Today was the culmination of all the prayers that we have made for the past weeks and even months.  With really hours to spare, we received our Travel Approval for Katelyn as we finalized her paperwork.  It is amazing how much stress can go into a simple piece of paper.  And it is a bit strange to receive your approval to come and get her when you are sitting in their office in China!

We began today, as we will everyday, with a buffet breakfast.  However this time with the addition of Katelyn!

An older couple came up to us VERY excited and basically forced us into a picture!  They had big smiles and the lady sat right down next to Caleb and they took a picture and were gone.  It happened all so quickly that I didn’t even think to get a picture of them!  As they left, the lady said “Bless you.”  That is the one aspect of Hardin that has really stood out to us.  Unlike many of the places we have visited in China, Hardin really seems to embrace adoption.  They have an anonymous drop off place that women can put their babies like the Drop Box so that they are not left out in the cold.  They also adopt many children domestically here.  Every where we have been, they seem to be happy to see that we are adopting a child, not a feeling that you get elsewhere.  Even this hotel gave us a suite with a river view, normally a premium price, for a regular room, and they gave us two extra beds at no cost.  Everyone here seems to have bent over backward to make sure our stay and the process has gone smoothly.

On the way to the Adoption Agency we had to stop and exchange money at the Bank of China.  Just Lynn, our guide in Harbin, and I went in and as we exited, Kelly snapped this picture.

I love this picture.  It looks like something very nefarious is going on, like I am finishing up a secretive covert operation and am walking out carrying a satchel filled with German Bearer Bonds.  Don’t mess with me…

We had to head back to the adoption affairs office to finalize Katelyn’s paperwork.  As we were rounding the corner Lynn pointed out the Chinese Provincial Headquarters.  I had my window down because I was taking pictures and I snapped one just as we were driving by the gate.  The guards yelled and started to come towards us, but it was too late and we were already past.  Lynn explained that there was an older couple at the gate holding a sign protesting something about the government and the guards probably did not like that I took the picture with them protesting.  I have chosen not to post the picture until I get back!  No need to rock the boat or anything!

The Adoption Center was actually just about 100 yards down the road from where I took the picture and as Lynn and I were standing outside the care waiting for everyone else to get out, Lynn looked up the street and said, “The guards are coming!  Let’s run!”  She had me for about 1/2-second, and then I told her she was pretty funny.  She was pretty tickled with herself and told Kelly that I didn’t even seem very concerned.  Kelly told her I had 15 children and it would take more than that to affect me.  Plus, I would probably just take my camera out and start filming.  Would have been a good story, huh?

So all the paperwork we did yesterday was pretty much just to allow Katelyn to come stay with us for 24-hours.  In the words of Lynn, yesterday wasn’t the “legal” adoption as it takes some time, so yesterday was a test run and today was the main event.  Seems like everything we did yesterday we did again today!  Except this time I did them with sunglasses…

In the end, this is the key piece of paper, where we agree to adopt Katelyn and make her a very special part of our family!

One of the workers from the orphanage who came with Katelyn had to make the train, so we took a quick group picture before she left.

We asked her if we could have her contact information so that Katelyn could contact her once we were back in the United States.  She happily agreed.

Kelly was able to ask several medical questions about Katelyn’s surgery to fix her cleft palate and what additional surgeries they had suggested.

As Katelyn is over the age of twelve, she gets the final say on if she is adopted by us or not.  Luckily we didn’t scare her off during our time together and she happily said yes.  She has to sign that she accepts the adoption and Ali was right in there trying to help her out with the process!

Finally, the director stepped in and showed her what she needed to do.

These two pictures are by far the most rewards, as she signs and then seals her agreement to be our daughter with her thumb print!  Very special …

We chose her and she chose us.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

We then had to go get a notary to sign off on everything.  A notary in China is a government official who carries a lot of authority.  She had to interview both us and Katelyn.

As part of the interview process, the notary had to ask questions about our ability to take care of Katelyn.  She was somewhat concerned that we had the financial resources and time to take care of fifteen children.  I had never been to a point in an adoption that I thought everything might fall apart with a notary, but this one did.  Kelly quickly added that she is an RN and could always go back to work if needed.  Since an RN is a highly respected occupation in China, she seemed appeased and signed off on everything.  Phew!

We left and went to visit Sophia Church, a beautiful Orthodox church that was built by the Russians in the early 1900’s.  Many Russians (and Russian Jews) immigrated to Harbin at that time and were here up until around 1935.  There were attempts made to occupy this territory, but they were never able to finalize them.  Then, after they left, the Japanese came in and occupied this area during World War 2.  There is a lot of Russian and Western influence in this city and I will do a post later with just picture from the area, but I wanted to include the church as it was very beautiful.  Here are a couple of pictures from outside the church.

Being that we were being tourists, it seemed only right that we would take a touristy shot!

There was a bride getting her wedding pictures taken and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the picture being taken.

We were not really sure if we were going to go inside as it was mainly a museum to the city with various paintings and pictures.  But Katelyn wanted to go, so we obliged.  I was so glad that we did as it was more beautiful inside!

Katelyn seemed enthralled with the history written on the walls.

Ali enjoyed talking with Lynn …

… Caleb enjoyed the historical city buildings that were done to scale …

… and Kelly appreciated that they included English in much of the translations!

We took a quick group shot with Lynn before leaving Sophia Church.

And Kelly and Ali posed for a quick shot.

We headed out to a Chinese pancake house.  These are not pancakes as we would think in America.  They were more like crepes, and you could order them in varying thicknesses.  Ali and Katelyn took care of the ordering as this place did not have a menu with pictures and that makes it a little difficult for us Anglo’s to order!

But the girls did well and we had a delicious lunch for around $19.  That isn’t too bad.

A quick trip to WalMart to get some jeans for Katelyn (she only likes skinny jeans and the ones we brought were not skinny enough) and then a little nap in our room.  Some of us are still feeling the affects of jet lag, maybe even a little more today than we did yesterday.  So we are resting up because tomorrow we head to the Tiger Park.  That should be interesting!

Cameron