Tuesday, April 4, 2006, 7:20 a.m.
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - We made it through the first night.
Camryn slept much of the night and woke for an hour at about 2 a.m. to eat. After wolfing down a good bit on congee, she went back to sleep and stayed in her crib until around 6:30 a.m. today.
Pam gave Camryn a bath as she screamed and pitched a fit you wouldn't believe. Although the narrative from the orphanage said Camryn loves baths, her crying fit painted a different picture.
In a strange twist, Camryn has now bonded with Pam and unbonded with me. She cries hysterically when I hold her and calms down when Pam takes her.
I’m sure that will change with time.
Today, we will continue paperwork for the adoption and then go shopping for the baby this afternoon. Before then, Pam and I plan to take Camryn for a walk in the neighborhood near the hotel.
Camryn's small size
Camryn is so small that practically all the clothes Pam brought are too big. Pam brought clothes for a 12-month-old child, but Camryn probably fits in clothes for a 9-month-old.
The pair of overalls she came dressed in was a size 6- to 9-months.
Also, if you look closely at the photos I previously posted, Camryn has curls - an unusual sight in China.
Two more notes: Camryn appears petrified of her bottle (she doesn’t seem to know what to do with it or how to use it) and she appears scared of most toys we brought with us.
Battery charger explodes
On a side note: I officially blew up my first electrical appliance.
The new battery charger I bought for our Sony digital camera died a violent death Monday. Shortly after I plugged the charger in what I thought was a 120-volt outlet, it exploded.
The batteries survived, but I have no way to recharge them. So now I must rely on alkaline batteries, which are about $1 for two.
Copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino
A little about Mississippi, a little about Louisiana, a little about New Orleans and A LOT about our adoption story. This blog and our adoption story is dedicated to Camryn and Matthew Cassreino so that you both will know. Copyright 2021 by Terry R. Cassreino
Monday, April 3, 2006
Reliving Gotcha Day in Nanchang
Monday, April 3, 2006, 9:12 p.m.
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - Some call it organized chaos.
Holt International Children’s Service calls it Gotcha Day.
I call it incredible, moving, emotional and draining.
But Pam and I survived it. And now we will spend the next two weeks completing paperwork to legally adopt Camryn Ai Hua Cassreino from China and then prepare her for the trip back to the United States and Mississippi. That starts on Tuesday.
Until then, I thought I’d share the following 10 photographs to give you a sense of what happened today, when it happened and how it happened. I hope you can understand what we experienced; it won't be the same, but I hope it gives you an idea.
PHOTO 1
Pam stands outside the Nanchang airport shortly after we arrive and before we boarded the tour bus for the Gloria Hotel downtown. The flight arrived from Beijing at about 12:30 p.m., or thereabouts. The flight aboard Eastern China was smooth. The airline even served lunch on the two-hour flight: steamed rice and fish. I don’t like fish so I skipped the meal. Pam ate hers.
PHOTO 2
At about 4 p.m. Monday, all Holt families gathered in a hallway at the hotel and waited for the child handoff. As soon as a name was called the family headed for the door and received their baby. The scene left babies in tears, obviously confused about what was happening. In this picture, an orphaage worker holds our child, Camryn, moments before he hands her off to us.
PHOTO 3
An obviously confused Camryn, wth a solid grip on a sweet cracker, went to me with no problem - save for a few tears and complete bewilderment.
PHOTO 4
Pam took Camryn, and that’s when she started really crying. Pam didn't startle her. The folks at Holt warned us that the babies tended, for whatever reason, to go immediately with the men before bonding with the moms.
PHOTO 5
Camryn ovbviously turned on the waterworks full speed. The poor thing. She was so confused and emotionally distraught.
PHOTO 6
Pam tries to console Camryn, but it didn’t work.
PHOTO 7
I tried my hand again, but that didn’t work. Notice that she still has that heavyweight grip on her cracker. She never gave that thing up for at least two hours.
PHOTO 8
Dad and mom pose with an hysterical Camryn and her impossible-to-remove-from-her-hand cracker. You know, Camryn never ate the thing. She held onto it for dear life. She was not about to let some stranger rip it from her hand. By the time she let go hours later, the sweat from her hand left the cracker a soggy mess.
