OUR13HOURADOPTION: Day 5

Well its official! Our adoption was finalized today at the affairs office. What a great day! Our 2:00pm appt consisted of payments/donations, photos for adoption certificate, and adoption ceremony. Totally a bitter sweet moment. We are so excited to know that Kalyn is officially ours. Praise GOD! It wasn't an easy road, it was truly a walk of faith. We are excited to be done with our journey TO Kalyn and look forward to our journey WITH Kalyn now! We are so blessed.

Adoption Day was perfect just like yesterday. We just are in awe of how God's plan has unfolded in front of our eyes!

(Warning: mommy is blogging on very little sleep and scattered thoughts other than clearly having PURE joy! Sorry ahead of time)

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We started our day early this morning. I mean early at 4:00 am jeremiah and mommy were up, wide awake. Yikes that is not normal! We kept quiet until Kalyn opened his eyes at 630 am (right on schedule) then the smiles and giggles filled the room. Jeremiah and Kalyn have had a lot of bonding time. We noticed through out the day when we were walking around Kalyn would say Gu Gu looking for his brother. Jeremiah would peek around and make sure Kalyn knew he was still around. So cool to see them play, bond, and form their forever brother relationship.

We were scheduled to meet our guide at 130pm to go finalize our adoption. We had the whole morning as a family. We ate breakfast at the buffet again. Kalyn loves watermelon, congee (rice slurry) and breads. He ate a lot. After breakfast we stayed in the room playing until lunch time.

Lots of pictures and lots of videos. We are just in love and cannot get enough. We actually laugh a lot not just with Kalyn but laugh at him. So he laughs back at us. It is just funny! He babbles and we have no idea what he is saying. So we just nod and smile! Cherishing every moment. He loves snacks and even more loves suckers.

Mommy got Kalyn's toothbrush out and checked out those chompers. All is good on the teeth end. ((Big relief)) knowing Kalyn loves sweets it made me nervous but God has been - and still will be - looking out for Kalyn from day one even with something so simple as his teeth.

The morning dragged by being cooped up in the room but or time is so precious. We just can't get enough of Kalyn's contagious personality.

We ventured out to the mall again for some dairy queen at about 11:30. On the way out the door Kalyn stoppd dead in his tracks babbled loudly in chinese and started to whimper. He began to walk backwards away from the door, then he turned and ran toward the window in our room. The whole time soberly babbling like he was going to cry. We don't think he wanted to leave. Daddy had to scoop him up and reassure him that he will be with us the whole time and we will come back. (Feeling safe with us ALERT); this is A BIG step forward.

Kalyn didn't want anything to do with DQ ice cream. Oh no that's a problem. No just kidding. Our family loves ice cream but we also know Kalyn is use to his food being warm or hot in temperature. Can't eat ice cream warm! But we do know he likes McDonald's french fries. Yep that silly McDonald's again. It's okay a few fries won't hurt.

While we were eating ice cream Kalyn was starting to get tired. His schedule says nap time at 12 PM. This boy is like clock work. Daddy held Kalyn and he shut his eyes almost instantaneous.

We met our guide Michael at 115pm & left for the civil affairs office. On the drive Michael talked about the geography and history of Chongqing, transportation methods (including taking Bus #11 - a.k.a. using your feet to take you were you want to go) Ha! Michael has been a huge blessing. He is very patient and kind. Lifeline Children's Services has an awesome team member in Chongqing!

After the adoption ceremony, in which jeremiah was the photographer & did a fabulous job, we returned to our room. We decided to go out shopping again. More shopping oh my!

Walmart here we come. Yep there are Walmart's in China. The store is all under ground here in Chongqing. The people!...so many people shopping. It's feels like black friday everyday as we walk around shopping establishments here in this city with millions of people. We went to Walmart to purchase gifts for the orphanage. We want to say thank you for caring for Kalyn so well. Our family is forever thankful and no toys or sweets could show our appreciation for the efforts they have made to love on our son and the other children at LOVE MANOR ORPHANAGE. Our trip was successful and today we got a lot of thumbs up and smiles from the chinese people here. When they stare mommy waves and smiles. Then the response, they smile back. Folks just goo goo gah gah over this little boy in his panda hat and three layers of clothes with white parents and a long haired bro. We loved our trip to Walmart and walked around the store just to soak in the view of the many stramge items for sale. Prices were similar to the U.S. at Walmart. Maybe slightly cheaper but quality seemed similar as most everything is MADE IN CHINA. Wink!

Walked home and realized we hadn't changed Kalyn's diaper in about 5 hours. I discovered this while we were in the elevator heading back to our room after Walmart. I had Kalyn in the ergo carrier and all of a sudden felt warmth running down my pants. Yep soaked through his diaper, the ergo and mommy's jeans. (Forgetful parents alert) I guess we are just not use to having a toddler that needs his diaper changed. Won't happen again! We felt horrible but laughed about it, even Kalyn laughed with us. It was funny but not at the same time.

We fed Kalyn some baby food and he is still refusing his formula bottle. Please pray that we can find protein and vitamins in other foods to supplement his formula. He turns 2 in April but it is customary in China to formula feed their children until 2 or 3.

Kalyn is sleeping with gu gu tonight. So precious!

Jeremiah's High: Kalyn, as always!

Jeremiah's Low: Didn't Sleep well

Daddy's High: This afternoon when we got everything taken care of. ...he's ours forever! Kalyn's giggles.

Daddy's Low: Didn't feel great but slowly improving.

Mommy's High: Watching my boys play and giggle together. Feeling a sense of relief knowing Kalyn is forever ours.

Mommy's Low: Haven't been sleeping well at all

Please pray for Kalyn. Tomorrow we go to visit his orphanage, deliver the donations, and say a final good bye. It will be a hard day. We will arrive at the orphanage at about 10:15am. Lift your prayers. Heavenly father wrap your arms around Kalyn and comfort him while he says good bye to the place he knows best.

Blessings to you!