Journey To Our Girl

I am sitting here knowing I need to do a blog post, but we are exhausted tonight so I will try to keep it short and sweet. Lia Kate had a tough night last night ... woke up many times screaming, but was able to go back to sleep each time. We finally got up around 7 and I tried to shower and get ready this morning but she cried the entire time she wasn't in my arms. :o( It is hard because there are just a few things I need to do throughout the day where I can't have a baby in my arms, yet I know for her security I need to be with her/holding her constantly. It is hard for Danny to not be able to do much to help out at times like this (I think she is scared to death of his beard!). Anyway, we didn't have anything to do today until 3, so we took our time at breakfast. There are always lots of adopting families at breakfast, so we enjoyed talking to several of them, including Linny from the well-known www.aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com, who is here adopting their 10th child (7th adopted child). We had a leisurely lunch at Lucy's, which is a favorite of American families staying at the White Swan Hotel. I see now why families always talk about Lucy's ... the food is great and the outdoor patio is so relaxing. We went back for dinner tonight and enjoyed talking to all the Americans around us, and seeing their cute new kiddos too. Our only official business today was to go to the Police Station and apply for Lia Kate's Chinese Passport. For her to get back to the U.S., she will need a Chinese passport and a U.S. Visa. It's not until she touches ground in the U.S. when we fly home that she will be an American citizen. We applied for her passport and it took no time at all (the Chinese are extremely efficient). As of now, in China's eyes, Lia Kate is officially ours. The rest of our time here will be completing the U.S side of paperwork for us to get her home. Tomorrow is a sightseeing day. We will leave in the morning for a safari zoo tour. I don't know much about it except that we'll see panda bears out in the open. Can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Lia Kate is still grieving heavily today. She still has to be held constantly. She cannot even fall asleep except for in my arms. To get her to sleep tonight. she fell asleep on me and than I successfully transferred her to the crib. We'll see how long it is before she wakes up for the first time! She did laugh and smile today at two employees of a store here while we shopped. She really seems to like Chinese women. They gave her a baby rattle and it is the first toy that she has picked up or shown any interest in. Most of the babies I see here are adjusting really well, but most of these are at least a week or week-and-a-half after Gotcha Day. For Lia Kate's sake, I am hoping she will have peace about all this soon. Hope to have some fun pics of our safari zoo trip tomorrow. Until then ...