We woke up early Monday morning so excited and ready for the day! We weren't supposed to pick Mia up until 2:30 pm so we had a lot of time to kill before. We had breakfast and shopped for a little while to kill time. There's a mall connected to our hotel. And when I say mall, I mean huge, gigantic mall...it even has a Walmart inside it!
Our guide told us to meet her in our hotel lobby at 2:20 pm. She didn't show up until 2:35 and if you know me then you know I was TICKED. I HATE being late, and on this day?? HELLO! Anyway, as we travelled to the government office the anticipation grew and grew!
Finally, we pulled up to the building. We actually have some friends from Tuscaloosa who are also here adopting! Crazy to think that two normal, everyday families from Tuscaloosa are actually in the same city across the world adopting their daughters together! It's been fun!! They were already in the government office when we arrived. They pointed to a room and said, "they are right there in that room!!" We glanced over and there was a lady with a sleeping baby in her lap. Josh said that he thought that was her. Let's note that as soon as we walked in I started shaking and trying to fight tears. Soon they started to wake the little girl up and I could see the back of her head and knew it was her! We were told not to mess with her until we were told to so we didn't go into the room. We stood outside the door close enough to see and she glanced up at Josh and you could tell she recognized him! It was hard not to just scoop her up!
One by one each family had their turn. There were 4 families and we were last! I stood there just in awe of her. Here was this baby that we have loved from so far away and now there she was! She was sitting in one of the orphanage directors lap and they started looking through the photo album we sent her. That's when I just completely lost it.
FINALLY, it was our turn! We were taken into an office and had to sign some paperwork. Before I was completely finished, they brought Mia in! I've never slapped my signature down so fast in my life! HA! She was crying when they brought her in and I was told to take her. So I did. And she was screaming and sweating. They hurried us into another room where the other families were with their new babies! The dads were taken to another room to talk with the orphanage staff to ask questions while the moms tried to calm the babies. It didn't take Mia long at all to stop crying. I just kept kissing her and tell her it was ok even though she couldn't understand me. She was POURING sweat. It's in the upper 70's here but they think it's cold! She had on several layers of clothes. We took pictures and headed back to our hotel!
They don't use car seats for kids here in China so I just held her and Brooks sat beside me! About halfway back to the hotel she laid her little head on my chest for the rest of the ride back. Melt me! She stayed either on my hip or in my lap for about an hour or two once we got back to our room. Josh and Peyton left to go get us some pizza(we were starving because Josh and I couldn't eat lunch because of nerves). While they were gone she jumped down out of my lap and the rest is pretty much history. She's been running around playing with the other kids. She will plop down in my lap. She grabs my face and kisses me! She fits right in! It's taken her a little longer to get used to Josh, she hasn't really seen a lot of men but she's warming up to him. She won't let him hold her but she will give him a hug! She will realize in no time she can get anything she wants from him! haha!
Last picture as a party of 6!
That's here standing in through that doorway!
This was when they were looking at our pictures!
When she saw her daddy!
When they brought her to us...
You could tell she was VERY loved by the orphanage staff!
Party of SEVEN!!! WHAT?!
Our agency staff came to our room to finish some paperwork!
Seriously? SASS!
We had a bit of a rough time at one point. You never know what can trigger these little ones. She is very attached to her shoes and her backpack that she brought with her to meet us. We learned the hard way to not touch either! :)
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