A & I!

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog. It's been a crazy few days. This update will be short but at least it's here!

We left Louisville at 6:30am Friday and landed in Detroit around 8. Had a little breakfast and walked the airport a few times since our lay over was 5 hours. The flight to Beijing wasn't awful but none of our seats were assigned together so that made the trip a little longer. We were not able to get them switched around together which appeared to be common as many people around us were not sitting with their travel partners. We arrives in Beijing Saturday at 2:40pm (local time) and made our way to the hotel. I would love to say that I took in some of Beijing but I had been up for over 24 hours and was pretty tired. We got to the hotel around 4:30pm and crashed early. All of us!

Sunday we were up early and had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and headed back to the airport. Again. This time it was to fly to Zhengzhou (in Henan). Nothing much to report for Sunday. We met our lovely Henan guide, Vivian. She is super sweet and energetic. I really like her. She calls my mom and Sandy the "grandmas". "Where are the grandmas?" "Hurry up grandmas". Funny.

MONDAY! We all woke up early again. The time change is very hard to adjust to. We are 12 hours ahead of Louisville time. Once again we headed to the great breakfast buffet in the hotel and actually came back to the room and fell asleep. I just wasn't nervous. I think it was more because I didn't believe it was actually going to happen. It still seemed far away and that I had plenty of time for a nap :) The bus came at 9:30am and we hopped on with two other families. One are the new proud parents of a little girl and the others of a little boy. Both families are VERY sweet. It took us about 20 minutes to drive to the government office where we would meet A & I. It felt like 5 minutes.

We go into this big empty room and just wait. There were a few other families there with other agencies but not too many. It is strange. You just stand in this room and wait. All of the sudden children start coming in through the door with their nannies or orphanage director. They walk in the door, call out the child's name and you walk over. That's it. Seems like it should be more formal or something. Anyway. Isaac was first! He was the first one to arrive. I guess it was because he flew in the day before. He was happy, sweet and just amazing. He took to Jake right away, played, shared snacks, throw a ball around. He never missed a beat. It was strange how well he did in that moment. Lots of people. Lots of noise. He was a champ. A very cute champ.

Ayla was the last to arrive about an hour later. She was very sad. Her nanny from Angel House was with her and it was very clear that they had a close bond. They both struggled. Ayla was very sad and confused but was able to come around in a little while. After she had been there about 30 minutes we all piled in the bus to come back to the hotel. That was it. Very strange.

Back at the hotel they both crashed hard. She slept for nearly two hours and him over two. They are both doing well. He eats like a full grown man. She is coming around. It took me a while to get her to drink. She doesn't want either sippy cup or a bottle. I got her to drink from a spoon (I know, gotta do what works) and then she would drink from the water bottle. Messy but she was finally drinking. She was running a fever yesterday. Isaac is everywhere. Playing, climbing and just being a boy. Ayla is busy watching closely but not ready to just in yet.

Today we finalize their adoption. They are both sound asleep right now (it's 6am Tuesday here). They both went down easily around 7:45 pm and are still sound asleep. Wonder if that will last?

We will be getting them up in a little while for breakfast and then we will head back to the government office to make it official. It is my understanding that this 24 hours was to determine if this is the right choice for you. This is the right choice.

After that we will drive 3.5 hours (each way) to Anyang. That is her home town and we will be complete our portion of her passport process. Then drive 3.5 hours back. Today is going to be a LONG day.