December 2000

Nanchang, China. Ten families travelled to Nanchang in December 2000. Susan McNair of London, Ontario (mother to Maggie) and 8 year old Landon Metcalf of Burlington, Ontario (brother to Tai-Lee), offered their personal stories.

Well, all we wanted for Christmas 2000 we most surelygot! Our most precious gifts came in the form of ten beautiful bouncing baby girls from Jiujiang in the province of Jiangxi who were placed in our arms on December 4, 2000 in Nanchang. The joy we experienced receiving our gifts provided us all with memories to last a lifetime.

From Vancouver to Shanghai we set out, with just enough time in Shanghai to have a wonderful night tour of the harbour. Then a late arrival in Nanchang and time to set up those rooms for the girls!  Up for an early breakfast and then, with our mouths full of congee, Yulin breezes in exclaiming “the babies are here!” Never have a group of adults moved so fast or packed so many people into an elevator. And there they were, one by one, emerging from a hotel room and into our arms. A breathless moment.

We spent a remarkable day at the Jiujiang orphanage. Lunch, a look around the grounds and a visit to the “baby rooms”. Not a dry eye. How blessed we were to get a look at where our daughters started out.

Our four days in Nanchang provided a fascinating backdrop to our new/renewed roles as parents. Smells. Bicycles. Porcelain. People. Lots of people. Exhausted and exhilarated we toured, shopped, wined and dined. And through it all our ten brave little souls adjusted their diets and routines while providing us with smiles and moments that inspired. These moments (and some we wish had not been!) were all recorded by group photographer Roland Smith - thanks Roland! We were fortunate to have along in our group very helpful sibs/cousin Landon, Luke and Sarah, who entertained the babies splendidly and kept them all giggling.

Then on to Beijing on a crowded Air China flight. Lori Mallory success-fully changed more than one diaper, on her pull down tray, in less than two minutes. Yeah Lori! What  a wonderful week in Beijing spent touring, dining, shopping.........and parenting........all at once!!  

Susan McNair

Landons’s Trip to China

China was a really cool time because I got to travel with some awesome people. I made good friends with 2 other kids Sara and Lucas. A highlight of the trip was playing foot hockey in the hotel hallway with Brian, my dad and all the kids.

When we got the babies it was very exciting because they were so cute. On the last day I went to each hotel room and took a picture of each baby. When we got home my dad made a page of all the baby pictures.

Shopping was great because it was cheap and I got some gameboy stuff. I got to see the biggest square in the world Tiananmen Square. Now I am home it’s fun to be a big brother to my sister Tai-Lee.