An even dozen

We now have R. The above video is complements of Y., who has completely figured out every electrical object we have.

The morning went well. We are traveling with six other families, many of them with many children. (Some of them brought their children and others left them home, but while we are the biggest family, it is not by much. We actually feel a wee bit normal for a change of pace.) First thing this morning, we all hopped on the bus to go to the government office where we would meet our new children. R. arrived pretty much in the middle of the proceedings. Just like Y., she knew us immediately and we received big hugs. (If you have met H. in person, picture that personality on steroids.) There was a brief moment when R. asked for her foster mom, but one of the women with her made a phone call (I think to her foster mom? I'm not entirely sure.) and after that she was fine. Well, as fine as a child can be who has just met her new family in person and will now go and live with them. For about an hour, I'm sure we were seeing some fantastically manic behavior... not being able to sit still, extreme loudness... just manic. It makes me realize I am a much different person than I was ten years ago because, though there were a few moments of taking some deep breaths and reminding myself what you see at first is not the real child, for the most part, I was just amused at the new circus our life will be.

I'm not sure that Y. is currently as amused. She was open to the new sister at first, but the manic-ness was a bit off-putting for her and we could tell she had decided that she was not OK with the whole thing. Once we were back at the hotel and getting coats off and such, R. tried to help Y. and we're pretty sure Y. said something not terribly nice to her new sister. They have kept a bit of a distance from each other ever since. I can live with detente while they get to know each other.

We are so thankful for all the preparation we received from the people who love R. It has helped make sense of things and we feel confident that life will settle down a bit once we all get used to each other. R. is incredibly loving and in some ways, she reminds us all very strongly of H. when she first came home. This could be wonderful and the two girls could hit it off right away, or... well, we don't need to go there right now. Not borrowing trouble is my new phrase to remind myself.

Soon we plan to go out and hunt down some dinner and move our circus to another venue for a change of pace. All we can say is that we are so thankful that we brought P. She has been terrific. Not only is she a terrific sherpa, but the girls, Y. in particular, have really fell for her and I think find her comforting. R. even got P. to sing a bit of "Let it Go" this morning. For those that know P., you know that this was no small feat. It's always nice to be adored.

Here are some other pictures for you from today.

Y., waiting for R. to arrive. (The room we were waiting in was cold!)

P. and Me (It's a goofy picture, I don't know what I'm doing.)

R. and Y. examining what's in Y.'s knapsack... which is exactly the same as what's in R.'s. I'm no fool.

Our new daughter

We have achieved detente and they are no longer getting into each other's space. Yes, that is J. changing the TV channel. We unabashedly use massive doses of TV to get through adoption trips. 

Y.

R.