Our Hearts Are Full Tonight

No battery left to send pictures. I PROMISE some tomorrow after it's charged up. Sorry!!!

We have her and she has us!!! Ai Li is preciously perfect.
We arrived at the Adoption Center with Mr. Li at 2:30 today. Ai Li arrived just after 3:00. 30 minutes has never taken that long - ever.
Everything went very smoothly. She made eye-contact and recognized us immediately from the photo album we'd sent. She was very shy and answered questions with much prodding. When it came time to part with her care taker, they kissed and one slow, silent tear slid down her cheek - then another. She tried so hard to hold it in. I wasn't so brave. Then her caretaker put Ai Li's hand in mine and gave her a gentle shove and said goodbye. One rigid little girl walked out with us. There were about 15 babies all meeting new parents in there too - most were very upset and it was total bedlam. Ai Li must have been so totally overwhelmed.
There is, so far, one immediate way to make her smile, and that is to be near to her sister. Ai Li is very attached to Molly and holds hands with her, copies everything she does and keeps sneaking smiles to her. Smiles that would melt iceburgs. Molly is tickled pink and doing an amazing job in her new role as big sister. Speaking of big sister, Molly's dream has come true - she is finally taller than someone else her age!! Ai Li is so petite.
We came back to the hotel, dropped things off and went to eat. After dinner we went to some stores to spoil her with a few shiny trinket things. Nothing doing! What did the trick was a pair of sneakers. She was in shoes that were obviously way too small for her and made her feet hurt. She just loves her new shoes and we had her run in the store to see how they fit. Lots of smiles.
We went to a park and the kids played and played and we got smiles, heard laughter and felt on top of the world as we saw our little girls sparkle. Cody is being an amazing help - getting near but not overwhelming, patiently waiting his turn for her recognition. It'll come. How could it not - she'll soon follow her sister's footsteps there too.
We came back, had some tea and got the 2 teddy bears ready for bed. She is so tickled at being able to change teddy's clothes.
Tina - I saw Mr. Li hand Teddi's care package to the staff today, so please feel some comfort in knowing that Teddi will have her snuggly bear to cuddle tonight.
I'm going to keep this short because everyone's in bed and 2 new eyes are peeping over the covers as I do this. I wish the camera battery wasn't so drained, because I'm longing to share her with you all.
Going to snug with my girls and see if I can do something with this permanent grin I'm wearing - but then, why should I? I look over my shoulder and see Steve still grinning too.