When coming to China, I thought the day we got our girl, she was ours, but as we were signing paperwork yesterday, we were informed the first 24 hours are basically an interim period, in case we want to give her back.
Well, no worries there, so it was made official today!
We basically sat in offices for three hours.
We left early again, and stopped by the sketchiest photo store ever. We were taken back to this super dark room with a tiny bench and red background and quickly had our picture snapped. I sure wish my hair looked better in the 90% humidity. Nothing about this process is ideal.
From there we went to a very official looking building. We waited for along time, was asked a few questions, signed our name a few times and waited some more. Thankfully the girls were having a great time chasing each other and playing together. Naomi LOVES water and drinks a ton. I went through 3 diapers in 3 hours.
Finally we were taken to another room where we took a picture with our newly received red book and certificate.
Then we waited a long time on the side walk since our driver fell asleep somewhere. Back in the van to another office. More signatures and questions in a tiny cramped room. Then dropped off at our hotel around 1pm again with hungry kids and left to fend for ourselves.
Back to our European oasis. I got a salad, thank you Jesus. The girls plowed through all the pasta. Neither one wanted any of my salad. First time we’ve seen Naomi say no to food. Across the street to Starbucks, and now both girls are resting.
A few random thoughts: I like Shanghai much better than Beijing. Shanghai has kind of a NYC feel to it. Less sterile and industrial, more capitalism present. It feels more westernized. Large buildings everywhere, and some really interesting architecture. Just like NYC, there are the rough, or more impoverished areas, then there are ornately decorated up end areas. As we drive all over, we have the same experience. People are more business like here, and from my experience a bit more abrupt.
I thought I would be super adventurous with the food, and was in Beijing, but it’s just tough here. Food very much is a comfort thing, and it’s amazing how when all of your senses are being bombarded, eating something safe helps. We also know nothing of the area, other than what we recognize. The Internet is very hit and miss, so even google maps isn’t that helpful. Our guide is definitely not my favorite and we feel abandoned in this department as well.
Our girl is is showing a bit more feistiness today. She’s been pushing EK, and even hit her a few times. She’s so tiny it didn’t really phase her, but you can also tell it’s probably a normal way of play where she’s from. She is trusting us more and more and will even yell mama for me when she needs help with things.
EK is having a tough time today. More fits and testing boundaries. This is SO hard for her, but I could not be more proud of how brave and strong she is being with everything being flipped on its head in her world. That girl amazes me.
Tomorrow we have no appointments, just a day exploring our girls’ city, and I’m very much looking forward to that! I think she will enjoy it too. She gets so excited when we put her little backpack on because she knows it means we are going out. Already an adventurer!
Now to start deciding how adventurous we will be with dinner. Never have I missed delivery pizza as much as I do right now.
Thanks for the terrific update! Praying God’s blessing on you and your expanding family!