We have Callie!

I'll start with the middle of our day and then relate the earlier part afterwards for the few of you who may be interested in that.

Checked into Lakeside Hotel in Fuzhou around 1pm. Ate lunch at a nearby restaurant with Jim and Shelly Peters (the other couple with us adopting here)--they served Chinese food! We were told to be in our rooms at 3:30. At 3:45, our Fuzhou guide, Isabel, came and told us that "your baby is here" and we had to fill out some brief paperwork.

We then headed down to the room where Callie and Caity (the Peters' girl) were playing happily. Their happiness ended when they realized we were entering their lives in some way. Both started crying.

But Callie is adorable! We recognized her from her pictures. She walks, talks a little bit, and seems to be a smart kid. Her voice is kind of husky. She cried pretty much for 90 minutes straight. She had a cookie stick in one hand, a full bottle of formula in the other, tasted neither one, but held on to them as she cried and cried. And she kept pointing to our room door, indicating that she wanted to go back from where she came.

(Jacque: Don't read the rest of this paragraph. Callie's the same age as Leah G. Imagine Leah being uprooted from her situation and how she would feel.)

But now, four hours later, she's far more content. As you can imagine, she's taken quickly to Anna, who does everything for her. They have colored together, and Anna has led her around the room. Callie has done some exploring on her own. We are fully realizing we have a toddler, not a baby.

Callie has also begun to warm to Sara's kisses, and we've gotten some smiles and even a few short laughs. She's even warming up to me. A few minutes ago she brought me a pencil, and then she brought me an empty folder.

As to her right ankle, there appears to be a bulge on the outside of her ankle, and she seems to be flat-footed in both feet.

It is difficult to convey all. Keep praying for us. We still have much to learn about each other.

Earlier today . . .
We flew out of Beijing at 9am. But before we got out of the airport, security had confiscated Anna's blunt-nosed scissors and Shelly's chapstick. (I felt safer.) The seven families in our group went five different directions. Our flight to Fuzhou was 2 1/2 hours and uneventful. Fuzhou, pop. 6 million, has more of a tropical climate, including rain. It looks to be a beautiful city. There are definitely depressed areas. I saw a couple water buffalo.

On the way to the hotel (an hour's drive), Isabel gave us a questionnaire that Callie's foster mom had answered, which we found very helpful.