Adoption Day -- It's Official, She's a TULLI!

Adoption Day was today! Gotcha! Day is the day you meet your child for the first time and actually "take possession" for lack of a better term... the following day is when the legal adoption takes place.

We started the day EARLY as Mom, Dad and Mia all had trouble sleeping again... and hit the breakfast buffet for coffee and tea as soon as it opened. Notice the kids are still in PJs. Tony and I did manage to brush teeth, but showers came later.

Emma Qiao Qing loves bananas and satsumas (they are really tiny and sweet here)... and amazingly she can peel that thing by herself. After starting the peel for her, you should see those long fingers work their magic. Slow and deliberate... she gets the job done.

Watermelon? Not so much...

Waiting for the final interview back at the Civel Affairs office... They actually ask if we are satisfied with this little girl... Heck yes! Just don't ask her if she's satisfied with us!

Okay, it's OFFICIAL! She's now a Tulli!

Back at the Room

We made it back to the room and pretty quickly got a smile... it came while Mia and I tickled each other's toes... Emma joined in with the giggles shortly thereafter, but we learned pretty quickly that Emma Qiao Qing is very attached to and proud of her socks and shoes, so she kept hers on.

We can already tell these sisters are going to be inseperable... Mia is so proud to be a big sister. Emma is still figuring things out, but watches everything closely. She's very deliberate in her actions and motions, a little cautious (which is understandable) but has a beautiful smile when it comes through.

One thing is for sure... she knows what cake and cookie wrappers sound like... and has figured out Daddy is a good source for those!

Gotcha!

We arrived at the Guangdong Civic Affairs Office and within a few minutes, they announced she was coming out. We actually got a sneak preview about 5 minutes before... from across the room. They told us to wait a few minutes... felt like an eternity.

Mia wanted to be the first one to touch her baby sister... here she is reaching out to her.

Yay! Together, at last!

Checking out her Life Book -- Shenzhen SWI is a Half the Sky orphanage and one of the things they do is document phases of the children's lives... We have pictures and progress information as far back as when Emma Qiao Qing was five months old. Priceless!

Proud Big Sister! Mia has been SOOOO helpful! She absolutely adores her baby sister... and has said at least 100 times, "She's so cute!" We think so too, but are waiting to see if her reaction is the same a month from now. ;)

Pics to go with today's post...

Mia & Jia -- fast friends!

Checking out Emma's bed!

Mia calls this the "Fat Plane"

We look fresh, don't we? This was BEFORE the 11 1/2 hour flight to Tokyo which was followed by a 5 1/2 hour flight to Guangzhou. :)

Mia & Dad in Minneapolis

Toothpaste Confiscated!

Yes, it was a LONG journey, but we made it to Guangzhou... by way of Minneapolis and Tokyo. Who would have thought "the meltdown" would have been over confiscated toothpaste? As we went through security in Minneapolis, I discovered that my Colgate and Princess toothpaste was over the 3oz limit. How these got through TSA in New Orleans, who knows... but both were confiscated! Mia was devastated! Tears rolled down her face and she needed to know how/when we would get them back. At least the TSA representatives went along with our solution -- that on our way back through Minneapolis, they would return them. I thought that would do it... and it did for a while... but last night as she and I laid in our slightly larger than a twin size (very hard) bed in Guangzhou at 4:00am in the morning, she asked me about the toothpaste again! I revised my story and said they would mail them to our home. She wanted to know if they knew our address, so I assured her they did. The day after my return, I will be at Walmart buying Princess toothpaste that will magically appear in our mailbox!

We went to bed around 1am (Guangzhou is 14 hours ahead of home CST) and woke up bright and bushy tailed at 5am! The sun wasn't even up over the beautiful Pearl River which our room faces. We tried to sleep, eventually gave up, piddled in our room until the breakfast buffet opened. We had lots of coffee and hot tea, then fruit and dim sum and wonderful treats. Then walked all around the hotel -- me following Mia as she ran every where so happy to be out of the air. Then upstairs for showers then out to a park where we met some other adoptive families and their kiddos. We played and played. Then met our guide and the other family (Victoria & Jia) and took a walking tour of Shamian Island (very small, very European, geared towards tourists). Then had dinner with our group -- very laid back and nice -- then back to our room. It's only 7pm here and we're ready for bed!

Tomorrow is Gotcha! Day -- leaving the hotel at 2:00pm to head to Emma... followed by what else? Shopping!

Love to All!

Now THIS is SNOW!

We landed in Minneapolis at 8:30pm last night surrounded by mounds and mounds of snow! When we ran down the jetway, we could see our breath -- and that was inside! Mia was amazed. Glad we bought those gloves at the last minute and brought our heavy coats. It's a funny cold here -- dry and cold... way different than home. Our room at the Hampton Inn (free, thanks to points) is really nice. Mia and I had breakfast downstairs and we brought dad hot water for his tea. We are all showered, packed again and about to head to the airport for the LONG portion of our journey. We're all ready and anxious and excited and READY to get going. It's going to be fine... It's going to be fine... It's going to be fine... :)

We Leave Tomorrow!

I can't believe we leave tomorrow! It's going to take an eternity to pass... We don't leave for Minneapolis until 5:55pm from New Orleans. Peter is going to take us to the airport and we'll leave the house around 3:00pm -- as I'm not sure the international check-in time of 2 hours before your flight applies since we will be spending the night in Minneapolis. We arrive in Minneapolis at 8:45pm, spend the night there, then depart on January 2nd at 1:00pm for China -- through Tokyo. We'll arrive in Guangzhou around 10:30pm on January 3rd. Can you say LOOOONNNNGGG flight? But boy they end is worth it!

We of course will have black-eyed peas, cabbage and ham tomorrow before we leave -- have to ring in the New Year right!

Today is final packing day... Adella is cleaning and I'm washing and packing our clothes and carry-ons of goodies to keep us busy during the flights. Everything else is ready to go.

I got an email update from Tammy (our orphanage volunteer friend in Shenzhen)... and she mentioned again today, how happy and joyous Qiao Qing has been the last few days... like she knows we are coming! Our prayers are being answered.