24 Hours later

I can't believe all that has occurred in the past 24 hours. Getting Olivia was amazing and such an emotional experience for everyone. We recognized her as soon as we came into that room on the 3rd floor of the Civil Affairs office in Changsha. They had already told us that we couldn't go to the babies until they called each family's name and checked our passports, so we thought they would go alphabetically and we would be last, but they called us first and the world changed in an instant. Call it an epiphany, call it pure adrenaline or emotion, but the moment that little girl was placed in my arms, there was no doubt in my mind that the hand of a higher power has been at work here for some time. Everything happened so fast that it all seems a blur now. My sister Kathy decided, in the very late stages, that since I was around for the birth of both her kids, the least she could do was come for ours, so she is with us here and I'm so grateful because she took all the picture and got most of the event on video and I know we wouldn't have been able to have that without her help. It was a very long train ride for Olivia to get there and she was so tired that she slept until 9:00 pm and went down again at 11:00pm - the problem with that is that she was up at 1:30 am and wasn't a very happy camper for the rest of the night. Ron and I took turns walking the floor with her until 7:00 am when we had to go back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize everything. Our Adoption worker here somehow managed to get us in first and we were able to complete all the paperwork quite quickly this morning and Olivia Grace Zhi Meng is now officially ours forever!! I get such a kick out of the fact that before we signed the papers, they ask if we like her and wish to keep her. I know with all my heart that this little soul has been ours since the beginning of time.

A little about our girl: She has 2 bottom teeth and one top one; she loves to be held and walked and won't let you stop moving; she likes bananas and watermelon; her orphanage staff said she was busy and naughty and that she loves her walker.

We will be here until Friday waiting for her Chinese passport, then it's back to Beijing to get her Canadian immigration stuff done. In the meantime, we'll just keep getting to know each other.
Thanks for all the notes and emails - I wish we could respond to all of them, but getting on the internet is touch and go here at best.