Qiao Qian

On Sunday we boarded a train to travel to Zhengzhou which is the capital city of the Henan Province.  We all LOVE train travel in China.  Well, the fast trains anyway, we haven't tried out the slow trains...  the ones where they actually sell tickets to stand.  For like 20+ hours.  Insanity.  My friend told me last week that she wanted to visit her boyfriend over the New Year holiday and it is impossible to get on the trains during the holidays.  Anyway, she somehow got a ticket, but the trains were so full she couldn't get on (this is hard to imagine unless you have been to this country, I was on a bus once, we were all standing, jammed up against the people all around us and every time the driver stopped more people would get on, they had guys who would shove the people in.  It was nuts!) Anyway, she couldn't get on and when the train started leaving she grabbed a window and climbed in.  CRAZINESS.  That was a rabbit trail.  The high speed trains are great, comfortable and our favorite way to travel in China.  The girls were pumped!

 Train station in Huzhou, waiting for the train to arrive.

 We made it!  Let the fun begin :)

 They of course made friends with the stewardess, or whatever they are called on trains.  I'm not up on my proper train lingo

 These are the old trains that have sleepers on them...  we saw several and the beds look TINY.  We had been considering riding one on the way home, but I'm glad we didn't, I don't think that Kyle would have fit....

Our hotel room

On Monday morning we got up and left the hotel for the Registrars office to meet Qiao Qian, soon to be Jaxon.

 One of our representatives, there are 3 total and there are 13 families in our group. 

 The girls are all ready to go! 

 All the kids from the Province are brought here on Monday's to meet their adoptive families.  There were the 13 families from our group, then another agency also had families there.  It was a LOT of people and a LOT of noise and it was so overwhelming.  Their was anticipation, fear, love, sadness, grieving, excitement just to name a few of the emotions going on, it was intense for everyone.

 All the families gathered and they would bring in kids as they arrived.  Jaxon was in the second round of kids to be brought in so we had him almost from the very beginning.  We were there for about 2 hours.  It was exhausting, emotional and yet so amazing for all of us.  

We are a family of 6!  I have so many more pictures but it has taken over and hour just to load these, I will try again tomorrow and hopefully the connection will be better.  

Jaxon clung to me from the moment I took him from his nanny.  He was so scared.  He didn't cry, but he was shaking and his breathing was weird.  I held him the entire time and eventually he fell asleep. We got back to the hotel and fed him and played with him and then he took a nap.  I tried to put him in his bed but he started crying.  This was the first sound he made since we got him.  I held him and laid with him and he went to sleep with his arm around me.  After everyone got up, we all played some more.  The girls LOVE him, but I think he is a bit overwhelmed by all their attention.  They are kinda intense.  After dinner the girls were dying to swim so we got everyone ready and went to the pool.  It was so cold!  So after a nice chilly swim we gave all the kids a warm bath.  Jaxon was super unsure about the water.  But he started playing with the girls and interacting with Kyle some.  He likes it when Kyle talks to him in Chinese but other than that he is pretty scared around his new daddy.  I was worried about bed time, but all the kids were asleep in their own beds by 8:30 no issues, we will see how tomorrow goes.  Tomorrow we sign a lot of paperwork and possibly go see the orphanage.  Thanks for all your support and prayers through our journey!