Day 2 Update

Today, we had to be at the Civil Affairs Building at 9:00 a.m. to make everything official. We arrived early and were the first ones there. Being there before other families arrived certainly was to our advantage. We were the first ones in and the first ones out. We went into the first room and had our official family photo made. We then went into another room for our "interview" which consisted of the following questions.

"He is a handsome boy, is he okay with you?"
"He has a problem on his abdomen, is this okay with you?" (He had a hernia repaired at 6 months)
"He has a problem with his right arm, is this okay with you?"

Needless to say, we answered yes to all three questions, signed a few papers including a statement saying that we would not mistreat or abandon him, stamped our thumb prints in red ink over our signatures, did Isaiah's hand print (the left one) and he was ours. "Congratulations, you are his official parents" Thank you mam, but we became his official parents when we opened that file the end of November and knew that this was our little boy.

We went into a conference room where the orphanage director and the notary were having a smoke. They finished their cigarettes and we signed a few more papers, paid our orphanage "donation", received a nice certificate thanking us for making a "donation" to the orphanage and we were finished. While we were doing the official stuff with the notary, the orphanage director called his name "HongHong" and motioned for him to come to him. He turned his head and wouldn't look at him. He tried another time during our time their and he again, turned his head. He did not want to go back to the orphanage director at all. We asked him about a scar on his back and we were on our way back to the hotel.

All in all, it's been a great day. He was very sad when he woke up and we were still there. I know in his little heart that he wanted to wake up somewhere else. Namely, back with his foster mom. He then has had a few episodes of crying earlier in the day. He will be playing, start staring into space and then began to cry. He's cried as long as 30 minutes or so. He has had a great afternoon. We got a stroller from the hotel and walked to an electronics store to buy a disc for our camcorder. It is 187 degrees or something like that. But, he enjoyed the ride and being out of the hotel. We got a poop in the potty today, hooray, and he has told me everytime that he needs to go to the bathroom. Meal times are great, he is a great eater. He enjoys eating and sits in his high chair without a problem. He loves vegetables.

Just pray for peace for his little heart. We have prayed over him several times and just asked God to supernaturally give him peace in his little heart. Sometimes he just wants to get out and cries looking out the window. Believe me, he understands that somewhere out there is the only life that he has ever known. He was well taken care of and obviously loved by his foster family. She wrote us a note and enclosed three pictures, two of him and one of the three of them. How priceless is that? She took the pictures on all three cameras and enclosed them as well. She also included an outfit and the toys that we sent him. The only thing that we did not get back was the photo album, which is the one thing that I am so glad that she kept. It makes me feel as though she wanted a photo album of the family of "her boy".

We had a great night last night and are praying that we have another one tonight. He is showing more and more personality and is getting to be quite a pill. What a ride we are in for. :)

We are headed to the embroidery factory tomorrow to get out and do a little sight seeing. We are looking for ways to pass the time. This is immersion in Chinese culture and we have to point at pictures to order in the restaurants outside the hotel. There is no western influence at all. I have seen one KFC and that's it. Will update more tomorrow. Thanks for checking in on us and for following our journey.

We love you all!