Monday is finalization (which, by the way, is a weird word)

Today was the day we signed and swore that we would never abandon or abuse our daughter and that we would provide her a healthy growing environment. I know they have to ask these questions, but they always make wonder. Does anyone ever fail this exam? Probably not.

The Civil Affairs Office is oddly functional. It is the place where you go to finalize your adoption which basically means you sign some papers. There is no swearing before a judge, no dressing up unless you want to, no fanfare or ceremony. It’s so strange to think that this is the place where thousands of lives are forever altered every year.

We overlapped with a family from Sweden who was finalizing their adoption at the same time - Mom, Dad, 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons from South Africa, and 1-year-old daughter from China. Strange to realize that these sweet kiddos who need families are finding them all around the world. But our God places the lonely in families.

Ca has been remarkable - tremendously trusting, willingly going with us wherever we’re going, very affectionate. When she’s going to sleep, she seems especially eager to touch/cuddle/tangle up with E. She’s been very verbal - something we really weren’t prepared for. She talks and talks and we smile and blow kisses and reply in English. It must be frustrating to have such thick-headed parents. 

After our ‘boring’ morning, we went back to the hotel and ate some leftovers. Really delicious leftovers. Ca wasn’t interested - ate a few dried apricots instead. It was nap time according to her orphanage schedule, but she was having none of the nap thing. So after a little while attempting, we gave up and went swimming. Ca astonished again by being completely nonplussed by water in her face - sat on the steps and intentionally splashed herself repeatedly! But wasn’t really interested in the vest or swimmies we brought for her. Let E hold her and move around in the deeper water as long as Ca had the death grip on. But Ca seemed to have fun anyway.

After swimming we went back to the shopping area and found a bookstore that had a map of Tongzhou so we could reference it at home. Of course, no pinyin at all, just characters. So we’ll get some help from one of our guides.

Tired & grumpy girl had a hard time waiting until 6pm when the upstairs buffet opens, ate a little, took a bath, went to bed around 7:00. The rest of us weren’t far behind her.

She’s been very open and accepting towards E, humored by I and rejecting of B. When he tries to help or be affectionate, he gets a lot of not-the-mama. B is doing a great job of persisting, though. He loves this girl, and will keep showing her despite her best efforts to put him off.