"Gotcha Lily Sha Hope!"

Hello from Changsha, Hunan Province!!!

Today has been a magical day - Thank you Lord!!!! We were so incredibly blessed at 10am Changsha time on September 22nd (7pm California time on 9/21) with the newest member of our family, Lily Sha Hope. She is just precious and has already completely stolen our hearts (and even those of the staff members at the hotel restaurant!!). Lily has already become very attached to her Daddy, which I am so thankful for!! Jim went for a massage today so Lily and I had some time alone (Jim and I had both gone for massages yesterday before we got Lily. We each had 2 hour massages and it cost us a total of about $24 for the TWO OF US!) While Jim was gone today, Lily did great with me but as soon as he walked back in the room she about jumped out of my arms for her Daddy. It was too cute for words and honestly, if it has to be one of us that she prefers, I am glad it is Daddy rather than me. I know well enough that she'll be wanting me in the days, weeks and years to come!!

OK, we had two cameras with us at the Civil Affairs Office but the one that took still pictures is not syncing up yet with Jim's laptop so I will post a few pics from after the actual "gotcha Lily moment".... one is of Jim holding her on the van ride back to the hotel and the other is of me holding Lily after I got her to fall asleep in my arms. What a delightful moment to hold her while she fell asleep!! Two of the other pictures are from our dinner tonight and the wonderful staff that fell in love with Lily. As soon as I can post more pictures, I will. But for now... enjoy!!

Here is an overview of our "Gotcha Day!: We arrived at the Civil Affairs office for our 10am appointment and we saw a woman standing outside the building with a tiny, tiny, baby. Initially I did not recognize this baby to be our Lily because she was so small. The paperwork we were given at referral stated that Lily weighed about 16 pounds back in May when she was only 8 months old. I had estimated that she would be about 20 pounds now. Well, I was off by a lot. Her weight right now is probably closer to 10 pounds?!! Our Hannah weighed 9.1 pounds at birth so it was a shock to see a one year old so completely tiny. The food in her foster home was obviously very limited to Lily, even though the paperwork describes 4 meals a day.

After a minute I recognized the foster mother from pictures we have of her with Lily. She came over to us but I knew from other families that I could not hold Lily until our paperwork had been cleared by the officials. We stood outside the building and talked to the foster mom through our translator and took pictures of our sweet girl with her! I was able to give gifts to the foster Mom and pass on pictures from Lily's foster sister, that has been living in Colorado since June, with her family. The foster Mom was sooooo happy to see these updated photos!

After a few minutes, we all went into the building, had paperwork and passports checked and then the foster mom placed this precious bundle of love into my arms. What a moment!!!!! After a few moments of loving on her, I passed her to Jim and she did great. She did not cry at all and didn't even cry when her foster mother left the room to go back home. When we got in the van to leave, Lily started to cry but stopped as soon as her Daddy was holding her. We stopped at a grocery store so I could go in with our guide and buy some smaller diapers. Can you imagine I had to buy the Small size so they'd fit this little pumpkin??? She is so little! All the size 3 Huggies that I brought from home are going to be donated to the orphanage tomorrow! We had a very relaxing day just hanging out at the hotel and walking just a bit near the hotel, (did I mention that they should be calling Changsha, the "Miami of China!" It is about 100 degrees with 90% humidity.) I am very happy for wonderful air conditioning in our hotel (gosh, it is the little things in life... well I guess A/C in this weather is not a "little thing.") Lily has heat rash all over her.... poor thing! I am working on getting rid of it ASAP with the wonderful Arbonne baby products I carried to China! Yes people, you'd better believe she is going to be an Arbonne baby! :)

As I type, Lily is sound asleep in her crib (it was so surreal to be checking into our hotel room yesterday and have the staff wheel in a crib and a stroller for us to use during our stay.)

I'd better get going because we have a full day tomorrow of appointments. Thank you so much to Diana for posting for me since I still can't access by blogger account from Changsha. Many of you know that Diana's journey to Ruby was (and continues to be) a tremendous blessing to me! (Thanks Debbie from Diana!! :)

Christy, thank you so much for the Ergo Baby - Lily did great in it with me while we walked around the lobby shops and walked around the outside area until I felt sweat dripping from every part of my being. I thought of you here 18 months ago with your beautiful Mia. You were right, our guide, Susan is WONDERFUL!.. What an asset to have a guide who is caring, understanding and very accommodating to our every need!!!

Thank you to everyone that has left messages on our blog and emails. I am sorry I wasn't able to blog sooner -- gosh, I have tried! We are so happy and feel like we have had our sweet Lily for much longer than just this one day. I am so excited that she is finally with us! I know God's timing is perfect and I couldn't be more thrilled with the little China treasure He had planned for us since the beginning of time. Thank you Lord!! I was thinking a lot today about my wonderful sister-in-law, Raisin and how she has been seeing Lily since she died on June 7th. I was thinking how excited she must be today to see Lily placed in our arms. I just know she is sharing in this joy of our family today!

All God's best from Changsha, Hunan, China ~!

Jim, Debbie & Lily