Bear Necessity Collectibles

Today I became a mom all over again. Granted, it was in a chaotic manner, but isn’t that how all babies come into the world anyway?

I am pretty tired and overwhelmed by the day, so tonight’s post will be somewhat brief.

We arrived at the civil affairs office to meet my daughter 20 minutes late because our guide failed to arrange a private car – assuming we could catch a cab. As we were traveling in peak rush hour, it was a foolish assumption.

We arrived only minutes before Lily did and had no opportunity to video tape her entrance. She was ushered over to us, frightened by the situation. While I tried to greet my daughter I was stopped by the officer demanding to see my papers.

We were able to sit for a few moments with the caretakers and ask some questions. However, when they left the room to complete paperwork, Lily- who at this point will only answer to Qiao Qiao, went crazy crying and fighting to get to them.

They returned a minute later and said we needed to follow them. We went downstairs and they put Lily and I in their car and said Julia would need to stay there with the orphanage director. This was unknown to by us, not explained much as it was happening.

We drove to the police station where they had to take Lily’s passport photo. They took it three times and said they were all unacceptable because her eye rolled in! She has esotropia! What did they expect? It took several calls by the orphanage director to get this resolved. We then drove back to get Julia – who thankfully was ok.

We finally said our goodbyes to the orphanage staff and Lily cried quietly in the car as we drove back to the hotel. Within 10 minutes she was more enthralled with her new toys and big sister, then where her caregivers had gone.

We played with her the rest of the day, took her to dinner and gave her – her first bath. In the end she went to bed without a single tear.

I was blessed in several ways today. First, I have never been prouder of Julia than I was today. She was helpful in more ways than I could have ever imagined and is already a great big sister. Secondly, God has given me another wonderful child to raise and what’s more, she has a tremendous sense of humor. She had Julia and I laughing throughout the afternoon.

Tomorrow I will sign the papers that officially make her my daughter. The adventure begins.