Tuesday, August 22, 2006: Adoption Registration in Chongqing

Despite the fact that today was relatively uneventful, I am exhausted. Instead of writing a novela, I've decided I will just tell the story of the day's events pictographically. Before I begin, though, I wanted to publicly congratulate one of Marcie's Godmothers, Tiffany. Yesterday she interviewed at Highland Ranch Elementary School in Poway Unified School District. Today she was offered the position of second grade teacher. The teachers start on Monday-- boy are those kids one lucky bunch! Congratulations Tiff!

This is Marcie in her first new American outfit. It fits, but barely. Marcie woke up at 5:30 am, famished. After she ate, we went for a walk in the city. We saw everyone in the square doing Chi Gong, which is an exercise that moves the chi through the body. They do it all in unison to music. Right now it's 9:30pm, and they just finished doing it again for the day. We plan to take some photos and post them. There is also a fountain that has lights and does a show several times each evening. The music is loud, but Marcie doesn't seem to mind. . .

After we took our walk, we came in for breakfast and then went to fill out an hour's worth of paperwork. We had to explain why we wanted to adopt in China, and promise to treat Marcie well and to never harm her in any way. We signed a lot of forms. Marie and Oriole (our guides) translated everything to Chinese and took our paperwork with us to the Adoption Registration Office later in the day.

For lunch, we ventured out to find the Starbucks and look for a KFC. Ordering was more difficult than we thought it'd be. We tried pointing at pictures, but the pictures definitely didn't tell the whole story-- I ended up with some vegetable patty thing. It was gross. And Jason's sandwich was spicy. You really can't tell that from the photos. I think I'll stick to McDonalds or Pizza Hut next time I'm in the mood for something American.

This is me and Marcie all set to go to the Adoption Registration Office. Marcie is hanging out in the Playtex Hip Hugger I borrowed from my friend Keely. She really liked being able to check everything out. Even though Jason didn't want me to bring two baby carriers, I'm glad I did. The trekker is better if she's asleep (though it hurts my lower back) and the hip hugger is better when she's awake and wants to look around (though it hurts my neck after a little while). I guess there is no perfect choice. . .

The nannies all came by the Adoption Registration office to say good bye. I wish they'd told us the nannies were coming. Everyone seemed rather upset by their arrival-- like it might confuse the babies. I thought it was okay; after all, I think it was good for the babies to see that the nannies approve of us as "replacement nannies." I also think the least we can do for these women who have been loving and caring for our children for nine months is let them have a final good-bye. Anyway, this is Marcie with me and one of her nannies.

At the adoption registration office (which interestingly is on the 4th floor-- this is interesting because in China, the number four is unlucky), we had to have our photo taken together as part of our application to adopt. This is us preparing for the photo, which went on our Adoption Registration form, which we will give to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. After we had our picture taken, we had to fingerprint our forms.

This is a metal plate we received as a gift from the Civil Affairs office in Chongqing. It is the Civil Affairs office (I think) engraved on the gold plate. We will keep it for Marcie as a memento.

Even though we didn't have a super busy day, after we got back to the hotel, Marcie and I took a nap. She fell asleep like this, but Marcie prefers to sleep in her crib. . .

I admit it, I saved the best for last. Who couldn't love this face? This is Marcie playing on the bed while we wait for the doctor to come do the exam. The doctor told us her development is normal. Her heart is healthy. She has a cough, but it is productive and appears to be a virus. She has very sensitive skin, and she has "dry ear," which means we need to put lotion on the outer part of her ear. She's been tugging at it because the skin is dry-- no infection (that's a relief!). This picture was taken after dinner. We had a very interesting dinner at the Chinese Restaurant here in the hotel. The staff was very nice, and they tried so hard. But they had limited English. First there was confusion over whether or not we needed a third chair (my mom had gone back to her room to grab a sweatshirt). We tried explaining that my mom was coming by pointing to Marcie and saying "Lao Lao" which is the Mandarin for Grandma. They thought we were asking for a high chair. So they took away my mom's chair and brought a high chair. Just as funny was when my mom arrived and they actually gave her an extra chair to place her sweatshirt and bag on. The food was actually pretty good-- I attribute this in large part to me remembering to tell the server, "Yow boo la" (Not want spicy) in time! We took pictures of some of the foods, but they are on my mom's camera, so you'll have to check back later to see what the food looked like.