And Mae makes 5 . . .

Well, we did it. We came a long way, and we now have Mae. It was a pretty tiring, yet exhilirating day. We went to the Civil Affairs office, about a 20 minute bus ride, to have the babies presented to us. We were the fourth family. The building was broiling hot -- everyone, including the babies, was sweating. After a short wait, they began the process and started calling families' names. They called ours, put Mae in Melissa's arms, and there she was, chubby cheeks and all. From the moment they put her into Melissa's arms at 3:30 or so until right now, at 10:30, Mae has been completely content, acting as if she has known us all along. And, notably, living up to her Chinese name -- peaceful and elegant (Jing Jun). We sent her a care package about a month ago, which included a soft little photo album with our pictures in it, among other things (coincidentally, Henry was wearing the same shirt today he had on in one of the pictures). We were wondering if maybe that really helped her with recognizing us. She is so inquisitive and curious. She notices everything! We were on the bus back to the hotel and her head was shooting back and forth from side to side, looking at the things going by the windows. When we got back to the hotel, we sat her down, amazed that she could sit up so easily, and then she proceeded to amaze us further by pushing herself up and crawling to Henry! Then she got to giggling (she's ticklish, we've found already). We couldn't be happier. Here is the link to the pictures from the day . . . http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/731021/ Like the other sets, they're in reverse chronological order for some reason, so the two with her in the pink pajamas were the most recent pictures, taken around 6:30 or so. Enjoy. We certainly are.

By the way, sorry to post so late -- I fell asleep while putting Henry to bed. We'll be off to finalize the adoption tomorrow morning at 8:30.

All the best,

Rich, Melissa, Henry and Mae