Today we met in the lobby at 8 am to head back to the Hunan Civil Affairs Office to complete paperwork to officially adopt our children. We spent about 1 ½ hours there completing paperwork, telling them we are happy with our son even with his medical condition, and giving them our money. We took a picture with Samuel and gave our official fingerprints and now he is officially a Portis. We are finished with all the paperwork that must be done in Hunan, we just have to wait 5 days before his VISA will be ready. Then we can move to the final province and do final paperwork and wait on it as well. We would really like to hop on a plane today and head home.
While we waited for our turn to complete paperwork, we got to talk to Jon Cole, Elizabeth, & Mama Sarah. They were very excited to talk to Samuel! He has been a boy of few words thus far, so he only listened. He is going to love his big sister and brother. He is already attached to his sister. She played with him last night while we did paperwork and he fell asleep in her arms in the meeting room. We put him in the bed after we finished paperwork and he slept until 6:30 this morning. He obviously became attached to her during that time because at the Civil Affairs Office he wouldn’t even let me hold him, he only wanted his sister. I decided to hold him anyway and take him for a walk out of view from SK and he threw a tantrum-screaming, kicking, stiff back. Our guide explained how much we love him and that he is our son and SK is his big sister. He gradually warmed back up to me and sat with me on the bus (as long as SK was in view). We stopped at a store similar to a Wal-Mart and picked up some water and cereal and while we shopped he fell asleep in my arms. When we got back to the hotel we went looking for some lunch. We found a buffet with pizza and just picked unfamiliar things off ( basically everything). He ate very well (watermelon, cantelope, banana, chicken nuggets, French fries). We strolled for a little bit and headed back to try and nap.
He has been fine while we are out and about, but in the quietness of the room he becomes upset & cries for his “mama”. They told us he usually naps for 1-2 hours a day, but we couldn’t calm him enough to nap in the room. Cole & I took turns exploring the hotel and walking outside with him and SK worked on some homework. He eventually was able to play in the room for a couple of hours without getting upset. It is 7:45 here now, and we are hoping he will go to sleep soon because we are tired.
The orphanage had told us that he often gets up at night by himself and drinks some water so I but some by my bed. He was already asleep last night when we came to the room, so he hadn’t seen me fix it. I woke up around 4 am and was trying to load a movie to the web and I heard this gulping sound. He had gotten up, crawled over and found the water and was sitting on my pillow drinking it. It was so cute and he went right back to sleep. Hopefully tonight will go as smoothly. Keep praying for him to be comforted during this time of loss and adjustment, everything he has known for 3 years is gone and this strange looking family that speaks a funny language keeps kissing him