The First 24 Hours

It's hard to believe we have had our sweet girl with us for a day already. It's harder to believe there was a time when she wasn't mine. I'm already forgetting what life was like without her.

The last 24 hours have been amazing. Truthfully, I was prepared for the worst and I have been shocked with how well our little sweetie is doing. She seemed afraid at bedtime, but didn't cry - she just looked at us with her sad, beautiful eyes and didn't make a sound. She laid on me for a long time, then beside me, and after almost 2 hours she finally fell asleep. She is used to sleeping with her foster family so we kept her in our bed. I think she may do very well with the crib right beside our bed at home. She kicked her little feet all night long and flopped all over! At one point I heard Brad whispering my name - when I looked over at him he pointed at Hannah. She was just staring silently at the ceiling. It broke my heart - she looked so sad and confused. She soon went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until 5:30am. We'll call that a success!

She awoke with tears but as soon as we picked her up she calmed right down. She was serious at first, just taking it all in, but once we broke out a banana she cheered right up! She hadn't taken a bottle last night, it seemed like the ones we had were different than she was used to. But this morning we kept trying and finally she figured it out and drank the whole bottle down! We have quite a little eater on our hands!!

We went down to breakfast and saw another American family who we met yesterday (they met their son at the same time that we met Hannah). It is nice to have some friends to chat with. Hannah was happy as can be and ate some congee, pancake, and steamed dumpling.

After breakfast we cleaned up the hotel room and got organized. We were able to FaceTime with our families which was wonderful. I am missing my boys so much but I have so much peace knowing they are well taken care of and doing really well with us being away.

At 9:30am our guide met us and took us across the street to the civil affairs office to do some paperwork. Hannah sat happily on our laps just taking it all in. She is quiet when we go out but in the room she just talk talk talks! She is so precious!

The paperwork took about an hour and then it was back to the hotel for another bottle before we headed out for a walk and a quick trip to Walmart. It's about a half hour walk, and we were able to get some shoes for Hannah, some more formula, and some water and juice. We also got some pizza for lunch which turned out to be pretty weird - it looked just like normal pizza but tasted like a donut...with bacon on it. Hmmm. On the way home, Hannah fell asleep (she was riding in the baby carrier on Brad's back). We laid her on the bed, took off her pants and coat and hat and boots and she still didn't wake up! Could it be that third times a charm and we have a good sleeper?!?!

In a little while we will head out for one more appointment. I feel as though I can't believe how well things are going. It is still early days but really Hannah seems to be doing so well considering all she has been through. I can't wait to get to know her more in the days ahead!

Our Beautiful Girl!

It is hard to put the last few hours into words. We have a daughter! After an agonizingly long day we made our way down to the lobby. My heart was pounding, I couldn't catch my breath, and I felt like I might be sick! After about 20 minutes our guide arrived and told us Hannah was about 15 minutes away. Longest 15 minutes ever? Um, yep!

At long last we saw them walk through the door. There was another American family also meeting their little boy at the same time.

And then I saw her. She's had a haircut....but even with that she is stunning. I mean, really gorgeous. I noticed she was wearing a green knitted outfit she had been wearing in the video we have of her. I had prayed she would come in that outfit.

And then she saw us....and the screams began. Screams of terror and confusion. She did not want to come to me but the orphanage director handed her over anyway. Tears poured from her little eyes and it was so hard to know what she was going through.

We didn't stay in the lobby long; after a few minutes and some quick instructions we headed up to the room. We spent the next hour holding a sad, scared little girl. Then, suddenly, she began to calm down. Brad showed her some light switches, the mirrors, outside, and she got quiet. We gave her Pinky Stinky (her little blanket) and she grabbed onto it, hugging it tight.

I'm not sure what happened, I was taking a picture of her with brad, and suddenly a little laugh erupted from her! And then another giggle, and then a smile...it has been an hour and a half since then and it has been nothing but smiles and giggles as she's sat on the bed between us eating gerber puffs and yogurt melts. She can look at both of us without crying, and lets both of us hold her. She is beautiful and I can't believe she is all ours!!!

The pictures aren't that great of quality, but they'll have to do for now. I have a lot better ones on our camera but no way to get them onto the iPad.

So far we know she loves to be silly, loves to eat, can sit (but is wobbly), can't seem to crawl or stand, and is teeny tiny. She smiles easily and has been feeding me puffs. I love her so much already!

Well I guess we'll see how tonight goes! More tomorrow. God is so good!

