Pickup Complete

Looks like dad gets to write this post. Mom currently has her hands full with a sad and tired little girl.

We left this morning at 8:40am and arrived at an office building across town for the pickup meeting. I don't think either of us really thought too much as we went in, we just dove right in. We walked up a flight of stairs, down a long hallway and into a conference room and there was Maddie (Qi Qi) with her two nannies and the orphanage director. They were playing and had the picture book Pam had sent open on the table.

She knew who mama and papa were, but she was initially very wary of us. After making faces for a few minutes and breaking out the cheerios, we finally got her to open up after about an hour. We were all feeding each other cheerios until we ran out. Maddie would say Xie Xie Mama and Xie Xie Papa after each cheerio exchange, which is very cute. Maddie talks a lot but we don't know much about what she's saying so we're going to improvise. Meanwhile we did paperwork, took thumbprints and handed over a large wad of dough to the orphanage officials. At least we're no longer carrying all that cash.

While Maddie was distracted, the orphanage director and her two nannies left while we were playing and she was still happy. She caught on as we were leaving and didn't initially cry until after we were in the car and back at the hotel room after a quick side trip for passport pictures.

Since we've been back in the room we've been trying to keep her comforted and get her to take her noon nap. I think the next couple days will be a little rougH, but she seems to be calming down a bit after some more cheerios and milk.

Tomorrow we go to Taizhou City to complete the adoption paperwork. We're down for eight hours of travel, but at least we get our wish to see her home city. This was a somewhat pleasant surprise as we didn't think we would get a chance to see Maddie's home town. We might even get to see her orphanage, however we're a little wary because if she sees her nannies, she may get sad all over again. We'll deal with it as things unfold. I think she's going to be fine and we're excited for her to meet Isabel as they seem to have similar temperaments.

Here's the first round of pics: