Meeting Dottie

We arrived in Guangzhou and our guide met us at the train station and took us to the Garden Hotel.  We were so excited to meet Dottie.  Our guide gave us a map of the block the hotel was on so we could grab some dinner and know where to go shopping.  Gordy was still learning to use the western toilet and was always excited when we found a squatty potty.

Gordy loves taking a bath as long as he don't have to lay down and get his hair wet.  Teaching him to brush his teeth is also a chore :)  He LOVES LOVES LOVES noodles and is a good eater.

Meeting Dottie was much different than when we got Gordy.  Our guide took us to the civil office where she was waiting for us.

We waited in the hallway until they were ready for us.  Dean had a special and emotional experience in this building.  Dottie is named after Deans mom Dorothy who passed away in 1989.  Dean said Dotties eyes reminded him of his mom, a deep dark beautiful brown.  When we were waiting to meet Dottie Dean could feel the presence of his mom.  Without a doubt he knew she was there with us, he could even smell her.  I don't know how he kept his composure.  Dottie was sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room with her care takers from the orphanage.

Dottie was so quiet and sweet.  She let all of us hold her and she didn't make a fuss or a peep and just sat on our laps.  We talked with the care takers and they told us her schedule and answered questions we had about her.  We did some paperwork and went back to our hotel room where we spent the day getting to know her.

 On our way we noticed she had a scar on her chest.  We knew she had congenital heart disease but we had no idea it had been repaired.  Our guide contacted the orphanage director and was able to get us a copy of her heart medical records but since it was short notice we didn't get a translated copy.

 Day 2 with Dottie we went back to the civil office for more paperwork where she officially became an Averett.  Her and Gordy had fun playing in the waiting area while we took care of finalizing things.

I'm so glad we didn't have to drive here.  The roads are crazy.  I think they have horn codes too.  People are everywhere on the road.

We went to dinner at a noodle place that made fresh noodles.  We stayed away from everything with meat in it since we couldn't read the menu so veggie stuff seemed safe.

We spent the rest of the night just playing at the hotel.