In China
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Monday, December 21, 2009 ADOPTION DAY! We all had a good night last night and Mia was happy to see us this morning! We went down for breakfast and Mia liked everything we gave her. She is eating and drinking very well, which I find amazing since she is sick and has had so much change over the last 24 hours. After breakfast we met our guide in the meeting room and signed the final Chinese adoption paperwork and had it notarized. The adoption is now final according to the Chinese government. The paperwork took over a hour to complete. While we were completing the paperwork Lexi entertained Mia. When it was time for them to stamp Mia's foot on the final adoption paperwork the nanny Mia has had for the last 2 months called her and told her to come. Mia didn't come and when the nanny went over to get Mia she jumped onto Lexi and held on for dear life. The nanny muttered something in mandarin and then my guide told me to go and get the baby. I went over to get Mia and she came readily. As they started to get her footprints she held on to me for dear life again. It is amazing how she already knows she belongs with us. She loves being with us and we love having her! They warned us the initial period would probably be difficult and she would probably attach to one of us first and then start to let the rest of us in.. She seems to like Lexi the best, but is happy to be with Nathan and me too. It is good Lexi has been working on her upper body strength for tumbling because Mia is a handful! Lexi has been carrying her all over and she probably weighs almost half of what Lexi weighs. We already miss Beijing. There are absolutely no American restaurants within walking distance of our hotel. In Beijing there were a lot of American franchises around our hotel, but we were trying to soak in the culture and only ate Chinese food. Now a few days on nothing but Chinese food for every meal we are craving some American fare. We are staying at the Shangra-La in Hohhot and it is pretty nice, but we are already looking forward to going to Guangzhou. Also, the Shangra-La looks like it has a beautiful view...but we must be on the other side of the hotel because our view does not look like the view on the website. It is also hard being the only Americans here. Inner Mongolia only adopts out children that are special needs so we are not with a group. We will meet back up with the Huffmans in Guangzhou and it will be nice to have that camaraderie again. Tomorrow we are applying for Mia's passport and we are going to the museum to learn more about Inner Mongolia's history. I have been very surprised how populated and industrialized Hohhot is. The rest of the day we will spend bonding with Mia. We are all so blessed to have each other! Luckily, I don't have any unflattering pictures of myself or embarrassing stories to share today, but you never know what tomorrow will bring!

Forever Sisters! All dressed and ready to go!

Our little two fisted eater!


View from our hotel...notice the polluted haze.

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