Friday and Saturday

Hello everyone,

Lots has been happening here in China. Let me begin by describing yesterday. We got up early and fed the baby and took her to breakfast. All of us sat in one section and fed the babies congee, which is a hot rice cereal that babies love. Everyone compared notes about making it through the night. Most babies did pretty well; lots of first-time parents didn't know what we were doing! Ha!!

We went then on a 30-minute trip to the Chongqing Municipality Adoption Office. The ride through town was so interesting. Chongqing is a mountain city with windy roads and buildings built right into the hills and retaining walls. The city has built up and there are many levels of shops and housing all on top of each other. Life spills onto the sidewalks and there is so much to look at as you ride through the town. I am surprised there are not more accidents as there seem to be few rules of the road. There are motorcycle taxis that zip in and out of traffic. Carrying things from place to place is an exercise in creativity, that is for sure! The city is a grey and hazy city. We have yet to see a sunny day and that is so different from Oklahoma!

We arrived at the office and that was an interesting place. The adoption office shares space with the office that oversees marriage as well. When we arrived, there was a bride in glittery wedding dress and tiara with her groom processing their paperwork. There was also a young bride that was marrying a much older groom - think Anna Nicole... We had photos taken and processed fees and such and then it was time to take the adoption oath. We entered a chapel-type room that was all decorated in red. There was music piped in and it was the Wedding March! Each family was called up and took an oath to raise and educate their child and seal it with red fingerprints. We also included Maya's fingerprint. Poor little girl -she slept through the entire ceremony, including the fingerprinting!

Here we are posing as our new family! The white paper I am holding is the official paperwork declaring us to be a family and the red box is a gift from Chongqing Municipality to Maya as a rememberance. Remenber, the Wedding March is continually playing!

After this, we returned to the hotel and had only a few minutes before we were to meet the two head nannies from the orphanage. They met with each group and described the routine of each baby and were there to answer questions that we might have. They told us that Maya is introverted and that she plays well alone. She is very generous with the other kids and she meets new people well. They described their seven hour journey to Chongqing and said that she was the calmest of all the babies during travel. They showed us the best way to rock her to sleep and said that she enjoys bits of egg white! It was very interesting observing the nannies describing each baby. Although Xiushan is a very poor area, it is clear that these babies had very good care at the ophanage. All of the babies in our group are with in a few months of each other in age.

Yesterday evening, our guides had arranged for us to meet as a group and go out to an authentic Chinese dinner. It was great to have someone order for us and we had a variety of delicious dishes. The event was supposed to celebrate the first birthday of one of the babies, but she was too upset and cranky to attend. Her cake portion of the party has been postponed until 4:00 today. That is in about two hours, so hopefully she will be able to come today!

Today, we started the day with feeding Maya from a different bottle - a Chinese bottle and this was much more happily received! She has eaten very well all day today! Allen took one bottle away from her today to shake it up better and she protested loudly. This was the first time that she has done that and we took it as s sign that she is starting to settle in.

After breakfast, we went shopping at Wal Mart which was interesting. It was early in the day and already crowded by Oklahoma standards. The traffic was also compounded by a Cao Nguyen type of bad traffic flow problem. Our guide said that it would be mobbed this afternoon since everyone would be getting ready for the Moon Festival.

Allen and the baby are now napping on one of the beds! I think Maya is starting to settle in a little. This has been a very big change and I know that it has just worn her out! I think I might take a little nap before the second attempt at the birthday party!

I will share more as we take ineverything! I hope all is well back home.

Love to you all,

Karen, Allen, and Maya