Our Bigger Picture.....: Provincial Completion and Restaurant 101

What a great day! We started off at 9am traveling to two appointments. The first was back to the CAB office to sign the papers and make the adoption official in his province. China calls the first 24 hours harmony period and gives adoptive families a chance to get to know a child before committing to them! YEAH RIGHT!!!!! Like there was any doubt we were going to send this little boy back to anywhere but FLORIDA with US!!!! But anywhoo we went to sign papers and meet with his orphanage nannies and director one last time! Jackzhen was looking at a book with Jillian when they walked in the room. He looked up and said Ni Hao and kept looking at the book. They were excited to see him and talked to him a lot! They are so happy for us and encouraging of us to him - I love that. We took some pictures with them and then they left! He didn't seem to care, which is a great sign considering how much he was loved and cared for at his orphanage. It means that in 24 hours he is happy and content with us. It confirms our decision to visit his orphanage, it helps us to see that he will be okay going back there, and yet leaving with us in the end! We left that office and drove to a notary. At both appointments we were with our new friends that we have met through this process! It is so nice to walk into a building in the middle of China and see a familiar English speaking face! Never again will I take living in a small town for granted!!! We sat down at the desk of the notary and again agreed to "never leave, harm, or abandon him" geeeeeeez, I think I have written that 4-6 times in 9 months.... But none the less we jumped through their hoops! Our guide Belinda and the notary were speaking back and forth to one another and I was dying to know what they were saying!!! That appointment only took 15 minutes and we were back in the van heading back to the hotel! I wasn't going to ask Belinda what they were saying, in case they were talking about how ugly my shirt was, HAHA - but she offered! She said that they lady saw my birth year, 1980, and laughed because we were the same age! She said WOW, 4 KIDS??? I smiled and said, she too could have that many right? I knew the answer to that already! Belinda had already gone over the one child rule with us. She too has a 3.5 year old, a little girl. Her and her husband are done having children. She explained to us that there are 52 different Chinese "groups of people" if you will - Belinda is a minority group and therefore she could have more than one child, however, her husband is not a minority, therefore, they can only have one! You would think that our situation is not a big deal, I mean most people in the US have 2-4 kids and that is normal. I know there will always be some "JOE" in Target that will remind you that you have your hands full, but for the most part walking around with a few kiddos is widely accepted and most of the time not even talked about! However, here, it fills people with WONDER!!! Between Jillian's blonde curls, Jackzhen strolling with an America family, my Mark II 5D, and the fact that we have 4 children, it literally stops people in their tracks! They stop our guide and comment on all of the above! It is very normal for locals to ask to take pictures with westerners, but the gaggle of questions that follow are completely intriguing to me! I told Jillian the next time someone touches her curls to ask for 20 yuan!!! haha

Later on in the day we went to the people's park with our friends from the 9th floor. We fed the fish again, Jackzhen even ate some some fish food himeself, OOPS!!! We then walked to a circular arena and the kids got to kick a soccer ball! I would guess that they are probably the star of about 12 home videos here in China after their game- oh well!!!

We came back to the hotel and had dinner with our friends. Jillian fell asleep before her food came and Jackzhen kept imitating her with her head down on the table, funny stuff!!! We are having quite a bit of fun with our new little parrot! He repeats just about everything we say and we even taught him how to Teebow at dinner! On a side note, here are a few things about ordering at a restaurant here in China... 1. They bring the food out as it is done, NOT all at once! 2. They forget who ordered what and you have to juggle food around on the table. 3. They will not bring you your check until you ask for it, (finger tapping doesn't mean anything to them haha) 4. No tipping allowed!!! A man ran us down at pizza hut just to give it back!!! (score one for China)

Bedtime tonight was much easier than last night! Jackzhen grumbled and kicked a little, but he laid himself down, and fell asleep with daddy! Progress is being made in just 24 hours!!!

And finally - some sap for this blog post........ I am falling more and more in love with my sweet husband on this trip. I knew he was an amazing father to the three kiddos that the Lord blessed us with from my womb, but seeing the love and commitment that he has for this little guy, fills my heart with JOY. Thank you Lord for Jason - for allowing him to see my hearts desire and making it his own, for bringing us half way around the world, and uniting us as a family even more!!! xo