Meeting Wu Yi (formerly Yu Ping!)

What a day!  We met our guide, Wendy, downstairs in the hotel lobby this morning and walked 5 minutes down a busy, traffic congested street to a non-descript building, took the elevator as high as it would go (13th floor), then walked up a dark stairwell to the next floor where the Civil Affairs Office was.  It was a small unheated office and no other families were waiting.  We posed for a photo outside the office, walked in, and there she was!  Dressed in a pink rabbit sweater and lots of layers, our beautiful daughter sat waiting for us to arrive. She was accompanied by two ladies from the orphanage, one of whom I would later learn, she was very attached to.  The orphanage ladies were chatting happily to her and encouraging her to come to us and call us Mama and Baba, which she did.  She allowed me to give her a quick hug and then eagerly looked into the backpack of treats we brought for her.  She immediately fished out a doll that her Mema bought for her!  She then colored with crayons for a bit, and enjoyed blowing some bubbles.  I then got out some photos of her and her friends at the orphanage (thanks April!!) which she was very excited to see!  One of her friends, Libby, left for the US last fall and our daughter was happy to see her again.  She also got out the photo album we sent her (which she carried around everyday for the past 6 weeks and bragged to all of her friends about her new family!) and opened the page to Daniel's photo and carefully pronounced his name to us, and then did the same for the photos of Kellen and Evan!  She was so proud to have memorized their names and faces!!  During the two hours we spent as this office, we signed and fingerprinted many forms and asked questions to the orphanage ladies.  We found out some surprising new information! We found out that Yu Ping has never been called Yu Ping or any other version of that name.  She was nicknamed Wu Yi many years ago and has only known that name!  It means May 1 which she was told was the day she was found (interestingly enough, all of our paperwork says she was found in July??)  She was given that name as a toddler by her foster mother, with whom she lived for almost 5 years!  We did not know this either!  We had understood that she had lived 5 years in one orphanage and then moved to her current orphanage.  She actually was placed in a foster home immediately after being found, but was under the official custody of the first orphanage we were told about.  2 years ago, a desire was made to place her for adoption, and she was tranferred to the 2nd orphanage because they were more successful at placing children in permanent homes.  It was because of this transfer that she was removed from foster care.  She has remained in touch with her foster mom and we have her phone number. We had to bring up the subject of a name change right away, as that information was requested for her official Chinese birth certificate.  I hated to have to bring that subject up so soon, but we just decided that we would let her choose what she wanted to do, and if she changed her mind later, then we would officially change it then.  When we asked what she wanted to be called she emphatically replied "Wu Yi" and nothing else.  So her official birth certificate simply says "Wu Yi Walters".  We dropped Yu Ping completely as she had never really known that name.  (Even though it is on all of her original paperwork).  After 2 hours, and reassurance that she would see her nannies again tomorrow, Wu Yi seemed happy to leave with Wendy and us.  We went to the grocery store and she raced up and down the aisles, picking all of her favorite foods, drinks, and candies from the shelves.  Then she asked for a Barbie and we got her that too.  (She contemplated a toy sword for a minute or so and then changed her mind).  We returned to the hotel with Wendy, had lunch and played in the room for another 2 hours.  Wu Yi stayed close to Wendy (even though she didn't know her) because she speaks Chinese, but she seemed comfortable playing with Don and I too.  She allowed us to pick her up and she held our hands while we were outside of the hotel.  Then it was time for Wendy to leave . . . . And the tears began. :(