God is Good, All the Time

We made it safely to Changchun (pronounced Chahng chwin) this morning, arriving around 9:15. It is a beautiful area of mostly corn fields, with mountains in the background. At arrival it was 54 degrees and sunny. We all got our bags and headed to the hotel with our guide, Steve. We checked in and had about 3 hours before we were to meet in the lobby to go to the Civil Affairs office, so we unpacked some of our luggage and prepared the gifts we would need to give today. Then we did what every American would do and went to Wal-Mart. There is a W-M Supercenter on the next block over from our hotel. We purchased water, Cheerios, juice and some M&M's for Charlie. We decided to have lunch before returning to the hotel and ended up eating at KFC which was interesting to say the least. When we got back to the hotel, we had about 30 minutes left and used that time to gather everything we needed. In the last few minutes we had an awesome prayer time with most of the family members present. There are only 3 families here and each has 3 people. I guess Liz is the kid we brought along. Steve called during the time to tell us to hurry up and get to the bus. The boys had already arrived at Civil Affairs! We hurried off and climbed up three flights of stairs. That doesn't sound like much, but after the hundreds of steps on the Great Wall, it was somewhat painful. We walked into a conference room and there were three adorable boys, all dressed in red sweatsuits. The officials were there, as were the orphanage representatives. These were not the actual caretakers, but the administrative staff. So, on to Timothy. He looks a lot like Bethany, but moves at Mach speed. He sat pretty quietly at first. He likes Skittles, orange juice and animal crackers. Oh, he also likes Pez and oyster crackers. He played with the car I brought and with the toy cell phone. He was fine until the orphanage worker started to leave. She had been talking to him, evidently telling him that we were his "mama" and "baba" and that he was going to be OK. He cried pitifully for about 15 minutes until she actually left. He calmed down after a while and started exploring. By the end of the hour and a half, he was wide open. He can unscrew the lid off of a coke type bottle and pour liquid into a cup. He tried to climb out an open 11th story window. He escaped twice from the conference room. He weighs more than Bethany, but may not be as tall. I can't quite tell, but will know after his medical exam next week. After all the paperwork was done there, we went to the notary's office. The notary is equivalent to a district judge. While there, Timothy talked nonstop, charmed an entire office of ladies (he is like his daddy) and entertained the notary. He can blow kisses and waves and says "Bye!" For now, he is all daddy's boy, wanting nothing to do with me, though he will give me a high five. He liked me when I gave him a flashlight and coloring book. We went out to dinner with just part of the group and he really can pack away the food. He fell asleep with a chopstick in his mouth and then I got to hold him.