the long and winding road...

Its official, she's ours!!!
The morning started out early with breakfast. Georgie loves to eat!!! She eats cheerios, sticky buns, congee (very thin rice cereal), watermelon and just about anything else you put near her mouth. Its amazing that she can eat so much with only two tiny teeth!

After breakfast we boarded the bus with the other families in our group and made the rounds. First stop, the Civil Affairs Office which is on the 26th floor of what appears to be the tallest building in town. We were there for quite awhile while we were photographed, signed some papers. Then we were briefly interviewed. They wanted to know whether we were happy with our baby. "Yes, absolutely" we replied. We also answered questions about our occupations and why we wanted to adopt a baby from China. After that we swore to love and care for Georgiana forever. We also promised that we would never abandon her or abuse her.

While we waited for the Adoption Registration Certificate to be prepared we had a chance to ask the orphanage director a few more questions. It was then that he pointed out a group of 4 more babies across the room and told us that they had also been at G's orphanage. The group was from another agency, FTIA, and all 5 of the girls (including G) were born within one month of each other. Funny, because I've kind of thought G was big but compared to some of her SWI buddies, she's actually quite a bit smaller! Anyway, it was wonderful to meet them and be able to take their pictures. The director explained that G was actually had a different nanny than the other girls but that they would play outside every day together int he sandbox. He told us that's why all the girls had dark coloring because they got out in the sun everyday to play which he said was very important. G definitely does have a little tan on her hands and face but she also has a pretty dark complexion.

Next stop another office where we were asked the same questions as at the first, promised to care and love her forever and dropped off another gift. Back on the bus and a quick drive to the police station. Unfortunately, the internet was down and so we had to return later in the day but it was not to big a deal.

When we boarded the bus at the police station, we had to wait for a few minutes for our guide to join us. Several local people stopped and stared at the bus full of families with babies. One couple looked very concerned about what was happening with these children and it seemed like they believed that perhaps we were doing something wrong. Like I said, we get a lot of looks here.

Anyway, after that, in the eyes of China our adoption is now final!! Georgiana is ours forever and always! We have to wait here another couple days to receive copies of the final paperwork then we'll be on our way to Guangzhou. Not sure what we'll be doing over the next few days but we're planning an orphanage visit if at all possible.