Day 3 - Gotcha Day

We started out the day with an awesome continental breakfast at the hotel. I tell you what, I'm looking forward to that meal every morning. Good stuff.

We tried to burn some time by going out to exchange some money from USD to yuan, but we forgot our passports back at the hotel so the banks wouldn't do it for us. As we left one of the banks there was a person waiting for us outside who "told" us (gestures & calculators & funny words) that they would exchange with us. They showed us their money, but it didn't feel right. I read somewhere that if you deal with these people, you could end up with counterfeit yuan. He took us into the bank and proved that it was real, but we told him no. Our guide told us later that there is quite a black market for that sort of thing. We are just going to exchange at the hotel from now on. The exchange rate is the same as the bank can give us. Lesson learned.

Well, around 2pm it was gotcha time. We left on a bus with another family and our guide, Debra, and drove through the city for a bout 1/2 hour to get to an adoption center in town. We took the elevator up and walked into a pretty big open room with some couches. And there she was! We weren't expecting to walk into the room to see her, we expected her to walk into the room to see us. I didn't have the camera ready for the first couple seconds, but then she settled right in.

She cried for the first few seconds when she was handed to Trish, but for the rest of the day she didn't make a peep. I'd like to know what her voice sounds like, but she is just soooo shy. She loves to be held and just leans right into us. She is very overwhelmed I'm sure. She just looked around all day. She kind of looked sad, but that may be the expression that has always been on her face. She looks exactly like the pictures we have received of her.

At dinner last night, she ate some carrots and peas. She went to bed without any tears.

We used Skype in the evening to introduce her to her grandparents and her crazy aunt, uncle, and cousins in New Hampshire. Anyone else interested, you can find us under my name or our yahoo address, I think.

The videos aren't uploading nicely right now. I'll try to get some on here later in our day.

Thanks for your prayers!

Kraig