Yes sir...that's my baby!

Can you believe it?! We are finally parents....for going on sixteen hours! Let me tell you we are the luckiest people in the world...Our little Ellie is absolutely positively more than we had ever imagined. I have a zillion more pics, but Shaun forgot a cord so we had to switch to the old camera for blog purposes...I promise, more are coming! These pictures were taken after we officially became Ellie's parents. 1/15/07

So...here's the breakdown...

Shaun and I spent thirty six hours in very close proximity to one another ...traveling in a foreign land...where surprisingly few people in the airports spoke English...and came out of it still loving eachother...what a team. I laugh though because at one point Shaun looked at me and said...It's definate, we could never do the Amazing Race...I agreed.

When we arrived in Lanzhou at 6pm Sunday night, we were greeted at the airport by Steed and he took us to the hotel..about 75 km. When we got here it was 8pm and the babies were given to us in the lobby at 9pm. What an experience! All of this waiting came down to this moment. Shaun started saying, "I'm going to be sick." and I just fluttered about looking for bottles..picking things up and setting them back down. Let me tell you it was quite a scene!

Anyway, the babies...the reason it is plural is that the Shafers son is also coming from Ellie's orphanage and they brought him too....In our babies came with their entourage from the orphanage. The director, asst. director and a local policeman and friend who transported them to us. I couldn't believe my eyes...she was breathtaking...when I picked her up I realized that she was half as big as she looked...four layer of clothes on her! She had on her little red hat and a red dot on her forehead...we just held her and let her stare at us...I see from the video that all I did was say, "I'm your Mommie!" and act like a blithering idiot...but hey.. OH, and then she finally showed us that smile! It is so cute...she has two bottom teeth and she likes showing them off by smiling...she also squinches up her nose and eyes sometimes when she is smiling...reminds me of my nephew Johnathan.

I realize this is terribly rambly, but I'm doing it while she is down for a nap so I am rushing.

As I said in the e mail, she didn't want to be put down at all last night, until I finally put her in the crib and she zonked out. (We had to lay down on the bed next to it where she could see us though.) She slept all through the night...even though Shaun and I couldn't...By her third diaper change. (Which Daddy did all by himself) she didn't cry anymore. This morning I put her on my bed with a few toys and she sat straight up and played while I sat with her...she was very aware of where Shaun was though...I must say, Ellie sure likes her Daddy...And he's over the moon for her...I feel great when he's holding her and she does the lean toward Mommie! We are so happy..happy...I wish I could think of some fabulous metaphors for how happy we are, but all my literary abilities have left me...I will ramble on.

This morning after breakfast we went to officially adopt Ellie. We were interviewed by government officials...Ellie was just charming all of them. They seemed very happy that I pronounced Hui Ping properly. The director of the orphanage was there with the officials and they were all very kind. When the interview was over, we put her foot into red ink and stamped the official adoption papers. Shaun and I had to put our thumbs in the ink as well and put our thumbprint over all of our signatures. It was very emotional for Shaun and I...Ellie just played with her feet!

I'll keep the blogs coming now that our computer is hooked up to the internet....Many more pics to come...this is just the start