We all slept pretty well last night, but at about 5:30 this morning all three kiddos popped their heads up and were ready to begin the day. So we all got baths--I made a bubble bath for Yun Wei and I think that may have been his first. He wanted to wear the "Cars" shirt I got for him, but unfortunately the shoes I packed were WAY too big! He is seven, but probably wearing a 5T in clothing. I guess he will wear the shoes they brought him in until we get home--they actually look fairly new and are cute.

I am not sure how he will like my cooking once we get home bc he does not want anything to do with American food. Except for hot wings;) This morning he chose congee (some sort of rice-based soup), a hard-boiled tea-flavored egg, and noodles for breakfast. He looked over at Chloe's Rice Krispie cereal and kind of wrinkled his nose up. He even peeled his egg and put it in the congee which seemed odd even to our guide--but Yun Wei ate it up! Later, we ate at a traditional Chinese restaurant and Donovan fell in love with dimsum! It is a pork-filled dumpling, I think. At any rate, Donovan had three of them and was asking for more! During lunch, Yun Wei revealed he is quite the jokester---he kept pouring Chloe's soda out of her glass and into his every time she wasn't looking...and then just giggled when she found out! He also giggled when she used her chopsticks bc she kept dropping her food. After every meal, he gathers all our dishes and stacks them neatly--a trait I hope rubs off on my other children. I think orphanage life has trained him to be very neat and tidy. Donovan was eating an Oreo and letting the crumbs fall on the bed and Yun Wei did not like that one bit! So far he has not wanted any sweets. The guide said they prob did not have sweets at the orphanage. Of course with his Alport's Syndrome, I will have to really monitor his salt intake--but I am not sure how strictly until I can get him to the pediatric nephrologist in Chattanooga.

He takes about 12 pills a day. Half of them in the morning and the other half at night to maintain the function of his kidneys. I remember when I was a kid, swallowing just one pill was really hard to do for me, so I was really surprised when he popped all six of them in his mouth at the same time and swallowed them down in about 2 seconds! I guess he is just used to it. The orphanage gave us a three-week supply of all his meds and said he is doing really well on them currently.

He did get upset today when we went back to the Civil Affairs Office. The pic here shows the Civil Affairs Office that everyone must go to in the Jiangsu Province. We are finalizing all the documents here with a notary. The caretaker mentioned to him that we would take him to the orphanage on Thursday to say good-bye to all his friends. I think that was just overload for him. I honestly can't imagine how hard and confusing a lot of this is for him. He began to cry--which made me cry, but he did let me hold him and rock him for awhile. We signed all our paperwork which makes us official parents on the China end of things and his caregiver presented him with a jade necklace that has his name imprinted on it. He has not taken it off and I see him looking at it intently every now and then.

I think we will be seeing a roller-coaster of emotions from him over the coming days, weeks, months. Even though he wants to be adopted, even though he is having fun---he is also leaving behind everything familiar. And that is hard. So all we can do is love him through it--allow him to experience that grief and loss because it is normal (I'd be more concerned if he wasn't grieving some), and pray for God to carry him through it. And he will...because God is good. And as I said before and also know in my soul---God has BIG plans for Yun Wei.

Keep us in your prayers for the orphanage visit on Thursday--it WILL be hard for him and he will need all our prayers to help him through it.

Isaiah 43:2-4 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you...because you are precious in my eyes, and honored and I love you."