Adoption Day

Tuesday was the day Natalie officially became a part of our family.  It was a hectic day of traveling from the registry to the notary and from there to some kind of police station to get Natalie's picture taken.  After sleeping for only about 1 hour the night before the whole day was pretty much an exhausting blur...so hard on all 3 of us.  We ended the day at a department/grocery store called Rainbow where Gary and I, in our sleep deprived state, proceeded to unknowingly break several of the store rules.  Looking back it was pretty funny that our store trip mostly consisted of us being chastised by groups of Chinese people.  I may write more about it later because it was an interesting experience, but as usual I am pressed for time.  

The best parts of Tuesday though were Natalie legally becoming our daughter - although she has been our daughter in our hearts since the moment we saw her picture - and getting to spend some more time with her orphanage director.

Natalie in her highchair at the hotel restaurant breakfast buffet which offers at least 50 different Chinese and American choices.n  I think she was making her mad face because there was a pause in feeding her the yogurt.


Bread sculpture in the restaurant


Our group getting ready to leave the hotel to go to our appointments...babies everywhere :)


Mama and Wanhan headed for the bus.


A few shots of the beautiful Crowne Plaza which is a 5 star hotel that we would never be able to afford if it was located in the U.S.  We have felt quite spoiled here.  The staff is so kind and helps us with things we need for Natalie.








Natalie with the Director of Shangrao Orphange in Jiangxi Provence.  This lovely lady has known Natalie since she was 1 day old.


She and I spent about an hour together. Sitting together and communicating in a combination of sign language, Mandarin, English and laughter, we had such a nice time.  I have a video of her playing with Wanhan that I feel so grateful to have.  She told us that Natalie's normal demeanor is very calm.  Yay!  Although I would love to hear some belly laughs from our sweet girl...someday soon I hope.  The director gave us an open ended invitation to stay with her in her home anytime we want to visit Shangrao.  She has such a deep, genuine love for the children.


She and I took turns holding Wanhan.  When Natalie would reach her little arms out to come back to me it made my heart melt.  The director told Natalie to give Gary and I both kisses which she sweetly did.  I think it was helpful for Natalie to hear and see the director refer to Gary and I as "Mama and Baba".