Family Complete

What a wonderful day! I woke up really early because I couldn't sleep. Once Kala woke up, we got ready and went down to the breakfast buffet. We recognized a few things: watermelon, toast, and fried eggs. We both got a glass of "orange juice" which was actually warm, yes warm, tang. After eating our breakfast, we came back to our room to gather our things and go down to the lobby to meet our guide. She took us to the Civil Affairs office where we would become the parents of Meng Jie (which we have been mispronouncing all along), or Maelin. I would try to type in a pronunciation, but there really isn't a way to spell it phonetically. The ladies bringing Maelin got caught in traffic, so we had some time to start some paperwork before she got there. When they brought Maelin in the room, they handed her off to Kala. She immediately started crying and throwing her head back. She was not happy. After Kala held her for a while and while I was filling out more paperwork, she stopped crying and played with some tissues. When I say played, I actually mean that she just kept herself occupied to avoid thinking about what was going on. When I had completed my part of the paperwork, Kala had to hand Maelin off to me so she could do her part. Same thing happened-she started crying and throwing her head back once again. Kala finished quickly so she could take Maelin back from me. We thanked the officials and left to go to the store to get a few things for Maelin. Then we headed back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Maelin is trying really hard to understand what is going on. She has been reserved all day. We haven't seen a smile yet, but we expected that. She doesn't want much to do with me yet, but we expected that too. She has kept herself busy playing with some wrappers off of plastic coke and sprite bottles. She doesn't want any of the toys we brought for her, just the wrappers. Typical kiddo! One thing that did surprise us was how good she did during bath time. She cried for just a second when Kala first put her in the water, but got comfortable rather quickly. We are in our PJ's and watching TV right now waiting for bed time. Now for what you actually logged on for:









Rylan and Keelan, we can't wait for you to meet Maelin. We are going to show her your pictures and videos every day, but she still may be shy at first. We love you and miss you very much. We are glad you are feeling better. Be good for Gramzie!

Hopefully we will get some pictures of her smiling soon!