It's official!

What a difference 24 hours makes! Yesterday we were nervously sitting in Taiyuan, waiting to meet a little girl we had only seen in pictures. The amazement, joy and inexplicable happiness we felt when Lyra walked in the door all by herself wer almost overwhelming. She is doing so well. She is very tiny for her age - less than 9 kg on our bathroom scale - that's less than 20 pounds in the US, but she seems very healthy. I'm thankful I brought mostly 12 month outfits. Her personality more than makes up for her size.

She seems fairly comfortable with Harry and me. Lyra sees Harry as a big toy to play with and me for everything else. She does not like to go to slept easily but we are working on it. She did take a 3 hour nap yesterday and slept 8 hours last night so we aren't complaining.

Lyra also forgot to read the manual on "What newly adoptive toddlers don't like" because she is trying everything out. She loves to mimic me so I just show her what I am doing and then she insists on trying it. So she got a wonderful bath this morning and would not get out of the tub without a few tears. She also brushed her teeth and went potty on a Western toliet. She had been partially potty trained in split pants where she basically went around with a bare bottom and would cry a little to let her caregivers know it was time to find the squatty potty. Most kids are terrified of Western toliets but she decided to try it out successfully. We still keep her in diapers because she only gives about a 10 second warning.

She was an only child in foster care and was very well loved. This also means list list of favorite foods includes Coke, Sprite and chocolate.

Please continue praying for this precious little one. It is so sad to see her wake up, peak at us and then close her eyes tight, trying to pretend we aren't there. Or perhaps thinking if she goes back to sleep, she will awake to familiar surroundings. She has a good appetite so we are going to try to fill her with as many healthy calories as we can. I put her back on formula 3 times a day to start beefing her up a bit.

Today we spent with the Notary and Registrar back at the Civil Affairs building. Today, June 11th, Lyra official became our daughter. She was very tired and fell asleep on the way back to the hotel which has given me a chance to catch up here. I will try to post some pictures from today if I have more time.