We are a family of 5

We were late getting to the Civil Affairs office.  Thank God, Malia wasn't there yet.  There were 4 families from Spain.  I spoke my best Spanish to one family and they said they were adopting a 3 year old boy.  We worked on some paperwork while we waited and around 9:30 or so, Malia was brought in.  She had gotten car sick on the way, but thankfully, it was only on her coat.  We had brought a jacket with us, so we were ok.  I cleaned up her face and hands.  She was quiet, but social.  When Emma, our guide, asked her who we were, she said we were her baba (daddy) and mama.  She told Emma she had seen our pictures.  Emma said that her Mandarin was very good.  I gave her the Hello Kitty build a bear that the boys had made, along with a My Little Pony.  She sat and brushed the pony's hair for quite a while, while we did paperwork.  She got into her backpack and hauled out a large Art book, with some very nice colored drawings.  I drew a kitty cat and she copied it almost exactly.  Joe drew a dog and she drew one as well.  Joe drew some squiggly lines in the book and she traced it almost perfectly.  We were at the Civil Affairs office for a while, filling out paperwork, getting answers to our questions, and meeting the orphanage director and office director. 

Next, we rode in the van to the police station, where we applied for her passport.  While there, she sat on either mine or Joe's lap, without complaint, combing the pony's hair.  She had to get her picture taken at the police station and she did such a good job.  They said they never had a young child do such a good job.  We were proud!  :)  After we left the police station, we went to a one-hour photo type place, for our family picture.  This goes on the adoption certificate.  Again, she did great in the car and being carried by either Joe or I. 

It was raining, so we just carried her everywhere.  We decided we were all a little hungry, so we decided to stop at McDonald's (first American food in 5 days).  Joe and Emma went inside and Malia and I stayed in the van, with the driver. When we said that they went in to McDonald's, we heard her first English word-McDonald's!  Obviously, she has seen a commercial or something, but we don't think she'd ever eaten it.  The driver asked her several questions and spoke to her for a bit.  Everyone who has met her, has been quite taken with her and our driver was no exception.  He said he would be /convenience store. You can tell that whatever she said to him, she had won him over! 

Well, we've done lots of bonding activities already.  She won't let me do her hair-she can do it herself!  She put every barrette I brought, a pony holder, and a headband in her hair.  She also spent time doing mine, putting those same barrettes in mine.  Too funny!  She wanted me to paint her nails, so I did. A while later, she decided mine needed it, so she did mine. Not long after that, she decided we both needed our toes done, so I did hers and she did mine.  She is quite the girl! 

What we know about our sweet girl so far:
-She is a genius!  After I wrote her name once, she copied it perfectly!  She also wrote her numbers 1-7 just because she likes to write and draw
-She is a perfectionist
-She loves books (and Joe's duck hunting magazine!)
-She likes to be clean
-She loves my little pony
-She is a girly girl and likes prettys in her hair
-She is miss independent!  
-She loves kisses and laughs like crazy when you kiss her cheeks
-She loves playing peek a boo games-this gets her giggling
-She loves throwing and catching a ball and laughs like crazy when the beach ball hits her head or ours
-Her smile melts your heart
-She has won over the heart of every person she has met today
-She is very social 
-She looks adorable in her pajamas
-She likes to sing and dance and be the center of attention.  
-She is well coordinated-she has chopsticks and eating with a fork and spoon down pat.  She can put pony tails and barrettes in her own hair (and mine)
-She already knows "uh oh", "hamburger", "hello", "goodbye", "mama", "baba/daddy", "picture", "hold it"
-She loves french fries and coke (and pork, rice, peas, dumplings, and eggs)
-She is quite the artist-drawing suns, flowers, lakes, and other things
-She is the perfect girl for us!
-She may grow up to either be a beautician or a photographer-she likes to use the small Fuji camera we brought and poses us for pictures with Hello Kitty and her Barbie doll


We will Skype the boys in about a half hour, before we go to bed.  We were told that Malia still naps, but that was the furthest thing from her mind when we tried this afternoon.  Instead, we'll try to call it a night by 8pm and hope that we all sleep well. She told Emma that our bed was small (it's a king size:).  


Tomorrow, we will got to finalize the adoption and maybe do a little shopping.  I didn't bring any socks for her, so we'll need some of those.  Her sneakers look brand new and seem to fit well, but we may look for some sandals.  We'll bring her to a grocery store and let her pick out some yogurt, milk, and some small snacks.  


It's been quite a day.  It could not have been more perfect.  She has given us both hugs, accepted hugs and kisses, and is not shy in the least!  She knows we are her parents.  She is SO smart, we can't believe it.  Just now, she came over and showed me the letter A that she drew.  It was perfect.  She's showing Daddy pictures in her book right now.  She came with stacks of books and learning workbooks.  You can tell she loves to learn and that her foster family did a great job with her.  She attended kindergarten outside of the orphanage.  We are just can't get over how smart she is.  Emma has told us several times that she is very smart.  Anyone could tell that.  Malia has made great eye contact all day and doesn't seem afraid at all.  Quite the contrary, she has made herself right at home.  She has already tested her boundaries several times and we've had to stay firm on a few things.  Thank you for all of the prayers.  They have been answered and then some.  We could not have imagined our first day with her to have gone this well. None of us shed a tear-only lots of laughs and giggles!  


We know that tomorrow could be totally different than today, but we will face that bridge when we get there.  If there was a person considering adopting a child this age, I would definitely say "go for it"!  She is old enough to understand so much and yet, she still is so innocent-much like a 3 year old.  
Love and hugs, 

Joe, Lindsey, and Malia