I think it's still too surreal to think that this little girl is now my daughter... but it's really the case now! :) Today, we woke up for the first time with our new daughter, went and had breakfast, came back to the hotel room to get ready, then went downtown to the Guizhou Civil Affairs office for adoptions. Once we were there, we made everything official in the eyes of China... she's ours!!! (*cue the happy dance!*)
The office where all this takes place is in an older side of town up on the 14th floor. I was thankful that the office had two rooms - one where I had to go count the money for the notarization, orphanage donation, and other various adoption fees - and one where Ginny and the girls could sit and relax and play. It was not what I was expecting...
But, after all the money was counted and the official receipts were issued, we were presented with a couple of gifts as well as a few documents that will be near and dear to our hearts (adoption decrees, etc.). We had a small ceramony where we had our pictures taken with the orphanage director and the adoption office director... and then we were off to head back to the hotel for the day...
Fortunately, our guide Vicki is off running a few errands for us with our Chinese passport application for our daughter... so that allows us to stay back in the hotel and relax and be a family together :) We decided to spend the day back in the hotel just napping and relaxing - then we went out across the street to a 4-star restaurant here - Pizza Hut!! What was funny was that this was not like any Pizza Hut in the US - it was classy! The pizza was fantastic and the service was great... I think we'll be back again before we leave Guiyang...
Anyways... it's off to bed for now... tomorrow promises to have more adventures (city tour - Monkey park - museums, etc.), and the day after we will be headed off to the Guizhou countryside to visit some amazing sites. We are trying to cherish each moment here while fighting the urge to just want to head home now...
The office where all this takes place is in an older side of town up on the 14th floor. I was thankful that the office had two rooms - one where I had to go count the money for the notarization, orphanage donation, and other various adoption fees - and one where Ginny and the girls could sit and relax and play. It was not what I was expecting...
But, after all the money was counted and the official receipts were issued, we were presented with a couple of gifts as well as a few documents that will be near and dear to our hearts (adoption decrees, etc.). We had a small ceramony where we had our pictures taken with the orphanage director and the adoption office director... and then we were off to head back to the hotel for the day...
Fortunately, our guide Vicki is off running a few errands for us with our Chinese passport application for our daughter... so that allows us to stay back in the hotel and relax and be a family together :) We decided to spend the day back in the hotel just napping and relaxing - then we went out across the street to a 4-star restaurant here - Pizza Hut!! What was funny was that this was not like any Pizza Hut in the US - it was classy! The pizza was fantastic and the service was great... I think we'll be back again before we leave Guiyang...
Anyways... it's off to bed for now... tomorrow promises to have more adventures (city tour - Monkey park - museums, etc.), and the day after we will be headed off to the Guizhou countryside to visit some amazing sites. We are trying to cherish each moment here while fighting the urge to just want to head home now...
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| Sisters!!! |
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| This is where we first saw our daughter... she was standing in front of the adoption office with her foster mother waiting for us. |
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| This is the signs for the Guizhou adoption offices |
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| This was the view of the city from the window in the adoption offices |
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| And now it's official!! Jin Guo is now Mia JinGuo Schrader in the eyes of China!! This was the ceramony photo with the adoption office and orphanage director |
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| This was the side room where Ginny and the girls played while I settled things with the adoption officials in the other room |
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| Classy Pizza Huts -- who knew??? |
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| The official adoption decree from China :) |
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| Mia trying on a new outfit - she loved showing off her new clothes to us! :) |
Congrats!!! So happy for you all!
ReplyDeletehey - pizza hut saved us! there is quite a selection of "pizza" offerings. I loved how they matched for the ceremony. Can't wait to meet her!
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