We meet our sweet Sarah....

Yesterday after traveling for 26 hours when we arrived in Nanchang around 10:00am, we were told that we would meet Sarah that afternoon around 4:00. We were not expecting to meet her until Monday! So, we showered and attempted to get ourselves together for the meeting of a lifetime. I can't even being to explain the emotions we felt waiting for her to get to the Civil Affairs office. We were scared...excited...and it almost felt surreal. I can't explain the emotions I felt when I first saw her. She was so sad and cried for about two hours after meeting her. She was inconsolable. We found out the Sarah actually didn't live in an orphanage, but was in foster care with a retired couple. She eventually warmed up to us and we were able to see some of her personality. Amazingly, we ate dinner together and she slept all night. This morning was a little challenging, we had to wake her up to make it to an appointment and I think that she was scared because she didn't recognize her surroundings. We got through that and the rest of the morning went well. We are now legally Sarah's parents now which feels wonderful. She discovered at the adoption appointment that she can walk. She may walk unsteadily, but she is walking without holding on to anything. Our hotel room is not baby proof so it is a little scary at times. If I had to describe Sarah to you, I would say that she is sweet, tough, sassy, smart and very stubborn. Last night when Todd was holding her, she rubbed his back. She loves to feed us her food. She waves at people when the walk by. When she doesn't get what she wants, she cries or screams (she also does this funny cute little thing with her mouth when she cries). She loves to throw things. She is curious about everything. If we show her to do something once, she can do it almost immediately. She has fallen more than a few times when she has been walking and she just doesn't cry, she says "ohhh..." and gets back up. She wants what she wants when she wants it. All of that sounds like a two year old, doesn't it? We are so happy to finally be with her, but it has been difficult at times. We don't understand much about her and that is hard for both of us. It has taken us yesterday and today to get her to drink because we weren't using the right cup. We don't know when she is tired or hungry, but we are learning each other. Todd and I still so exhausted, but we are loving being with Sarah. The other couples in our travel group are wonderful. We feel so supported.  This would be so hard to do by yourself. We miss home and can't wait to see everyone!!

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today.