China: Day 5

Today was a hard but beautiful day, one that needed to happen and that I will one day share with Bella. 

But first, I'll recap the rest of yesterday, after our sweet girl woke up from her nap. She was sad and scared when she first woke up, likely confused about where she was. And in fact, on and off the rest of the day, she had moments of grieving, but we just loved on her and soothed her and let her cry as much as she needed to. We spent the entire day/night in our room, to help with bonding and to start to show her that we are her primary caregivers now, her parents. We played with a few of the toys I packed and did a lot of looking out the window at the big city. :) Then, it was time to call it a day. Once again, she rocked herself to sleep. For now, I am letting her do it, as it truly seems to soothe her and she falls asleep so quickly. But my hope is that she will soon allow me to be the one to rock her to sleep, instead of herself. <3

She is SO observant, taking in every detail she sees.

The first time she ever reached for her momma's hand <3

Her daddy was cracking her up!

Wardrobe change!

Our Bella beauty

Undoubtedly one of the best moments of Raleigh's life <3

Super excited biggest brother

Super sweet little brother

Daddy time

Our first night with Bella went pretty well! She awoke a few times sad and scared, but again, we just loved on her the best we could. This morning, she awoke with no tears, which we definitely count as a small victory! We headed down for breakfast at the hotel buffet, and if there's one thing I can say about Bella, it's that homegirl can EAT! She put away an entire bowl of fried rice, an entire bowl of rice congee, and a biscuit. She probably would have eaten more but we had something pretty important to get to...

I have another thumb sucker!

Bathroom snacking while momma gets ready :)

...finalizing our adoption! We completed the necessary paperwork, were interviewed by Chinese officials, and received copies of Bella's passport photo (swoon) and our family photo from yesterday. And then we received the most wonderful surprise: the director of Bella's orphanage was there and gifted each of us three families with memory books of our child (including pictures of the exterior and interior of the orphanage and photos of our littles from the time they were babies until now!!!) as well as the most precious Inner Mongolian hats and outfits. I cannot even describe how much we will treasure these forever. 

Most precious little passport photo

Our first official family photo (taken yesterday)

Showing off her new hat :)

Absolutely thrilled. Ha!

Photo with the orphanage director, Chinese official, and one of the other two (awesome!!) families who are adopting their littles alongside us

After our special morning, I asked our guide about going to visit Bella's finding spot. This is the place where her birth momma left her as an orphan, with the hopes that someone would find her and take her to the police station and ultimately, an orphanage. While I will never know why her birth momma had to leave her, I will be able to tell Bella that it was something that was done out of unconditional love - the greatest sacrifice of all, to give up your child in the hopes that she will have a better life, one that for whatever reason, her birth momma felt unable to provide. Further, she left her in a place where she knew she would be found quickly. I have no doubt she is an amazing woman, who has given our family the greatest gift in our Bella. 

So, Clay, Bella, and I went to that spot. I took Bella into the restroom and cried, promising her she would never be left again. <3 

I know this may seem like a strange photo to take (and share), but I want to be able to show Bella how impactful our visit to this spot was one day. I cried for her birth momma and I cried for my baby. I also wanted to make sure it is clear that adoption is a beautiful love story that begins with tragedy. There will be MANY hard moments to come. But this girl will never be alone again.

Orphan no more.

The place.

Then, we decided to spend a little time exploring the park before heading back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. :)

Time for some fun!

<3

A concert in the park by local musicians

A ferris wheel ride to get a better look at the city of Hohhot. Bels wasn't too sure about this. :)

A view of the mountains behind the city

Nap complete, it was time to do a little shopping before heading out to dinner with our whole adoption crew to a Hot Pot restaurant (similar to a fondue restaurant in the States). First stop, the most beautiful shopping "mall" I have ever seen.

What? These beautiful, picturesque mountains aren't the view directly outside of your local mall? Yeah, not mine either. But they were today! And they were glorious!

The "lobby" of the mall was more like an incredible museum. We spent some time looking around here before hitting up the shopping area, which was full of goods famous to Inner Mongolia. 

There were mannequins showcasing the beautiful fashions of Inner Mongolia. Loved looking at each one!

More pretty views from outside that deserved a photo op :)

Once we hit the shopping area, it was really neat to walk around. It was three floors that were basically set up like an Ikea. You followed the arrows and walked around all these beautiful display cases. Once you found something you liked, you were given the item and a ticket for it and then paid for all of your goods as you were exiting the floor to head to the next. There was also a cheese sampling section - only the cheeses were flavored as things like chocolate, blueberry, poppyseed, etc....and actually, quite good! (Local friends, we bought two kinds for y'all to sample :) ). 

Shopping is exhausting. Pausing for a water break. :)

No one can make her laugh like her Daddy. 

Dynamic duo. Bella seems to be attaching well to both of us, praise the Lord. While she definitely wants her Momma when she is tired or unsure, she adores her Daddy and smiles at him like no other.

Finally, it was time to head to dinner. But I need to pause and share something amazing: This evening, on the way to dinner, we finally heard our Bella's sweet voice. She hasn't made a peep since we met her. But tonight, she felt comfortable to show us her voice. First, she said "Dada," and then, "Mama." Ohmyheart. Her beautiful voice!!!! 

Unpause. Our amazing guide/facilitator, Aggie (who we all adore!), took us to an awesome "Hot Pot" dinner. That middle part of the table (shown below) was constantly turning all throughout the meal, so we could just grab what we needed and throw it into our hot pots to cook. Bella loooooooved eating all the dumplings we gave her. :)

So cool!

Practicing her walking with her biggest fan

It was already past bedtime and this girl didn't even flinch when we gave her her first bath. :)

And that was Day 2 with our girl. Her precious personality is emerging more and more by the hour. She is quiet and reserved - she loves sitting back and observing everything going on around her. She is SO laid back and easy going, praise the Lord! Maybe it'll help with the family circus we'll be running once we return home....nah! ;) She is sweeter than sugar. She is brave and strong and resilient, and we love her to pieces. 

Tomorrow is our last full day in Hohhot. We can't wait to enjoy our first Wednesday ever with our beautiful Bella.