Prize reached!!!

After a total nightmare of getting stuck in the Shenyang airport, having to figure out how to get a deifferent flight and getting re routed through Shanghai... amongst a myriad of other complications in the process... we arrived in Taiyaun and Sera is with us!!! The other family traveling with us were so great and very helpful. I am so deeply indebted to them for helping me keep my sanity!

We went directly from the airport to the Cival Affairs office and got Yang Yang! She was very afraid of us and prefers Chinese faces of course! When she is in the room, however, she opens up and is a happy, funny and smart girl!! Aubri so happpy! So is her Mommie!

We are exhausted, since we stayed in Shanghai after arriving there at 2 am and having to drive across town from the Pudong airport to the Hongjiao ( sp?) airport to catch a flight at 8 am to Taiyuan. We stayed in a hotel in the airport and slept 3 hours... But the good things is that we survived it without coming totally unglued and all are now able to say we visited Shanghai and Aubri has another city to mark on her map!

We finalized all the China pieces of Sera's adoption today , less than an hour after meeting her. The Orphanage did not want to do that, they wanted me to keep her over the weekend and decide if I actually wanted her or "another child".... I could not believe it! I traveled all this distance for HER! It has tobe Yang Yang and I was fined getting it all done ASAP! I just sgned and put my red thumb print wherever the guide told me to. It was done fairly quickly and she is now Sera Eden KangYang !!

Sera " YangYang " is a great eater! In fact she LOVES to eat and is quite the little baby Buddah! She ate 7 chicken nuggets for lunch, ate a sausage and two cookies in the Walmart, and then ate a very good dinner. I was honestly afraid some would c0me back up! She has the cutest little voice and loves to sing to herself. She loved her bath and rub down with lotion and is now playing with Aubri on the bed. She is so excited about everything we give her or do with her. I am having to be cautious how much we give her at once. Her new outfit for the day and new shoes were difficult for her to put away in her suitcase, but I think she understands that they are hers since I put all her things we had sent her and she has kept with her in Changchun and Datong in the suitcase as well. She loves the stacking cups, loves putting things in an empty shoe box and is so very sweet to watch as she plays!!

We have already encountered several negative remarks and stares from the locals while out at dinner tonight. It really put me out, but I stayed polite and just told one me very pretty and that I love her ( in Mandarin :-) He looked shocked, but dropped it. It actually worked better than what I felt like doing would have... slapping his mouth fir saying such ugly words to my baby.... Some of the customs here are difficult to cope with here, like all the pushing as shoving, traffic etc.... but are endurable with understanding of the culture. I just cannot comprehend this piece though. It goes so against every fiber of my being. Please pray for me that I can still stay polite while dealing with these prejudices.

I am beat, having survived on very little sleep the past few days and am hitting the hay. I hope sending this via email reaches you all. I am uncertain about this internet connection. It seems to come and go. I will try to put up more photos in the am here, but for now, here are a few to tide you all over! :-) I hope it posts to the blog.. I cannot see it here.

Thanks for all your prayers! While the journey was not exactly as planned, it was all so very worth it!!!

Have a great day everyone.... Yang Yang has fallen asleep next to Aubri on the bed and I am going to bed too!