Gotcha Day update.
Met An-an (Lily) today at 2:30. She is quite the little girl. At first, she was staring off into space and crying some and you could tell she did not want to be with us. We could totally understand - she is leaving everything familiar to her. It was a few hours before she smiled and started interacting with us - She will fit in well - has the Ferrell strong-willed temperament (aka stubborn). She is extremely sharp and she was worried about going with strangers and missing her teacher and others at the orphanage. Our guide was amazing - she interpreted, helped us with paperwork and, most importantly, got right at An-an's level and kept reassuring her in her familiar home dialect. The orphanage director and helper also kept reassuring her in Chinese. Apparently she is also close to a foster family she lived with over a year ago and you could tell she will miss them. In the last few hours, she has become especially attached to Ellie and is opening up to us slowly. We took her shopping and found ice cream and a few of her favorite things. She is now smiling alot and laughing at the girls. No surprises yet on her physical issues. Her hands are very turned in but she amazingly finds a way to do everything so far. The language barrier is tough, using lots of hand gestures, etc. :) Well, gotta get this uploaded. More to follow.