After the hutong tour and lunch on Monday or Wednesday or well to be truthful I have no idea what day it was, we got the rare privilege of visiting the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption). This is where all of the magic takes place putting together families and children. Wow.
Wow, again.
We got to go in the dossier-checking room, where Ro and Ree and some little friends studiously looked over really official paperwork (and the other parents and I hovered around saying “don’t touch, oh please don’t touch, don’t move anything!” I got chills thinking that friends’ dossiers were probably sitting right in that very room.
After a pee accident involving a squatty potty and some mis-aiming by a child, we moved into the main conference room and all the kids got to see a slideshow about China and learn about Chinese brush painting and Chinese paper cutting. Neat.
Then we drove back to the hotel and saw some neat scenery out the bus window.
Recognize this one from the Olympics?:
The Heritage Tour Christmas party was later that night and we were all sleepwalking by that time. So we made a brief appearance and then left Bobby and Jane to represent the family and make a major dent in that seafood buffet.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Posts
Oh yikes! You probably walked right past our dossier, which hopefully is going to produce a Travel Approval any day now!!! Thanks so much for blogging this trip- so fun to see China through your eyes!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I'm so stealing these photos if that is okay?
ReplyDeleteThis looks like an amazing tour!
ReplyDeleteLoving the "trip down memory lane!" Someday I might get the courage and money to do another China trip.
ReplyDeleteOur agency went on a heritage/birthland tour in 2006 just before we received our referral. They visited the (then) CCAA and one of the "matchers" popped up and said, "I'm working on your agency right now!" and invited them to watch as she "matched" a family with their daughter. It turned out to be OUR travel group and one of our closest friends was the family they were working on. Our case manager says she will never forget that experience.
ReplyDeleteWow. What a cool thing to do. I'm glad you are having fun! Looks cold but the Great Wall looks a LOT less crowded than when we were there.
ReplyDeleteJamie S.
Just a question, the photo where the girls are looking at shelves with papers with little photos in the top right hand side, are those files of children that will be matched with families?
ReplyDeleteAlso the photo at the top with the blue lanyard type things hanging from the files, are those already matched files?
Sorry to ask. After already waiting 61 months and still another 2-3 years before a match, I am just curious. Thank you for showing us your trip.
I am loving following your journey in China. So very fun to see!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome!!
ReplyDeleteThat is an amazing experience! So glad you got to do that.
ReplyDeleteSeeing those pictures brought back the memories of my own wait. I'm just so sad to see so few babies' files on those shelves.
ReplyDeleteThe shelves of dossiers and baby files actually made me a little teary. Just realizing that there was a day where my dossier got pulled to the top of the stack and a baby file matched to it. And how magically perfect their choice was. Thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeleteSeeing you in the Review Room and Matching Room had me catching my breath. It was in that very room that God brought Hannah and I together forever!! I still have 2 very close friends who are waiting (Dec 06 LID) and knowing you might have been in the same room as their files is almost overwhelming. Praying for all those waiting so patiently.
ReplyDelete