Lei's adjustment continued ....

Well It's 5:45 am or so and we are all up for the day, not my choice for sure ;-)

I'm going to where I left off, after Lei came into the hotel and decided to stay awhile. We all turned into bed around 8:30 pm. On Tuesday, our guide Jessica picked us up at the hotel at approximately 9:00 am to take us to get Lei's final adoption certificate from the civil affairs office where they were preparing it and then back to Taizhou where we had to return (a 3.5 hour drive) to get Lei's passport. Our trip to the civil affairs bureau was uneventful and we received our adoption certificate and finalized the adoption in the eyes of the Chinese, took a few pictures and we were off ! Lei mostly talked to our guide Jessica the whole time and quickly befriended her again. Lei spoke to Jessica non-stop for nearly 2 hours on our trip to Taizhou and then passed out cold and slept almost the entire remainder of the trip. Alex and I just took everything in stride knowing how difficult returning to Taizhou again would be for Lei. When we arrived in Taizhou, we met director Liu and some of the orphanage staff for lunch at a really good restaurant Director Liu had treated us to before. The lunch was delicious, but the mood a bit sad and Lei's expression during our lunch kept me close to tears the entire time. As I sit here typing this it still saddens me to think about it. But, again, we did what needed to be done, smiled as much as possible to show our sincere appreciation and headed for the gov't office where Lei's passport would be issued. Director Liu conducted herself in the most loving and professional manner the entire time and I can't say enough about how much we respect her.

It took about an hour to get all the paperwork straight and while we waited, Lei mostly talked to our guide Jessica and Director Liu. We did have one instance where Lei and I really connected as he taught me a song he knew with the hand gestures that accompanied it. I actually posted a picture where he is with me smiling as we do the gestures together and he sings this song. When it was time to leave the gov't office, Lei again resumed the saddest, most confused expression, but he resigned himself to leave with us. Director Liu hugged us both and I fought back the tears as we did what needed to be done, yet again. On the way back to Hangzhou, Lei spoke mostly to Jessica our guide and told her stories again, such as "the Monkey king", "Cinderella" and "Snow White". When he told Cinderella he put his own spin on it because he has quite the imagination. He told Jessica that when the prince tried the slipper on Cinderella's foot that Cinderella's foot stunk ;-) After finishing the stories, though, Jessica informed us that Lei was telling her that he wanted to go back to the orphanage and that if he was forced to come back to Hangzhou, he would walk back to Taizhou. Jessica spent alot of time talking to Lei and reasoning with him. She finally was able to get him to agree to to come to the hotel again, under the premise that she would be back on Thursday to see him. Alex and I were at a loss and just prayed for God's wisdom in all of this. We never have had any doubt that Lei is our son and although his feelings have been difficult to bear at times, he is an amazing child just having normal reactions that any well treated, loved child would have when he has lost so much.

I don't have time to post more now, but I will tell you that Wednesday was a major turning point and we now have the sweetest, most high energy, most intelligent, loving son we could have ever hoped for. He has accepted us :-) He is speaking some english and very well I must say. He only knows a little english and he will occassionally just blurt out spontaneously, I love you mommy, daddy ! It doesn't get any better than that.