Rub-a-Dub-Dub!
We slept a little longer today (until 7:00 AM) after yesterday's emotionally draining experience. But, that was also after getting up at 4:00 AM to feed Sophia and change her diaper! Shirley gave Sophia her second bath in two days in the baby bathtub provided by the Gloria Hotel. Sophia likes the warm water but she is not too thrilled with the hair washing part.

All this washing was in preparation for a meeting with the Orphanage Director and some of the staff that took care of the babies at the Social Welfare Institute of Yifeng County. As part of this meeting, we received Sofia's registration certificate (a red book) and a letter in Chinese listing all her vaccinations. In the meeting with the orphanage staff, we learned limited details about several of the childrens' likes and dislikes, personalities and quality of care in the orphanage.

The Orphanage Director graciously posed with the babies for a special photo.

He also authorized the families to travel to the orphanage on 18th May, after a special request by interested families. This trip will likely be 3.5 hours (one way) by bus, so that may make for a very long day!

Some of the babies' personal belongings from the orphanage were given to parents, but most of these children had nothing returned. We had sent a purple outfit to Sophia while she was still at the orphanage, but it was not forwarded from the orphanage for her to wear at the GOTCHA Day event as was requested. So, be careful what you send, because it may not come back to you as intended.

After the orphanage meeting, we headed downtown by bus to the notary's office with our passports and Sophia's red registration book. This notary meeting was very brief, but you could say that at this meeting's conclusion, Sophia was legally ours under Chinese law.

We all headed to the Nanchang Wal-mart Super Center after the notary signing and went crazy buying things even more cheaply than in any stateside Wal-mart!

Sunset Over Nanchang
The day mercifully ended with a tasty dinner buffet at the Gloria Hotel and this sunset over Nanchang.