Day 2

Well...day 2 with Sam is about a wrap. It started early with breakfast as we had some official adoption business to do today. He slept great for us last night and hoping for the same tonight. We headed out after breakfast and went to finalize the adoption. We met a lady from the orphanage there and she was super nice. Sam really seemed to like her which made me feel good about his time there. She is the one who made his photo album that the orphanage gifted us. She also said the she recognized us from the pictures that we had sent Sam and that she read our letter to him to explain that Grace and I were coming and that Leslie had to stay home with Claire. She took some group pictures of all of us to send back to his foster family. I was also able to provide our address and e-mail for her to share with the foster family in hopes that we could stay in touch some how. The women taking his photos for the adoption document, 3 older women, told us that Sam was a beautiful child and was considered a very handsome boy in China. Which I contributes to the extra stares. Since this is the third trip, I fully expected the stares, but I think they are worse this time. To start, I'm taking a beautiful boy which is unusual, and second, I think they are all trying to figure out if I am some horrible cradle robber in regards to Grace. Oh well. It doesn't bother me. Our guide Lina had several conversations with Sam today. Right out of the gate, he told her that he was a happy boy...a huge answer to prayer. I also had her ask about the phone calls to the foster family. He told her that his foster grandma, whom he is very fond of, told him not to call every day and that he should call when he gets back to U.S. so they know he made it ok. So, he hasn't even hinted at calling them today. He also seems to be showing a little more affection towards us. He has quite the personality and he and Grace giggled and played in the back of the van the whole time we were out running around today. So, as I mentioned, the first stop finalize the adoption. They gave us the adoption paper and then took some pics of us. The next stop was at the notary where they asked me a couple of questions and got us a passport. The woman, who only spoke Chinese, asked thru our guide "if I was willing to treat Sam like a biological child and care for him and not beat or abuse him". Of course I replied yes, but he chimed in with his little Chinese accent, "oh thank you"...it was pretty funny!

It has been rainy here all day, so we didn't do much besides the business stuff. We walked down the street for lunch and despite my best efforts, he managed to over order for us again. That just added to the growing amount of leftovers in our fridge and allowed us to stay in and eat leftovers tonight. We then walked down to the Nike and Adidas store, but everything was very expensive. So, we headed back to the room and stopped at a little bakery on the way. I busted out a new toy for the boy to play with today since we were stuck inside. We also started to teach him how to play Uno. We have eaten, he has had his shower and once again, I am whooped. Hoping to crash soon.

P.S...Gracie ran into a friend at the Adidas store...(see pic)