One less!

GOTCHA!

At 10:18 today our world changed for the better when Katelyn Ann Sanford, or MeiMei to Jaden, joined our family!

Katie has been amazingly brave and Jaden has been so supportive of his little sister.  He keeps saying, "I'm a big brother!" to anyone who will listen (even though most of them don't speak the same language, he universally gets a big smile in response).  You don't have to understand the words to hear the joy.
We got to the orphanage after about 45 minutes of crazy driving.  It is in a suburb of Chengdu that only has several million people.  We were there right at 10 am but Katie wasn't brought in right away.  The other family's daughter was there almost immediately.  She was precious and actually looks quite a bit like Katie.  She is a few months younger but was in foster care, not in the orphanage.  Her story isn't mine to tell but I struggled not to cry as I didn't want to meet Katie in tears.
 After about 15 minutes, the ayi brought Katie in to the room.  She was clearly already a little anxious as they had to wake her to bring her to us.  She cried at the handoff (but then I did too) but calmed very quickly with the help of the doll from NaiNai and Cheerios.  Somehow, we got to China without our bag of suckers, which is what really worked with Jay but thankfully, Cheerios did the trick.  Katie started to get upset again because the other child fell and bumped her head and was obviously upset, but a water bottle worked well that time.  Once she settled into my arms, she never really left them again.  We got to meet her Ayi.  The ayi had a cross on!  A bit of prevenient grace, perhaps?  Maybe we weren't the only ones praying for her.  :)

I put her in the baby carrier and although she was sweaty, she was very happy there.  I left her in it while we drove to Wal-Mart and she eventually fell asleep again.  I can't tell you what a wonderful feeling it was to look down at that precious baby.  She kept trying to cuddle closer to my chest...brought back fond memories of my two oldest.  :)

After all the fun shopping (and trying to pay) we made it back to the room.  She spent several hours just sitting in my lap or leaning on me.  The big guy is a little scary as the only other men she has ever been around were doctors.  (Shhh, she doesn't know I'm a doctor too) but just before bedtime, she finally ventured away from me and began exploring.  It was so cute watching Jay working out what it means to be a big brother.  He runs to grab a water bottle when he knows I'm about to change her because she cried the first time.  He says that she really needs a big brother. She has already started following him around.  We'll see how long it takes for the novelty to wear off but as for now, he is thrilled anytime she notices him.

She has tried hard not to cry.  You can watch the sadness sweep through her on occasion. She will look up and away and try not to let the tears fall.  I keep telling her it is okay to cry.  Although I know she doesn't understand, I hope she can sense that we're okay with her emotions.  She isn't verbalizing at all.  We don't know if she doesn't have words or she is just too closed down to try but we'll see how she does tomorrow.  I can't wait to watch her blossom and relax. We have only had a glimpse or two of her smile but it is as pretty as the rest of her.
We are going to try sleeping with all four of us in one bed, (gulp!) and see how it goes.  Jaden was so excited about that that he even forgot to ask for books.  We all laid down and she went straight off to sleep.  Within a few minutes, Jaden was out as well.  It is so sweet, in his sleep he reached out to hold her.
I'm exhausted too and want to crawl into bed with the other Sanfords in China. I'll try to add pics but if it doesn't work, check back tomorrow.  I'll add some after a little sleep.  Blessings, y'all and thanks for all the prayers.