Our Newest Member!

It's official!
Maia Yu Le Wall is officially our daughter.  Yesterday we went to the adoption affairs office and signed the papers to complete here adoption.  It was a little anti-climactic, really.  Just a signature, a stamp of our thumbprints, a quick little interview (why did you come to China to adopt?) and it was done.
We still need to have some papers signed by the notary of the city where she is from, but the officials will come here to us later in the week to accomplish that.  We have elected not to visit the orphanage for various reasons that we will share when we are home.  A clean break is probably the very best thing for her, and we will be able to get a memory book from Half the Sky to fill in the gaps.
So now we have a couple of days free to explore.  It sure takes us back to our time in Dalian.  For lunch yesterday we went out and found a street vendor and picked a few things and brought them back to our room to eat for lunch.  We are probably a lot more adventurous than most families, going out without a guide and trying lots of new things.  But it works for us.  Darryl does really well figuring out how to get what we need in Mandarin.  I'm starting to really remember my Chinese too.
After all the official stuff yesterday we did a few American-style things.  First we went to Wal-Mart and then ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner.  I think Ethan especially was happy to have a taste of home.
The mall that contains Wally world has a lot of little shops too and Ethan spyed a Nike store, so at 1:00 today we are going to go out and do some shopping.  Darryl says we will have KFC for dinner but I'm hoping for noodles.  :)
Maia had a really sad moment this morning and couldn't really tell us what we were feeling.  We are anticipating a lot more of that in the coming days.  We would really appreciate your prayers.
By the way, Darryl has his lost bag.  It was at the Nanjing train station waiting for us.
Alaina would like her class to know that she has written five pages in her journal about our trip so far.  She has also decided what she would like to bring back for everyone in her class, but I can't tell because it is a surprise.
If you would like to communicate with us the best way is to comment here on the blog, as I get your comments via gmail.  We can't access facebook at all and Mitch is actually updating our blog for us from the US because it is blocked too.  Thanks Mitch!  So even though this is linked to fb I won't be able to see if you comment there.
Here are some recent pictures.  Can't wait to hear from some of you! 

Heading out for official paperwork

Officially part of the family!

The girls of the family

Big sister did my hair for me

We are all exhausted at the end of every day

Breakfast!