We OFFICIALLY became a family of three on December 7th when we went back to the Civil Affairs Bureau and met with the official and notary. As I previously mentioned, the orphanage director was there again, too. Jackson just loved her and she was the sweetest lady. I thanked her so many times for taking such great care of him. She brought the photo album that we made for Jax. She was pretty emotional about it. She said (through our guide who translated) that she saw (from the day before) that we had an identical book and that because Lei Xin was one of their very favorites, it would mean so much to her if they could keep it. She also requested that we send photo updates of him occasionally because they will miss him so much. I thought the request was a little odd, because the album is mostly our family, but it is considered a big honor, so in light of everything she did for our son, I couldn't say no. I let her keep it. It looked like it had been used often, too. The wear and tear made it obvious to me that they showed Jackson the book often in order to prepare him for meeting his new family. I'm so grateful.
We were interviewed by the Civil Affairs official who asked us several questions. He was nice. He wanted to make sure were happy and satisfied with Lei Xin. He wanted to know why we wanted to adopt from China and if we felt we had the same child that the paperwork described. He asked several questions about our family and made us promise that we would never abandon or mistreat Lei Xin. He wanted to make sure we were happy with him (at which point I had tears of happiness running out of my eyes). He chuckled and so did the orphanage director. Michael said if I didn't stop, he would start to cry! He asked if we had any additional questions at all - - we had most of them answered by the orphanage director the day before, but I forgot to ask if our son had ever been to a dentist, so I posed that question through our interpreter. They answered the question (and that would be "no"), then looked at each other and began to laugh. They said in China, you only go to the dentist when you have a problem. I told them in the US, we go to the dentist twice a year for check-ups & cleanings whether we like or not. Everyone had a good laugh. After all that, we met with the notary (very different from our notary process - - it was like another interview). We paid our fees and off we went. We had to return again in the afternoon to pick up our official adoption document and then it was done! We're officially Jackson Lei Xin's "forever family" and it feels GOOOOOOOD!
We were interviewed by the Civil Affairs official who asked us several questions. He was nice. He wanted to make sure were happy and satisfied with Lei Xin. He wanted to know why we wanted to adopt from China and if we felt we had the same child that the paperwork described. He asked several questions about our family and made us promise that we would never abandon or mistreat Lei Xin. He wanted to make sure we were happy with him (at which point I had tears of happiness running out of my eyes). He chuckled and so did the orphanage director. Michael said if I didn't stop, he would start to cry! He asked if we had any additional questions at all - - we had most of them answered by the orphanage director the day before, but I forgot to ask if our son had ever been to a dentist, so I posed that question through our interpreter. They answered the question (and that would be "no"), then looked at each other and began to laugh. They said in China, you only go to the dentist when you have a problem. I told them in the US, we go to the dentist twice a year for check-ups & cleanings whether we like or not. Everyone had a good laugh. After all that, we met with the notary (very different from our notary process - - it was like another interview). We paid our fees and off we went. We had to return again in the afternoon to pick up our official adoption document and then it was done! We're officially Jackson Lei Xin's "forever family" and it feels GOOOOOOOD!
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