We are here! We are here! We are here!

We made is safely to the other side of the world. We had a perfect trip over, with no delays or hiccups along the way. We left our house Wednesday morning at 6:15 am and arrived at Shepherd's Field Children's Village outside of Beijing at 4:30 Thursday afternoon. One of my fears was that we would be so tired that we wouldn't remember meeting our daughter, or that we would be so tired and not have the energy to deal with a grieving child, let alone a child who has specific care instructions that we would have to learn before taking her. I prayed for sleep, but I also prayed that one way or another, God would give us the energy to get through the afternoon. I prayed that she would accept us and that we could be flexible with whatever situation presented itself.

Sara and Aaron were waiting for us when we arrived, along with a handful of other volunteers. Of course, the cameras were ready! Sara wanted to make sure that we wanted Hannah right away. She thought it would be best if she brought Hannah to us in the Inn, instead of us going to her. She said that there were so many babies in her house that cry a lot, and that is one of them started crying, it might set her off. She went to get her, with Aaron capturing it on camera the whole way. I video taped her walking down the path and then another volunteer video taped her when we met.

She came with Sara without crying. She walked in and straight to us. NO TEARS! Rick put his hands out to hold her, and she put her arms out to accept his embrace. She then let me hold her. We gave her a stuffed animal that we brought and she loved it. She went from me to Rick willingly, never shedding a tear. We gave her fruit snacks because we know she loves candy! Everyone was speechless!! No one would've guessed that this was the response Hannah would have. For so long she has feared everyone. It is so obvious that her heart has been well prepared. Maybe all those nights that I dreamed about her, she was dreaming about us. Maybe she just knew and understood what was happening.

We immediately went it to get on skype (although it was a little early back home...) and to post a message on facebook that we were OK. She sat in our lap while we were on the computer, never once trying to squirm away. We walked around with her, chatted with the volunteers and just hung out for an hour around the inn. She walked around like she owned the place. She played a little game with us when we started teasing her that we would take her fruit snacks away. She has quite a sense of humor, too!!

Tim Baker arrived around 5:45 with dinner for everyone. Hannah is supposed to be on mostly liquids, but she ate an entire bowl of rice with egg, broccoli, and dumplings. She is a great eater and it is obvious that she is well fed! She is so heavy!!!! She is definitely bigger than Emma Grace right now. She has chubby cheeks and solid little legs!We have to be extra careful with what she eats, due to her special needs, but I wanted her to trust us. One way to build trust is through food.

After dinner, we skyped quickly with our family. She waved to them and pointed to each person and tried to say their name. After Skype we had to go to Hannah's house so the ayi could show us how to care for her. This was a little overwhelming!!! She is on 4 medications for her heart. Sara labeled everything for us in English and told us when to give everything. The ayi showed us how to change her. Hannah is living with a colostomy right now. We made the decision to hold this surgery until we come back home. We really struggled with this decision, but felt that long term it would be in her best interest to have this completed at home. It has to be cleaned and changed every 2 hours. She should be wearing a bag, but the ayi have their own system for how they changed it. We learned that way, but we will have to do something more secure when we get home. Changing her every 2 hours is not practical with our lifestyle.

As we were walking back to Hannah's house from the Inn, she got so excited and started to run. You can tell she was happy to take her mama and baba to her home. A little heartbreaking to think about. She walked in and ran to the stairs, then stopped to put her arms up so we would carry her. She went into her room, and showed us her bed. It was so sweet. The doll we sent was in the corner of the bed. I love that. She smiled at her ayis as they talked to her. It is SO OBVIOUS that she was loved and cared for. We will be forever grateful for that.

Dr. Moody shared with us that this will be hard on the ayis, too. They have cared for her for 3 years. Some of them have spent months at a time in the hospital with her, advocating for her care. He said that one time, the ayis got so mad with how the hospital was treating her, they came back and had Dr. Moody switch the hospitals. I love that. She had so many people fighting for her here. You can't hide the excitement from a 3 year old when she walked into that house. This was someone place she felt loved and comfortable.

When we got back to our room in the inn, she started to freak out a little bit. Hannah was very clean we got her. Her hair was clean, her face smelled like lotion, and her clothes were clean. Her fingernails were a little long with a little bit of dirt in the nails. This is totally normal and to be expected. In fact, when we were in her house and the ayi was changing her, she noticed a small amount of poop had gotten on her clothes. She changed her immediately. Let me tell you, this would not have happened in a government run orphanage. Rick couldn't even see the spot that was dirty. We took her shoes off and she cried. We noticed her shoes were a little small and her socks were dirty. Probably because the shoes don't come off very often. We took her socks off and she really cried!! We gave her some food to calm her down, then we washed her feet and hands in the sink and clipped her nails. You should never remove the clothing of an orphan right way, or give them a bath. Those smells and clothes make them feel comfortable. Even if they are stinky (which thankfully, she was not...) you just need to grin and bear it. She got so upset about her shoes, so I pulled her new shoes out and let her put on clean socks and shoes. This made her happy. I asked her if she wanted to get in bed with me and she kepy whimpering and shaking her head NO. We turned out the light and got in bed and let her walk around the room. I saw her yawn a few times. I got up to get her some crackers and then I put them in bed. This made her get in between us :) Rick and I drifted off, but she just sat there, with her shoes on. Every time I woke up, she was sitting there. Finally, I saw her bend over and put her head down... until finally I woke up and she was asleep next to us. She had fallen to sleep without crying. I really think this was the case because we let her keep everything on and didn't force it.

I set the alarm to change her around midnight. Through that entire process, she did not budge. I love it! It was a mess, since it had been several hours since her last changing. She slept through it all and I got her back to bed with no issues. She was a restless sleeper, but made it through the night. She is still sleeping. When she wakes, I am going to give her a shower and changed her clothes, wish me luck!!

Overall, it was a beautiful afternoon. She is trusting us. She understands. God has definitely spoken to her and calmed her fears. We have so much to share about our girl, but that will come in the next few days. So many happy tears were wiped away today. So many people wanted to be here to see this moment. It was truly special. We will be forever grateful to the staff of SFCV and the care they have given our daughter.