**This has been a multipart post I have worked on throughout the day so my posting time would be shorter tonight. Scroll towards the bottom of the post for the Gotcha part.

6:00am Changsha- Starla and I both woke up about the same time this morning and decided to get up 2 hours earlier than we planned, I don’t think I could have slept anymore. There is a good but nervous energy between us, today is going to be a big day. We are going to go have breakfast in a little bit and then we have to go to a meeting at 10am that I think is going to be just about what to expect today. We leave the hotel at 2:45p and take about a 20 min chartered bus ride to the Changsha Provincial Civil Affairs office where we will get our babies. Here is a picture of our room and our arrival into Changsha airport yesterday:

8:00a- Breakfast was very good at this hotel, and as every morning we ate ate and ate. We had ham omelets, bacon, steamed lettuce and dumplings, fruit, sausage, and the list goes on. Every morning there are a crowd of us Americans chatting and getting to know each other. People were very excited this morning, you can feel the anticipation growing. Next we went to the meeting room and began the paperwork. Today was the Adoption Registration paperwork, this will not be completed until tomorrow but we had to do our part today so our guide could turn it in to begin the processing. We also turned over a bunch of money to pay for the province paperwork and have more money to pay tomorrow, one thing about this trip, every time you turn around you are paying for something. Either food, tips, fees. Also, we were given a gift by CCAI, which we will hold onto for her for awhile.

After the meeting I had an interesting experience, we had to get some super glue. The hotel did not have any and our guide, Raymond, was gracious enough to go out with me to help me find some. First we went to a pharmacy, the pharmacies here are not like CVS back home, they are pretty much strictly medicine. An interesting sight I saw was a dentist office. The whole thing was one room about 10’x20’ with a dentist chair in the middle. There was no waiting room, no x-ray machine, nothing expect the dentist and the patient. Oh and the front door and windows were just glass so you could see right in. Very interesting. We found the super glue in a small shop, I don’t even know what all they sold because we were in and out so quick but the whole experience walking the side streets of Changsha, for even a few minutes. What a different world here. We leave in 2 hours and 45 minutes to get our daughter and I am getting my mid day jet lag

9:15p- And now for the news we all have waited 3 years for- WE HAVE MIKAYLA! I have to tell you that this day has been one of the best greatest days ever. We arrived at the Changsha Provincial Civil Affairs office about 3:15p and were ready to receive our babies, however we were told that the babies were not there yet. The orphanage took 2 vans to bring the babies and we were told 1 van was just a few minutes away and the other van had gotten a flat tire and would be about an hour behind the other. Our guides did not know who was on which van. While we were waiting we saw the most amazing sight repeated over and over again,there were families and babies from other agencies and orphanages having their meetings with their new children. It was a very moving sight and busy place.It must have been 30 minutes later the first van arrived with babies from Chenzhou. The excitement, nervousness, anxiousness was palpable in the room. We then found out Mikayla was not in that group but it was great to see other families we have met with here meet their babies. I also video tapped the gotcha for another family for about 15 minutes which made the time go by. A little bit later the second van arrived and when they came up the elevator, we saw her. Oh Lord, the excitement and anxiety was intense. Starla and I were the first of the second group to receive our baby. The feeling I had inside when they brought her to us and handed her to us, I cannot describe it, there truly are no words to do it justice. All I know, is that in that very instant, everything Starla, Mikayla, and I have ever known changed forever. It was a moment in time when the rest of the world literally faded away, even though there was a room full of people, and noise, and screaming crying babies, and commotion, and I did not see or hear any of it. Mikayla and Starla at that very moment were the center of my universe, everything to me. My entire body and mind was focused on that one spot in time and place.

She is the sweetest and happiest baby I have seen. She was laughing, smiling, and wanting to play from the very beginning. She is a smart baby too, she knows how to tease us by handing us a cookie and taking it back and stuff like that and just all the fun stuff. She is ticklish, likes peek a boo, and likes to interact with us. It is a little concerning though that she already seemed to adapt so quickly. A time for grieving in a child is a very positive thing as it shows that they have bonded before and that means that they know how to bond again. A baby who does not grieve, and in fact is very happy and out going is actually a warning sign. But I know God gave us THIS child for His reason and I will do whatever it takes to do things right for her. We are just very happy that she is happy, she is really fun to play with. THANK YOU LORD FOR THE GIFT YOU HAVE GIVEN US TODAY. I am beyond humble that you would entrust this human life to me. Thank you.

We also received great gifts from her orphanage, things to really cherish. The brought all of us the clothes the babies were found in (our guide was very clear that this is special and does not usually happen), the finding ad from the news paper with her picture at just a couple months old, all the stuff from the care package we sent her (except for some pajamas) including 2 full cameras, and let us keep the clothes she came to us in! We are very excited and thankful for these items.

Ok, I’m off to bed now, have to get up early tomorrow to do the paperwork to make her “officially” ours!

Here are some pictures from Gotcha. I haven’t even sorted (or looked) through them yet so I may post some more over the next couple days. I like the last one with her laying on the bed with her feet crossed.