Gotcha!!!

My heart is full to overflowing.  It really is an amazing journey, and it just keeps getting better!  Adoption experts say that sometimes the parents and child have a "honeymoon" period that has the potential to crash when the new wears off.  I know we're functioning on adrenaline right now (because it certainly wasn't a long night's rest that kept us going!  Ha!)  So, this honeymoon phase might take a downward spin, but ---  right now this little girl has captivated my heart, and we are loving every minute!

In Yunnan province, "Gotcha" takes place in the afternoon (unlike the Guang Dong province when we got Emily right away in the morning.)  We got up and had breakfast at the hotel, then Skyped with the kids back at home.  We met the other Lifeline family at noon and along with our translator/guide, David, took our lives into our hands as we walked 10 minutes to Wal-mart.  It most definitely isn't anything like our Wal-marts here.  In fact, the meat market on the first floor (3 floors total) was very reminiscent of a Mongolian meat market that I frequented years back.  (whole sides of pork hanging, cow stomach for sale....etc.  -- not your typical Wal-mart fare!  :)   ) 

At 2:30 we met in the hotel lobby and took the van with David and our driver to the civil affairs office.  When we got there, 2 families with other agencies were already there and had gotten their little ones.  We watched from the sidelines (it's amazing how people you've never seen before can just about make you cry when you see them with their new children!)  Then Bethany came in along with the little 8 year old boy from the same orphanage that the other Lifeline family is adopting.  She let me take her without much fuss, but you could tell she was wary!

She is just as chunky as her pictures look!   She was fairly interested in the toys we brought out and stayed distracted for a few minutes.  We took some pictures and sat down on the floor to play.  Dan had to go start the masses of paperwork, so I kept her and we played.  She was happy enough, but pretty reserved.  When Dan came back, I had to go add my signature and red-inked thumb print beside his on the mounds of papers on the desk of the official.  Bethany started to cry when we made the shift, but we quickly pulled out a pink pomegranate sucker and she popped it in her mouth and promptly became a sticky mess!!  So, she settled down pretty quickly and really didn't get too upset again after that.

I'm not sure if you can see close enough, but Bethany has the sticky sucker in her hand right now.  :)

She is just the cutest thing ever, and I am SO very thankful for the way that it has gone so far.

This is a picture taken by someone at the office that will be part of our adoption certificate.