Jia!

We went to the Civil Affairs Bureau on Monday. We were sitting with the director? deputy director? Susan doing some paperwork - checking our passports and information. And we signed a paper called the Harmonious Period, stating we would be her guardians until the adoption took place. Then there was noise coming from the stairwell, and we heard that Jia was coming. In walked four or five people accompanying the sweet little girl we had been waiting so long for. She was holding the doll I sent her so tightly, looking around, not certain what was going to happen. They told her who each of us was... and it appeared that the book I had sent helped her a little. They told her to give each of us a hug, and she obediantly came to each of us and put her cheek to our faces and her arm around us. But the look on her face showed she was scared and didn't understand. The caregiver gave us a beautifully bound book with pictures of Jia all dressed up and also had many pictures of her as a baby. She was the cutest little baby. We didn't get the original pictures of her, but the book was a wonderful keepsake.

Everything happened so quickly... we learned very quickly the niao and la ba means pee and poop respectively. I paid particularly close attention to that when she had to go pee.

Before we knew it, the orphanage people left as quietly as they could to not make a big deal of the exchange. We then went down to the van ourselves and got in. That's when the quiet crying started. She was sniffling and the tears were running down her cheeks and she was wiping them. I gave her a kleenex and she wiped her tears. Lynn, our guide (did I tell you how much I love this girl?) asked Jia if she liked noodles or dumplings... and Jia said jiao zi (dumplings). So Lynn took us to a dumpling restaurant. Wow... when Jia understood that we were going to eat... her whole demeanor changed. She began to smile and laugh. Lynn asked her if her mama and baba were good, and she said yes.

Later, at the hotel, she went wild. She immediately began to check everything out, turning the lights off and on and off and on and... you get the idea. When she got tired of that, she found the tv and began turning it on and switching channels and then going through everything. It was hard to keep up with her. Later, Deb gave her some playing cards and we watched as she sorted them and then took only the face cards and began counting them like a Las Vegas dealer. This kid has incredible fine motor skills. She chattered all the time, and she calls me mama and was really upset when baba left the room for a little bit. We blew up balloons and had a great time playing with those in the hall.

After all the play and the manic day - what we are finding out she is very inquisitive, smart and has a wonderful sense of humor. She likes to play tricks and laughs at everything - a very happy child. She is picking up English words quickly. The first being Bye bye and then no-no-no-no- no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no (as she laughs at us), and then Thank you, and pee pee.

At one point, Roy went to the bathroom to take a shower and locked the door (thank goodness). She began trying to get into the shower and she was yelling "Baba! Guo Lai!" She finally said "Baba! Come on!" Also, yesterday, she had cards that she was holding one up at a time and she counted them to me one at a time up to nine... When she would say the number, I would repeate it and she would give me the card. We got to nine and I looked at her and said "Where's ten?" She then counted in English with me as I handed the cards back to her. Then, when she had all the cards back, she picked up a card and said "Shi!" With a huge grin on her face, and then threw her head back and laughed. She got the joke... she is a very funny girl.

She is a handful at this point, but there was a time during last night (Tuesday night) where she was very tired. I sat down and held my arms out and she came to me and allowed me to hold her and rock her, stroke her hair, and she just melted into me and fell asleep. I think she feels fairly secure with us. Today we go to the Tiger Park and then maybe the Russian Church. I can't hardly wait until we get to settle in as a family.