Adoption day
Sorry about the late post today everyone, we got home very late- just too tired to do anything more than go to bed!
We had a wonderful day, Megan Su Xue Wei Houle if officially part of our family. The day began with paperwork at the local office for adoption registration. Jennifer told us that Shanghai is not real efficient with their paperwork, boy was she right. We waited 2 hours in this office with three other adopting families for our paperwork to be complete. Really, the waiting gave us an opportunity to play a bit. Quite a few pictures of this, the kids sat in the hall at a table, and broke into a game of duck, duck, goose- which all 5 of them played together for about 45 minutes! It was wonderful to see them all playing and laughing together.
There was a table set up with tea for people waiting, had to get a picture of it- as it said "free" then under it said "keep cleaning" - they meant to say keep the area clean, I am sure, too funny.
When the waiting was done, we had her final adoption certificate in hand and we headed off for some lunch. Went to a huge mall- makes any of our malls look wimpy. This mall was 7 stories high- the middle with escalators was open you could see all the way up. Beautiful stores, the floor with restaurants smelled so good. We ate at a traditionaly Shanghai style restaurant. The food was amazing- even Patrick admitted it was good, much better than any Chinese we get home he agreed.
From there we went to a bookstore to get some books for her to read at home. She picked just 3, even with us encouraging her to buy as many as she liked. We then headed to a music store where they sold instruments. This was Kellans request. We ended up buying a violin for Grace! She has been asking for one for awhile, it was just 30 USD, with the case! We probably should have bought the larger size for her as well! This one will fit her for about 3 years the woman told us. So I guess we are paying for violin lessons when we return home!
Kellan bought a beautiful new guitar, also for about $30- extra carry-ons for us!
From the mall we were headed for the Foster Family's home. We were invited to visit, then to dinner with them.
We arrived to find a local newspaper reporter and photographer there to interview us. After pictures and an interview we had some time to visit with them. I cant say enough how wonderful this family is. We felt right at home there, they felt like family to us. Brought out gifts for all of us. The Mother and Grandmother both commented that Katie reminds them of Su Xue Wei as a baby- which, I told them was what drew us to her picture when we first saw it!
We then headed out to dinner with them, they had reserved a room at a local restaurant- one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been in in China. When we arrived we were greeted by many of their family members who welcomed us with hugs- We had a wonderful dinner- The foster Mothers boyfriend- who speaks English made a wonderful toast to us.
The best part about being with all of them was seeing Su Xue Wei- who she really is. Laughing, joking and being silly with her family. The child we will come to know.
It was healing to have all of us together in one place. they are seeing us off at the airport on Saturday, as all good families do.
We better be off to breakfast now, as we have some hungry kids who are tired of seeing me on the computer! For pictures from today click here
Love from China!
We had a wonderful day, Megan Su Xue Wei Houle if officially part of our family. The day began with paperwork at the local office for adoption registration. Jennifer told us that Shanghai is not real efficient with their paperwork, boy was she right. We waited 2 hours in this office with three other adopting families for our paperwork to be complete. Really, the waiting gave us an opportunity to play a bit. Quite a few pictures of this, the kids sat in the hall at a table, and broke into a game of duck, duck, goose- which all 5 of them played together for about 45 minutes! It was wonderful to see them all playing and laughing together.
There was a table set up with tea for people waiting, had to get a picture of it- as it said "free" then under it said "keep cleaning" - they meant to say keep the area clean, I am sure, too funny.
When the waiting was done, we had her final adoption certificate in hand and we headed off for some lunch. Went to a huge mall- makes any of our malls look wimpy. This mall was 7 stories high- the middle with escalators was open you could see all the way up. Beautiful stores, the floor with restaurants smelled so good. We ate at a traditionaly Shanghai style restaurant. The food was amazing- even Patrick admitted it was good, much better than any Chinese we get home he agreed.
From there we went to a bookstore to get some books for her to read at home. She picked just 3, even with us encouraging her to buy as many as she liked. We then headed to a music store where they sold instruments. This was Kellans request. We ended up buying a violin for Grace! She has been asking for one for awhile, it was just 30 USD, with the case! We probably should have bought the larger size for her as well! This one will fit her for about 3 years the woman told us. So I guess we are paying for violin lessons when we return home!
Kellan bought a beautiful new guitar, also for about $30- extra carry-ons for us!
From the mall we were headed for the Foster Family's home. We were invited to visit, then to dinner with them.
We arrived to find a local newspaper reporter and photographer there to interview us. After pictures and an interview we had some time to visit with them. I cant say enough how wonderful this family is. We felt right at home there, they felt like family to us. Brought out gifts for all of us. The Mother and Grandmother both commented that Katie reminds them of Su Xue Wei as a baby- which, I told them was what drew us to her picture when we first saw it!
We then headed out to dinner with them, they had reserved a room at a local restaurant- one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been in in China. When we arrived we were greeted by many of their family members who welcomed us with hugs- We had a wonderful dinner- The foster Mothers boyfriend- who speaks English made a wonderful toast to us.
The best part about being with all of them was seeing Su Xue Wei- who she really is. Laughing, joking and being silly with her family. The child we will come to know.
It was healing to have all of us together in one place. they are seeing us off at the airport on Saturday, as all good families do.
We better be off to breakfast now, as we have some hungry kids who are tired of seeing me on the computer! For pictures from today click here
Love from China!
posted by tatoomickey @ 7:37 PM
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