Avery Day 2

What a difference one day makes!!!!

Yesterday was so incredibly heartbreaking!  It was completely devastating to hear the pain and anguish in Avery's voice as she cried out in Chinese for her nanny. How do you comfort a child who does not want you??  How do you reassure your precious little girl that all will be alright when you have just taken everything she held dear away from her??  How do you look at her sweet little face and bear the heartbreak that is going on inside of her soul????  How do you do it????  Only through the grace of God!!!! I took comfort in the fact that He was with us last night...helping me help her!!!! And your prayers.....what a blessing!  Thank you dear friends and family!!!!

I know that all her intense grieving last night signifies that she was well loved.  That is a blessing beyond belief!
And as I have gotten to know her better these past 24 hours, it is obvious as to why she was so greatly loved and cherished.

Let me share some of the things we have discovered about her.....

She is very gentle & sweet.
She loves to laugh & play.
She is trusting.
She is left-handed!
She loves bubbles.
She loves stickers.
She is a quick learner.
She is already saying mama, daddy, sister, bye-bye, hi, banana.
We just started teaching her colors....she is a sponge!
Oh yeah, she loves to eat!!!!

Yesterday and this morning Avery hardly touched a thing.  Well, today she certainly made up for it!

Here we are heading for breakfast. It was pretty uneventful....she just picked at her food.  However, I just had to post this picture.....

Check out the red and white Hello Kitty shoes!
These are the shoes she was wearing when we met her yesterday....
These are the shoes she would not take off....
These are the shoes she slept in last night!

Next stop: Office of Civil Affairs.

Dave and I were rather worried about going back to the place where she experienced such loss.  But this is where we needed to be in order to finalize the adoption.  (BTW, she is now officially our daughter!!! wooo-hooo!!!)  We were interviewed twice.  Once by the head of that office and the other interview was with the Notary official. Both interviews were quick and painless!!!

When we first arrived, Avery a happy camper.  As other families and their children began to arrive, she became more and more apprehensive....finally to the point where she crawled up in my lap, grabbed onto my shirt, and buried her head on my chest.  It was time to go!!!!  Luckily, we were just finishing up our last interview! Whew!!!

We arrived back at the hotel, did a quick run to the 7/11 for some noodles, milk, chocolate (yes, we are a huge chocolate family), and water.

Up in our room, our sweet little girl ate like there was no tomorrow.

She ate a huge, I mean huge container of noodles, one banana, and drank two little bottles of milk.  She also had some M&M's, and an Oreo cookie, and some Koala Bear treats!!!!  Oh, and her absolute favorite food (at the moment) is jello.  This interesting treat comes in little....ummmm, I hate to say this...... shot containers. You simply peel off the top, and then proceed to squeeze out the contents into your mouth.  She love, love, loves this!  We finally had to cut her off, we were afraid of a tummy ache....a huge, jello-like tummy ache!

She easily laid down for her afternoon nap.  Eating like that is hard work!!!!

Later we went outside for a walk......

had to take this picture.......

...it's a classic shot here on Shamian Island....but, who can resist?????