Day 13 - (Civil Affairs Appointments)

Toady was our first full day as a family!  Sam has been fantastic and helpful and supportive and I can't say enough good things about him as a dad!  I couldn't imagine doing this without him!

THe girls both slept well, except for lots of coughing last night.  I didn't sleep one bit, except for about 30 minutes before I got up, so I was VERY tired.  THe girls' coughing and worrying about them and things at home kept me up.  Thankfully we didn't have a full days' schedule.

Both girls are getting along well, though I am not sure that C likes so much of the attention divided.  All and all, I would have to give her credit and say she's done great.

The Civil Affairs appointments were such a different experience than what we had in Guizhou (If I ever adopt again, that's where I want to go back to!).  We were in the same room as the day before, and I thought FL might have a melt down, but she was almost in shut down mode and very quiet.  C, on the other hand, had a melt down when I asked her to come back and sit in a chair and then physically put her in it when she didn't.  It was very similar to the one in the airport, but not quite as big or long, thankfully.  I had to hold her while she screamed and kicked and talked to her softly.  You'd think that I'd be embarrassed, but its funny that when you are in the moment like that you are totally focused on your child and don't even notice what is going on around you.

We had to take a family picture with just FL for her adoption certificate, check over spelling on the forms, answer questions from the Civil Affairs Officer and have another interview with the Notary (notaries are big deals in China, almost like a judge would be in the US).  They asked us why we wanted to adopt from China, if we had any children biologically, if we could or couldn't have children, if we were going to abandon FL, if we were going to abuse FL (I know, I know, but you have to calmly and simply answer the questions), asked if we would promise to care for her the rest of her life, what we each did for a living, how much we made each year and the notary wanted to know all about C, which is something that is really starting to bother me here (the partiality and attention she recieves) and I might write about another time.

After all of that, we were done for the day and went back to the hotel.  I don't have any pictures because I was so focused on the children and the mood was a little tense there.  However, I'm glad it is behind us and we had a good day afterwards. : )