Today's Adventures

Today has been a good day - fairly uneventful, but a good day of settling in. We slept well last night, woke up this morning around 7:30am, and went down to the front desk to change money and ask for a crib for our room. We went and enjoyed our breakfast buffet, then came back to the room to get ready to go out. We were surprised and excited to find that a crib, stroller, and baby tub had already been out in our room! That made it quite real...she is coming!

We went out for a few hours in the morning and were able to fine the nearby KFC and Walmart. We stocked up on a few things at Walmart, then walked back to the hotel. It is very busy here; Nanchang is a city of over 4 million people. We did not see any other non-Asian people the whole time we were out so you can imagine we stood out a little :) We wonder how we will be received once we have Hannah - we are not sure how people feel about adoption.

After we got back to the hotel we ate some lunch (including the Steak and Onion Cheetos we found - Brad was so excited because he had some of these in Korea and loved them!). I was so tired after our walk so we laid down around 2pm for a little nap. I just woke up; is 9pm. Oh dear! This is not going to help with jet lag at all! I'm so mad at myself for sleeping so long but I am still so tired and I think I'll just go back to bed and see how long I can sleep! Brad is still passed out beside me! Yesterday's travel was exhausting and I'm thinking that the adrenaline tomorrow will keep me awake :)

Speaking of tomorrow...we will be meeting Hannah tomorrow at 4pm here at our hotel! It doesn't seem real yet, or hasn't quite sunk in. I think I will have more emotions about it tomorrow. For tonight I just feel out of it!

Check back tomorrow - hopefully I will be able to post pictures of our daughter!!!

Now That Was a Long Trip!

Our day started at 6am on Thursday. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, then took the shuttle to the airport. Our flight left around 10am...and lasted for an eternity!! No, not really, it was actually like 14.5 hours, but by the end of it I was wondering if I would ever again NOT be on a plane to China!

We were so excited to meet some new friends at the airport - someone I had met through a wonderful Facebook group of people adopting from China. We realized a few days ago that we were taking the same flight to Shanghai and we met them at the gate. What a blessing to have some new friends on this adventure!

We made it to Shanghai, had a layover of several hours (it was like 3am for use by this point and I still hadn't slept at all so my memory is a little fuzzy!). We had another shorter flight to Nanchang, and we were so thankful to be met by our guide. We had a 45 minute drive to our hotel and I have never been so happy to see a bed in my life!! Our hotel is wonderful and we will be settling in here for the next week.

Now it is Friday night and we are about to turn in. We have a free day to recover tomorrow, then on Sunday at 4pm we will be meeting our darling daughter!!

On Our Way!

I don't have much to say tonight but I wanted to get in the habit of blogging every day so I thought I'd start now. I have no idea what our Internet connection will be like but I promise to try to post pictures and updates as often as possible.

So today we took the train and then a cab to our hotel. We fly out tomorrow morning and I just can't wait! It was quite a trick getting all our stuff into a suitcase and both weighing under 44 lbs (for international flights it can be 50 lbs but I believe for in country flights in China it's less). It took some rearranging but we finally did it! I am pretty proud of myself for packing light (not my forte) and I keep reminding myself that we can buy stuff there if we need it.

Saying goodbye to the boys was much harder this time (compared to when we went to Korea), I think mostly because I know that when we come home everything will be different. It's such a huge change to the family dynamics to add another little one and I'm just praying this time is a little easier than last time :)

I'm so thankful for all who are praying for us. I can feel the difference your prayers are making. I am truly such an anxious and worried person usually when traveling but today I felt no hint of anxiety or fear. I was sad, but I know that the Lord is watching over my boys as well as us.

Hopefully my next post will be from Jiangxi, China! We're coming baby girl!

One More Sleep!

It's almost time!

Our bags are packed, laundry is done, instructions are written, meals are made, and somehow we are just about ready to go.

I've had so many overwhelming emotions today.

Excitement.

Joy that we will soon meet Hannah!

Sadness about leaving my boys.

Concern about how we would fit everything into two suitcases (and what would I forget?).

My head was swirling all day long trying to think of everything that had to be done, but at the same time I didn't want to miss this last day with my boys.

It was a good day, and somehow everything that needed to get done is finished.

Unless I'm forgetting something, of course :)

Part of me wants to scream, "Lets do this already!!" while another part screams, "I'm not so sure about this....!"

I'm glad I'm confident that the Lord has led us to this point, because I lean on that when I start to freak out. He will be what we need, and He will not leave us to do this on our own.

We're ready to go, but more than that we are ready to meet a beautiful little girl who has captured our hearts. We're ready to be a family of five at long last!