We received Anna this afternoon at 4pm at the Xian Civil Affairs Office. I awoke this morning full of nervous anticipation. What would she do? Would she scream? Would she shut down on us? What? And I prayed....a lot! It really went as well as I think it could have gone. When we arrived at the office I told Shawn, "We need to give the girls the cameras right away because sometimes the babies show up very quickly!" So we climb out of the car and Shawn begins digging them out of the bag, and there she is! Her caregiver(auntie) walks from behind a car and suddenly I am looking into her beautiful eyes! Shawn is still looking down in the bag and he asks me what I am doing because I am not moving to go into the building. All I could say was, "I'm looking at Anna!" We did head into the building soon after that and Anna stayed with her auntie. Everytime I tried to touch her she would arch her back away from me and hug her auntie. So I was content to look at her and talk to her. I am so sure she was thinking, "where are you from, lady?" I doubt she has ever heard an accent like mine! The director handed me a folder with all her information in it...shot records, dental records, medical history, growth charts, etc... They also gave me an album with pictures in it. We have a picture that was taken on the day she came to the orphanage. She was only 10 days old! We have her first bath, her first illness, her first birthday and even a card that her caregivers signed. I can't wait to share more about it when we come home. It had references to our Father in it, so of course, I cried! After looking through all the information, her auntie handed her to me. She cried and arched away but did not get hysterical. She clearly wanted her caregiver. She stopped crying after a bit and kept looking at me with very serious eyes. I know she was wondering who we were. Sarah was the first to capture her attention. She kept looking over at Sarah and watching to see what she was doing. Sarah loved that! Shawn was nearby, taking pictures and winking at her. She liked that. She would watch for him to do it again and again. I passed her off to him when I needed to sign paperwork. She reacted the same as when I took her. She definitely reacts to any change. That has been all night. When I hold her she is okay, then I give her to Shawn and she fusses a bit. But overall, she is doing okay. About 1 hour after getting back to the hotel, 3 hours after getting her, we got our first smile. She was throwing her hand down and I put mine out for her to slap. When she did we all said "Yay!" and that got the first smile. It was a sweet one too! She almost laughed...it was the beginning of one. She is definitely responding to her big sisters and they are being so sweet and gentle with her. Okay, a few things before I go to bed. First, I shared my sister's calendar prayer for last Wednesday and told you to wait for Sunday... Here it is. "February 22: Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of this child. Because Your Word says that every good gift comes from You, I know that You have given her to me to care for and raise. Help me to do that." Is God good or what? Second thing...Anna's orphanage gives the children an English name because her section is supported by an American organization. Can you believe that her given name is GRACE? Yes, she is definitely supposed to be our daughter and I can't wait to see what other signs of God's grace we see in the coming weeks. Thank you all for praying us through this day. Please don't stop! Anna is sure to have some rough times ahead as she gets to know us and trust us. Most of all, thank you, Heavenly Father, for this precious gift you have entrusted us with. May we honor you in all we do.
