The Moment We Have All Been Waiting For!

Here she is... our beautiful Juliana Therese

We left Beijing yesterday at 5:30 AM and flew to Chongqing. When we arrived in the Chongqing airport we were more than a little surprised to hear Immaculate Mary playing on the radio. We took that as a little sign our Lady is still guiding this adoption. We then settled into our hotel room. It is absolutely amazing. I think it is the biggest hotel room I have ever stayed in. We then went to get lunch and did a little exploring. We were told to wait in our rooms for a call to come see our baby. We got that call at about 3:30PM.

We went to the 30th floor of our hotel, but no one was there. We started to worry that we were in the wrong place when the elevator opened and the workers came in with our little ones. There are 4 families in our group. I was amazed at how calm the girls were. The nannies plopped them onto chairs and there were no tears. I thought I would know for sure which one was Juliana, but they all looked more similar than I expected. I did guess which one was her, and I was right. I was unsure of what I was supposed to do but I longed to hold her.

I didn't have to wait long. Our guide called names one by one and we were first. Juliana was placed in my arms and though I cried, she remained remarkably calm. We have had her for 12 hours now, and she still has been very quiet.

After the other families were introduced to their girls, we returned to our hotel room. We gave this little one a bath, although she was very, very clean. She had new clothes and a new diaper. She was dressed in many layers and seemed very warm to me. This is typical of how the Chinese dress their babies, they really bundle them up. She looks very healthy and very clean. There were no rashes or other major concerns. She is small, but we hope to have her nice and plump soon enough.

She has had a few bottles and she is still sleeping as I write this post. She fell asleep around 8 PM and was up at 3:30 AM. We didn't mind her being up too much as she was in such a good mood. She laughed at her Dad tickling her belly and smiled when I laid next to her. We are so incredibly blessed to finally be holding this beautiful dear child.