Making it Official and A Trip to KFC and Wal-Mart

Let me just start off with saying that we are having the time of our lives.  Nicole and I are just so blessed to have God make this happen for us.   Every aspect of this trip has been great.  The little fat kid that still lives inside me is even happy….free all you can eat breakfast every morning.  Let me just say that it could be the only meal I eat all day long.  I am typing this at 3 pm China time and I am still very full.  Bo ate breakfast with us.  Her meal consisted of pancakes, some fruits, potatoes, and some cereal.  She eats everything that we put to her mouth and really doesn't stop eating until we stop feeding her.  I think you might find some video on here of her eating breakfast…

Today, it became official.  The entire group went to an old government building.  In Nanchang, they do not use heat.  Let me get off topic for a second with the no heat thing.  Every building is cold.  People who work in these buildings wear their coats all day long.  In the orphanage they had very little, if any, heat.  So, they wrap the babies in many layers of clothing.  When we got Bo, we took off 6 or 7 layers on the top and 3 layers on the bottom. Here is the point, she doesn't know how to use her arms.  For those of you who have watched "A Christmas Story" you will remember how the mother bundled up the little brother to go to school where he couldn't put his arms down….anyway, Bo was so bundled up that her arms were always out to the side.  She doesn't crawl, she doesn't really roll over, and she is just starting to reach her hands out to grasp things.  But, at ten months old, she doesn't know to take things and put them in her mouth.  So at breakfast she grabbed the cheerios and potatoes, and just help them out to her side.  Really kind of funny, but Nicole and I are going to try to train her to use her hands more.  We certainly want her to crawl some too. 

Back to the government building...we go to this building, 26 floors up, and we made the adoption official.  We had to get our picture taken all together, then we went into a room and had an interview for just a couple of minutes.  The lady asked us our profession, why we came to China to adopt, what our educational plans for Bo are…things like that.  When it was finished, we gave her a thank you gift and she gave is a gift of congratulations. 

Then we got to meet and ask questions of some of the caretakers.  We met three sweet ladies but spoke through a translator to one in particular.  We were able to ask any questions that we wanted to. It was very neat to see the wonderful, loving attitudes of the women.  It was easy to tell that they love all the babies who are in their care.  But, it was not difficult for them to give the babies up.  They were also very business-like.  There was a sense of satisfaction that I felt from them, kind of like "It was our job to care for you until your family came to get you, now we need to go back to the orphanage and care for the others until the same happens for them."  It was a very sweet, prideful moment for the ladies.  My favorite thing I learned was that part of Bo's given name means "pretty, like the morning sunshine."

When we were done there we needed to go to another building to get all of our documents notarized.  There was a large group of Aussies who also were completing their adoption. They came just a little later than we did and finished about the same time.   Our adoption coordinator knew that they would be headed to get their documents notarized as well and suddenly, the Amazing Race broke out to see if we could beat them there so we would not have to wait in line. She rushed us to the elevator and quarantined one entire elevator for our group.  We could not all fit in, so a couple of us stayed with her and she quarantined another elevator, but some of the Aussies got on with us.  I think that she knew we could beat them as long as their entire group did not get down in time…on the way down when the elevator doors would open and someone would try to get on she would yell something at them in Chinese and they would walk out with a wry smile on their faces.  We got downstairs, met with the others in our group, and began to race to our van to get to the next spot ahead of the Aussies….we beat them, and won the Amazing Race. Schierling: Australian for Idiot! (For those that know the commercial)

The notary was easy.  She also asked us a few questions, including "Do you promise that you will not abandon or abuse your baby?" I thought for a second about a sarcastic answer, and then I realized if I did something stupid I'd end up walking the streets of Nanchang the rest of my life proclaiming the glory of Chairman Mao, so I just gave the appropriate answer.

After the notary we went to KFC, to feed the babies…it was interesting that all the babies got hungry and needed feeding at the same time…a sign of the ritual that would occur in their orphanage.  KFC was much like ours.  I tried a little bit and it was a little different, but good.

Next came the whirlwind through Wal-Mart.  Keep in mind, very few people in this city speak English…it is primarily a manufacturing city surrounded by peasant farmers. We got many things we needed, some we did not.  It was much like a Super Wal-Mart, but two stories. We were supposed to finish in 50 minutes but when you have two ADD people like Nicole and I shopping for diapers, clothing, a toy, and some drinks for the hotel….50 minutes just wasn't happening.  We shopped first on the upper floor and then had to go to the lower floor to get the grocery part of what we wanted and then check out.

Of course, Nicole and I were the last to finish upstairs and realized that no one around could speak English and we could not find the way to the lower floor.  Already late, we raced around these Chinese people looking at us like we were half-crazy.  We went around the top floor a few times before I decided that we should just go out the way we came in and either we could get downstairs that way, someone would stop us and give us directions, or we'd get arrested for shoplifting and spend the rest of our loves rotting in a Communist jail cell.  Well, we got a dirty look and the lady said "Lower Floor" to which I said "I know but I do not know how to get there" and I threw up my hands. She stared at me for a second, thought to herself "You dumb American" and proceeded to show us the sign that was above our heads with the answer to the question we were looking for…

We now have a few days of relaxation and sight-seeing before we get our paperwork Friday and then fly to Guangzhou to get our American paperwork complete.

Two random bits of information:

One, the hotel has supplied us with these sweet Hugh Hefner white slippers with a gold "Galactic" on top that I am wearing as I write this… Only in China!

Second, the most intriguing thing to me about China are split-bottom pants...at some point I have to tell about those.

I know these are long. I appreciate you reading through all of this. So many have been so important to us and to this process...we want to make everyone feel a part of what we are doing.

Prayers...

God, we thank you again for this little blessing.  You have already changed our lives through her.  You are wonderful and wise!  Please continue to allow the bonding process to be successful and for your love.

God, it has only been three days but it feels like more than a week. We do miss the boys, our families, and our many friends that are in our extended family. Provide the entire family with comfort....from China, to Nashville and everywhere in between!

God, give us rest...sustain us, keep us free from sickness, and prepare our way.