We met our translator Grace in the lobby of our hotel at 2:00 and took a crazy 20 minute drive downtown to the Civil Affairs Bureau. I say crazy because driving is nuts here. (Will explain later) We walked down what looked to be an ally and then up the stairs to a fairly nice building. We took the elevator up to the adoption floor. There were several families already waiting. We later have met these families again and they are from all over; France, Australia, California, and even another couple from Alabama. We took a seat and Grace hurried around getting everything ready. We only had to sign one form and then she went to check to see if Le Huan had arrived. It is a five hour drive from her orphanage so they said she may be a little late. As I looked around the room everyone was waiting. Then out walks this lady with a handsome little boy and walks up to this couple and you could tell by the look on their faces that they just had met their son. As I watched this unfold my stomach did flips and I felt the tears. I prayed that God would take my emotions so that I could focus on the moment and not be a total mess. Not even two minutes later Grace said, "stand up and come here, she is here." I walked over and they quickly brought her out. Her nanny was holding her and the director and Grace were talking in Chinese. I didn't know what was going on and you could tell she was really unsure. The nanny handed her to me and they all smiled. The rest felt very rushed and chaotic. I wasn't even sure what to do. I just kept talking to her and taking in the first moments. We took a few pictures and got to ask a few questions and then we left. She did very well. She didn't cry or fuss until I wiped a little drool off of her face. We learned quickly she is sensitive about her face. We arrived back at the hotel around 3:00! After all that work and wait we were there and back in only an hour.
Once we arrived back at the room Grace and Brandon completed some paper work and I feed Ella her first bottle. Grace then translated the questions we wanted answered to Brandon. Lol! Brandon doesn't understand their English and he thought that she said that Le Huan likes to pray with friends of similar age. This bothered him and when we finally discussed everything last night I then informed him they meant "play" not "pray!" We laughed so hard. He wanted to ask Grace who they were praying to. ;)
Once she left we got to enjoy the rest of the afternoon together. She was very stiff. She wouldn't hold anything and she would not relax her arms. Slowly but surely she started to relax and the first thing she grabbed hold of was the little yellow comb. It's kind of funny because it was Cooper's comb when he was in the hospital as a new born. Now when we hand the comb to her she smiles from ear to ear!
It has been amazing to watch how she has warmed up in just two and a half days. She will sit and play with toys in the floor. She has started to crawl around a little. At first we didn't think she could push the buttons on her toys but now when the music stops she reaches over and pushes the button to turn it back on. She loves to be kissed and tickled. She also likes to look at herself and us in the mirror. She has already formed a small attachment to me. Which is a huge answer to prayer! It has been awesome to watch this sweet little one come to life. I can't wait to see what she surprises us with next.
We decided to call her Ella Huan Hope Greer instead of Ella Le Hope Greer. In the orphanage she went by the nickname Huan Huan. They also told us that there are four beauties in China and one of them has the name Huan in their name. They said it was very special. So in light of what we learned we couldn't call her anything else. So we now have a Ya Ya (Avery's nickname) and a Huan Huan. So perfect together!
After a day of relaxing we are going on a few sight seeing adventures tomorrow. We are looking
forward to it and hope that Ella enjoys it. She seemed to like walking through the gardens today.
I am going to attach a few pictures below. We can't upload many because we only have our ipad
with us in China. I will upload a lot more once we are home. I know I keep saying it, but she is such a blessing!
The view from our window in GZ, China
Getting ready for Ella
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