What Was 7 Is Now 8

What a great day today has been in the life of the Bowser family!

After a very brief 4 hours of sleep in a very nice Hong Kong hotel (the Novotel CityGate...just a couple miles from the airport), we were up at 5 and on the airport shuttle at 6am. The airport was very un-crowded at that early hour, and we breezed through check-in and security...leaving us plenty of time for breakfast in the airport and a little down time by the gate. We then boarded and were in the air by 8:50am for our hour and twenty minute flight up to Fuzhou. Once again we encountered absolutely no problems on the arriving end, retrieved all our luggage, and walked out of the airport to a greeting by our new guide, Katharine. She escorted us to our ground transport, and began the 1 hour drive to our hotel, the Lakeside. On the drive we were soon informed that Ming would be joining us immediately after our arrival to the hotel, and that we were going to take care of all of the "official business" this afternoon...including signing the adoption papers, going before the judge, and having the entire deal notarized. Bam! Hey...why not. That's what we're here to do, so let's get this show on the road.

I will say that the anxiety level for all of us kicked up a notch or several. Katherine was able to give us a few details that she knew of regarding Ming's orphanage which were actually very encouraging. She knew that Ming has been in the "Children's Hope Home", which is a separate building and independently funded program on the orphanage grounds that a good number of the older children (we've since learned that Ming has been one of 22 children) live in and are very well cared for. She also provided us with a questionnaire that was filled out on Ming's behalf, telling us that Ming is a healthy, outgoing and athletic boy.

We got to the hotel. Were shown up to our rooms. And immediately received a call that Ming was waiting for us in a conference room on the 3rd floor. All righty...let's do it!

Before I show you several pictures, I'll tell you that Ming looked just like his pictures (we weren't quite sure how old the pictures we had actually were, and whether he had changed much or not), that I found it very cool to see him in the Ohio State shirt that we sent out, and that the mood in the room was electric...





We signed a few documents indicating that we would be his legal guardian for the next few hours until he was officially adopted, and then went up to the room to hang out. I can tell you that he seemed genuinely excited and thankful to be with us. There were flashes of immediate affection, he clearly knew how to pronounce the kids names, he seemed to know a few words in English, and began calling Caryn and I "mother" and "father." We could see right away that Ming is a very active boy, he's not at all shy, and very inquisitive. He really seemed to take to Jamae, and began calling her "baby!". She wouldn't stand for that, and soon began shouting back, "I'm not a baby!". It was heartwarming.

Two things I'll highlight from our 2 hours back in the room. One was the fact that he pulled out of his belongings the photo album that we had sent. He seemed very proud of it. He then pulled out a separate little photo album of pictures of himself and some of his friends from the orphanage. But what he did next was VERY telling and important. He began taking the pictures of himself out of the one album, and inserting them in the blank spaces of our family album. The significance of this was immediately evident. He was already picturing himself as part of OUR FAMILY. Here's a picture that we snapped as he was doing this...


The other notable thing was the look on his face when he discovered his Nintendo GameBoy DS in the bag that we brought for him.


At 3pm, we went down to the lobby for our string of official meetings. We first went to the office of the judge, and then on to the office of the Notary Public. We of course snapped some important pictures along the way...






Everything went as smooth as could be, and by 5pm or so we were done with all the paperwork. We then stopped by WalMart to purchase some bottled water, as well as some gifts to take to the orphanage when we visit on Wednesday. It was special for Ming to pick out some gifts that he knew the kids would appreciate, including some various "American" bags of chips, some candy, and several movies...including "The Bee Movie" dubbed into Chinese. It was Ming's first trip ever to a place like WalMart, and he seemed a bit overwhelmed. It was a taste of his new life.

And finally, we stopped at a very nice restaurant for a celebration meal in our own private dining room. Our guide, Katharine, raised a toast of Sprite to Ming...and the conversation was very easy and fun. We learned during the meal that Ming clearly calls himself a Christian, and seemed very excited that I am a pastor. He also bowed his head in prayer, and clearly understood words like "prayer", "Pastor", and "church". How about that.


That's enough for now. It's been a very full day, and we're all exhausted. Thanks for your prayers, and enjoy the pictures of a family that used to be 7...and is now 8!