Got Her!!!

I never thought it would, but today finally came!  We were nervous, excited, impatient and thrilled all at the same time.

Claire, her caretaker and the director of the orphanage were supposed to arrive at 10 a.m.  Our guide, Missy, met us at 9 so we could get gifts and orphanage donations prepared.  10:00 came and went and we learned that the fog/smog/rain was slowing down travel and that Claire was car sick so they had to stop for medicine. They said they would arrive at 10:30 . . . .which became 11:00.  They finally got here at 11:30.  

Claire is a little, bitty girl (as you look at the picture below, remember she is 13 months older than Catherine). But she is full of personality.  She has dimples for miles and has a beautiful smile. 

Claire was well prepared.  She clearly is ready to be part of a family.  We called her BeiBei and as soon as Director Lu left she said, "No my name is Claire Elizabeth."  She started calling us Mamma and BaBa right away.  She sad on my lap fairly quickly.  She and the kids have been holding hands 

 

and she has been doing Catherine's hair. 

More importantly (I guess) she is already testing us.  Or I guess I should say she is testing me.  We went to dinner and she decided she didn't like the food and wanted something else.  I said no.  She tried crawling under the table and staying out of reach of either of us.  That happened a couple of times.  She is actually a bit bossy and seems used to being in charge.  But she is also adorable, and fitting right in.  She seems really anxious to learn English.  We went to Walmart and she picked out 2 things for learning English.  By the way, this girl has no trouble saying what she wants!  And she is really smart.  She saw a Barbie and came up to me to ask for it.  I hesitated, clearly leaning towards no and so she said "I'm going to ask daddy."  He, of course, said yes!  

For those of you that haven't gone back to the beginning, Claire's best friend Tai (Long Long) lives near us and we learned of her from his mom.  So, today we were able to Skype so that they could see each other.  It was also really great because Director Lu and the caretaker were able to see Tai who they clearly miss very much.

Today we had to sign paperwork that we agreed to care for Claire and that if we didn't want her that we would promise to bring her back.  Tomorrow we go to the civil affairs office and start the paperwork to formalize Claire's adoption.  The lawyer in me understands why this all needs to happen.  The mother in me just wants to get all my kids home.  

So, in a nutshell, that is Gotcha Day.  Everyone is asleep, exhausted from the emotions of the day.  Tomorrow promises to be a new adventure!