We've finally got her - meet Cora Chunwu Davis!

I am trying to type softly, as my entire family is sleeping right now.  It's 9:34pm, and they were all out at 8:15pm.   My beautiful girls are both sleeping in the king bed together - I was in the middle before I snuck out.  They are so gorgeous; I'd take their picture if I didn't think it would wake them up!

I feel like so much happened today, but yet the day flew by.  James and I both said we were not at all prepared for how this all went down.  We were cursing the adoption books we read - completely not helpful on day 1 at least.   

Sophie had a change of heart about 6 minutes after my last post.  Was crying and writhing around on the floor in protest to getting her sister.  So that frayed my nerves a bit, but we managed to snap her out of it, and got to breakfast on time, and met the group also ontime.  A pretty big feat for us, in itself.  But by the time we were on the bus to go get her, we were all excited once again, and in a good place emotionally.  For most of the 6 families, it was our first adoption, so the whole bus was a ball of nerves.

After waiting about 20 mins, they started bringing the kids in.  Cora is absolutely beautiful, that was my first thought.  And looked absolutely terrified, was my 2nd.  She came to us, being pushed by the nanny, but really wanted nothing to do with us.  We tried to hold back from swooping in on her, and really did contain ourselves pretty well.  It was chaos, as there were so many people in that small room.  We hung out on the floor with her, gave her a sucker (which she liked), tried to play with some of the stuff we brought.  She watched cautiously, but was not going to engage with us, or even let a little smile squeak out.  She really was taking it ALL in.  Watching the other families and kids, seeing what stuff they had, but being completely silent.  It was stressful, cause we kept saying, should we try harder, or just let it ride?  Of course, comparing ourselves to all the other families, and how all their children were reacting.  Bad idea, of course.  But there was a huge spectrum of reactions from the kids, so that made us feel better.

We had to do some paperwork, take a few official photos, and then were able to leave after about an hour.  Chunwu was holding sophie and my hand, still looking like a scared deer in headlights.  I thought we were going to talk with the orphanage director, who was there, or at least some of the nannies to get some questions answered.  But nope, none of that.  We all just loaded up on the bus, and headed back on the 20 min ride to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, we all disbursed quickly, and headed to our rooms.  Cora was being so brave, but as soon as she got to the room, and saw it was empty, and was just the 3 of us, the tears started.  Oh my gosh, my heart just broke, and I was trying SO hard to keep it together.  It almost worked.  Sophie kept saying, "mom, if she she's you cry, she's going to be scared!".  She's five, but she is such a little peanut, and she just looked so scared.  We got her to calm down after about 20 mins.  Pulled out some games, tried singing songs, i think tried more candy.  You just feel so helpless that you can't communicate with her!  Oh, but then room service came, and brought rice and steamed egg.  And she said 2 words, that I made me think maybe she had to go potty, and she did.  So I think that helped too.  She let me feed her the rice and egg, and ate quite a bit.  And by that time it was almost 1pm, so we decided it was naptime.  

James really gave her space today.  When she was upset, she really wanted nothing to do with any of us, but would tolerate me. She's not scared of him per se, but likes to watch him from a distance.   We thought since she was having a hard time, we would let her focus on getting to know me, and then hopefully she will warm up to him more in the next few days.

After the nap, we hung out a bit, then decided to go check out the pool.  Sophie and james swam, and cora and I watched from the side.  I could tell she had not been around water much - she was afraid to even put her feet in.  It was loud and kind of overwhelming, so probably not the best move.  But we were feel like we just didn't know what to do with ourselves in our room. We ran into another family on our way back.  Little Emily was in Cora's orphange, and they clearly know each other.  Emily didn't really react, but poor Cora just started sobbing again when they walked away.  We unfortunately were in the lobby of the hotel, and caused QUITE a scene.  The manager of the hotel even came over and asked if we needed help.  I said yes - can you please help us speak to our daughter!   But then I was getting upset, so we just bee lined it back to our room, and decided we needed to stay put for the rest of the day/night.

Oh wait - somewhere in the afternoon we grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant.  Cora had some fries, and few bites of pizza, seemed to really like it.  I don't think eating is going to be a problem for us!

Once we were back in our room for the evening, things really started to to improve.  Cora discovered angry birds, which started the "little smiles".  She got a kick out of that, and sophie was good about helping her with it.  Then we started playing with all sorts of other toys.  She was having fun, and the smiles started coming a little more freely.  She whispered 2 words to me - i think one she was saying "butterfly", and the other was talking about shoes for the dolly we were playing with.  Oh, she is really the sweetest thing, and I can not wait to hear her talk more.  She's got spunk in her eyes for sure - I can't wait to see it come out.

James feels a little put out, and wants to interact with her more, but he's really afraid of scaring her.  I won't let him hang back too long, though - I gotta have a break sometime, too!  But he just looks at her with his eyes welled up, and I know they will be pals soon.

I gave her a bath, which was definitely a new thing for her.  And teeth brushing also seemed a first!  But she was a trooper for all of it.  And hand washing is her favorite thing so far :)  And then it was off to bed in her most adorable jammies, with her big sister and mom.  She fell asleep within 10 mins.  I'm praying, but not expecting, that she sleeps through the night!

Tomorrow is some paperwork in the morning, and then a free day.  And then I think Wed we will go to orphanage, though we are a little nervous about her reaction to that, considering her sadness when she sees her one friend here.  

So overall, a total roller coaster of a day.  And it was hard on all 4 of us. But there were some fun moments, and some smiles from everyone, so I call it a win.   I know each day she will become a little more comfortable, as will we with her.  When I looked over and saw her sleeping next to me tonight, all I could do was smile and kiss her. I know He has put her in the right place.