A stroll down memory lane... China style!

Yesterday my little peanuts' OFFICIAL CITIZENSHIP PAPERS ARRIVED IN THE MAIL! Complete with a special letter to her from our President! Pretty neat if you ask me, I think I'll frame it! And, as if that wasn't exciting enough, two months ago today, Nov 21st, 2005... my adoption of little miss Ruby Cate Pei Mu was OFFICIAL! Allow me to take you all on a trip down memory lane:

In a very 'stark' looking, non-descript notary office room in Jiangxi province/Nanchang, China an even more non-descript gentleman sitting behind a plain wooden desk, looked over my paperwork, looked me up & down, glanced over at Ruby for a split second, stamped something and with a wave of his hand, motioned for us to leave... which we did.
I got out into the hallway & asked my friend Erika (Thia's Momma)
" Is that it? What just happened? " ...
she looked at me kinda just as dazed & confused & said,
" I think we're official now, the girls are ours... I guess, right?"

What did I know, I guess that's what just happened... I mean, nobody is coming out to try & take her from me and everyone else is going into this same office room with the same Man who is, one at a time, putting them through the identical quick process he put us through & then we all piled back downstairs & onto the bus once again and headed back to our hotel, babies in hand.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'd do this ENTIRE PROCESS OVER AGAIN AND AGAIN IF NEED BE TO ADOPT RUBY WITHOUT HESITATION, however... this process, and everything it entails, is seriously NOT for the weak of heart. I love my agency to pieces, without them I would've been lost but there were some bumps along this road to get to this point that nobody expected. Got'cha day was, in a word? Chaos! True, at the end of the tunnel was my precious Ruby but man, what a jungle THAT MESS was to TRUDGE THROUGH!

Then, the bus ride back from the Notary Offices, someone broadsided our bus! The bus driver immediately put the bus in PARK in the MIDDLE OF THE BUSY CHINA STREET and got out to 'discuss' this with said 'broadsider' man. Needless to say we were all a little horrified, seeing as how our children were IN OUR LAPS when the accident happened & thank GAWD I had my arms around Ruby snugly & my fingers interlaced good & tight, or she'd have gone FLYING!

Truth be told, our recent trip to Boston was like a walk in the park compared to the hustle, bustle & INSANITY that IS CHINA...

I will forever be grateful & humbled for the gift of becoming Ruby's mother, but I'll never forget what it took to make this dream of mine a reality.

... a good friend recently mentioned to me that for her, it was a difficult road as well, and that it really did take her entire families' help to get everything accomplished. She coined the familiar phrase; 'it takes an entire village to raise a child', and she's SO RIGHT on that! Without the help of everyone in my life, my parents, my family, my extended family, my friends etc... anyone who had even the slightest hand in helping me along this road... to you all I say a sincere & heartfelt; THANK YOU!

Without everyone's help, this village would be short it's most adorable member by far...
my beautiful daughter: Ruby Cate & her best friend Bear.

Life Is Good.