"The Bureaucracy"

Many of you sending us emails have wished us luck dealing with 'the bureaucracy' that we must be encountering during the adoption process. That part of the trip, thankfully, has been VERY EASY. The bulk of the approvals paperwork was done far in advance. During our visit, the local representatives of our adoption agency, CCAI, have handled everything and made sure we knew exactly the documents that we needed in advance, have made all of our appointments, and ushered us through all of the interviews, photos, and paperwork. Iris needed a Chinese passport to board the plane from Nanchang to Guangzhou, and so the main reason we stayed in Nanchang for five days was to apply for this passport in her Chinese name, and then wait.

In Guangzhou, we are applying for, and waiting for, her US Visa, among other things. Iris had another photo taken, and another physical. Her photo unfortunately has her with big crocodile tears coming out of her eyes. She has begun to show some stranger anxiety for people other than us (which is mostly a good thing!), and one of the CCAI reps helped her out of the carrier for the photo, and she was not pleased with this in the slightest.

The crib in this room is tiny, and Iris is now able to do some 'pulling up' in the crib, to peer at us over the top. She is getting stronger every day, and she now has two teeth. She is still a healthy eater. She got a little face rash (hives) in Nanchang, that is now clearing up, and daddy had to do some serious booger removal yesterday.

Today (Nov. 2) we visited the (Buddhist) Temple of the Six Banyans, and Charles earned our family some good luck by tossing a one yuan coin into a small target of an exterior pagoda. One of the monks did a 'blessing of the babies.' We also saw the Chen Clan Pavilion, now turned into a state museum.

Deb