Tuesday, November 7, 2006
KATIE DAY!

Our family is finally complete, as we were handed Katie at about 3:05 pm.

Since you’re really not interested in reading about it (we know you’re just looking at the pictures!), we’ll be brief.

We were told that we’d be the 10th family to receive our baby, but ended up being the 8th. The room at the Adoption Affairs Centre was very hot, and became hotter and louder with each baby addition. Some babies screamed, some cried, and some, like our sweet Katie, sat silently, looking around and playing with toys.

Total chaos, yet total joy!

The pictures are of the six of us, but there were a total of 11 families there. Aunt Karen did not come to the Civil Affairs office, as she stayed at the hotel taking care of sick Grace, the 5-year-old daughter of one of our travel group families. Karen staying with Grace allowed both Mom and Dad to be present at their daughter, Julie’s “gotcha day.” It was a very selfless act on Karen’s part, and was a lovely gift to Grace’s family. Don’t worry; as soon as they got back, Karen came to see her peacefully sleeping niece. We just ordered food in, so there will be plenty of time for Aunt Karen to interact with Katie.

For the record, we got just a few sweet smiles out of Katie. Once she gets more comfortable, I’m sure we’ll have many. And we will capture one, and post if as soon as she does.

The boys were very helpful today. They each took pictures and video for many of the families. Each was anxious to hold his little sister, and wanted to be as near to her as he could be. Katie really seemed to enjoy the attention.

The Orphanage Director and nannies were very impressed with our boys. They got such a kick out of seeing all three of them, and, of course, were impressed with Joe’s height.

We’ll let Katie sleep a bit more, then wake her for a bottle and bath. She came to us in a boy’s outfit (why am I not surprised? – most all of the other girls’ outfits were pink!) with her name sewn onto the front of it. We will keep this special outfit as a lovely souvenir of Yangdong Social Welfare Institute.