Escalators, Teddy Bears, and the Foster Family

So………. This morning we take the sky train over to Central Department Store (6 floor department store) and meet M and her social worker, Nareerat. M saw us and pretty much immediately started crying. She calmed down a little bit and Nareerat handed her over to me. Pat told us to walk around with her and shop and we would meet back together in one hour. So Carter and I take about 3 steps with her and she just lets loose and is hysterically crying….loudly…and every store clerk and shopper on the entire floor is staring at us. So, we continue walking…and she is screaming at the top of her lungs. We feel TOTALLY self conscious…look at us, the Caucasian foreign couple holding a hysterically crying Thai baby. I totally felt like, “If this were one of my boys at home, I would be turning around, loading him into the car and getting the heck out of there. This is TOTALLY NOT working! What on earth are they (the social workers) thinking sending us to a shopping mall for an hour?” Well…she screamed for 30 minutes straight…tears rolling down her cheeks…mucus running down her nose…and then…we found…our ultimate salvation…the escalator. Yes, we rode that escalator up 6 floors…and then down 6 floors….and up 6 floors…and down 6 floors…you get the picture…the screams turned to whimpers…the whimpers turned to post-crying “shudders”…and by the time we met up with the social workers, she had calmed down quite a bit. She sat on Nareerat’s lap for lunch and even ate a little bit (which everyone agreed was very good). Then she started to get upset again so I took her out of the restaurant, back into the store where there was a build a bear display. We played with the bears and I got her to crack a smile and actually laugh! Then, we rode in the van back to the hotel and we were given some an hour to bring her up to our room to adjust to her surroundings. Well, we walked into our room and she started screaming! We tried to get her to lay down – no way…tried to get her to take a bottle – no way…riding in the elevator is like sheer torture for her as it is lined with mirrors: she takes one look at herself being held by Carter or me and is completely hysterical…since we don’t have escalators…I walk down 6 flights of stairs…and then up 6 flights of stairs…once again this is our salvation (and a good workout !) We finally settle…at the pool…where it is quiet and breezy and open… and we have a few quiet moments…all three of us.

Later in the afternoon, we drove about 1 ½ hours out of Bangkok – and met M’s foster family. M was with us in the van – and she was surprisingly content and conked out during the ride. (Yes, this is the time when Carter and I get to just look at her and marvel on how beautiful she is and how surreal all of this is!) When we arrived at the foster home – and M knew where she was, she was like a changed person. Laughing, talking running around, hugging her foster sister, eating ice cream…. It was actually quite amazing to see her act this way. Clearly she has formed a tight bond with her family – and it helps us to see that because we can start to get a sense of how she’ll be once she adjusts to us. The hard part will be breaking that bond – and reforming it… and we know it will just take time for that to happen.

Tomorrow, they will drop her off with us at the hotel at 10:30 AM…for good. After that it is just paperwork and formalities. We both are pretty anxious about four more days of hotel life. We definitely wish we could just come home. After seeing her with her foster sister, we really feel that being home with her two big brothers will be such a help in her transition. Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts…immeasurable thanks to all who have looked after our children while we have been gone (it means more than you know), and Sam and Davis, we miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you very soon!

Love,

A and C (It’s late…we’re beat…just going to send this off and we’ll post pictures tomorrow)