William arrived at the Provincial Affairs office before we did. When we entered the room he was standing beside his orphanage director and obviously crying. When we walked toward him, he did not respond to us at all.
I introduced him to Peter and asked our guide to explain to him that Peter had visited our house in the past but that we had only come to adopt him last Wednesday (I had not written to William in advance about Peter because I didn't want to have to give any explanations if Peter decided not to come with us.) I hoped that hearing that Peter had visited us and knew a bit about us would be somewhat reassuring. As you can see, Peter continues to be a happy boy. Jerry had a chat with William trying out his Chinese and then William came and sat beside me trying out his English, showing me pictures of his family. He showed me pictures of his mother and father and the other children in the family, one of whom is now in America. As we had been told that he lived in the orphanage, I had some questions (!) about this. It seems like the children (about 60 in his orphanage) were placed in family groups and I think they lived in the orphanage together.
Then we looked together at pictures of his new family,counting all of his brothers and sisters.
By the end of our time at Provincial Affairs he was doing much better, smiling a bit and even laughing. This picture his Will with the Orphanage Director. Having Peter , as well as games on the Kindle, was a big asset.
William's English is quite good. He is very independent and resourceful. This will be an asset in the long run but right now he may have a bit of a hard time learning about being in a family. He has gone to phone in our room twice to make calls. The first to ask for another bed to be brought up and second to call one of the long list of numbers in the book he brought. Uh, no, sorry. This older child adoption can be hard. Pray for us, we will need it in the days ahead. Tomorrow he will be asked if he really wants to do this. As will we. We know what our answer will be.
Amazing. We've only adopted one 10 yr old as an older child adoption. And I am not cut out for it! :) The others were 2 (x3) and 6 (x1).. Although it was worked out great in time - now 3 yrs this Nov. Part of my heart is in China since 2003, the first adoption. I so wish we could afford another trip / adopting to China. Peter and William look to be good matches to be on the trip together.
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