Emma and Family

We were not able to login yesterday... internet connection problems. It has taken most of today to get on. We sat & waited at the Civil Affairs Office yesterday. It was very crowded with families to be and children waiting to have their lives changed. I saw a lady w/ a child in a blue jacket. The child was not looking my direction but the lady looked familiar & I told everyone that I had seen her. Mei Xin was the girl in blue. She had been taken into the playroom. Soon the curtains parted & I see this little girl waving w/ a big smile as Alison & she exchanged greetings.

Once it was our turn to be officially united, she came to us all grins. She is all smiles and wanting affection. We gave her the B.A.B. (build a bear) & she was playing w/ it non-stop. Alison kind of stole the show. She got lots of attention from the director. Alison is having trouble w/ Chinese. She understands but isn't talking a lot. The words just won't come to her. Emma was quite content to have a moma / baba & at one point she pointed to each of us & said "Father? Mother?" Toward the end of our office visit, I pulled out the pictures of the other Zhu Hai children soon to come home. The director was quite surprised that I had pictures of these children. We asked if we could see these children when we come to Zhu Hai because we know their parents... the answer "of course, of course". I also asked about Mrs. Zhong & she is still working at Zhu Hai & they will tell her we want to see her too. I can't believe it is all falling together so well.

Emma is a hand holder so Alison is now a hand holder. We came back to our room & Emma played with both bears. Alison said Emma likes dolls & she does. She dressed & undressed both bears multiple times. We played in our room for a while & then went out shopping. We ate at an Italian restaurant. Alison couldn’t tell us what she wanted to eat so we told her if she couldn’t find anything she wanted Italian we would pick up McDonalds on the way home (it is next store). Well, Emma ate flat bread & a tomato spread, salad & tomatoes and spaghetti. We ordered the girls a cold cut plate w/ various slices of cold cuts & neither of them liked them. Alison was feeling kind of blue so she agreed to eat a little spaghetti. Oh was she ever sad. The green eyed monster has taken ahold. Alison is trying to resist it but it is hard. She really is trying very hard but sharing us is so new to her. When we got back to the room, I got the girls into the shower. Our shower is huge. Alison said I needed to help Emma several times. Then we both would help her w/ shampoo or rinsing her hair or whatever. After the shower, Alison said “I think I am going to like her.”

The girls slept all night. We all went to bed about 9PM. We had to be ready to leave by 8AM this morning to go back to the Civil Affairs Office to finish the Chinese adoption. Emma did very well at breakfast. She is cutting her eggs with a fork & knife and wouldn’t you know…Alison has learned to do it too. On the bus, the girls had to sit together or Alison wanted the girls to sit together.

At the Civil Affairs Office we were the first two families there (the other WACAP family & us). Soon the room was full of families. There were about five French families w/ Chinese babies. Wow, Chinese babies can learn French? We had our family photo taken. Then we had our paperwork registered. The lady talked to Alison more than Emma. Emma had to write that she liked us at Momma / Baba and that she wanted to be adopted & come to America. Alison did not have to do that. When we went for a final interview w/ a gentleman (who was VERY hard to understand), he asked Alison if she loved her Mom and Dad & she WOULD NOT ANSWER HIM! Can you image? You supposedly have come to adopt another child because you are wonderful parents & your child won’t even say they like you? Quite a moment. He chuckled & signed the papers.

We went to a store after the office visit and we bought the girls Barbie knock-offs. They have been dressing dolls & combing hair all afternoon. Lynn went to the bank w/ Emma & I took a nap. We are going out soon. It is a warm, sunny day…about 70 degrees.

Emma played with the TV in our sitting room & it took Lynn all day to figure out how to get it working again. Then the whole internet thing has been a problem. I would have to call a repair man if it wasn’t for him!

Sarah brought us a cake when we got back. It was beautiful. Of course, in the bus Alison asked her how we were going to get Emma a cake. She kept on her until Sarah finally told her she had one ordered. Alison says “I hope it isn’t chocolate cause I don’t like chocolate.” So, Sarah comes bearing a beautifully decorated chocolate cake & a slice of white cake w/ cherries on top. Alison doesn’t like cherries either but she scraped them off & ate the cake. As it turns out, I don’t think Emma likes chocolate much either. Then of course Lynn doesn’t like chocolate but he and I did eat the cake slices. I have more than half a cake left to eat but oh my is it rich. I can’t wait for Alison to spill her guts to Sarah about the cake. I am warning her to keep her mouth shut but who knows if that will happen. It was very sweet of Sarah. Emma was all giggly & a bit embarrassed by the whole thing.

I don’t know if you can tell by the picture but Emma is about 3-4 inches shorter than Alison but their feet are the same size! The size 8 pants I brought are a bit tight but ok for her. The shoes I picked up are too small. The shoes she came with are too big & she walks funny in them. She isn’t much interested in new shoes but shopping here is like a flea market w/ lots of shoppers (even in the stores like Walmart).

We have lost the internet again. I am now typing in Word so when we get it back, Lynn can just paste it in. We are headed out for an early dinner & what else? Shopping. Not much else to do. We haven’t bought much. Nothing of any consequence.

I will write later. But did you gather how different these girls are… at least now. Oh with all my work to label the pictures I sent to Emma they director thought we had 11 children plus Alison! Too funny.