It’s Official–We Signed All of the Documents Today!

by Julie Agee, in category Adoption, Travel Adventures

We returned to the CIvil Affairs Office this morning to make Hannah’s adoption official by signing all of the paperwork.  We took our official photo, signed paperwork, answered questions before a notary(kind of like a judge here), and stamped our thumbprints and Hannah’s hand print to make it official.  She’s Ours!

Only GOD–Only GOD!  I simply can not say that enough.  Only God could touch our hearts through the picture of a girl in China who desparetly wanted a Mommy and Daddy.  Only God could arrange all of details from the paperwork to the timing of the trip.  Only God could take a BIG, FAT, ZERO and turn into a sum that more than surpassed my salary the last year I taught school.  Only God could challenge us to walk this faith journey and hold us all the way through it.  And ONLY GOD continues to be in control of these adoptions of our girls.

And . . . We get Sara in 4 days! Just thought I would throw that out there.  🙂  I’m ready to meet her too!!!

Right now I think I am in make believe land.  It doesn’t seem real–we’ve been talking about it, thinking about it and planning for it, but you’re still never quite prepared for all of the emotion that comes with this event.  We are learning a lot of information about Hannah HaiYan.  Most of it we will keep to ourselves to share with Hannah as she gets older.  But I will share some sweet things that were given to us by the director of her orphanage.  She gave Hannah a picture book with pictures all the way from her arrival at the orphanage when she was 10 months old and there were many pictures throughout her childhood  We were given a copy of her finding ad that was placed in the Hunan Paper looking for her biological parents. She also blessed us with school work from Hannah’s classroom.  What precious treasures to be given.  A small glimpse of her life before our family.

Here a few pictures from today’s signing of the official paperwork.  Enjoy!

Making it official!

Hannah’s Handprint

Answering questions before the Notary

Eskimo Kisses

Jammin’ with Toby Mac
Can you guess where we went next?

Riding the escalator downstairs

Supper anyone?

Squid?
Fish? Choose your fish for supper.

Or Maybe Frogs?

Or Maybe Chicken Feet?

Sausage?

 or Bacon?
Choose your pick!
Today was also a day for a big range of emotions.  Leighanne got jealous today when Zach was playing with Hannah and she felt left out.  All through the morning she frowned, and was pretty whiney.  I know this is realistic behavior–but it sure was frustrating because she wouldn’t even talk about it with us.  We finally got her straightened out with her emotions and got her to talk through it.
Later when Ben and Zach left the room, Hannah got very upset that her BaBa had left.  She frantically looked for her shoes and wanted to go with Baba.  She stood next to the wall and cried big girl tears, whining for Baba.  She would not let me comfort her.  Instead, big tears just fell down her face until Baba returned with supper.  I was not sure what to do.  I kept trying to explain with hand motions and simple words–but it was no use–only Baba would do. When Baba arrived home she was estatic and gave him some big kisses–me–she ignored me like the plague.  Finally, after we ate, she forgave me for whatever I did, and gave me kisses and hugs.  Just a little bit of reality of the emotions that are swinging around here.
Still it’s all good–just what we thought would eventually come.  I guess we are normal afterall.  🙂

3 thoughts on “It’s Official–We Signed All of the Documents Today!”

  1. Praying the girls settle in together in a positive way…especially while in China. Praying for Hannah to connect with both of you. But then Hannah being connected to Ben might work well, especially since Sara is likely going to be connected to you.

  2. Hannah is actually attaching pretty well with all of us I think. She wants all of us close by. I think she got upset that it was me because I am the one that left to go get supper and she pushed Julie away because she was hurt and upset and took it out on her. I think if it were the other way around I would have been the one pushed away for a little while. Leighanne and Hannah are playing very good together — they (we) are just all trying to figure it all out :).
    Ben

  3. Love the updates…and keeping it "real." We just never know what our days will be like when we adopt. So sweet, really, that she was upset when you left the room Ben.

    Loved all of the photos, again. The pictures of Wal-Mart brought back memories of Wal-Mart in Taiyuan. I have some interesting photos of the meat market there, too!

    Keep the updates coming. They are a bright spot in our day.

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