Day 6-We are official!!

It is Tuesday here and today was the day that we finalized our adoption of Jordy.  Monday the Chinese government gave us 24 hour custody.  This is sort of an opportunity to get to know our child and decide if we really want to finalize the adoption.  Go ahead and laugh now.  We have prayed.  We have spent hundreds of hours, and an enormous amount of resources, gone halfway around the world.  Is there any chance we would not finalize our adoption?  Fat chance.  Perhaps, there are those that would back out but I can't imagine it.

We headed to the Civil Affairs office around 9am and waited for the other families to arrive just like Gotcha Day.  We were gathered together in a circle around the Civil Affairs officer and a Chinese woman translated her words for us.  The officer shared with us that she was honored to be a part of the process and to see the children going to their new families.  She then began to pass out our official adoption certificates in red folders.  That was it.  Nothing more and we were on our way back to the hotel.  We had a few hours to eat lunch and then we had to take a two hour drive each way to PingDingShan.  This is the city that Jordy is from and we had to go there to apply for his passport.  When we got there, the orphanage director was there to greet us.  She informed us that the computer system wasn't working properly and that they were not accepting new passport applications.  However, because we were adopting, they were going to go ahead and process our request.  Yay!  That could have been a real downer.  Normally, a passport for a resident of China takes 2-3 months to process but the Chinese government pushes adoption passports through in 3 days.  We have to remain in Zhengzhou until Friday just to wait for his passport to be completed.

And now, for a picture review of today:

I woke up next to this sweetness. :)

The cars and track are a HUGE hit.  Jordy looks forward to this!!

The translator sharing with us what the officer had to say.

Beginning to pass out the red folders.  

We are OFFICIAL!  The Petrosky's are going to rule the world with our brood of five. ;)

This boy is such a good eater.  He has eaten everything we have put in front of him except the green peppers on his pizza.

I promised a belly shot and this isn't a very good one but I feel bad walking up to a Chinese dude and saying may I take a picture of your gut.  But you at least get the idea.  Men everywhere are doing the half shirt midday when it is hottest.  Some even roll them up past their chest.

Scooters are everywhere!

If you had the opportunity to be in traffic with us, you would understand just how dangerous this is but it is normal.  The law is only one person on a moped at a time but it doesn't stop anyone from doing it.

Excuse the blur but you have to see this.  A father and mother with her baby in her arms.  Dustin actually saw a family of five on a scooter.

Thank goodness he likes pizza.  It's a staple in our household.

This cutie is learning his name.  He didn't respond well to his Chinese name or his nickname.  So, we said what the heck, we are just using Jordy.  He's getting used to it and starting to look in our direction.  :)

I like this picture for several reasons.  She is riding a bike in a skirt.  Women are constantly doing this and most of the skirts aren't this long.  She has long sleeves on when it's mid 90s out.  She's wearing heels and peddling.  And, check out the see through visor.  These are usually worn completely over the face to help with the sun.

Some interesting facts about the Henan Province.  There are two growing seasons here a year for crops.  The first crop is wheat which is harvested in May and then corn is planted and is harvested in October.  Then they plant wheat again to start the next growing season.  Other crops that are very common in this area are cotton and peanuts.  I was surprised because it actually gets as low as -10 degrees here in the winter which is a very short season but still.

On the way to PingDingShan, we passed by some mountains and I asked the name of the mountains.  I learned that PingDingShan was named for the mountains.  Shan means mountain and Ping means flat.  This area is best known for it's coal mines.  It's a very poor area although we really didn't see the outlying areas.  And we passed by a nuclear power plant just on the edge of the city.

Tomorrow and Thursday are free days for us while we wait for the passport.  We aren't sure what adventure we will embark on yet.  Now that the adoption is finalized, I'm ready to come home.  We still have 10 days left before we are officially home.  :(  I miss our kids, our home, our life but I'm thankful for our time here to get to know Jordy.  He is a ball of fun!

Until tomorrow . . .