Signed, Sealed, Delivered, She's Ours! (China Day 5)

Up through the time we posted yesterday, Helen had pretty much not left Heather's arms.  After we finished that post, Steve opened his hands and motioned for Helen to come.  She went to him immediately, and we wanted to start out today's update with a picture from this special moment:

We had a Skype date set up for 8pm our time last night with the kiddos back home, and we tried our hardest to keep Helen awake.  She zonked out shortly before 8:00 and there was no waking her. Ella & Myles did get to see her on camera though, and we could tell that they were excited.  We put Helen in her crib, and that girl didn't make a peep for close to 12 hours!  We had to actually wake her up so we could get ready to grab breakfast!  She went through a lot yesterday, and it obviously tuckered the little thing out.  Mom & Dad were very grateful for the full night's rest!  Here's Helen ready to start out the day, and us at our first breakfast together:

We returned to the Civil Affairs office this morning to finalize the "registration" and "notarization" parts of the adoption.  This involved a lot of waiting, followed by two different interviews (with more waiting in between the two).  We had answer interesting questions like "are you satisfied with this child?" (DUH!) and "will you promise to never abandon her?"  (YES!)  We guess we passed both interviews, because we didn't get hauled off to some Chinese interrogation room after either one.  This was the final paperwork with Chinese officials to approve the adoption!  Oh, and the first photo below is our official "family picture" that goes into China's files.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a supermarket to grab some groceries.  For those of you that complain about Walmart back home, you owe it to yourself to visit TrustMart here in Guangzhou; especially the fresh meat section!  Imagine rows and rows of dead animal parts from chicken feet to cow innards, all at room temperature and waiting for you to bring home.  Yummy (we didn't try it).  Next to this area were the fresh fish tanks.  Local shoppers choose a fish, the worker pulls it out, CHOP-CHOP-CHOP, and its on the scale for pricing (we didn't try this either).  Steve was able to snap a few pictures inside the grocery store, but a worker ran up and mumbled something that obviously meant "you can't do that in here!"  Sorry that we didn't get any innard/guts pics for your viewing pleasure.

We made it back to the hotel around noon and put one exhausted little girl down for a nap. She was quite the trooper this morning, being hauled around to various appointments and all.  Steve was able to provoke a couple little smiles by pretending to munch on her fingers.  What a smile!  Everything this little one does is precious, but her smile will melt your heart.  We even witnessed a bit of a laugh as we walked down the hotel hallway.  Throughout the day she's become a little more generous with smiles, and she's completely free in giving us hugs and cuddles.  After naptime we gave Helen her first bath.  She really didn't like it very much.  Note how she even scowls at the comb.

It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon in our hotel room.  We had two other adopting families over to our room for Papa John's tonight.  Yes, there's a Papa John's here!  It tasted pretty close to what we have at home, but each large pizza cost about $20 US.  You gotta love the website's description:

"The sausage pizza:  rich intestines of bacon and a lot of mellow cheese side by side to send an absolutely delicious temptation, rain, fragrant, and bring you endless aftertaste."

Beyond the rich intestines of bacon, tonight was a great time of fellowship with these other families!  It's so nice to be going through this process with others.

For those wondering what's left before we can come home:

• Apply to for Helen's passport and have her Visa photo taken (Wednesday)
• Helen's Visa medical check (Friday)
• Final paperwork checking (Saturday)
• Exit meeting/briefing about our departure (next Tuesday)
• Visa appointment & oath-taking ceremony at the US Consulate (next Wednesday)
• Pick up Helen's Visa; transit back to Hong Kong (next Thursday)
• Get the heck back to Iowa as a family of five! (next Friday)

Oh yeah, one more thing:  remember those smiles we talked about?  While writing this blog post we found a ticklish spot on her ribs.  We'll leave you with one more picture for today.  You're gonna love this one: