May 28th - FAMILY DAY!!!

Today, we celebrate FAMILY DAY - the day our family became complete. It was one year ago today that we FINALLY got our hands on little Miss Sophie just a little before 11 A.M. in the conference room at the Gloria Hotel in Nanchang.


K rarely smiles for pictures, but he's beaming in this one. Sophie was a little bit flopsy, though, and wasn't cooperating for the photo op:

And EJ was thrilled to finally have her little sister in her arms. See that little red triangle around Sophie's neck? It was given to us by the orphanage. It's a red fabric pouch with her Chinese name embroidered on it in gold. It was filled with stones from the grounds of the orphanage (and what feels like a coin?) and sewn shut.

Our very first family portrait:

Before we did all the legal proceedings a few hours later, we had to sign temporary custody paperwork so we could take Sophie back to our room.

In the room, we gave her a bottle...

...and got to know her a little better.

She studied us quite a bit and tried to figure out if we were keepers or not:

After a nice nap and a change of clothes, we were off to the 26th un-air-conditioned floor of the Civil Affairs building to finalize the adoption. It was SO hot and humid this day and we were all in this huge waiting room huddled around one fan trying to keep the babies cool.

Another family portrait in the hallway, holding the official adoption decree (the "Red Book"):

These were the nannies who accompanied Sophie and three other girls from the orphanage to Nanchang:

Fast forward to today. Our social worker came by for a visit so she can write our 12-month follow-up report that is required by China. She stayed for some Chinese food for dinner and we caught a photo of Sophie with her. Thanks, KD for all your help in the process!

And while she was here to function as photographer, she got a one year later family portrait for us! (Yes, EJ was modeling her ballet costume!)

And, for updated photos for Sophie, here are some from yesterday with her rainboots on...she's completely fascinated by them!

Here are a few I snapped tonight while she was getting ready for bed:

Gosh, I love that smile. What a great family day...