Adoption day (Tuesday)

Today was a special day! You went from being Li Yi Ran to Evie Li Williams! We promised the officials to never abandon or abuse you and I teared up. I bet your parents didn't want to abandon you either. They had no choice when you were born and they noticed your cleft palate. A tear ran down my cheek as I promised. People say "I would never leave my kids", but it isn't that simple, Evie. Health insurance doesn't exist. You have to pay cash for medical treatment. You can imagine show daunting it must have been to realize in an instant that you couldn't care for your child and you loved them so much that you gave them to someone else so that they could help. That is love, my dear.

I was a nervous wreck when it was time to walk out the door for breakfast. You love to push the buttons on the elevator and you can't, so we flight in there and count down the floors. 14 floors and it seems like a lifetime when restraining you. We exited the elevators and you walked and held my hand like a champ. I walked toward our table and got you a few quick things on the way. I sat you in a big chair at our table and you began to eat... on your OWN.

Just yesterday they said you couldn't eat on your own. Your mouth is a mess, so soft foods are best.. or crackers that get soft quickly. You ate like a sweet little lady and I was so proud of you!!!! When you were finished, you were finished and I took you and Eli, Ezra and Anna to the play area outside of the breakfast area. They have a plastic playhouse, two huge stuffed animals, and a few arcade games. You loved playing with the house and tiny slide. You actually played and didn't run! Score!

We headed upstairs next to get ready for our appointment on the third floor. Inner Mongolia adoption is amazing because we don't have to go to the civil affairs office to meet you, adopt you and we don't need to go to the notary place either. They all come to us! Amazing! We went into the conference room and adopted you!!! Just like that.. done! We answered questions, told them that we did indeed want to adopt you, and signed a lot of papers.

We had to do red fingerprints in ink over all of our signatures and you gave your handprint in red. You hugged the special ladies there and they said goodbye.

It was hard to watch. They knew when you got on the elevator that they would never see you again. They watched us closely as we did paperwork and they had smiles on their faces when they saw you hugging us and smiling from ear to ear. You were their baby. For 6.5 years, that was their baby.. YOU. They loved you, YiRan. It was so apparent. You were loved, sweet one! I wish I could have found you and loved you longer. I do.
They thanked us for adopting you. Our blessing for sure, sweet baby. We finished in about an hour and headed back up to the room. We played and played and then Justin took Anna, Ezra, and Joy to go shopping for supplies. You and Eli stayed with me and I wanted to try to get you to take a nap. Eli and I played a board game to give us some one on one time and you played at my feet and watched music on TV. You are much more settled today and you were tired!!! Last night after struggling two hours to get you to sleep, you climbed out of your crib for the 48382992 time and fell asleep on the floor!

I gave you 20 minutes to get into a deeper sleep because you were pretty much a hand grenade and I picked you up and moved you to bed. It was 10:30 and we woke you up at 6:00. So, today you were tired. After trying for an hour today to get you to sleep, I told Eli to get into bed and pretend to fall asleep. I did the same. You walked around the room eating your apple and finally brought your little lamb to the bed, crawled up in the middle, got under the covers, called me "mama" and snuggled deeply next to me. You rubbed your lamb until you fell asleep.. making little tired whimpers the whole time.

My heart burst.. it was so full that I knew it would explode. We love you so much! We just stare and smile. You're awesome. Last night ... not as awesome.. hahah. Today? You're perfection... but we haven't left the hotel! Haha.
We woke you up from your nap with several gathered around kissing you. You awoke with a smile as always. You amaze me. You're responding to love beautifully.

We went to the pool for a treat and to burn some energy. It went well. You loved the pool! You learned how to count to three (just did fingers and laughed) and jumped to Mama! We sat on the side and kicked... and you learned how to stand and jump in the water. You laughed the whole time.

My limited mandarin saved the day once again when we needed to find a bathroom and Justin asks the lifeguard "bathroom"? In his country voice.. then goes to act it out. I intervened quickly with the Chinese word for "pee pee". The lifeguard laughed and pointed to the restroom. That learning paid off! Lol Joy was quickly freezing and you were so wild that I walked you both to the room. You had a bath with Joy and Joy threw in a pink water tab! A pink bath was fun!!! You loved the bubbles from the shampoo and you did much better with today's bath; you enjoyed the bath! We got out and cooked Chinese ramen noodles with the hot pot. So good for a quick, easy meal!!! I am about to wrestle you to sleep and when we wake, it will be a new day to love you all over again. You're such a treasure Evie. Your smile lights up a room and your laugh is contagious.

until tomorrow,
Mama