Where to start...

Well, okay. Where do I start. This is the post everyone was waiting for, I think. Tonight at about 6:00 p.m., we got the girls. We were told to go to a room in the hotel at 6:00 p.m. When we arrived, the chaos had already started. About a half dozen of the babies had already been handed to their parents and several of them were crying pretty hard. They started with the Leping babies (ours were from Leping, but about half the families were getting babies from Wanzai) who had all been fostered. And they weren't happy to be handed to white folks with big noses, I'm guessing. Anyhow, we found E and A in the room, but weren't able to take them until they got to our turn and the orphanage director checked our paperwork and passports. Then the handoff happened. E and A were actually very good. Neither cried... well, okay, not then at least. We took them back to the room and for about 30 minutes everything was fine. Then the meltdown began. :-)

Both are asleep right now, but I have no illusion that it is due to either DoT's or my great skill with them. Instead, I think exhaustion finally took over. Thankfully. I think my arms are ready to fall off. Their paperwork says they are 7 kg (E) and 8 kg (A), but they felt more like 20 kg, after pacing around holding them for about an hour.

Both were wearing good luck talismans put on them by their foster parents. A was wearing the "key of longevity" -- a necklace and bracelets with bells in them -- plus some red thread (lucky) tied around her wrists. E had a Christian cross on red thread around her neck, and red thread around both her wrists.

And yes, it is parents - plural. I was disappointed to learn today that they were fostered out with different families. When they were abandoned they were both very small, and so the orphanage felt they needed individual care -- hence they were each placed with different foster moms. I had hoped they would be a comfort to each other, but I'm not sure that will be the case. Although, A definitely looked upset whenever E started to cry. So who knows.

Neither one ate anything tonight, and A is actually asleep right now in the clothes she was wearing (with the exception of a new diaper). But they are asleep. And right now that's what's important to me. We'll try to get them to eat something tomorrow. (We tried tonight, but neither was much in the mood to eat.)

I know you were all hoping for pictures, but I can't seem to see any right now on my camera flash card. I'll check with C&M to see if they have any pics (they captured a lot on video and I think they took some pictures too), but won't likely have any until at least tomorrow. Sorry. But you'll just have to wait.