Good morning from Changsha

Hello everybody, it is 5:12AM here in Changsha, China. I will try to update you as to what we have been doing and what we will be doing. Yesterday, Rachel and I went to the Civil Affairs office and officially started all the paperwork. We also went and had Josiah's passport photo's taken. It was pretty uneventful at the civil affairs office, and we were able to finish up a lot of paperwork that was intended to be done today. We will need to go back to the civil affairs office again today for some interview type questions. They will ask us things like, "do you still want this child" "did you know about his special needs before you came here" "Do you promise to love him and take care of him the rest of his life"

 

Yesterday we also got to have, what I consider, some of our first fun time together. We all went swimming. Josiah loved it. Last night we also went out to eat at a really nice western/chinese restaurant right next door to the hotel. One of the things that has been really hard to judge is how much food to order, as you might expect, the chinese do not stuff themselves like we do :)

 

Josiah has been doing great and he is really bonding with his new family. We have had some times where he is testing us and trying to push his limits, but we have worked through those things and have been getting better. One thing that he is having a problem with is that he thinks it is funny when he does something wrong and we laugh...he will then continue to do this for as long as he thinks its funny. For example, dropping his fork on the floor, over and over again. Considering some of the issues some children have, I will take these little power struggles any day.

 

Paige and Paris continue to do well, although, they have been a little bored. I have not felt very adventurous since we got here, I am more about getting my family through this adoption safely and return home soon. As we spend some more days in Changsha, I am sure I will feel more like getting out and exploring. The scary part is trying to get through traffic. If you end up in front of a car, they will run you over. As you might expect, with 6 people in our group and 1 of them being in a wheelchair, I am not looking to press my luck playing human frogger.

 

Well I am sure there are a million things I could be writing about, but I am running out of time and want to make sure we are not late to our meeting this morning. I am not sure if I have written this in the past but I wanted to make sure everyone knew. Josiah is very small. Most of the clothes we bought him were size 5 or extra small and they are falling off him. I would suggest if you are buying him clothes...buy size 4T. Also, he loves coloring books and I think he will love doing things like puzzles, bigger puzzle pieces. Yesterday, he really amazed us by writing numbers 1-30, with his feet no less :)

 

Andrea has told me that the picture came through so I will try to post some more. Although, with all the hustle and bustle of this trip, I have been forgetting to take pictures...sorry...try to do better.

 

Reporting from China,

 

Brian