Paperwork Day!

The three of us went down to the hotel restaurant to have breakfast at 7:15am before paperwork day was to begin at around 9:00am. This little girl is a good eater; she's practically a bottomless pit!!

We fixed her a small bowl of congee, which tastes sort of like oatmeal. It was pretty soupy, so we added some scrambled eggs to get the consistency better, and we also got her some bananas and watermelon, all of which she loves. She liked the watermelon all right, but she LOVED the bananas and the congee. Christine fed her for a while, and daddy passed his first test by feeding Olivia some congee. She finished the first bowl of congee and showed no signs of stopping. So, we gave her another half bowl, which she devoured. Then she took a bottle of water in the room.

We went back to the Lottery Hotel, to a different room on the same floor. We waited in a room with some toys while we individually were interviewed by the orphanage director. They asked us questions like when did you get married, what do you do for a living, why did you want to adopt from China, are you satisfied with your baby (OF COURSE WE ARE!!), and do you promise never to abuse or abandon your baby. The night before, we'd done lots of paperwork, and we then had to seal our signature by both of us putting our thumbprint after we inked our thumb up directly over all our signatures. Then we had to get ink on Olivia's foot and stamp her footprint on the page to accept her.

Then we went to the notary office to get our adoption officially entered here in China. The building was quite hot, and we went through some of the same questions with another government official. This lady was very kind, and we got a picture with her.

We got back to the hotel and had lunch, where Olivia ate another bowl of congee followed by some of daddy's noodles and mommy's stir fried rice. This girl is really taking to us - I know those prayers are working!

Tonight we're venturing out to McDonalds, we hear they have the fried apple pies like they used to in the U.S back in the 70s and 80s.

Whenever Olivia gets sleepy, she starts to pat her head, then she clasps her hands together in front of her heart like she's praying. She's needed a lot of sleep and food lately, and right now she's got those little hands clasped and is making good use of her healthy lungs. Randy, this is our official request for you to hang around for Olivia to sing for you!

I'm going to try and put some videos on today's posts, so we'll see how that goes, I hope it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn24bmS8E-U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCi26n9w3W8

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
-Jeremiah 29:11-13

Michael, Christine, and Olivia