Paperwork Meeting

Today was the great paperwork meeting where one member of each family meets to fill out the papers for the US Consulate. For our China adoption the paperwork was fairly straight forward: a couple of signatures, fill out your names, etc. Then everything is final and Tenley is ours.

Then there is the US Gov't. Fill out the baby's name, fill out your name, sign here, sign there, put down your address here in China, put down your address at home and then do it all again and again on 7 redundant forms. Gotta the love the good of US Gov't. What a bunch of morons.

I wrote the same info down so many times and in so many different ways that I might have just applied for a no interest loan in my daughter's name and not even known it. It was crazy. The best part about it was that Norman sits right at the front of the room and tells you line by line exactly what to write. I'm sure I could have figured it out on my own but it helped to have someone telling me what to write and where.

While I was doing the paperwork, Michelle and Tenley went to our friend Gaynor's room and had a play date with Gaynor, her 3 yr old Lauren and their newly adopted daughter Amanda. Tenley took to Amanda right away and they smiled at each other and touched hands and spoke their funny little baby language. Michelle was very grateful to Gaynor for the invite.

After the paperwork meeting Scott, Gaynor's husband, and I joined the ladies and the kiddos and had lunch delivered by Danny's Bagel (the saving grace of Guangzhou). It was great. We ate food and our girls rolled around on the floor and played. Soon it was time for Tenley's nap so we left Scott and Gaynor to enjoy the rest of their day.

After a quick check of the paperwork later this afternoon, we are going to have dinner at an irish pub here in Guangzhou. We'll let you know how it is.