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The morning began bright and early for us. We're still getting used to the time change, so we wake up at all hours of the night. We traded off recording the events of the previous day for the journal and trying to get them formatted for the website. Many thaks to my borther for doing a lot of behind the scenes work to make the site look as good as it does. There's no way I could have set this site up otherwise.
After getting ourselves cleaned up we got ready to head down to get some breakfast before going the the Civil Affairs office. The kids had other ideas,though, and Hannah filled up her diaper and Abigail got sick to her stomach just before we left. We cleaned them up as quickly as we could, then made it down to the restaurant only a little behind schedule. We had to get everyone fed and ready to go before 8:15.
The breakfast buffet is considerably different than what we're used to at Shoney's. The restaurant has a section of Western foods, but also has several local favorites as well. In addition to many baked goods and cereals, we also had a few noodle dishes, dim sum, and Chinese dumplings. There was a lot more, actually, but too much to list here. Jophy recommended that Abigail drink some flavored yogurt to settle her stomach and Hannah began to show us just how much she likes croissants. As a matter of fact, we've begun to see that there isn't much of anything that Hannah doesn't like.
After breakfast we all got on the bus and traveled to the Civil Affairs office. We began to get settled into one room, but shortly thereafter we were moved to another room while a different group of adoptees were coming to the room we were currently in. The second room was larger and better ventilated, with windows that let in some cool breezes and some corner air conditioning units that did a good job cooling the room as well.
After a good bit of waiting a photographer came in to take our official family portrait for the adoption. Hannah was not at all happy about the photo opportunity, but the photographer managed to do or say something to her which managed to calm her enough for the portrait. Once I can scan our copy I will post it on this site.
After the photograph and some more waiting, there were other documents to sign, forms to verify and signatures to be covered with thumbprints. We also had to get Hannah to put her footprint on one of the forms, which she made easy by being asleep at the time. She is a really sound sleeper! Once all of the documents were completed we had to wait for them to be typed up and verified again to be sure that no typographical errors were made. If anything were found to be incorrect later we would have to pay to have all of the documentation redone, which amounts to a good bit of money. We had a couple of corrections to
be made, but once everything was corrected the notary told us that the girls were officially ours according to Chinese law.
Jophy had arranged lunch for us at a restaurant close to our hoteel after all of the paperwork was completed. It was after the traditional lunch hour so the restaurant was officially closed, but Jophy must have pulled some strings to allow us to eat there as a group. The women and children were dropped off at the restaurant while the men were brought back to the hotel to drop off our paperwork for safekeeping. When we got back to the restaurant we found the turntables on the tables already loaded with food, and more was being brought out all the time. Everything was wonderful, and Hannah showed us again that
she isn't a picky eater. She'll pretty much eat whatever we put in front of her.
We finished our meal and braved crossing the streets to get back to the hotel, where we all promptly took a good nap. Not much more happened after that. We woke and wandered around the hotel, finding the gift shops and the pool area. Abigail and I returned to the pool later and tried it out, but since it had no shallow end and it was somewhat frigid, Abigail lost interest almost as soon as she got in. We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, where Hannah again showed her love and capacity for eating.
The following day was to be devoted to some sightseeing at Quingling (sp?) park. We are told that there are many wild monkeys at the park which really interests Abigail.
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