We got her!!! She is the most beautiful girl on the face of the earth!!!

Wow what a day! We met Abbi today for the first time at 4:00 p.m., at the Civil Affairs Office. We were so happy to see her....she is beautiful! She, on the other hand, was not as pleased to see us. She was brought in by the Orphanage Director and she would have preferred to stay with him! She didn't want to come to me, so I just took her, and this made for a very unhappy baby. She cried so hard, and let me tell you we are not worried about her lungs, she is loud! I took her around the room trying to get her mind off of everything that was happening to her, and the window seemed to work the best. She actually stopped crying and looked out, then she would look at me and start all over again. She slapped Brian away and all the toys we showed her. She was one unhappy baby. We found out later that her day had been traumatic in more ways than one. She has been in foster care most of her life, not in an orphanage. She said goodbye to her foster mom yesterday, and then took a three hour trip to Nanning to meet us. Can you imagine how she must have felt? Her whole world was turned upside down! These strange people who had her were not helping the matter at all!!!

She quieted down as we left the building. The change of scenery was a good thing. The ride back to the hotel was nice, she sat in my lap very still and just looked around at everything. Once in our room she ate Cheerios and even fed Brian a few. She can walk very well and weighs about 25 pounds. The sleepers I brought for her were too little. Only one sort of worked, but it was a little short. I wanted something with the feet in because she is not used to air conditioning.

We took her down to the restaurant and she ate congee very well. She also had some of her Dad's French fries and some of my fried rice. She liked the bread and wanted to butter it herself. She went to Brian for the first time. He bribed her with Cheerios and in his lap she fed him some more. She babbled at us a few times and threw food on the floor.

Back in the room she played with stacking cups and ducks. She would throw them and actually laugh. She has a very sweet smile. I sure hope we get to see more of it tomorrow.

At bedtime we made her a bottle, but she would have no part of it. She was rubbing her eyes and was so sleepy, but just would not go to sleep. She finally curled up in Vicki's lap and went to sleep.

It is about 4:00 a.m., and we are going back to sleep. Tell Drew we will be home soon.

Brian, Vicki, Drew and Abbi