Day 6--Applying for Passports and Testing Boundaries

Well, the official business of the day was the application for Jadon's passport at the police station. There are several families who were at the Civil Affairs Office on Gotcha Day whom we run into over and over again in different locations and situations since we are all completing the same steps simultaneously. We get to see how things are progressing at each step of the way. Interestingly, everyone seems to remember Jadon. He is quite the charmer.

After the police station if was off to Pizza Hut. The menu was quite different from what we see in the States. Jadon had never had pizza before and would still never have had it if we didn't "strongly encourage" it.

Other than that it was a day spent together doing lots of different things (watching some borrowed Disney DVDs, playing hide and seek with Jadon's yipping dog, visiting McDonalds for lunch where Jadon talked the staff into giving him 2 toys rather than one, and playing with those toys upon return to the room among other things). As we become a bit more accustomed to one another there are new challenges. We are working on communicating boundaries and expectations and not just treating Jadon as though he is a visitor, since he is now part of the family for life. In our reading to prepare for this time many warned that it would be important for the adopted child to know they are more than a visitor and one way was by communicating appropriate expectations as part of a family. We are realizing that since he is older, we don't have multiple times to experiment to get it right. We need to be on our game from the beginning so things are consistent. Ruth has been a great mom. She has a way about her that amazes me. I (Alan) have been a tad overwhelmed today with the magnitude of the task ahead and with my deep desire to get it right for his sake. The inability to understand his speech is difficult for me especially.

Overall, things are great. Jadon continues to tell us that he is happy. He writes his new English name on his drawings. He continues to constantly share whatever it is that he has. (I have had more gum in the past two days than I have chewed in the past two years.) Tomorrow it is off to the zoo in the morning and on Friday we get to visit the orphanage that has been home to our son for the past 3.5 years. (Our guide explained what we were going to do and asked Jadon if that would be alright--He said that it would be. She told him it would be a chance to show us and to say goodbye. Pray for us on this one. It is a great privilege to even have the option of going, but we want it to help the process.)

Thanks, everyone for your love and support. We are blessed to have so many friends, family, and adoption acquaintances share in this journey. We are all (Jadon included) looking forward to coming home next week. Skype is wonderful thing since we have been able to see and talk with Kirsten everyday. Jadon recognizes her as his big sister and enjoys talking to her.