It's Official!!

We just got back to the hotel from finalizing the adoption.  Zhang NiuNiu is now legally Kennedy Faith NiuNiu Manning!  (Of course she has been a Manning for MONTHS in our hearts already!)  Kennedy and Mia had their MP3 players in their ears for a large portion of the appointment.  Esther, from the orphanage, enjoyed seeing Kennedy with her beautiful, long hair down!

 

Yesterday, we delivered a beautiful scrap book of Erin and her family that Sue sent with us to Esther.  She really liked it, and Kennedy enjoyed looking at it with Esther!  She saw a picture of Erin getting her ears pierced.  I saw her smile, so I pointed to my earrings and Mia's earrings and asked if she wanted them too.  She understood and said YES!  I had Esther tell her we would get that done as soon as we get home.  Esther asked for us to also send her a photo album of Kennedy and us in a few months as well.  We promised we will!

 

After the paperwork was completed, we had to take a ceremonial picture, which we will post.  I was handed the adoption certificate right before the picture was taken.  I showed it to Kennedy, who is a GREAT reader.  She read it and smiled really big!  She knew it meant that she was officially our daughter!  Charles was so excited that he kissed Kennedy on her head before he realized what he was doing.  She got only mildly tense, which was good.  She has not seemed weirded out by him like Mia was.  Maybe he will finally have a Daddy's girl in the house??!!  We will see.

 

Right now, Charles and the girls are playing Trouble.  She immediately understood how to play.  She is very intelligent.  Last night when I took out some Chinese/English flash cards...intended to teach Kennedy some English, she immediately took charge and started teaching Mia how to say the words in Chinese.  She was so good and patient with her.  When Mia would not pronounce one right, Kennedy would nicely "make" her say it again, then give her a thumbs-up when she got it right.  Then, Mia took the cards and had Kennedy say the words in English.  Her pronunciation was amazing.  She already knew most of the color and number words on her own, and knew cat, dog, and a few others as well.  (Hey, Dad!  She knew grandfather!!)  As tough as this language barrier is right now, I think she will learn English quickly.  Esther said today that within a month or two, she will probably speak a fair amount of English because she is so intelligent.  I agree.  Esther DID, however, think she would go to "English School" before she went to regular school.  No such thing.  I told her that and she looked very surprised.

 

I had our guide explain to her today that I will take her to her school the week after we get home for some testing.  He told her that it would all be in English, but that I wanted her to know it was not to show how smart she is.  I do not want her to feel bad about it when she cannot understand it.  He explained that the test would only be to show that she will need help (ESL) to learn the language, and that we know how smart she is.

 

Oh...this just in...I saw Mia's nose dripping right now.  I handed her a tissue.  When she blew her nose, uhhh.....it all kinda did NOT stay in the tissue.  It got all over her face somehow.  Charles and I both did the mature thing and said EWWWWW!  We both giggled, and Kennedy burst into laughter!  It was hysterical!  She is already laughing at her sister!!!

 

Another random BTW...Kennedy is ON PURPOSE avoiding landing on Charles and Mia as much as she can so she will not send them back to home in the game.  SO sweet.  Mia is totally out to win, as usual, and plots and plans ways to land on THEM!

 

Our guide said that we will meet tomorrow for some sightseeing.  It will be a walking tour, which will be a nice break from the near-death experiences we have had in the van so far.  Friday, just before lunch, we will go visit Kennedy's orphanage.  We left it up to her, and she would like to visit one last time.  We are going to eat lunch at KFC soon...in my favorite Walmart...with no guide...and we will let Kennedy pick out some candy for her friends when we visit.  I also need to buy her some Chinese bras since they are very different from the ones in America.  When I had Esther ask her if she could help me get the right size, she said yes.  Then Esther informed me Kennedy already had her...well...monthly visitor this month.  Charles was very relieved and very embarrassed that he showed his relief out loud!  Esther and I cracked up!  We will fly to Guangzhou some time after 6pm Friday.

 

This is the most random post of all!  Sorry, but my mind is racing!  Anyway, I want y'all to know it is non necessarily great that Mia is teaching Kennedy English.  We all know she can't say her "r" sound.  She pointed to a tree and said, "twee", which Kennedy repeated.  Uh-oh.

 

Alright, we need to think about gearing up for battle to walk over to Walmart.  Again, I apologize that this post was all over the place!  I told you this would happen once we had her with us!  MUSHY Mommy brain!