We have Xuehong/Ella and she is everything and more of what we envisioned!!! She was so scared when she got to the hotel. She cried, and cried and cried. Poor baby. She's so beautiful and she has HAIR. I didn't expect that. Our guide met us in the lobby around 3:40 and we waited together for her. He went outside and met them and them they came in with her. We tried to comfort her but she was not happy being with these people she's never seen the likes of. We had to sign some documents and take pictures for the orphanage and then they let us take her to the room. She was still crying and Dale sung to her and rocked her by the window and she fell asleep still gasping the whole time with every breath even as she slept. I knew she would be scared and I am prepared for it to take a while for her to take to us but it breaks my heart to see her cry like that. I wish I knew how to console her.

She actually has some movement in her arm and I am thrilled to see that. She is so bundled up because it's so cold today and we didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was so maybe when she wakes up we will bathe her and see just how much movement she actually has. I think she has a great chance at really being able to use it with surgery and therapy.

It feels strange having someone hand me a baby and have her be mine. I've dreamed of this day for so long and I am sooo happy and can't put it into words just how wonderful today was.

It's going to take some time finding out all the little things about her but for now all I know is she still takes a bottle but is potty trained. (All those cute gdiapers and she won't even be able to wear them.

Well, I want to see her eyes open when she wakes up so I'm going to stare at her while she's sleeping. We've moved her from Dale to me and back to him and she's still asleep. I hope that's a good sign.

Love to all,
Priscella

Today was a whirlwind of a day. Sorry I don't have enough space on flickr.com to post very many pictures and I want to save room for Gotcha Day pics and it's so late and we have an early morning tomorrow so I will just post a synopsis of our day.

We had our Beijing tours of Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall. It was a national Holiday and there were sooo many people at all of these places. We started out the day with overcast skies and it was cool but as the day progressed it started raining and got really down right chilly. The Forbidden City is so much larger than I expected it to be. You just kept going deeper inside one wall after another. It was just beautiful. Our guide was really patient and told us so many things about each part. We had lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant and it was an experience. Most of it was unrecognizable but we all found something that would satisfy us even though we walked away hungry.

The Great Wall is just that. Great. As we entered the part of China in the van where we were to start the tour we started seeing huge mountains and we were dropped off at the entrance and were told to go as far as we could and have time to come back down in an hour and a half. It was really raining by this time and we were a little dissapointed that it wasn't prettier. Dale and the boys are much braver than I am and I just got to the landing where the steps really get steep and decided I didn't want to walk up and down wet, anient steps just to say I did it, so I waited for them all to come down. The boys got really cold and Dale is regretting going as high as he did but he got some really cool pictures.

On the ride back to the hotel I got some really GREAT news. Our guide who will be going with us to Ella's province said he is going to try to get them to bring her to us tomorrow afternoon (Sunday here) instead of waiting for Monday morning!!!! I cannot wait until then. I don't know if I can sleep tonight. So in less than 24 hours we will have Ella in our arms. I can't believe it's real. This all feels like a dream. I will try to post as soon as we can. I guess it will be early, early in the morning when we get her and I don't know an exact time, but tune in often and I promise I will have at least a few photos to share. I know all of you are anxious and I won't leave you hanging any longer than I have to but it all depends on how she is when we get back to the room.

Love everyone,
Priscella