First morning together...

This morning Rylee woke up and sat up quietly in bed. She studied each of us intently and silently. We waited quietly to see her reaction and she let out a couple of sighs, fingered the blanket a bit, looked back at us... then she raised both arms up in the air, plopped back on the mattress and let out a squeal sat back up and we realized she was laughing, big gulps of laughter. I had just commented to Pat that I guess she is not a happy, jump out of bed kind of morning person like Hanna is - apparently I was wrong! She was all smiles and giggles this morning and has really enjoyed playing hide and seek with Hanna. Although the first time Hanna disappeared Rylee started to whine, but she caught on quickly.

She ate a great breakfast this morning and it was time to head off to the Civil Affairs office. When we got there the orphanage workers were there and came up to speak to Rylee. The smiles left her face and she turned her head away from them. They kept talking to her, but she ignored them completely. Finally the assistant director took her from me to talk to her. Rylee told her she wanted to go back to Mama. We had our interview, which went really well. They finalized our paperwork and gave us a gift for Rylee. While we were waiting the women were talking to Rylee again. They were telling her that it was time to leave and did she want to go with them. She shook her head no and pushed in closer to me. They kept trying to get her to go with them, but each time she shook her head no and tried to turn away from them. She was like glue to me today, the only thing that could get her away from me was Hanna and even then she looked torn about what to do. She was such a good girl at all the appointments and she is so happy! We saw lots of adopting families today, but Rylee is much older than all of them. Many people have commented on us adopting such an old child. I sat in one of the waiting areas today and listened to all the crying, oh so very cute babies and I just couldn't help but think... we may have missed so much in the first four years of her life but to me, to us, she is absolutely and wonderfully perfect!