A Recap of Chinese Adoption Day...Wednesday, the 11th in Guangzhou

We were up bright and early this day and got everyone dressed and fed and were off by 9:00 a.m. heading for the Civil Affairs office. (We ride a bus with the other families everywhere we go and our driver is very nice and helpful.) This is the same place where we were given our children the day before...on Gotcha Day. It was a little cooler since it was morning and the air conditioning seemed to be working better in the building. Hai Mei and MaryAlyce were in good spirits and looking pretty dressed in their new coordinating outfits. Hai Mei loves her clothes and always is very happy to put on something new. MaryAlyce does too..they are both "little ladies."

The adoption was a three stop process: 1) Have a photo taken of mommy, daddy and the new adopted child...Hai Mei, 2) Have an interview with the civil affairs officer, and 3) Have an interview with the notary official. They ask you several questions and pretty much both officials ask you the same thing. It was funny watching their expression when we answered two of the questions. The first was about how many children we have...they were suprised we had four! The second was when we were asked how long we had been married...that was REALLY funny! We said...27 years this year..and the lady's eyes got really wide and she said...oh, LONG time! Esther Marie did very well during the whole process, and MaryAlyce was a chatterbox when people talked to her. This took about an hour to an hour-and-a-half and afterward we went shopping at a large, multi-floor store which is Guangzhou's version of Walmart. The name of the store is Carrefort. (We thought there was a Walmart here, but there isn't one.) Anyway, we bought water, juice, diapers, snacks, etc. There is always alot of staring when we go somewhere as a group away from the hotel. People are curious about us. The neatest thing about this shopping place to me is that they have conveyor belt escalators so you can go from floor-to-floor with your shopping cart. It's a strange feeling riding on one! They also don't use plastic shopping bags any more....so you buy inexpensive, reusable ones. We need to do this in America!

This was a BIG day for us and we were tired and still getting used to each other, so we relaxed in the room for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Mommy had a headache and needed extra rest so daddy got Chinese "take-out" from the hotel bakery shop. Hai Mei and MaryAlyce are big noodle and rice eaters! It was a good day!