Melissa LOVES mirrors. The mirrors in the hotel elevator always brought on
happy shrieks!
This picture was taken for our official Chinese adoption certificate
Lisa and Melissa, both enjoying bottle time.
Such a sweet feeling...
This river was a couple of blocks behind our hotel in
Nanjing.
Lisa and Melissa (bowl of congee in front of Melissa).
Melissa and her Baba (Mandarin for Dad).
The first step in the paperwork trail. I believe it is
called the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing. We crammed 6 kids and about 14
adults into this small, hot, office for about 2 hours of paperwork. This
included a short interview where we were asked about why we were adopting...
When they got to the part about "will you promise to always love and
care for your daughter", Lisa and I both teared up as we stammered out
an enthusiastic "YES!".
Another family in our group, the Hills, being interviewed
at Civil Affairs. I tried to video tape for them too, but I was soon told,
"No video".
The notary office. Fancy place. Spent 5 to 10 minutes
signing papers that I couldn't read (in Chinese) while a notary looked on.
For this, he got $600. I'm told this fee is much higher in Nanjing than most
cities.
The Nanjing Security Bureau. This was the last step in the
paperwork. They just verified that we all looked like the pictures on our
documents.
Waiting at the security bureau.
I think this was either the first or second full day we
had Melissa. It was one of the sweetest moments in my life.
Our peaceful little Husky fan.
Our new happy family at a group dinner in Nanjing.
This was a private garden of a Ming Prince.
Our travel group in front the Zhan Yuan. This was just a
short walk from our hotel.
This was at an elaborate, and I mean ELABORATE, tea
ceremony at the Zhan Yuan garden. I think it took about 20 minutes for her to
prepare our pot of delicious Oolong tea. For this, the cost was about $2 per
person.
A square right in front of our hotel. At night, vendor
booths moved in and the place got very busy.
Melissa, looking as cute as ever.
Melissa hanging out in her Sara’s Ride at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen
memorial in Nanjing.
Melissa and her parents checking out the dinner menu at a
Nanjing restaurant. (As far as I know, we didn't actually eat any snakes)
The marketplace at the river was very busy at night.
(Those are the "golden arches" behind my head, and yes, we had
lunch there twice.)
Nanjing was a walled city, as most major Chinese cities
were. This was one of the four original gates.
Two shots of the bus that we spent a lot of time in while
we were in Nanjing.
These were taken in the lobby of our Nanjing hotel. See
how much fun hanging out with a bunch of babies is?!
A shot of our travel group in the Mandarin Garden Hotel
lobby.
Our group in front of the Nanjing Social Welfare
Institute.
This board was in the orphanage. It looks like pictures of
children that have been adopted are displayed here.
This room is where children 0 to 6 months old are kept.
Melissa and Mama visiting the orphanage.
A typical breakfast at our hotel. Wonderful food, plenty
of space, and attentive service. What more could you want?
