Lori kept a notebook the whole trip and typed it up when we got home. We've left out the boring parts (there were not many boring parts).

Wednesday, November 5, 1997 - Minneapolis
Brent's folks drove us to the airport at 5 a.m. Two suitcases of our clothes, one whole suitcase of diapers, formula, baby clothes in three sizes and gifts for the orphanage staff. Brent's mom slipped a little pair of red mittens into my coat pocket and told me not to open it until we had her.

Friday, November 7, 1997 - Beijing
We met the rest of our group, eight families from five states. Today we climbed a piece of the Great Wall at Badaling. It was cold and windy and steep, and Brent said it beat any hill on the farm. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are enormous. I kept thinking: this is her country. I want to remember it for her.

Sunday, November 9, 1997 - Nanchang
Flew south to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. Our guide says the babies come tomorrow. Nobody in our group ate much at dinner. I've read her referral paper so many times the folds are wearing through.

Monday, November 10, 1997 - FAMILY DAY
At about 3 in the afternoon they brought the babies to the hotel. They called our name third. She was wearing so many layers of clothes she was nearly round, and she looked at me with that same serious little face from her picture, and then she looked at Brent for a long time. She didn't cry. She held onto my necklace and wouldn't let go. That night, after we finally got four layers off her, she fell asleep on Brent's chest. We put the red mittens on her. They fit.

Wednesday, November 12, 1997 - Nanchang
Paperwork day at the government offices: adoption registration, notary, lots of red stamps. Anna Jing laughed for the first time today, when Brent sneezed. He has been sneezing on purpose ever since. She eats rice cereal like a champion and hates being put down.

Friday, November 14, 1997 - Guangzhou
Flew to Guangzhou, where all the American families finish up because the U.S. Consulate is here. We're at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island with what seems like a hundred other adoptive families. You can't turn around in the lobby without meeting someone from Ohio holding a baby.

Monday, November 17, 1997 - Guangzhou
Medical exam for her visa. The doctor said she looks healthy, just small. She sat up on her own for about four seconds on the hotel bed tonight and the whole group cheered.

Wednesday, November 19, 1997 - Guangzhou
Consulate appointment. We raised our right hands and swore everything in our paperwork was true, and then they handed us her visa in a sealed envelope we were told not to open. She is going home.

Friday, November 21, 1997 - HOME
A very long flight with a baby who slept exactly one hour. When we came through the doors in Minneapolis there were twenty-two people waiting with balloons and a sign, including both grandmas, Brent's brother and half my Sunday school class. It snowed the whole drive home. Welcome to Minnesota, little one.