Kate is here!

We received Kate today and she is absolutely beautiful! The handoff was actually very uneventful because sweet Kate was sound asleep. Even when the Ayi handed her to me she didn’t even bobble! Woohoo – a good sleeper! She is so beautiful – she has the longest eyelashes you have ever seen. She was wearing this sweet little yellow outfit with her name sewn on the chest. She probably slept for about 30 minutes more after the hand off and then began waking up while we were still at the Civil Affairs office. She was OK for a couple of minutes after waking up but then began to cry. It was a heartbreaking cry for me because it wasn’t a screaming fit kind of cry but a low, slow grieving kind of cry. No matter how many times I have experienced that cry and even know to expect it, it still breaks our heart to watch them go through the process. She is such a sweet baby and to have to see her cry and mourn because she is so scared is so hard to watch. The girls were really great with her. They kept bringing out lots of toys for her, singing to her and just touching and patting her very sweetly. Leah kept saying, “Mom, she’s just not used to us yet.” How true that is! Kate loves looking at the girls. In fact, she would look at Leah, quit crying and then look up at me and start crying again! Poor thing! When we got back to the room, she would play for a bit and then cry for a bit, play a bit, cry a bit. This went on until about 8:00 when the crying really kicked into high gear. She wouldn’t take the bottle we had prepared – and by wouldn’t take it, I mean wouldn’t even let the bottle get near her lips. We changed her into her jammies and then just lay beside her on our bed until she finally fell asleep around 8:30. We had a bottle ready for her in the night when we figured she would wake up starving but it is now 6:30am and she is still sound asleep. The poor child was just exhausted. We are excited for her to wake up but by the 3rd one I’ve learned, “NEVER wake a sleeping baby!” The director and ayi from the orphanage were very sweet and said that they loved Kate very much. It certainly appears that she was well taken care of as she is very big – weighs 21 pounds – and they told us she takes 1 and a half bottles each time she is fed! She looks so healthy. She had a bit of a cough last night but I think it might have just been from all the crying so we’ll watch that. Now I’ve got to go get dressed so we can go down for breakfast as soon as Kate wakes up! We praise God for this beautiful blessing He has bestowed on our family. She is a true gift from God and we feel so blessed to have her! I'll post more pictures from the day later - I've got to get a shower! :)

We did get one smile out of Kate last night!