Sweet dreams are made of this...

We have our girl.  She is everything and more.  She is beautiful and has such a sweet little soul.   Let me just start at the beginning.  We met our guide at 8:45am and took a 10 minute ride to the Federal Building.  We went up the second floor where I heard the bustle of crying babies, and I assumed that was where we were heading.  We open the door and sitting on a chair was Li Xin Wa, our Mali.  She looked at me and I at her, and then the tears started, not for her...for me.  We had to sign some official paperwork before we could get to the introduction.  She sat in a big office chair eating a rice cracker two-fisted.  While I was signing my half of the paperwork, Mark got the cup of "baby crack" (Gerber Puffs) and started to feed her.  She loved them!  When I was done signing 800 pieces of paper I was able to go over to her.  I gently started patting her hand and saying hello in Chinese.  She was looking at me with those big brown eyes and I just lost my self in her and could not keep the tears from flowing.  I didn't want to scare her so I dried my eyes and began to play with her.  She is a brave little girl.  She drove down from a midnight train and still had the energy to play and not be too scared.  She and Mark hit it of right off the bat.  He being the giver of "baby crack" and all, he is the man.  She only cried a few times when another little girl started crying who was having a hard time leaving her caregiver.  Mark was able to hold her on his lap while I administered the goods, and we even got a few little smiles and chuckles out of her.  We finished up all the paperwork and it was time to leave.  She is a bit on the timid side and does not like new things.  The car ride back to the hotel was a little too much for her; good thing it was only 15 minutes.  Once back at the hotel the tears set in.  New people, new smells, new enviornment was a bit overwhelming for her.  I gave her a quick bath and changed her into some clean jammies and we began feeding her some formula and bananas.  She LOVES bananas!  We did a little playing and every 15 minutes or so she realizes she is in a strange place and the tears set in.  She is grieving and it is heartbreaking.  I walked her around the room until she fell asleep.  She is beautifully resting away right now.

Of course we left the battery to the camera back at the hotel so all we were able to get was Flip video.