Wow, what a day.

It’s been long, hot, tiring, but oh so wonderful! The day started at 4:10 in Beijing when our alarm went off. We needed to meet the bus to take us to the airport at 5:15 AM. Once we arrived at the airport we checked our bags and waited for our flight. We flew about two hours to Chongqing one of the “Furnace Cities” of China. Chongqing is a large municipality in which Shiloh’s orphanage is located. We arrived at our hotel around noon and were told we would head to the civil affairs office at 3:00 PM.

Todd took a nap and I “nested” getting things unpacked. It was a long three hours of nervousness for me! Heart racing, stomaching turning, mind spinning…. But at 3:00 PM we went to the Civil Affairs office and after a short wait we met her. We were of course the last family (W) to meet our daughter!

Shiloh was actually one of the ones who didn’t cry—but she kept her fist clenched tightly. She did reach for toys when we held them out but then she quickly clenched them in her fist. And guess what??? She’s a thumb sucker!

Once we came back to the hotel Todd had to go down to do some paperwork but he fixed her a bottle first. We have heard they like the bottles hot so we did it much hotter than I have ever made a bottle before. I actually had Todd add cold water but it was still piping hot. She had noticed Todd making the bottle and she started to get fussy so we knew she was hungry but even so I couldn’t believe that she downed it in less than two minutes!

Now she’s napping (6:45 PM) and Todd is out getting bottled water at the store. I think it will be an early night for all of us!

Thank you for all your prayers, today went better than I imagined. Shiloh was very alert and interested. Please pray for continued times of good bonding with Shiloh and for good sleep, rest and adjustment for all three of us. We are all exhausted!