arms. Chan Wei Yang sat quietly and stared, completely oblivious to the extraordinary moment that had just taken place. Todd took some photos and caressed her head. She looked up at him, quiet and placid and sat calmly in my arms.

Todd was taken to the other room so he could pay the Orphanage Donation, a ‘fee’ of several thousand dollars paid by each adoptive family . 

“ Now you may ask questions” Becky said, pointing to the Nannys, three women from the Foshan City orphanage who had accompanied her. My mind was a complete blank --  Where to begin??

Thankfully our agency in Ottawa supplied us with a list of suggested questions to ask, both about her daily routine as well as her birth history. She had been brought in by a police officer, and the doctor who saw her was the one who named her. Her name didn’t have any particular meaning that we know of, it was just the name that he selected. Our guide handed us a copy of the newspaper clipping that announced both her discovery and a request for any knowledge of the whereabouts of her parents.   With no response or reply, she was identified as a ‘foundling’, given a certificate of abandonment and placed in government care. Such a sad, simple birth history. 

We learned a bit of her daily routine. Up at 6:00 and in bed by 10 -- quite a long day for a little girl. We were also surprised to learn that she was on bottle fed formula, and ate little solid food -- some fruit or perhaps a rice or pork congee -- similar to porridge. She came to us with red raw cheeks and the beginnings of a cold, but they said she had very good health. They also said she was a good girl and had nicknamed her Yung ya, which meant sun or sunshine. One caregiver kept watching her as I held her. She looked younger and had a repaired cleft lip. Saying goodbye was obviously difficult for her. Maylia watched her and the others, but stayed comfortably in my arms or Todd’s. We thanked the nannys, took a few photos and gathered our things to leave.