Sunday, October 14, 2012

Hello Henry Howard!!!

Well...what a morning. It started out with a crazy taxi ride to the Civil Affair Office (I think) and there were several other families in the same room. All of a sudden, the kids came in one by one. Families started crying, it was very emotional. Henry came in second to last, number 5 I think it was. He looked very scared, but was very brave. Our guide was very good during this process. Then they presented us with gifts. The orphanage gave us a picture book of Henry's past few years and a DVD, it was very cool. Also Henry's foster family gifted Juliette with a beautiful black pearl necklace and chop, stamp, with Henry's Chinese name (Zhao Chen Pin).
After all paperwork was done and we all visited for about 30 minutes, we were off to a supermarket. We bought Henry a soccer ball, some luggage, a DVD of his favorite superhero and some activity games we could all play in the park. It was very cool.
After 10 minutes back in the room Henry went right to the phone and called his grandfather and we promised to send pictures of him and us all once back home in the states. He was very sad at first because he didn't think we had their address, but we called Ming Ming and she explained to him that we did have the addresses and would be sure to send the pictures. This cheered him up a lot. Since then the kids have been watching a Chinese cartoon and playing Angry Birds together. Amazing how quickly kids can bond. Thank God we brought the kids with us! He's still pretty unsure of us big white folk yet.
In about 20 minutes we are heading to a department store to buy him some clothes and shoes. Then back to hotel and off to the park to play soccer and jungle gym time. We'll see how the day progresses and will write more on that...

2 comments:

  1. He is just beautiful!!! And look how happy Leah is!! So glad she is with you!! As things unfold the rest of the week, let us know if you need us. We are just a Skype call away!!

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  2. I'm so excited for all of you! He's just as darling as the rest of you!

    Have no fear whatsoever. Love and wisdom will guide your every decision... and that's what you have: love and wisdom.

    Lisa

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