Anniversaries and Certificates

Yesterday was our 6 month anniversary of adoption day for Olivia. It was the day that it became official in the eyes of the Chinese Government that Olivia was part of our family forever. The day before (13th) was our Gotcha Day anniversary. They day they placed sweet Olivia in our arms for the first time.

My mom was here visiting this week and was looking at pictures from just 6 short months ago and commenting on how much Livi has changed in the last few months. I can't hardly remember the little girl we brought home. The scared, untrusting little girl whose life was turned totally upside down in a blink of an eye. The little girl who would eat 3 foods, scream if she saw a bathtub and obiediently do whatever you asked because she didn't know she could voice an opinion. NOW- All I see now is the little girl who runs screaming through the house, who yells "NO" at her big sister, who takes things from her little cousin and possesively says "Nini's". The little girl who will now eat 6 foods (LOL), and squeals in excitement at the idea of a bath. If she thinks she has a chance at all of disagreeing with you on anything she will try, like any normal two year old.

Today we also received her new birth certificate. We completed her domestic adoption in June. We did not have to do this since Indiana recognizes all our Chinese paperwork, but Olivia's birth certificate was a Chinese one. If her BC was ever lost or destroyed or if she ever needed to get a current copy (some day if she wanted to adopt internationally for instance) we would need to try to obtain a copy from CHINA! Could you imagine that mess. So, by domestically adopting Livi, we were able to get an Indiana birth certificate for her and Indiana now has all of her records and her adoption is listed as an Indiana adoption. It makes things much easier.