Traveling Across the World to Meet Someone We've Never Met and Someone We'll Know Forever: Anna Noel Tian High

I know that all of you have been anxiously waiting to hear about our day here in Guiyang, China after we arrived earlier today here from Beijing and picked up Anna later on in the afternoon at the adoption center. The big news is that all is well, Anna is with us, she is safe, and although she has been very sad to lose her foster family, she is noticeably becoming more and more familiar with each of us!

Leaving at roughly 6:30 am, we arrived at the airport in time to check in for the flight and on top of that, managed to overcome some slight security issues, one of which was caused by the fact that my mom had packed grits in a suitcase for friends in Kunming. The Chinese did not know what this was and thus were suspicious. Obviously, they had never been in the south :).


The flight was pretty noneventful and we arrived in Guiyang in good time to meet up with our local guide, Aggie. Aggie talked a little bit about the history of Guizhou Province and Guiyang city. Guiyang and Guizhou in general is known for its large population of minority peoples (making up about 38% of the population). Guiyang is considered a relatively insignificant small city at only 3 million people.

We arrived at our hotel, settled in into our hotel rooms and, within a few hours, were marching down the crowded and pungent streets of Guiyang. We turned into the adoption center, which was literally only 5 minutes away and went up a few floors.


There in a small cluster of rooms filled with simple furniture and some toys, we waited. Angelle and Jay had some last minute paperwork to finish.





There's nothing like that feeling of the wait before some event that you know will change your life forever and there aren't many times that you experience it, but this was definitely one of them. Everyone was tense and people were making nervous jokes and small talk. Five little families were about to be totally changed and it wasn't easy waiting there, knowing that was about to happen. It also wasn't easy not knowing exactly what would happen; all of the children had been with foster families since very early on and would probably be pretty attached.


On the way up to the hotel from the airport, our guide, Aggie told us that it was typical (and it was something that we already knew, at least from personal experience) that when the babies arrive the moms and some dads will begin to cry. She added that, because there was a lot of paperwork and serious business to do, it would be better not to make the moment so emotional. She said something along the lines of, "That is why we ask the mamas to wait maybe a few hours, and then you can cry. We have this afternoon after we meet babies, and we have all tomorrow and all week. Then, you can cry." She was mostly joking, because we all knew what was going to happen. In fact, most of the moms had had that little teary, glazed-over look for most of the day already.


As we waited there with the paperwork, filling out more and more forms that had to be translated for us, the room suddenly began to fill with people. Elsie and Aggie were shouting across the room trying to help everyone finish the paperwork correctly. Foster families crowded into the rooms. Video and still cameras clicked on. Moms started searching the faces trying to see if they could recognize the children. Then they started to call out the names....Cao Bei Lei, Cao Yi Jia. We saw one foster mother clutch her child and begin to sob, as she was helped to the room to meet the new parents of the child she had raised for probably over one to two years. Finally: Cao Tian Qin. Anna's Chinese name was called and we were sent to a small room.

At first, it was just us- the foster mother, her son, daughter and daughter-in-law and little Cao Tian Qin and our family. Two groups of people living over 8000 miles away from each other with no connection whatsoever besides little Anna. We tried to communicate as best we could. Angelle reached over to hug the foster mother and began to cry. Micah and I tried to capture the entire event.


Anna was playing with an electronic toy and, at first did not realize we were there.


She was introduced to 'xin mama' (new mama) and looked but did not say anything or show any emotion. Jay was introduced as 'xin baba' (new daddy) and she had the same reaction.


Then we shared gifts. They gave us a photo album and some toys and clothes for Anna. We gave them a photo album and some other memoires as well, including a locket with Anna's photo inside. Then the translators came in and began to help answer some of the questions we had about Anna's routine.


Then, as suddenly as it had started, Elsie came in and told us we had to leave. Angelle began to cry. I don't think I have ever experienced anything so touching or so strange or so surreal, all at the same time. The entire reason for us coming the 8357 miles was wrapped up in this one moment, as brief or as surreal as it was. It is one of the most personal and intimate moments I think anyone will ever experience, and yet, at the same time, it was also so impersonal. Two families lives were being totally altered because of one little girl and we had only 20 minutes together. We signed the forms, and it was done. Done. Angelle and Jay were the legal guardians of Anna Noel Tian High. As we gathered in the main room, the same thing was happening to everyone else. Coordinators and guides were shouting, papers were being transferred, and goodbyes (mostly final) were being said. Children were saying hello and goodbye all at the same time, only these goodbyes and hellos held much, much more significance. Babies were screaming as they were handed into strangers arms. Mothers and foster mothers were sobbing. Families were leaving. And, of course, the dads and other relatives were snapping pictures and videoing.


We gathered together in front of the wall for one last picture with the family and then told them each goodbye and thank you. It was probably very strange to them that we told them a simple 'xiexie', the same word you would use to express thanks if someone held the door open for you, to thank a family for taking care of your sister for almost the first two years of her life. Mrs. Ling, our tutor, taught us the word for 'deeply thank you' but, being the great Chinese students that we are, we forgot it. Okay, maybe we were just a little preoccupied to remember that far.


We hugged them all and they were gone.



Then we walked down out of the building. Anna began to cry. Then, she began to scream. We were walking down a crowded street with horns honking and vendors yelling. It felt like everyone was looking at us.

We spent a little more time in the hotel room together and then Micah and I took Rebekah into our room. When I went out to buy drinks from the stand down the street about an hour later, the entire hall was crying. Out of every door, you could hear a baby crying and a family trying to find words to comfort. One family with a three-year old desperately tried to communicate with their new daughter as she screamed and cried at them in Chinese, frustrated.


By late afternoon, the rooms were quiet and Anna was becoming more and more used to us and as we ate dinner together, she smiled a little bit. I am happy to report that she woke up only one time during the night for a few minutes. Even Rebekah does that occasionally. If all is not well yet, it is very close to becoming so. It is the strangest and yet one of the most amazing experiences to meet someone on the complete other side of the world and know that pretty soon, you will find it hard to remember that they weren't just always a part of your family.


Welcome, little Tian Qin. We love you, Anna!