It's official...

…she's ours and we're not giving her back!

What a long morning yesterday of visiting different government
offices, making the adoption official. Long, but good. I won't bore
you with the details of signing all the documents etc… except to say
that I was called a "hero mum" by the notary (she's not the most light
hearted women I've ever met). She wanted us to tell her why we were
adopting and why China (standard questions). I tried to explain that
I had too many boys and needed to bring the balance of power back to
where it should be and I got a big thumbs up from her. I thought,
wow, here's a lady who understand how 3 boys + a husband can wear a
person down, only to find out later it was because of the sons that I
got the thumbs up, not because she was all for "girl power".

The best part of the day was that we got to visit the place where
Elena was abandoned and film it. Unfortunately they started building
a subway 3 months ago, so one of the corners has been destroyed. She
was left at the entrance to a road that is in very close proximity to
the orphanage itself, with a University on one corner and a hotel used
by locals on the other. From there we went to the police station
where she was taken, hoping for some cooperation, but sadly for us we
got a disgruntled front desk copper who really couldn't be bothered
helping us. We even got the standard line – come back in a couple of
hours, there might be someone here then who can help you (which is
code for "I'm finished then, bug someone else"). . Sheesh, I thought
we only treated the general public that way, not each other. (just
kidding – sort of). On the other hand, it's good to see that public
service all over the world is just the same and it isn't something
unique to us.

Regardless, I'm still holding out hope to get a copy of her file from
the orphanage and meet her foster parents.

Elena is slowly getting used to us. She actually indicated "no" by
shaking her head rather than just crying. She has started saying "ay
ya" which is obviously something that she's picked up from her foster
mother which means "oh my". Too cute! And although I didn't witness it
personally, she actually giggled with James for about 2 seconds and
then it turned into a cry. All of this is great news, we know she's
in there, and slowly her little personality will come out and she'll
shine through. She slept in the crib for 6 hours last night before
ending up in bed with us, but she slept well during that time and so
did we. She recovers from her crying bouts much quicker and change
(and I mean anything from us standing up to sitting down) isn't
affecting her as deeply.

The pool here is beautiful and open (always a good thing), surrounded
by palm trees and plush greenery with great shade in the afternoon.
The only thing lacking are the cabana boys and margaritas. On the
other hand, there's never any one in it except us and another family
from Norway who are adopting the little boy seen in the video with
Elena, and I'd trade that any day for a few margaritas.

Last night we risked life and limb and walked about 20 minutes to a
McDonalds (yes, it has already come to that). Patrick fell asleep
walking and the stroller isn't the best over rugged terrain (all
sidewalks here), and the traffic is so out of control I was seriously
terrified. It's bad enough trying to cross with the lights (taxi's,
buses and bicycles seem to be exempt from traffic laws) but when we
found ourselves at an uncontrolled intersection – all bets were off.
The only way I could figure to cross was to just close my eyes, step
out, and go – and pray and pray and pray. It worked – once – so we
WON'T be doing that again – EVER! And I'm not exaggerating.

James and Eric ate a meal and I nibbled on some french fries, then a
quick return to the hotel (via taxi) and everyone went to bed until
about 5 this morning.

Today is a "bonding day" as our guide said (guess she can't think of
anything to do with us) and then tomorrow we're hoping to get to Panda
world.

We are missing Ian and Grace so terribly. We can't wait to get home
and see them – it's very difficult to be so far. But then again, I
don't have any right to complain, since I know so many wonderful
ladies who are separated from their families for years while looking
after ours.