PHOTO 9
By the time this photo was snapped, Camryn was zonked. I left Pam at about 7:30 p.m., went down to the lobby and dined at a Chinese buffet that had everything from duck a’la orange to prime rib and braised octopus (complete with tentacles). The dessert table had cheesecake and cookies. Good food reasonably priced. I ate dinner, returned to the room and then let Pam eat while I watched Camryn.
PHOTO 10
Camryn is still zonked out in the baby crib the hotel was kind enough to provide. I guess the hotel decided to invest in the cribs for adopted families. Another group of parents is expected to arrive on Tuesday and others are still in town. Americans aren't the only folks who adopt Chinese babies. Many adopted families (not necessarily from Holt) are also from European countries.
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - Some call it organized chaos.
Holt International Children’s Service calls it Gotcha Day.
I call it incredible, moving, emotional and draining.
But Pam and I survived it. And now we will spend the next two weeks completing paperwork to legally adopt Camryn Ai Hua Cassreino from China and then prepare her for the trip back to the United States and Mississippi. That starts on Tuesday.
Until then, I thought I’d share the following 10 photographs to give you a sense of what happened today, when it happened and how it happened. I hope you can understand what we experienced; it won't be the same, but I hope it gives you an idea.
PHOTO 1
Pam stands outside the Nanchang airport shortly after we arrive and before we boarded the tour bus for the Gloria Hotel downtown. The flight arrived from Beijing at about 12:30 p.m., or thereabouts. The flight aboard Eastern China was smooth. The airline even served lunch on the two-hour flight: steamed rice and fish. I don’t like fish so I skipped the meal. Pam ate hers.
PHOTO 2
At about 4 p.m. Monday, all Holt families gathered in a hallway at the hotel and waited for the child handoff. As soon as a name was called the family headed for the door and received their baby. The scene left babies in tears, obviously confused about what was happening. In this picture, an orphaage worker holds our child, Camryn, moments before he hands her off to us.
PHOTO 3
An obviously confused Camryn, wth a solid grip on a sweet cracker, went to me with no problem - save for a few tears and complete bewilderment.
PHOTO 4
Pam took Camryn, and that’s when she started really crying. Pam didn't startle her. The folks at Holt warned us that the babies tended, for whatever reason, to go immediately with the men before bonding with the moms.
PHOTO 5
Camryn ovbviously turned on the waterworks full speed. The poor thing. She was so confused and emotionally distraught.
PHOTO 6
Pam tries to console Camryn, but it didn’t work.
PHOTO 7
I tried my hand again, but that didn’t work. Notice that she still has that heavyweight grip on her cracker. She never gave that thing up for at least two hours.
PHOTO 8
Dad and mom pose with an hysterical Camryn and her impossible-to-remove-from-her-hand cracker. You know, Camryn never ate the thing. She held onto it for dear life. She was not about to let some stranger rip it from her hand. By the time she let go hours later, the sweat from her hand left the cracker a soggy mess.
PHOTO 9
By the time this photo was snapped, Camryn was zonked. I left Pam at about 7:30 p.m., went down to the lobby and dined at a Chinese buffet that had everything from duck a’la orange to prime rib and braised octopus (complete with tentacles). The dessert table had cheesecake and cookies. Good food reasonably priced. I ate dinner, returned to the room and then let Pam eat while I watched Camryn.
PHOTO 10
Camryn is still zonked out in the baby crib the hotel was kind enough to provide. I guess the hotel decided to invest in the cribs for adopted families. Another group of parents is expected to arrive on Tuesday and others are still in town. Americans aren't the only folks who adopt Chinese babies. Many adopted families (not necessarily from Holt) are also from European countries.
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
It’s a girl: The Cassreinos get Camryn
Monday, April 3, 2006, 5:53 p.m.
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - Cries of orphaned baby girls poured from behind the doors at the end of the hall on the first floor of the Gloria Hotel on the banks of the Gan River.
Meanwhile, nervous parents - including me and my wife - waited for representatives with Holt International Children’s Services to call our names so we could meet our adopted daughters.
One family entered the room. Then another. Then another. The cries increased. The flash of cameras popped in the air. And video cameras recorded every minute.
Then the Holt representative walked from the room.
“Let’s see,” she said in heavily accented English as she turned to me. “The Cassreino family. Pam and Terry. You’re next.”
