Breaking out the first diapers

It's 8:30 in the morning. They're coming for us at 9:15. It's the end of the world as we know it. Not that we're nervous, or anything. We've done this before, thought about it, spent a year preparing for it, prayed about it. We're pros at this. Besides, she's just a little girl. All 14 pounds of her. Hardly threatening to 3 adults and a big sister. Right?

We meet her and her care givers at the orphanage this morning. If the adjustment seems to be going very smoothly, we'll bring her back to the hotel with us this afternoon. If there are issues or questions, the handoff will happen later. We'll have an opportunity to ask questions about her care and living patterns, and drop off the donations we brought for orphanage.

Actually, Jia probably is the only one of us with no fear--and she probably has the biggest adjustment to come. We're expecting a lot of excitement at first, and then when reality hits that she is going to be sharing Mom and Dad, an extended period of jealousy. Hopefully, her excitement about having a baby sister (about which she has been questioning us daily, "Are we going to get baby sister right now?") will blunt the other response.

Jia is actually helping Kim pack the baby bag with diapers and other baby necessities right now.

Yesterday's train trip went off without a hitch. We got picked up at the hotel by the adoption agency's greeter, then easily found our train. Kim and Stacy immediately noticed that a gecko (or something very fast) was living under the seat in front of us. It looked to me like it made them shudder. We all felt better about the gecko when we realized it was probably eating the cockroaches that we found crawling out of the hole in the window frame. Jia was so excited once the train started moving that she stared out the window the entire time.

She has been a great traveler, staying happy and positive almost all the time, but it has exhausted her. After we had been moving for 1o minutes she started to droop, still intently looking out the window but refusing to give in as her chin started bouncing on the sill with every sway of the car. Once she was asleep and couldn't resist us any more, we nestled her into her seat, where she slept through the rest of the 4 hour train ride. She was totally jazzed by the autorickshaw ride from the train station to the hotel (picture at top).

They're coming for us.