A LONG AND WONDERFUL DAY

Today started out early and finished up late, but it was wonderful. We finalized our adoption of Rosie, so she is officially ours forever. Yippee!! We couldn't be happier or more grateful. She is so precious. We finished all of the paperwork this morning and then had just a short time to re-group and grab lunch before we went to the city where she was born to apply for her passport. It was a 2 hour drive there and back, but the highway was actually pretty nice. The people there were so wonderful. Our guide, Vivian, said they are the nicest ones that she's worked with so far. Tia and Rosie both did great on the whole trip, or should I say the whole day. I'm sure the lack of carseats or any restrictions may have helped. :-)) But they really were both just amazing. It's so sweet to see them together. Mike and I still can't believe it --- we have our 2 precious girls --- absolute gifts from God. We had a chance to see where Rosie had spent the first 7 months of her life and meet the people there. It was a nice opportunity and the ladies were wonderful. They love her very, very much. We found out yesterday that for the last 8 months, she has been in a foster home in Beijing with wonderful people who also love her dearly. We are so grateful for that and could never thank them enough. It's very emotional for us.

She is doing really well so far. She slept through the night last night and she definitely snores, but it wasn't too bad. We didn't need the earplugs that we brought. :-)) She does not like the high chair, though. We've tried twice and she just squirms her way right around in it. She's so small that if we don't have her in really tight, she could come right out, so we are not pushing it for now. We'll work on it more in her own high chair at home. She loves to suck on her one finger when she sleeps and so far she doesn't seem attached to a particular blankie or toy. We'll see as the time goes on, if that changes. She is very content and easy going tnight when we got home and got her on the bed to just relax and play for a while, we got her going and almost had a full-blown giggle, but not quite. She's still holding out on us a bit but it's definitely coming. She seems to be attaching to Mike and me about the same so far, and of course, loves Tia. It's so sweet to see them together and hear Tia read to her and giggle about her, etc. Yesterday, before we were getting Rosie, Tia set up a table for her and it was so precious. I will attach the picture. Enjoy the rest of the pictures, too. Thank you for the continued prayers. We really felt them again today. So far, so good. Praise the Lord!!!

PS - She has 4 teeth on top and 3 on the bottom. She holds her bottle and also will use a sippy cup. We still don't know her exact weight, but she's a peanut, except for her chunky little legs. OMG, they are darling!! Oh and we found out that yesterday, the day we got Rosie, is a very special day in China - it's a day of LOVE -- a happy day. How neat, right? Vivian said the most marriage licenses are applied for on that day out of the whole year. She and her fiance actually applied for theirs yesterday, too. How appropriate.......................