OK, first things first: These two girls are amazingly cute! Seriously! Pictures just do not do them justice! But, I digress.

This post, like tomorrows post, is going to have a lot of pictures. There is a lot going on and I have great band width at the Holiday Inn in Hefei, so I am taking full advantage of it. I don’t know if it is because we have been to Hefei and this hotel before, but I am enjoying this trip to China much more than the other trips we have made. Everything feels comfortable and there is little stress. The girls and I slept very well last night, but Kelly was up at 3:00 and was not able to get back to sleep.

We arose this morning to the breakfast buffet in the rotating restaurant at the top of the hotel. It is an enjoyable start to the day!

Then it was off in the van to China Welfare Center to do our paperwork. Ali has been VERY excited all morning!

However, Kelly and I are entering into the morning with a little apprehension knowing what a HUGE change is happening in the lives of these little girls lives…

We arrive at the office and head down the bland hallway knowing that two little lives are sitting there waiting on us!

Ali was very happy to be reunited with her friends!

It was that awkward time where you just want to scoop them up and love on them but you know that you have to respect their personal space. You have had a lot of time to fall in love with them, but they have little idea of who you are!

We had letters and pictures that were send to us from friends who are already in the United States.

Then the paperwork started! Jane, our guide for this part of the trip, is very organized and had to manage through duplicates of everything since we are adopting two girls here.

The assistant orphanage director was there to make sure we received what we needed from them. Since we will be flying to Nanning before the girls have their passports, the orphanage has to produce a special document for them to be allowed to fly.

Kelly and I had a ton of paperwork to sign off on, again, all in duplicate.

The girls spent their time going through albums that Jessie and Riley had brought and learning how to use ipods. That learning curve was pretty short!

Kelly showed the girls the advertisement that was put into the paper as required by law.

The girls also found time to pose for some pictures and learn how to use one of the cameras that we brought.

Mia had made some bracelets for the girls, so Brittany gave them to Riley and Jessie.

Then Kelly and Ali taught the girls how to play Left, Center, Right.

For the official documents, we had to take pictures of Kelly and I with each of the girls.

And, sign more paperwork…

As Ali showed Riley the finer points of loading up a PEZ dispenser …

… Jessie became very overwhelmed with everything and broke down. It was heart breaking having her crying and knowing that there really wasn’t a lot you could do to help her. It is just part of the process.

We were done with as much as we could do at that point, so we headed back to the hotel. In the world of little girls (and maybe big girls for all I know) it seems the universal healer may well be getting your nails done.

It was throughout this time in the hotel room that Jessie started to come around and seemed to become a little more comfortable with the situation. Ali went through some more picture albums with the girls…

… while the maintenance men decided that “fixing our A/C” meant unsealing the window so that we could open it. I will never get used to the fact that people in China do NOT like to be cool!

It was now time for lunch in the hotels noodle cafe, which is so very good and so very reasonable, two things that play well in my world. I have thought that I would be able to loose some additional weight on this trip, but the two meals I have eaten so far today seem to be in conflict with that!

The girls thought it was funny that Kelly was not more adept at chop sticks that she is…

But Britt seemed to man them like a pro!

After lunch we ran across the street to get some water bottles and gum! Nothing happens in our world without gum!

This trip seems different in many ways. One of them is the engagement of others. While at the store, a lady who worked their came up and started talking to Ali about our family. As they talked, another lady who worked there and a man who I think was just a customer came up and were all listening to Ali talk about our family and why were there and they seemed sincerely happy for the girls. I am not sure what we did without someone like Ali the last time we were here and what we would do without Ali this time. Her ability to communicate things to the girls and help us with communicating has been, while not perfect, invaluable.

On the way back to the hotel, things improved dramatically for Kelly as both girls, very willingly, held hands with her while walking down the street.

We had to head back to the offices for the girls to sign off that they agreed to be adopted. I was glad we had this time together as a family as I am not completely sure that Jessie would have signed this morning!! But enough time had passed that she was totally willing to agree to be adopted and it wasn’t an issue.

Amazingly, Kelly and I had MORE documents to sign! I have never signed so many things in one day in all of my life!

The girls posed with Kelly for Brittany to take a picture of them together.

Kelly and I were then “interviewed” by the officials there to insure that we were acceptable parents.

The saddest part of that interview was the time when the lady asked us if we felt that Riley and Jessie were “acceptable” to us. Really?? Like we were trying out a new car? Sometimes the process feels a little devoid of the realization that these are human beings!

Finally, the paperwork was finished and we took a couple more pictures before heading back to the hotel.

Things this afternoon have gone well. Jessie called Kelly “Maw” at one point and has been very engaged with all of us. Riley has been a dream, watching over Jessie and making sure that she is taken care of. We talked to them this afternoon about their names and while Riley was perfectly fine with whatever we wanted to call her, Jessie would still like to stay with her Chinese name for now! No problem. She will come around. They are both beautiful and sweet girls and we will be blessed as a family to have them a part of us.

Tomorrow we go to Huainan to finish off their passport applications, visit the orphanage, and we will get to see the girls school. There will be many, many pictures, some that may make you cry, so be prepared! This is both one of the highlights of the trip and one of the saddest parts of the trip as we get to see all those little faces!

Cameron