Our first day together!

Mike told you guys yesterday how crazy our day was. Sorry it is taking so long to let you know what's going on. Sunday we left our rooms at 8:00 am and caught a plane to Nanchang, pronounced Nanchung. I had never heard of Nanchang before, but it is a big city with over 3 million people. Our flight was late talking off so it made it crazy in getting our little girl. Basically we got off of the plane, got onto a bus and were told our babies were waiting for us at the hotel. Well you can only imagine how excited we were. When we got to the hotel we didn't have a chance to do anything but drop off our carry-on bags and head to the 3rd floor. I wish I could describe how emotional this time was. I have given birth twice and they are both very different experiences, but this was a "birthing" that was ten times more emotional. We shared our Gotcha day with 10 other couples and one single mother. Standing in a room with people that you now consider some of the best people you have ever known and will forever have a bond with was amazing. You are excited for them and excited for yourself. Imagine being in a birthing room with 11 other Moms at the same time. When we walked into the room 3 of the babies are their with their nannies. The excitment intensified! We were looking at them trying to figure out if they were our baby and if not who they belonged to. Looking around the room you soon knew who they belong to, because the Moms are crying and saying "There she is, there is my baby!" Can you imagine! After those babies were matched another 2 babies were bought into the room, Harper wasn't there! Where could she be! We were so excited as we watched other Moms and Dads being introduced to their babies. Then we heard a comotion in the lobby area I looked out and spotted the blanket that my Mom made and I sent to Harper in her box. Of course I started crying! It took them a few minutes to bring her in and when she did we went right over to her and her nanny. We couldn't go up to her until they called our names and made an official introduction. Those few minutes felt like the longest in the world! The girls were so excited and so were Mike and I! FINALLY they called our names and we got to get our baby into our arms. It was great! She didn't cry right away she let me carry her around and she just stared at me and Mike and the girls. We came up to the room and started the process of becoming a family of 5. She didn't want to eat, and just looking at her you can tell she hasn't missed many meals! She cried, a lot! I gave her a bath becasue I just had to check her out all over to make sure she was ok. She screamed like mad! Finally she passed out in my arms. She is a thumb sucker so she was able to sooth herself, which was really good becasue at least something is still familiar to her. She woke up at 2 am, but fell asleep immediately when I put her on my chest and patted her back. This is something I don't want to start!

Today she will have nothing to do with me. Everytime she looks at me or hears my voice she cries. She is attached to Mike and doesn't want him out of her sight. Which is ok, but it is really better for her and for everyone else involved if she attaches to me. Hopefully this will pass in the next day or so. I'm sure she will sooner or later. This is something we have been praying for, that Harper attaches to both of us before we get home. I think this is going to be so important when we get back to our lives. Please continue to pray for us and pray that she will let me do for her tomorrow.

Ok, I have to share my experience today. Because Harper won't have anything to do with me it made more sense that I made the Wal Mart run with the other people in our group. All of the other people that went were the Dads or Grandparents, I was the only Mom. Anyway I am so glad that I went because it was an experience of a life time. The traffic here is insane, think of NYC with no rules! I'm not talking just crazy busy, it is that. But it seems like noone knows the rules of the road and they just drive wherever they want to go. When it is a 2 lane road they will turn it into a 4 lane road. They drive the wrong way on the roads and watch out if you are a walking, they don't care. So we walked to the Wal Mart and saw many interesting things on the way. We passed peple that were coming out of the bus station and riding home in the back of wooden wagons. We passed people selling all kinds of food on the street. One item was a bread that kind of looked like an elephant ear but was really more bread like with sesame seeds. Someone purchased one and I had a taste, it was really good. In a stall next to him was a man selling some type of meat that looked a little like rat on a stick - gross! There were other men that were selling some type of "snack" (that's what our guide said it was) that looked like a really thick rice pile with stuff in it like candied fruits and nuts. It was like a fruitcake, but it was a huge block. There is no way in this world I would ever eat anything that looked like this. Anyway I thought the walk was crazy until I walked into the Wal Mart. Right when we were walking in a man came up to us with his monkey on a string, a real monkey! Wal Mart was crazy, think of Wal Mart the day after Thanksgiving times 10! You could hardly move becasue of all the people. Remember it was 3:30 in the afternoon on Monday, not generally a busy time to shop. The Wal Mart is 3 stories tall and is laid out a lot like our Wal Mart. The food department was very interesting. I wanted to buy somethings just to find out what they were. In the meat department right next to the fried chicken was whole cooked pigs, ducks and other animals. I did find some things that looked familiar. The taxi ride home was just as exciting because once again we got to experience the traffic rules, or lack there of, first hand.

I'm going to try to attach some more pictures. The one above was taken today at the China Civil Affairs Office when we were taking our pledge to take care of our baby. This is where we received the "red book" that made everyting official according to China. Now all we have to do is make everything official in America. We start that process at the end of the week.