Tuesday, August 15, 2006
GOTCHA DAY!

What a day! We were up early to catch our flight from Beijing to Changsha. We arrived in Changsha at 2:15pm and drove straight to the adoption center. It was 104 degrees and we were told the babies were there already waiting for us.

When we arrived in our waiting room we could see the babies waiting in the next room. I peeked in (as if I could wait) and saw Ellen in the arms of a nice gentleman. The babies were all calm-and yet all of the families were already tearing up. They called each family one by one to give them their baby. We were the third family called and as we walked up a woman brought out the most beautiful, sweet baby-our Ellen! She put Ellen right into my arms and she came without a fuss. Within minutes the room was filled with crying babies, but not our Ellen. She was so quiet and calm and was just looking around as if to say, "ok..what is going on here?"

Connor, Tara and Spencer couldn't get enough of her. Poor Ellen had about 10 hands on her at once and she never seemed to mind. After signing some documents we got back on our bus and headed to our hotel. After we got settled into our rooms we just played with Ellen on the bed. She began to whimper a bit when the kids would hold her. So mommy would take her back and she would stop. She only cried a little bit this afternoon and after that she was a perfect angel!

Spencer proudly pushed Ellen in the stroller up and down the hallways of the hotel. At dinner she ate one thing after another. She loved the watermelon and canelope and became very attached to an empty water bottle she reached on the table.

After dinner Connor and Tara got her to laugh, but I was a little too slow with the camera. We gave her a bath which she seemed to enjoy and all 3 kids washed some part of her body. As I gave her a bottle she fell asleep in my arms-what a sweet ending to a perfect day!

Quite frankly we were all amazed that Ellen did as well as she did. The other babies were crying a lot, and considering what she went through today I thought we would see more tears. We are so happy to have Ellen in our family. She looks so healthy and well cared for, we know Heavenly Father watched over her. She was definitely worth the wait! My heart is so full right now, our family is truly blessed!