This picture is for Leanne...my favorite "mom who loves baby carriers"...
This is what Sam does in the baby carrier!

Cuteness!

On the way to be adopted!

This is the second office - where Sam was footprinted

The third office...where the adoption was finalized in China

Good Morning!

Today we had a great day, and according to Chinese law, Samuel Curtis is now our son! We woke up this morning, and Sam had slept the entire night in his crib! YAY! After we got ready, we went downstairs to breakfast and met Amy there. We ate, came back and skyped with Riley and mom, and then headed out with our orphanage gifts and paperwork, back to the same office where we met Sam yesterday. When we got there, we met Mr. Xie and gave him the diapers and formula we had purchased for the orphanage yesterday. We then went into a room where they took a picture of John, Sam and me for the official adoption certificate. Sam was asleep by this time, and it was actually pretty funny because she had to wake him for the picture. Every time he woke up a little bit, he immediately stuck his thumb in his mouth,and closed his eyes again. That was apparently not acceptable for the official picture. So, we would take his thumb/fingers out of his mouth, and then he would close his eyes and try to go back to sleep as if he was ignoring us. Finally she snapped a quick picture with both of his eyes open and his thumb out. She thought it was so funny, that she printed an extra copy of the picture for us to keep! After this, we went to another office where we promised not to abandon our baby, maltreat our baby, and promised to educate him well. We then said that we were happy with our baby- this is what they ask! - and put our red thumbprints over our signatures. We also had to take off Sam's right shoe and they made two red footprints on the documents. She told us congratulations, and sent us to the final notary office. In this office, I had to fill out a paper explaining again that we would not maltreat him, that we would educate him, and explain why we wanted to adopt from China- again. We triple checked every document to make sure it was correct, and then the man notarized it. And that is that! According to China, Sam is ours. On Thursday, we will go to an office to take an oath, but that is the only Chinese part of the process that is left. Now we begin the process of legally adopting him according to the United States. This part includes a medical, lots of paperwork, visa application, and a lot of waiting for the paperwork to go through. We are in the awkward time where according to China, we are Sam's parents, but according to the US, we are not.

After this, we came back to the room and I fed Sam some rice cereal and then laid him down for his nap. John and Jackson went back downstairs to the Chinese restaurant where Amy took us yesterday for lunch and ordered some lunch. They delivered it to the room, and we ate while Sam napped. Then we all napped. We thought we were adjusted to the time, but every time we lay down, we sleep for about 2 hours before we even realize it, so I guess we are not quite adjusted yet. : )

A couple of notes about Sam.

1. He is a BIG thumb/finger sucker

2. He is a very good sleeper- at least so far!

3. He has the cutest little lip that sticks out in the front

4. He likes eating little pieces of biscuit, baby snacks, etc, but cannot really feed himself yet

5. The toy that we have that he likes best is a little scary toy he brought from the orphanage. It is a rabbit that lights up with red eyes when you push a carrot. It scares me, but Sam loves it!

I forgot to mention that Mr. Xie gave us a bag yesterday that had 1 of the disposable cameras that we sent, a pair of Chinese pajamas, and the little rabbit toy in it. These are things we had sent to the orphanage in January. However, we did not receive the 4 other cameras that we had sent earlier, and I am really hoping they might turn up. Amy asked him about them today, and he said he would check tomorrow when we visit to see if they have them somewhere. I hope we get them because we have very few pictures of Sam from when he was less than a year old, and we sent the first cameras when he was about 10 months....so fingers crossed.

Speaking of the orphanage visit, we are very excited about it. We will be leaving about 7 in the morning and taking the "fast train" there. We should be there about 8am. They have said that we will be able to meet many of the children and meet Sam's 4 nannies if they are there. We are planning to take the director out to lunch, and they have said that they will take us to see Sam's finding spot. May be a very emotional day, but it is not a day that I would miss given the opportunity. Sam will not remember the orphanage or the people who cared for him, so we are the only link he will have to those things. I want to be able to tell him all that we can about his first year and a half, and I want to be able to tell him that we saw where he slept, where he ate, that we met the ladies who cared for him, etc. One day, he may want to return here, and I want him to have as much information as possible about his early life.

Well, I think that is enough for now. If you are still reading this far in, I am amazed. But, I do want to journal things here so that I will not forget them later!

Thanks for all the comments and emails! We love hearing from you!

Love to Riley and Lily! We miss you sweet girls, and are very proud of you!!! We are looking for the perfect Chinese dolls for you!

Blessings-

Meredith