Day 6 – Wednesday, November 23, 2005 – Changchun, Jilin – GOTCHA DAY!!!

The day we've all been waiting for has FINALLY arrived!!! As usual, the day starts with breakfast in the hotel lobby café. Today the breakfast is by far the least important item on our agenda - but we know we all need nourishment to make it through the events of the day.

We meet our Holt guide, Jenny (whom we LOVE!!!), in the lobby at 8:40am and board our van to ride to the Civil Affairs Office. We know that Li Juan has arrived by train this morning from Yanbian (an 11 hour overnight train ride).

Our first memory of our new daughter is her laughter! As we walk out of the elevator we hear her laughing! We walk around a corner and there she is - down the hall - dressed in a beautiful big purple coat, fuzzy purple snow pants and black boots with metal accessories. She is darling! A woman from the orphanage is with her and is telling her we are her Mama and Baba. She isn't upset at this point. We watch her and keep our distance. In time they are telling her to come to us and she begins to cry. We have paperwork to do and so do not try at this point to get to close to her since she is upset. I get out her Mei Mei doll and bubbles and a ladybug blower (remember, Aunt Cathy?). Anything to try to distract her and entertain her! The bubbles work for a bit. Did I say she is darling?!? In a while we are done with paperwork and it is time to leave the conference room. In attendance was a woman from the Civil Affairs Office, a man in charge of adoptions, our guide - Jenny, a caregiver that works in the medical area of the orphanage, Li Juan, and Ben, Emma, Lilla and me. The caregiver disappears and Juan Juan is crying now. Ben picks her up and takes her and Lilla into the hallway. I pack up all our "stuff" (papers, toys, food, etc.) and join them in the elevator. On the main floor we pause for a photo and I take Li Juan from Ben. She is ok with this. She is quiet now. She likes to get down and walk - very different from Lilla's adoption (a baby who couldn't yet walk). Off we go in the van to the Notary Office. We meet up with 2 other families there from Colorado (one mom who I had met on-line and corresponded with via e-mail) who are adopting an almost 2 year old girl and an almost 4 year old boy. They are darling too! Juan Juan and Lilla enjoy walking around the office area and visiting a fish tank. Juan Juan is beginning to smile and laugh some as we play! Wonderful! This makes our hearts lighten. We sign more papers and swear to never abandon her. Like we would ever in a million years even let this thought enter our minds! It is a very important part of the documentation for Chinese adoption. After the Notary Office papers are done, we go off to a photo studio for our official family photo to attach to the certificate of adoption. This is a photo of the parents and newly adopted child. Juan Juan is wearing a beautiful yellow sweater with colored stripes that she was wearing when she came - but they want her to put on a coat that is dark colored! We had the same thing happen with Lilla's photo (they put a blue man's shirt on her for her passport photo!). I remember that I brought a pink/purple striped sweater with us and they let us put that on her - thank goodness! Now it's time to head back to the hotel for 2 hours or so before we go to another government office to apply for her passport.

Back in the hotel the little girls quickly fall asleep. I hold Juan in my arms on the bed for maybe 1 ½ hours. It is a sweet time to spend looking at her face. She has been through a lot in her short 2+ years. She was with her foster family up until yesterday - then she was taken and began the train ride to bring her to us. We are blessed. She is sorrowing for her foster family and she should. We pray that quickly she will learn to love us and know that we are her new Mama and Baba and jie jie's that love her and care for her! We order room service before the girls fall asleep. We enjoy our meal and save some things for them when they awaken. After nap time we head off to the passport office. This goes very quickly and we head back to the hotel. We are all exhausted and we decide to hang out at the hotel and order room service for dinner. Li Juan is not fond of the hotel room at this point, so we walk in the lobby and up stairs to the next 2 floors of the hotel where there are offices and the health club/pool. For some reason she screams whenever we get in site of an elevator. We try to stick to the stairs and escalator - but not for our room which is on the 24th floor!

Jenny meets us in the hotel to share some exciting news! We are going to be allowed to go to Li Juan's orphanage, go to meet her foster family, and also go to the town where she was found! We purchase airline tickets to fly to Yanji, Yanbian (Jilin) on Friday morning and return on Saturday afternoon. This is a very exciting event that we were hoping would be allowed. Yanbian is a Korean Prefecture. 40% of Yanbian's population are of Korean descent and Li Juan's foster family is Korean. Tumen City is where she was found - this is a city on the Tumen River that separates China from N. Korea. Many escaping N. Koreans flee to the city of Tumen. Many Chinese visit Tumen to view N. Korea across the river. We will journey there by train from Yanji.

Bed time arrives for all of us. Juan quietly settles into her crib right next to where I am sleeping. The side rail is off so she can roll right into our bed. And roll she does! She awakens several times during the night (no crying!) and rolls around the bed. The comforters are very soft and the bed is huge! She must be enjoying this experience. Lilla thankfully sleeps all night long. She is continuing to be a very good girl though this amazing journey for a 2 year old! Juan did not eat or drink for us all day. Ben gives her some water in the morning and she gulps it down. We can only imagine that she will be a big eater at breakfast in the morning! She reportedly "has a big stomach." She is tall and thin and has tiny feet. Maybe she will be a big eater and put the pounds on quickly? She is a bit smaller than Lilla - but they can wear pretty much the same clothes (but definitely NOT shoes). We all sleep well and are excited to embark on another day - Thanksgiving Day - with all 3 of our daughters! We are blessed and so thankful to God for giving us Li Juan. We received her on the day of Thanksgiving Eve. This was already a special time in our lives as we celebrate God's provision to us. Not it is made even more special by the coming of our littlest girl - Li Juan.

Hoping that our Thanksgiving meal of turkey doesn't zonk me out before I can post again tonight of today's events!

Thanking God for our new daughter, our family, our friends and all His blessings, Lisa, Ben, Emma, Lilla and Juan Juan ><>

Day 5 has been updated with photos.