Day 9

Today was the end of the 'Harmonious Period' :) Yesterday, before we could pickup our babies we had to sign a form saying that we were responsible for their welfare during the 'harmonious period' after which we would have to decide if we would keep the child. So basically we had a day to test drive the kid, kick the tires and return her if we wanted. Like that was going to happen.

So today we went back to the same office and made the adoption official. We had three steps to perform - first we stated that we were happy with the baby and wanted to keep her, signed our names on the 'Harmonious Period' papers, and then we were fingerprinted and Callan was 'footprinted' :) We'll get copies of this paperwork later. Next we had a family photograph taken and then finally we met with another official who asked us why we wanted to adopt and then asked us to promise that we would love her and give her a good education.

After that was over we met with the assistant director of the orphanage in Linxiang. She was having a hard time letting go of the babies. She had pictures taken of her with all the families. We all gave her some gifts and then it was back to the hotel.

Today Callan was more of a fussbudget. We had a hard time getting her to take a nap. I know I'm in trouble already because we had to go window shopping in the hotel to get her to stop crying and go to sleep.

Tonight we're all going out to dinner - I pity this restaurant. We'll - gotta go get the diaper bag ready. I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.

Here's the fingerprinting and footprinting going on - Callan slept through it all. You can see her footprint on the desk. When we were all done we went back into the main room and everyone cheered when we showed our red ink-stained thumbs and Callan's foot.

This is the Assistant Director of the orphanage in LinXiang. She was crying and sad to see the babies go.

Here's the unofficial end of the Harmonious Period later that night: