What an Amazing Day!

I have to start this post by giving thanks to God for blessing us in such an amazing way! We have been specifically praying for months the He would prepare Sophia's heart to bond quickly with us and for her not to be afraid. We have NO DOUBT she is doing this well because of all those prayers! Sophia slept 12 hours straight without waking up at all (we were prepared for her to wake up scared in the night). When she did wake up, she looked around the room, reached for me to pick her up, and had been nothing but smiles and laughter ever since. Seriously!!!

We had to go back to the civil affairs office twice today to take care of additional paperwork (our adoption is now final!) and then to the passport office to apply for hers, and all the while she just jibber-jabbered and played with us. She has snuggled, cuddled, kissed, smiled, laughed... and completely amazed us all day long. We went out to dinner tonight with Michelle and Mary (Michelle's sister) and Marie Ling, who was adopted today. Marie Ling turned eight years old today and it was such an pleasure to be in the civil affairs office at the time she was brought to Michelle. What a brave little girl she is! We assume she's never been to a restaurant before and she put us to shame with her chopsticks. (Really and truly, they didn't bring us any forks!) Sophia did fantastic the entire time we were there. Oh my goodness she is such a doll!!!

She's in her crib right now chatting up a storm and I'm hoping she goes to sleep easily, but if I must rock her to sleep, well, somebody has to do it! :-)  (Update - it took a while to get all the photos uploaded and she finally laid down and went to sleep without a single tear. Lots of smiles though!)

Here are pictures of our past two days. She is the most adorable little girl - I hope you enjoy the pictures half as much as we have enjoyed being with her!

This first set of pictures is of our Gotcha moment. It was very hard on everyone, but we are so thankful to big Sophia for staying with us and helping little Sophia thru it. You can click on any of them to enlarge the photo.

 

After we left the civil affairs office, big Sophia came back to the hotel and was a HUGE help in getting little Sophia settled down. We got to see her smiling and happy and are so grateful for this time together!

This next set of picture is from today (Monday). What a precious little girl we've been blessed with!

Daddy had her squealing with delight each time he did this with her - don't worry, she's laughing here, not crying!

OK, not a picture of Sophia, but I just had to include this one. These typical Chinese split pants just "crack" me up. (Pun intended!)

Our little travel group. Michelle is on the right with her new daughter, Marie Ling, and Michelle's sister, Mary. We're really enjoying getting to spend some time with them.

Hanging out at the restaurant. I should have taken pictures of some of the crazy things on the menu (that we DIDN'T order), but what we did get was really good and for ALL of us (including Michelle, Mary and Marie Ling, it was only $30!)

Last but not least, my favorite picture, even though it's a bit blurry. She is such a cuddly girl and I'm loving every minute of it!

Tomorrow we have free time in the morning and then we're going to Starfish in the afternoon. I'm looking so forward to meeting Amanda and all the nannies that have helped take such great care of our little girl. It may be hard on Sophia when we leave, but Rodney and I both feel it's important that we go visit Starfish, and after seeing what a resilient little girl she is, I know she's going to be OK.

We are so grateful for all your prayers! Isn't it amazing how He keeps answering them???!!! Keep them coming - we're hoping each day just gets better and better!

Till next time,
Karee