A Missing Piece: Day Two- Our First Full Day with the Girls and Adoption Day!

All of the kids woke up early this morning...way too early. Evan and Lena were up sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. (jet lag is really messing with Lena and I this trip) and then Macie and Maeleigh were up around 5:30 a.m. We were told that they both usually go to bed around 10 p.m. (not happening at our house) and that Macie doesn't get up until 10 a.m. and Maeleigh gets up at 7 a.m. They did go to bed earlier last night than they are used to, but they also hadn't napped yesterday and had quite the emotional day. I was surprised that they were up so early! But the best news of all...they both woke up very happy! :)

Macie was the last kiddo to wake up.

She woke up happy!

This was such a sweet moment. Macie was sitting on my lap and then she reached out to Maeleigh as if to tell her- come sit on my lap! It was super cute. Macie really is a sweetie and so kind to Maeleigh. Maeleigh can be kind to Macie sometimes too, but not always.

We got to the breakfast buffet pretty early this morning. The girls ate very well! Macie is an eater! She will pretty much eat anything you hand feed her or put in her mouth. If she doesn't like it, she'll shake her head no. Maeleigh ate great too. She'll feed herself with a spoon or chopsticks. She loves meat, especially pork.

Love this one!

At 9:00 a.m. we met Miko in the lobby with all of our paperwork. Today was our official adoption day. We got all the paperwork ready in the hotel lobby- signatures and red thumb prints on many documents. We then got in the van and headed to the notary. We were asked a bunch of questions there about our jobs, the number of kids we had, etc. This is where the gift giving starts. We passed out our first red bag full of goodies to the notary. Then we headed back to the Civil Affairs office. We arrived about 15 minutes before our appointment time of 10:40 a.m. so the kids played in the playroom where the girls were when they came out to meet us. We saw the orphanage staff again at that point and we were wondering how the girls would do around them. Answered prayers! They wanted nothing to do with them really and acted a bit shy and cautious. They stayed by us and never cried. At 10:40 we were called into the civil affairs office. The woman in charge was SO kind. She truly loves her job and the kids- it was great to see that. She asked us if we wanted to adopt both girls, if we were satisfied with them, and asked us about our family, why we wanted to adopt from China, and more. We then paid a bunch of fees. After that we had a quick ceremony where she wished us well and held each child, giving them a hug. Both girls reached out to us after their hug...a good sign. We gave a gift bag to her and one each to the four orphanage staff. We discussed our plans for our visit to the orphanage on Thursday and also shared some photos of children from Liuzhou who had already been adopted. Then we were on our way back to the hotel, with a quick stop to pick up some Gatorade and other drinks.

The notary's office.

Heading back to the Civil Affair's office to finalize the girls' adoptions!

The playroom at the Civil Affair's office. This is where the girls were waiting for us to arrive yesterday.

Even the big kids had fun!

Macie is a tough little girl- maybe that's where the bumps and bruises on her forehead came from (we can hope). She would pick up all of these toys, which are heavy for a 3 year old and carry them around or try to throw those balls (they are not as light as they look).

Time to make it official!

The girls had to put their hand print on the papers in red ink.

Lena and Macie. I can't wait to watch Macie learn from Lena!

The Civil Affairs Director giving us our adoption certificates.

We'd like to OFFICIALLY introduce you to Maeleigh Jade HeLin Henningfeld and Macie Brynn MeiHua Henningfeld, our forever daughters! Welcome to the Henningfeld family girls!

The director held each girl and spun them around- she was such a sweet lady! Both girls reached back out to us though, which was a great sign.

The orphanage staff were getting some gifts that they had for us and the girls ready. We got an apple that was made by some of the older kids with special needs in the orphanage. They also gave us a photo album of each girl full of photos of the girls over the years. Not too many baby pictures, but way more pictures than we have of Reid and Lena, especially. They also gave us a camera we had sent and a flash drive we had sent too. All the pictures on the flash drive appeared to be ones that were in the photo albums. Maybe when we visit Thursday, we'll see if they have any baby pictures of the girls from around the time they came into care.

Giving our gifts to the orphanage staff.

And a gift for this nice lady.

The orphanage staff.

All of us with the four orphanage staff members who brought our girls on the train from Liuzhou to Nanning. I remember the men's names- Mr. Huang and Mr. Long.

After we got back, we Face Timed with my mom for a bit and then just hung out and played in our hotel for a few hours. We needed a break, so we left our room and headed to Wal-Mart to get Macie a new pair of shoes and to get some more diapers. When we were leaving Wal-Mart, a lady stopped a few times- she was just in awe of us. She was on the escalator talking to Lena. I tried to point to my ear and tell her that she can't hear. She understood. She stopped us a few times on the way out. We told her two of the girls are deaf and she was then wondering about Maeleigh. I knew I wouldn't be able to convey everything about her needs, so I just focused on her cross eyes. She understood. At one point she gave us a thumbs up and smiled. She had to stop and turn around a few times. She also wanted a picture of us. You usually get stared at and talked about a lot, but it is nice to see a situation like this where someone is happy that you are giving a child with special needs love and a family. From there, we headed out for dinner and walked around the block 1.5 times before deciding on a place. It was a good choice- Rick was able to try something new and most of us had some fried rice and a few french fries too. The ladies in the restaurant were obsessed with Evan and his blonde hair. He probably had six or more girls come and take their picture with him. Blonde haired kids are like celebrities here. He's had his picture taken many times. This wasn't the first time either. We finished off the night by walking around the mall. Here are some of the shops and things we saw in the mall. So different than the malls back at home, but so neat too!

They love to pull out and look at the photo albums we had sent them.

They are pretty attached to their backpacks they came with too.

Rick was tricking her and she was trying to 'wake him up.'

She loves her daddy!

Wal-Mart in China

You can buy live turtles and I'm pretty sure they are not for pets. ;)

Fish tanks- also not for pets.

Walking around the block.

The kids back at home would love this place! We have just looked at it all for the time being.

There are weddings here every day and the cars are all decked out in bows.

We think this bar called 'Uncle' has a cool name.

This lady had cages with little bunnies for sale on her back.

We got our diapers and new shoes for Macie.

Lots of little bars and restaurants around here.

We finally settled on eating at this place called Cactus something or another.

Yum! Macie surprised us and showed us she can eat independently and with chopsticks too!

The lights at night are pretty neat around here.

Shops inside the mall connected to our hotel. LOVE them!

You can get your hair cut in this little shop and sit in these little cars inside..how fun!

At this place above people bring their babies for a bath and a good cleaning. It was too funny! The day before Evan saw a naked baby in the bath right there in the front window. :)

Little fish. It was hard to get Maeleigh to leave this place.

You can try on rollerblades and actually skate around in this store.

Once we got back, it was time to start winding everyone down. We got the girls a bath. Same story as last night. Maeleigh loved it and was kind of bossy with Lena and Macie hated it. Hopefully it will get better with time. Lena hated the bath at first too and grew to love it. Bedtime was fairly similar too. Macie just dreads it. She made Maeleigh a little scared and teary tonight too. I think she would have done fine if Macie hadn't gotten upset. Rick was on calming down duty tonight. Hopefully each night will get a little easier. Please continue to pray for that- especially for Macie to feel a peace and to get good sleep.