We have our girl !!!

I know you are only interested in the pictures, so here they are.........

Now for the details...

We arrived at our hotel at 3pm. We were told to be ready to go to the Civil Affairs office at 3:40 for our 4:00 appointment. When we got there we walked into a large room filled with lots of babies who were already sitting with their parents. We didn't see Lainie and Lilly. Then, Bobby looked through another doorway and saw two Chinese nannies holding two babies. I recognized Lilly right away, and assumed the other baby was Lainie, but she looked different because she has more hair. So, Jane our CWA representative, and Peter our guide, went into that room and within 5 minutes Lainie was handed she was a little more unsure although we did get a few smiles. However, about 15 minutes into to me by Jane. She came to us fine although she was most interested in her toy. We were in and out of there in 15 minutes. It was all so fast that none of us even had a chance to take it all in. During the bus ride back to the hotel (about 10 minutes) Lainie sat on Jen's lap and just looked at the photo album that we had sent her in February. We think that she has looked at it before because she points to the pictures and turns the pages. Back at the hotel we did manage to get a few smiles and a laugh or two. However, after about 15 minutes she realized she didn't recognize anything or anyone and the crying began. It is really sad, but it was what we expected. She cried on and off, but just for a few minutes at a time. Tonight at dinner she sat on Jen's lap and ate steamed eggs that our guide "fixed up" for her. Back in the room we changed her clothes and wiped her down. We knew a bath would be way too traumatic. We'll try that in the morning. She took part of a bottle and went to sleep after just a few minutes of crying. She's been sleeping about an hour now. Lainie can stand on her own and walk if we hold her hand. She doesn't like to be put down very much though and that is fine with us. This all seems like such a dream. It all just happened so fast. We are looking forward to the next few days when we can just spend some down time with her. She is very alert and very interested in the toys that we brought. She can pick up Cheerios with her finger and thumb and put them in her mouth. She knows how to push the buttons on the toys to make them make noise. She seems to be on target developmentally. Thank you for all of your prayers for us. God has supplied our every need. We can't wait to tell everyone all about the details of the experience.

Tomorrow morning we will leave the hotel at 8:30 to go back to the Civil Affairs office for more paperwork. The orphanage director and doctor will also be there to answer our questions. Today they did tell us that Lainie has been a healthy baby. They called her Yi Yi in the orphanage (pronounced Ee Ee). So we've been calling her Lainie Yi Yi and we will eventually drop the Yi Yi. She does turn to us when we call her name.

Please continue to pray that God would quiet her anxious heart with His love and that our bonding would go smoothly and she would feel attached to us quickly.

Thank you to all of you for all you have done for our family. Words just aren't adequate to express our gratitude.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

The Barbee Bunch (now complete)