More on Norah

So sorry that this took so long for me to post. Norah had a MAJOR meltdown last night, but all is well. It is about 445am monday morning here. I can't sleep. My heart has been doing flipflops all night and I wake jus to make sure that she is real and she is still here. I figured that now would be a good time to catch up on the days events.
We flew into Nanchang and got here about 1245ish. I could be totally off here, but I am pretty sure that was around the time. We were met by our guide Evelyn who is just awesome!!! We were taken to the hotel which is the nicest hotel that I have even stayed in. I wish I could transport the bathroom home. It is beautiful!
Nanchang is a very poor place. People are sweeping with straw brooms and it is very run down. The people drive…. Different. It is just kind of a free for all. Lots of horns honking and crazy driving. We are somewhat like celebrities here as they are not accustomed to seeing Westerner’s. They would honk at the bus we were in and wave and smile. When we walked into the hotel people just stopped and time stood still for a few minutes. It was wild! I feel so warm and safe here despite the façade. Maybe it is because this is Norah’s birthplace. The only home that she has ever known. I just really feels good here.
So we had a meeting at 3:00 in the conference room with our guide. We went over the next few days itinerary and some paperwork and then around 4:30 Evelyn told us to go back to our room and get our things together because the babies would be here at 5. So at 4:30 we went our room and gathered some paperwork, her giraffe, some snacks for her and her blanket. As we were getting off the elevator to meet everyone at the conference room I hear this baby just wailing. I mean MAD! I said, That is probably Norah. Boy was I right. There were just three of us in that room. Shannon and her hubby and girls waiting on Grace. And Denise and her family waiting on Ryan. It was 445 and the crying was getting closer. I mean really close and then I went in panic mode. I had dreamed this scenario a hundred different times. Sometimes she was happy and sometimes she was sad. But nothing in this world prepared me for meeting Norah for the first time. Nothing.
I saw her out in the hallway. And did I say before she was MAD? I just want to make sure that you are getting that. So Grace was handed to her family and then Evelyn looked at us and said, you ready? And it was like slow motion. I stood up, Shannon was videotaping, and they handed her to me. All I could say was thank you, thank you God. She was sweaty, she was screaming, and she was in my arms. Isn’t that the way it normally works? I held her and kissed her head. She is soooo tiny! She was wearing the outfit that we sent her in her care package. The pants we big, but the top was alright. She is just awesome. As I was trying to console her in the room, the orphanage director came to me with a gift for Norah (Which is not something that they do often).I could tell when she was giving it to me that she had tears in her eyes. How hard that must have been for her. And all I could do was say thank you with tears in my eyes. Evelyn came over and told me that they scanned her birth note for us as well. It is nothing more than her date of birth and the time that she was born. We went back to the room a few minutes later because she was screaming her face off. When we got to the room, we went to the window that overlooks the city and just sat there with her. She would not make any eye contact and was limp. She did not want a bottle; she did not want food, nothing. We talked really soft to her and she stopped crying after a while. I finally had to hand her over to Shannon because I had to take care of some business and the crying started all over again. He was talking so sweet to her and just rubbing her back and walking with her. Man, he is amazing. She calmed down and fell asleep on his shoulder. He laid her in the middle of the bed and I had to meet the other parents for more paperwork. At the meeting, they gave me a brochure for the orphanage, her shot records and the newspaper that has her finding ad in. I just cannot believe that they have been so good to us and to Norah. The things they brought, the gift, her toys everything. It is not something that they are required to. She got the bag that we sent her a few weeks ago and it is awesome! They had all of her things in that bag along with some hotdog things that she loves and some cookies.
Anyway, she slept for about an hour and woke up and started coming around. She was sitting on the bed and she actually took a bottle from me. She made eye contact several times, so that is good. I think she even smiled… We had to run a spoon to another family so I took her with me. We took her stacking cups and was a really happy girl! We went and checked on Denise and Ryan too. Ryan is 2 ½ and he was in there as well as Jenna who is 5 and Emma who is 1. She was really happy to be around the other kids. She actually let me put her down and she stood up at the edge of the bed looking around. She is very very observant like Elias is. He is going to LOVE her!
Then we went back to our room and Shannon was already sleeping. I put her in bed and gave her her blanket and she just stuck it in her mouth and laid there until she went to sleep. She just put a bit of blanket in her mouth and suck s it like a paci. The blanket that we gave her is from my Uncle Chuck. It is beautiful. And that is the only blanket that will work for her. She was lying in bed last night and she was sucking her blanket, and she was taking her hands and picking up the sides and rubbing them on her face. Beautiful.
She they are sleeping right now and she slept all through the night. This morning I woke up to her rubbing my arm in her sleep.
Mom, thank you so much for the comment that you left. That meant so much to me; I wish all of you were here to see her. Especially Elias. He would have loved this.

This is amazing. Truly. Nothing could have ever prepared me for this. My heart is full.
I will post more later. Stuart, to answer your questions, we have HBO and Cinemax in our room. We haven’t eaten anything really weird yet, I think they were letting us take baby steps. Last night we had pizza  We were just too tired to go anywhere. We sure miss you guys, you would love it here! But I am excited that we have a few days here to explore Norah’s home. Man I love that kid!
Elias, we miss you buddy! Daddy and I cannto wait to be home with you and snuggle. We were just talking about what a really cool kid you were to one of the other family members yesterday. I miss you squirt.I hope that you are having a good time! Love you so very much !!!!!