We got him!!!

Well, it's been quite a day!  It started out pretty rough, but it seems like God has given him a peace about us.  That is such an answered prayer.  Please continue to pray that He will show Kenan that we love him and that he is safe with us. 

We got to the adoption registration office at about 10:15am and Kenan arrived with an orphanage official shortly after that.  He came right to me without crying at all, which made me sigh a little bit with relief.  I wanted some good pictures with him- and I didn't want him screaming in all of them :)  I started crying the moment the official brought him in.  I couldn't believe the moment was finally here that we've been waiting on for so long.  He really and completely felt like my son, and I can't wait until he views us like his parents.  We skyped Asher and Mac and they were really excited to see him and tell him hi.  Please continue to pray for family unity when we get back.

Before I get to the pictures, I have to tell you two things about what you are about to see:

1.  He has a crazy shiner above his eye and a major cut below his eye.  No, we didn't do it in our first five minutes of watching him.  Apparently, he fell while he was running in the park with a nanny at his orphanage yesterday.

2.  He has on a crazy outfit.  The Chinese bundle their babies up in these super puffy outfits- even bigger than snowsuits.  It was 65 degrees today, so my poor boy was sweating up a storm in this outfit.  Also sort of ironic is what is embroidered on his shirt.  It says, "We all love hands" and there is a picture of a hen on it.  Now, maybe they can't really read English (at least lets hope so), because that seems like a little bit of a messed up thing to put on a kid with one hand- just saying!  Or maybe, it's supposed to say, "We all love hens."  I don't know.  But, as soon as we got back to the hotel, we put him in some good old-fashioned American jeans and a t-shirt. 

Anyway, enough talking!  Here are the pictures!

 

After our initial smooth transition, he definitely realized something was up and he started crying and wanting anyone Chinese.  Once we got back to the hotel, he wouldn't let me set him down.  I couldn't even sit on the bed with him.  He only wanted me to stand and hold him.  It was exhausting.  Then, it was time for his nap, and he started crying when I sat down on the bed, but I just held him close and let him cry on me, hoping he would tire himself out and go to sleep.  He did, and slept for just under an hour.  When he woke up, he was not happy, but he drank a bottle and then ate a hard-boiled egg and a croissant and then started to play a little bit with a toy car we brought him.  It's been getting better since then.  We walked to Starbucks- you can see the pictures below- and he got out of the stroller and played and laughed with us.  It was so fun to bond with him and see him smile and laugh.  He played forever with the plastic little sign on the table by taking the paper in and out!

 

Last, but not least, he is asleep in his little crib right now.  He's been asleep for about an hour, so we'll see what the night brings.  Thanks for getting excited with us on this exhausting, rewarding and totally foreign adventure that we're on!