Our Little Girl

What an emotional day!! We were all up at 4:30 this morning, we couldn't convince Jorie to go back to sleep. Not that it would have made a difference if she had, Jeff and I were too excited to sleep as well. We played some games to pass the time until the breakfast buffet opened, then headed down for breakfast. After breakfast, we did everything we could think of to pass the time until Terra arrived. We prepared as best we could, getting a bottle and some snacks ready, figuring she might be hungry after her long journey from the orphanage. Finally, 11:00 came and we went down to the second floor to meet our little girl. We walked into the conference room with two other families from our group and our facilitator looked at us and said, "Your baby is here, the others have not yet arrived." We couldn't believe it! A few minutes later Terra came into the room with one of her nannies. She was hysterical!! My eyes welled up with tears and the emotions were no different than what I felt in the delivery room when Jorie was born. I was finally meeting my little girl. I gently picked her up out of her nanny's arms. She cried and cried, I could barely hear what the facilitator was telling us about her schedule. After a few minutes, the facilitator suggested that we bring her upstairs and settle her down. She said we could do the formal paperwork later and ask the orphanage staff questions later. So, we headed up to our room and began life as a family of four. The first picture is the picture of Terra and I as we entered the hotel room. She started calming down within minutes of coming into the room. I sat down with her on the floor and didn't dare move as she sat contentedly on my lap. Jorie kept asking when she could play with her and Terra just stared at all of us, as if to say, "Who are you people and why am I here?!" After the initial novelty of being a big sister wore off, Jorie decided she wanted to play cards. This actually ended up being the best thing she could have done because Terra was very interested in the cards and that was the first time she interacted with any of us. She and Jorie passed the cards back and forth to each other and had a great time. After that, she started exploring a few other toys, all from the safety of my lap - she would not venture off nor did she like it when I tried to move. So, we sat on the floor with her on my lap for about 3 hours - the second picture above was taken at some point in those 3 hours. Then, it was time to get ready to complete our formal paperwork and adoption registration. Getting out the door with two children was no easy task! We were so concerned about having everything we needed for the girls and the paperwork, that we totally forgot our gifts that we brought for the officials that helped us with the paperwork! We felt just awful at the adoption registry when they handed us a gift and thanked us for our kindness and we had no gift to give back!
We've learned quite a bit about Terra already. We know that she is terrified of anything new, each new thing that we've done or person that we've seen has brought about many tears. We also know that she DOES NOT like elevators - we may have to go in search of stairs if she doesn't warm up to the elevators. We also know that she is incredibly smart. She studied her bottle with avid curiosity until she figured out how to put the top on and off herself, she has already mastered the sippy cup, and she watched Jorie and I build a tower for a few minutes, then started adding cups to the tower herself. We had sent her a care package a few months ago and one of the things we sent was a toy with pictures of us. When she arrived today, the orphanage staff gave us the toy and it was clear that someone had spent time showing her our pictures. Once we got back from all of our appointments, we sat back down to our perch on the floor and she picked up her toy. She looked at each of our pictures. She pointed to my picture and rubbed my face in the picture. She also pointed to Jorie's picture, then picked it up and gave it kisses! Then, to our surprise, she pointed at Jorie! What a smarty pants! We also know that she LOVES to eat! You wouldn't know it to look at her, she's quite a little peanut, but she ate far more than her big sister at dinner tonight. It's so strange to have a child that will eat anything! Although, I can't really blame her, dinner was fantastic! It was, by far, the best meal we've had since our arrival. We can't wait to learn more about our little girl as the days go on!
It's been so interesting to watch the different reactions of the babies that arrived today. Terra was, by far, the most visibly upset about the changes in her life. She has not let go of me since she arrived and won't even think of going near Jeff. One other girl in our group will not let go of her new daddy and won't go near her new mommy! The third little girl has been quietly content since she arrived. At the adoption registry, we met another couple that received their little boy this morning and he was laughing and playing with his new parents like they had known each other for years. It's so amazing how children have so many different ways to cope.
The other families in our group have commented on what an incredibly beautiful little girl we have, she really is quite beautiful. They also insist that her resemblance to me is uncanny - go figure! They insist that she has my coloring and my eyes - big brown eyes with long eyelashes.
Well, I should go wash bottles and get ready for bed - the rest of my family is sound asleep. We'll continue to keep you posted on our progress. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and well wishes. We feel so incredibly blessed to be on this journey!