The Big Day

It has been a really long day and we are all exhausted, but the event we have waited for (longed for) for the past 3.5 years has finally happened. We arrived in Guiyang around 11 this morning, went to the bank to convert our US money to Chinese money, checked into the hotel to prepare for the big moment and then met our guide who accompanied us the the adoption center.
We are the only family in Guiyang, so when we walked into the room, she was right there waiting. Her foster mother dropped her off at the orphanage this morning and the orphanage director brought her to Guiyang (about a 3 hour car ride). She was quite terrified and didn't want anything to do with any of us at first. We all got down on the floor to "play" with her, but it was ultimately Kristine who got her to open up and eventually laugh and smile. The two of them played while Dean and I filled out paperwork (I was shaking the whole time). We asked a bunch of questions to the director through our guide and she had a lot of answers. After a brief ceremony, the ophanage director and her staff left and our guide took us back to the hotel. Dean picked her up to carry her to the car. She shed a couple of tears on the way to the van, but in the van she laid her head on his shoulder and looked around. She was fascinated by the fancy lobby in the hotel (the fanciest one in the city) and by the time we got to our room she was ready to play. She colored with all of us. We "think" she can count to 10 in Chinese (she at least repeats after us and we think she rattled off the numbers on her own, but it was hard to understand). She talks to us quite a bit, but we don't know what she is saying. She got really excited about the view from our 27th floor window ("Wa" she said really loudly - we think that means "look" because she has used that quite a bit). Later, Kristine got her to repeat the numbers 1-10 IN ENGLISH - crystal clear. Very Cute. We ordered some dinner in our room, but she didn't want to come to eat. After we ate, we decided it was time to take a bath, so I stripped off all of her layers (at least 5 on the top and 3 or 4 on the bottom) and gave her a bath. She was NOT HAPPY. She seems to be rather attached to her clothes. She is still mad at me for that. Dean can get her to do just about anything, but she is wary of me. I am not worried though. We will have plenty of time to bond and I know that we will be fine. I am glad she is bonding with Kris and Dean now because they will go back to school when we return and they will not have as much time with her. It is good that they have a head start. She finally ate dinner (fried rice) and Dean is attempting to put her to bed right now. I need to get back up there and see how it is going.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. We can definitely feel them. There is so much more I would love to share, but I am tired so I will save some for later.

Karen