My heart skipped. It was about 4:15 p.m. local time.
In one brief second, the long-held dream of me and Pam to raise a family was about to begin. After years of unsuccessful attempts to have our own child, we were about to adopt.
And it was just as “natural” as having our own child. It sure seemed that way as Pam and I entered the room to get Cao Ai Hua, a baby girl abandoned by her mother on April 6, 2005.
Ai Hua cried and cried and cried, holding as tightly as she could to a square cracker she wouldn‘t let go and periodically held to her mouth to taste.
She came to me first, just like the folks at Holt said would likely happen. And then she went to Pam minutes later. Pam and I were stunned
All around us, babies were being united with other Holt families. Most were crying their lungs out, probably wondering what was going on and why they were with strange people.
Ai Hua went through her own fits. She cried and stopped. Cried and stopped. Cried and stopped. Then Pam, Ai Hua and I trudged back to our room that overlooks the Gan.
Later, Pam took Ai Hua for a walk around the hotel in a baby carrier. Ai Hua still held tightly to her cracker - the same one she had when we got her about an hour earlier.
Now the fun starts. I have tons of paperwork to complete for the Chinese government. And Pam and I have to adjust to having a child and being parents.
And Ai Hua, who we will name Camryn Ai Hua Cassreino, will gradually get used to us, get used to our strange language and then get used to our families.
Today, 10 Holt families here in Nanchang took a giant leap of faith and made a huge commitment to themselves and to the young girls who otherwise might not have had a future.
And like us, many found strength in God - who we believe guided us here, prodded us and helped us make the decision to save a child who needs a family.
Pam and I began our journey of faith as a marred couple on May 15, 1999. We continue it today, April 3, 2006, in a city thousands of miles away from our home in Mississippi.
As we waited anxiously outside that door with other Holt families shortly after 4 p.m., we knew something special was about to happen. That was confirmed by eight simple words.
“The Cassreino family. Pam and Terry. You’re next.”
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - Cries of orphaned baby girls poured from behind the doors at the end of the hall on the first floor of the Gloria Hotel on the banks of the Gan River.
Meanwhile, nervous parents - including me and my wife - waited for representatives with Holt International Children’s Services to call our names so we could meet our adopted daughters.
One family entered the room. Then another. Then another. The cries increased. The flash of cameras popped in the air. And video cameras recorded every minute.
Then the Holt representative walked from the room.
“Let’s see,” she said in heavily accented English as she turned to me. “The Cassreino family. Pam and Terry. You’re next.”
My heart skipped. It was about 4:15 p.m. local time.
In one brief second, the long-held dream of me and Pam to raise a family was about to begin. After years of unsuccessful attempts to have our own child, we were about to adopt.
And it was just as “natural” as having our own child. It sure seemed that way as Pam and I entered the room to get Cao Ai Hua, a baby girl abandoned by her mother on April 6, 2005.
Ai Hua cried and cried and cried, holding as tightly as she could to a square cracker she wouldn‘t let go and periodically held to her mouth to taste.
She came to me first, just like the folks at Holt said would likely happen. And then she went to Pam minutes later. Pam and I were stunned
All around us, babies were being united with other Holt families. Most were crying their lungs out, probably wondering what was going on and why they were with strange people.
Ai Hua went through her own fits. She cried and stopped. Cried and stopped. Cried and stopped. Then Pam, Ai Hua and I trudged back to our room that overlooks the Gan.
Later, Pam took Ai Hua for a walk around the hotel in a baby carrier. Ai Hua still held tightly to her cracker - the same one she had when we got her about an hour earlier.
Now the fun starts. I have tons of paperwork to complete for the Chinese government. And Pam and I have to adjust to having a child and being parents.
And Ai Hua, who we will name Camryn Ai Hua Cassreino, will gradually get used to us, get used to our strange language and then get used to our families.
Today, 10 Holt families here in Nanchang took a giant leap of faith and made a huge commitment to themselves and to the young girls who otherwise might not have had a future.
And like us, many found strength in God - who we believe guided us here, prodded us and helped us make the decision to save a child who needs a family.
Pam and I began our journey of faith as a marred couple on May 15, 1999. We continue it today, April 3, 2006, in a city thousands of miles away from our home in Mississippi.
