She's Ours!

TodayLucy became officially ours!

At 9:30 we loaded the impossibly cramped bus again and headed off to the amazingly hot and stuffy (and smelling slightly of tuna fish) office of Civil Affairs. There we were called into an office one by one and asked to confirm our child's Chinese name and state that we, indeed, wanted to adopt her. They had us put our thumbprint on the official document, and Lucy's footprint (they gave us a copy to keep). We were then allowed to ask the orphanage staff some questions about Lucy. After that, we took a family portrait-all 3 of us sweaty as can be, paid money, and signed papers.

By the way, Lucy is a hoot. She is so smiley and happy and BUSY. While we were at the Civil Affairs office, I was chatting with our guide, and she said, "Lucy is the perfect match for your family with those 2 busy boys." Nolan and Lou, you are just going to love this kid - and she will just love you two! She is still VERY attached to Ed, but is warming up to Mom too. I think she has gotten past screaming when Ed leaves the general vicinity, but she still keeps him within eyeshot. Her sores are clearing up slowly but surely, and she seems happy and content. You would not believe the stares we get because of her sores. She eats like a horse too. I think that might be a comfort thing, and we have to be careful so that we do not upset her little system. As for her medical condition, she seems basically healthy. And she DOES like to dance! She loves to play with the other kids here in the play room, and is so social!

After leaving the Civil Affairs office, we all decided that we needed to make a trip to Walmart for various things. Let me tell you, this was bizarre. They had a greeter at the door and rolled back prices, but that is absolutely where the similarities stop. I was more than just a little disappointed that I did not have a camera.

What Walmart Has....

1. BIG LIVE frogs, crawfish, catfish, eels and other various delights
   
2. The meat department featured a lovely selections of dried pigs heads, flattened and neatly stacked like golf shirts, dried whole plucked chickens, cuts of raw meat dumped in a bin for the casual shopper to rummage through at will - NO packaging whatsoever, every animal you can think of dried and hung up with the plucked chickens

What Walmart Doesn't Have..

Canned goods

Diet Coke

I am sure there is more but we only had about 30 minutes to navigate this metropolis where everything is in Chinese, and we did not get to witness everything.

Louis, I am sorry that we have not sent you a picture of a car lately. Frankly, being on the road here is so terrifying that we simply choose not to look while traveling. If there are traffic laws, the logic of them escapes us, as it seems to be a complete free-for-all on the streets. There are dividing lines painted on the road, apparently for pure decoration only. Sidewalks are not just for pedestrians - in fact, even on the sidewalks, pedestrians yield to cars, bikes or scooters. In fact, no one around here yields for anything. The most perplexing thing about all of this is that absolutely no one seems to mind the mayhem - horns are honking, cars are cutting everyone off that they can, and there is literally an inch of space between the side of your car and the one next to you, and every driver on the road is as calm as can be.

Nolan, you would be so impressed with the buffet here. For a mere $19 you can eat your fill of fried donkey meat (no, I am not kidding-I wish I was), braised snake, big fancy snail-like creatures, squid - the delicacies are too numerous to mention. When we get up the nerve we will send you some choice pictures of this.

OK. Lucy is asleep and I am about to do the same.

Mom and Dad, I am going to try and Skype call at 6:30 - 8:00 PM your time tomorrow (Tuesday, Memphis time)!

Love,

Ed and Melissa

Say a little prayer for Lucy!