Friday, February 22, 2008

Day 6-8 Tianjin: Taking Care of Business

I'm sorry we're doing such a crummy job of blogging. I'm going to do a catch-up post to fill in some of the gaps.

On Monday we learned that our van driver was in the hospital. Apparently the company only has one van driver so that meant no van for us. Our transportation for the week turned out to be a fleet of special red vehicles usually used to drive wedding parties. Our car had a special theme - Hello Kitty! Anyone who knows me knows how appropriate that is.
After picking up Micah at the orphanage, we made a stop at the Carrefour market to get some supplies. One of our most important purchases was a stroller as 30 pounds gets heavy in a hurry!

Everyone wanted to have a picture taken with the white couple with a Chinese boy. Here's our little rock star with two of his fans.
Did we tell you about split pants? Here's our little clown doing summersaults in the room.
On Tuesday morning, we again took our Hello Kitty wedding car to the Registry Office to make our adoption permanent. We had to state that we were, in fact, adopting Micah and that we love him and would never abandon him. Here's the first official picture of our forever family. Their camera was broken so the picture was taken with our camera.


After the registration office, we had to go to the notary office to swear tin front of an official that we wanted to make the adoption permanent. No pictures were taken at the notary office as Micah had a minor meltdown which isn't tolerated at the notary office.
Mr. Micah is a boy on the go. He is happiest when out and about. We took a walk to a little park which is mainly used by older people to do exercises and practice tai chi. But is was fun for a little boy.

On Wednesday morning, we were actually free to do as we pleased. We took a walk across the bridge by our hotel. You can buy lots of stuff from CDs, to book shelves to live fish on this bridge. Micah was fascinated by the live fish - yu! yu!

Then we walked along the river, saying hi to the families our for walks. We encountered men swimming in the river, even though it was cold. We could hear their shouts from quite a ways away.


On Wednesday afternoon, we returned to the orphanage to pay our orphanage donation and take a quickie tour. This is Micah with Ms. Zhang from the Tianjin CWI. She was a tremendous help with paperwork and with learning more about his time in foster care.

I was concerned that this might be traumatic for Micah, espcially as it took place during his usual nap time. But I don't think he spent much time at the orphange. His biggest complaint seemed to be that we wouldn't take him outside to play and after a fussy period, he crashed hard. We were able to meet and present our gifts in person to the orphanage director. Unfortunately Micah couldn't stay awake for the occasion.

Here is our travel group on the front steps of the orphanage.


After the orphanage visit, we were able to visit (quickly) Micah's finding spot. He was found outside the outpatient clinic of the Children's Hospital. It's on a very busy street. I'm grateful for whomever found and comforted this child. It must have been really tough for a little guy.

I know I owe you more pictures, but I've got a hungry guy who needs his dinner. Tomorrow we move on to Guangzhou.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for taking the time to updating us..What a beautiful family

Donna said...

Micah is going to love the park in Guangzhou! My boys and Shelby had a great time there everyday. Sounds like you guys are settling into this parenting thing well. Take care and yes of course keep updating us on how it is going. Don't forget that this isn't just a blog but a keepsake of your trip that Micah will enjoy and appreciate when he is older. Still praying for your beautiful family of 3!

Deanna said...

Love the pictures, especially the split pants! Too cute!
Glad to hear about all your experiences. Have a wonderful last day in Tianjin and a great time in Guangzhou.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Thanks so much for sharing your amazing journey with your beautiful and handsome Micah.
We can't wait to met him.
Marquita

Ron said...

Awesome pictures! Your commentary was very interesting. I am enjoying following your journey.

I know that Carefour store all to well.

Admin said...

Girl - I TOLD you you couldn't blog enough from China! But dang, it's hard isn't it? I laughed out loud when I read one of your first posts after getting Micah that started with "Motherhood is seriously cramping my blogging style...". I can relate - guilty as charged!

Do what you can - but it is SO fun to read along - and you'll be so glad to have these memories documented!

Love you - can't wait to meet your little guy!

Ked

Tracy said...

Amazing pictures - my fave is the split pants one!! :)

Anonymous said...

Hello Kitty and a little baby hiney... what more could anyone want in a post? Love your family photo--it's perfect. Enjoy yourselves! :)

Christina

Anonymous said...

You're lookin good sweethearts-
Micah is adorable. The grief- well it does really stink and it is very painful to see and experience- you are strong and soon enough Micah will be all smiles- See you soon- First Friday people will be thinking and praying for you.
Liz Dan and Michelle Caixing

RamblingMother said...

congrats and he is adorable.

Beverly

Anonymous said...

OMGosh...Your blog has me CRACKING UP!!! From the taxi rides to the the rest of the events you guys are just too funny! On our 1st adoption trip dh and another adoptive dad kept saying, "You can't make this stuff up!" Have fun. Your little prince is just TOO cute! Absorb even the most minor details as they will be just memories. :-)

Much love,
The Rodin Family

Julie said...

The split pants are hilarious!

It seems to be a common thing that our children all wanted to be outside and became upset when we couldn't be there constantly.

Micah is just adorable! I'm so glad to hear you sounding more encouraged.

Margaret M said...

Love the split pants flip and the hello kitty car. Too much fun!!! Micah is such a cutie and makes me want to travel even more to get our son!

Anonymous said...

Glad to know you are having fun. Love the slipt pants picture....very much a boy, plus the flip.

Alex can't wait to meet him

LOL
Panina

JustjillCreations said...

Congrats Karen and Bruce - Karen, you were missed Tuesday night....cannot wait to meet the movie star!

jill

AmyO said...

Love the split pants! I wish I would've bought some to bring home to show Olivia when she's older.