As we waited anxiously outside that door with other Holt families shortly after 4 p.m., we knew something special was about to happen. That was confirmed by eight simple words.
“The Cassreino family. Pam and Terry. You’re next.”
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
Cassreinos arrive in Nanchang
Monday, April 3, 2006, 2:50 p.m.
Less than 1 hour and 45 minutes until we get Cao Ai Hua
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - The humidity.
We felt the change in the weather as soon as we left the airport in Nanchang. And after six days in the relatively dry air of Beijing, Pam and I welcome the change in weather from a dry, crisp chill that wreaked havoc with our sinuses to the warm humid climate of Nanchang.
As you can see, we arrived and we made it to our room on the 11th floor of the Gloria Plaza Hotel overlooking a river and a small city of about 4 million. While that's significantly larger than Hattiesburg or New Orleans, we can already tell the difference.
Inside the room is a king-size bed and a baby bed for Ai Hua. We also have, obviously, an Internet hook-up and a television that tunes into several Chinese stations along with a couple of English language ones.
The room isn't as big as the one we had in Beijing, but it'll do.
Now, for the main attraction: Cao Ai Hua. We will meet other families with Holt International Children's Services in the hotel lobby at 4 p.m. for the baby handoff, better known as Gotcha Day. We will take video and snap photos; I hope to post photos as soon as possible.
I'm not too nervous. Well, I guess I am a little. So is Pam. I don't know what to expect and neither does Pam. We have a fairly good idea the baby will cry and be upset, possibly for much of the night. And we think she'll bond to one of us almost immediately.
As for the rest of the night and week, Holt has scheduled a few outings to visit local attractions. And Holt also has dedicated a lot of time for document paperwork we'll need to complete to make the adoption legal in China and process the baby's Chinese passport.
The baby will leave with us as a Chinese resident; as soon as our plane touches the ground in Detroit on Friday, April 14, she will be an American citizen. We'll also go through an American adoption, with help and guidance from Catholic Charities.
A few observations on the way in to Nanchang:
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
Less than 1 hour and 45 minutes until we get Cao Ai Hua
By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - The humidity.
We felt the change in the weather as soon as we left the airport in Nanchang. And after six days in the relatively dry air of Beijing, Pam and I welcome the change in weather from a dry, crisp chill that wreaked havoc with our sinuses to the warm humid climate of Nanchang.
As you can see, we arrived and we made it to our room on the 11th floor of the Gloria Plaza Hotel overlooking a river and a small city of about 4 million. While that's significantly larger than Hattiesburg or New Orleans, we can already tell the difference.
Inside the room is a king-size bed and a baby bed for Ai Hua. We also have, obviously, an Internet hook-up and a television that tunes into several Chinese stations along with a couple of English language ones.
The room isn't as big as the one we had in Beijing, but it'll do.
Now, for the main attraction: Cao Ai Hua. We will meet other families with Holt International Children's Services in the hotel lobby at 4 p.m. for the baby handoff, better known as Gotcha Day. We will take video and snap photos; I hope to post photos as soon as possible.
I'm not too nervous. Well, I guess I am a little. So is Pam. I don't know what to expect and neither does Pam. We have a fairly good idea the baby will cry and be upset, possibly for much of the night. And we think she'll bond to one of us almost immediately.
As for the rest of the night and week, Holt has scheduled a few outings to visit local attractions. And Holt also has dedicated a lot of time for document paperwork we'll need to complete to make the adoption legal in China and process the baby's Chinese passport.
The baby will leave with us as a Chinese resident; as soon as our plane touches the ground in Detroit on Friday, April 14, she will be an American citizen. We'll also go through an American adoption, with help and guidance from Catholic Charities.
A few observations on the way in to Nanchang:
- We passed by several high-rise apartment buildings. Some people obviously don't have air conditioning, because many windows were open.
- They also may not have a dryer (or they are like me and enjoy drying their clothes in the air) because row after row of high rise buildings had clothes hanging on lines just outside windows. Some exteriors were covered completely in clothes drying after a wash.
- Despite having about 4 million people, the Nanchang airport was relativerly small. I would say the airport compares favorably in size to the Jackson-Evers International Airport in Jackson, Miss., where we began our adoption trip on March 27.
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
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