It's Legal- she's ours now!

Today was the day Mae's adoption became legal! We all packed back in the damned bus and headed back to the same room where we got the girls yesterday. Today, however, the mood in the room was very different. Everyone was very calm and the girls were, for the most part, very content. Bonding had begun (thank G-d!)

First off, each set of parents (and the one single parent adopting this trip) were photographed holding their new daughter. Ian & Jarred were not invited in to the photo. These photos, we are told, are for the all important Red Book, what ever that is. We suspect that there is a permanent photo record of each child and his/her new parents... Of course when we hear "Red Book," it gets all scary sounding...

Then each family is called in to the holding room, which is now set up with desks. We sit on one side, and a government official and a translator sit opposite. We were then asked a set of questions by the official: who will care for the baby, why did you want to adopt a Chinese baby, what are your plans for her education, etc. etc. We were kind of stumped for a moment, wondering if any of these had trick answers to them: if we say that we both work, does someone in a military uniform burst in to the room and grab Mae from us? What if we use the word "baby sitter" or "nanny?" How do we know the translator isn't saying something like "oh man, these two are SUCH losers. Plus, my Smith Barney IRA tanked last quarter. TAKE BACK THAT BABY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!"

Well, needless to say, nothing of the sort happened. We signed all the forms, and provided our index finger prints on 5 copies of said forms. Mae provided them with a print of her right food (that didn't go over too well with her, by the by) and that was that. She is now ours, poor dear.

After hugs and photos, we climbed back on to the bus which we kind of dislike, if I didn't mention that yet. It's so cold and wet outside, and so steamy inside- the windows are completely fogged up. Who the hell knows how the driver sees the road. Oh, given the fact that he snapped some phone wires with the top of the bus while pulling up to the adoption center might mean that he can't see either. Tom, our guide, happily goes on pointing out the various sights but of course all we see is steam and dripping water covering the windows.

We did have a brief stop at a super market/target kind of store. How to explain... It's at least four stories tall. The first floor appeared to be a series of smaller stores- food stores, a high end sporting goods store, eye ware, toys, etc. The second floor was like a huge Target- cloths, linens, shoes, cleaning supplies, electronics, you name it. And man was it noisy! Each section had its own music blaring, along with a designated sales person with a megaphone urging shoppers to come in to his/her section to shop. It was wild. Mae was sitting in the shopping cart happy as can be, and Ian sat in the stroller. At this point, Ian had a pretty bad tummy ache so he was kind of out of it. But the stares we got! Not one but TWO boys- and blond ones at that. Oh yeah, we had a girl with us too. Whatever... At one point, while Adena was buying some contact lens supplies, Jarred found himself surrounded by 5 ladies who worked at the store- all commenting on something or rather. Of course J loved being the center of attention.

The third floor was the actual super market, where we tried to buy as close to what we knew and recognized as possible. Jarred ran to the Pringles display, and brought back two cans- one can was pork and ketchup flavor. Another was steamed pork and lemon. YUMMY!

Back at the hotel, Ian became sick as a dog so we had an appropriately quiet night of it...