Wednesday in D.C.: Ceremony & Gala

Wednesday was Day 5 of our trip to Washington D. C. and it started out slow. We had no morning plans, so we slept in and had Starbucks for our late breakfast.

Nathan enjoyed the down time by playing on his stroller.

Our first event of the day was lunch and our "Pinning Ceremony" in the Senate Caucus room of the Russell Senate Building. This building is one of the office buildings across the street from the Capitol, and this room was beautiful (and apparently historic too).


The food was not necessarily historic, but good enough.

But the main thing was receiving our "Angel in Adoption" certificate and pin. They took professional photos, but we haven't gotten them yet. We tried to take a picture with our own camera, but it didn't turn out so well.

The young lady standing with us is Sarah, our Congressman's legislative aide. She was the first one to notify us about the award, and she was our main contact with Bart's office while we were in D. C. We enjoyed getting to know her, and she told us she was adopted herself.

The elevators in the Senate & House buildings were very ornate--we were just glad to not have to take more marble steps with the stroller.
After the ceremony we had time to go to the National Gallery of Art. We decided to take a cab and got one just before a brief but heavy rain. Whew!

While Mark looked at an exhibit called "the Art of Power" with a lot of cool Spanish Imperial armor, Janet and Nathan found some souvenirs in the gift shop.

When we came back out, the sun was shining again...

...and we returned to our hotel room for some more down-time (aka goofing off in pajamas & daddy's shoes time)
That evening was the big event - the Angels in Adoption Gala and Reception.

We took a taxi since we were dressed up, but we were delayed slightly when Nancy Pelosi and her security crew showed up at the hotel for an event she was attending there.

After they got out of the way, we finally were on our way to the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center.

We felt honored to be included in this program along with all the other Angels, including the three National Angels in Adoption - Al Roker, Judge Michael Nash, and Sean & Leigh Ann Tuohy.
Al Roker is, well, Al Roker. Judge Michael Nash started National Adoption Day to help judges clear out a backlog of adoptions for foster children. The Tuohy's adopted a young man named Michael Oher who was going nowhere. But once he had a family, it turns out he was quite the football player. He was a first round draft pick for the Ravens this year. Their story has been turned into a book and a movie that comes out this Thanksgiving called The Blind Side.

The couple is played by Tim McGraw & Sandra Bullock in the movie, but here is the real deal:

Meanwhile, in the back of the room at our table, we were just having a good time in our fancy clothes. We got dressed up real nice! Look at those beautiful smiles.

Nathan's chicken & fruit cup were expensive (our tix were free, but not his) but actually very tasty.

Nathan made a new friend--Representative Bob Whittman (VA), who was sitting at our table.

It was late, so Nathan was getting silly. He had a blast giving Bob "fives" and telling about how his Mommy had just changed his poopy diaper. Oh yes, you heard it right...

Nathan had a poopy. No surprise there. He had just finished a large bowl of fruit and a few big pieces of chicken. You know the drill. But then Janet had to find a place to change him. Where did she end up? On the floor. With a makeshift changing mat. In the hallway of the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center! In her fancy dress, shoes, and pantyhose. With all the Gala attendees walking around them as they went to the restroom ... and Nathan saying "Hi!" to them all. Such a polite kid.

And then, to top it all off, when he came back and started playing with Representative Bob, he kept saying, "I went poop! Stinky!" to him. When Bob asked Janet to translate, she told him the truth. (Sometimes the truth stinks.)Our buddy Sarah from Bart Gordon's office was there too. She enjoyed playing with Nathan too. After the gala, there was a dessert reception, and she and Janet had a good time talking about life, etc.

Then we caught another taxi back to the hotel and hit the hay. Our Angels in Adoption experience was officially over. What an amazing experience it was for all of us.