Day 5: Leave for Nanchang / Meet Sarah!!!!

Kathy and our driver picked us up around 8:30 to take us to the airport. I don’t think I got any sleep last night!! We got to the airport a little after 9:00 AM, but it was too early to check in for our 12:00 flight. At 10:00 we were able to check in. Our luggage was 16 kg over the allowed weight, but Kathy got them to waive our overage fee. Thanks, Kathy!! We got to our gate only to learn the flight was delayed. Finally, around 1:00 PM the flight left. We got to Nanchang around 3:30 and had to go straight to the CCAA office to meet Sarah. We got there and she was standing in front of a woman. We knelt down to talk to her. She started crying and would not come to us. I kept telling her I was her mama, but she was inconsolable. They tried taking her picture for the paperwork, but she was shrieking too hard. I signed my temporary guardianship form and we left for our hotel, the Gloria Hotel. Sarah screamed the whole way. I was talking softly to her and singing to her, hoping that would help. Katie was in the backseat and says, “Mommy, stop talking and singing to her. You’re scaring her!!“ Funny. Sarah screamed for about 2 hours straight. I know her little heart was breaking and my heart broke for her. Later in the evening, my mom and daughter, Katie started playing with some stuffed animals and Sarah started laughing. Then they started playing with some stuffed blocked I brought for Sarah and throwing them at Grandma’s head. Sarah loved this and was laughing. I tried feeding her and tried to get her to drink some water, but she wanted nothing to do with me. Around 8:30 I put her to bed. She cried for only a minute and then fell asleep. I fell asleep soon after her.