Today was the day!

Sleeping beauty rests next to me as I type!  Little bit of crying at bedtime but nothing a little walk around the dark suite in the Ergo didn't cure...she's fighting a little illness which is making her snore away in our bed!  I'm not even sure she would have cried had it not been for her pulling the door over her tiny toes as she attempted to escape from our room to go play. 

I am amazed.  She has done remarkably well and I'm not sure I could have asked for anything better.  I expected the worst and hoped for the best, and today I got even better.  

I just so happened to spot her and her foster mother on their way to Holt as my brother and I sat at Tous Le Jours Bakery killing time before our meeting.  He ran out and snapped this pic from afar (she walks fast, lol!) and that's when reality hit me.  There went my newest daughter and I was about to meet and hold her and take her home with me!  (That's them under the umbrella lol! Ignore the guy in the bottom of the pic who thought my brother was crazy!)

When we walked into Holt and went up to the second floor, I recognized her right away as the busy toddler playing with a worker in the hallway.  She ran up to me as I bent down to greet her and her foster mother stepped around the corner and pointed me out as omma.  A huge smile came across her face and she started interacting with me right away!

DJ led us into the meeting room and Emersyn immediately got busy.  Climbing, running, pulling, playing non stop! This girl is crazy active!  I have never seen anything like it!  And she kept it up not only thru the entire meeting, but till the minute I put her into the carrier to rock her to sleep tonight!  

The foster mother seemed very engaging, eager to answer all my questions and just very comfortable with the whole meeting!  I even asked DJ if this is how Emersyn normally is when she comes into Holt and she told me that she seemed to be extra outgoing and excited today!  She asked the foster mother why that was and she said that she told Hui-a she would be meeting her omma and sahm-chon today and to be extra nice and friendly at our meeting to which Hui-a responded with a big ole head nod!

The meeting went wonderfully.  I learned a lot about my little girl and when we headed down to get her pre-flight checkup with the dr, she was the life of the party!  Asking the workers to put her in the exersaucers that were clearly too small for her, dropping her candy wrappers on the floor as she stuffed them two at a time into her mouth and only sitting still long enough to have the dr check her out one last time!

She's been a little under the weather, so they sent us with meds but she should be cleared up by the time we board our flight home this weekend...

DJ and her foster mother walked us out after we had everything we needed and both said goodbye at the cab.  I got in first and her foster mother then handed Emersyn to me and told her goodbye.  She stood, very strong and waved as we drove away and Hui-a waved back and mumbled a goodbye in Korean.  Thankfully, I held it together and didn't go into the ugly cry, but words will never be able to express my appreciation and love for this wonderful woman who has taken care of and loved my child this last year.  I am and will always be, so grateful, as well as to her first foster mother.

The cab ride back to the hotel was surreal...never shed a tear.  Somehow seemed to actually understand what was going on.  She rolled the window up and down, dug thru my purse for snacks and toys and we played a game of ga-ku as she took turns holding my hands over her eyes, then mine.

She ran all the way to the elevator, then jumped up and down as it climbed the floors, and sprinted to our door to check out what was inside.  For the next several hours, she tore.it.up.  No other way to describe it!  She got into everything, climbed everything and ate everything.  I would like to have a quarter of her energy!  Don't let these mellow pics fool you!  I took about a million to get one where she wasn't on the go!

She got hot and asked me to take off her sweater and then later, after she used the bathroom, (she's about half way potty trained, not fully, but incredibly good at signaling when she needs to go!) I kept her pants off and then after she spilled something on her other shirt and I took that off, she thought it was bath time and proceeded to take her pull up off! too  So off to the tub we went, which is also an event I can't describe!!  She thrashed and splashed and hammed it up!

She ate and ate and ate...and ate!  See the toasted seaweed all over her face? 

And the fist full of puffs she stuffed in her mouth?!?

Needless to say, I am exhausted!  I have never met a more active little 20 month old ever in my life!  It is insane!!  Her foster mother said she sleeps well thru the night, so I tried to just lay down with her but she proceeded to get up and head straight for the door!  That's when she stubbed her little toes and let out a little cry, but was asleep in no time as I carried her around on my back and then laid her down in our bed, where she is now sound asleep. :)

She has allowed me to kiss and hug her, tickle her and hold her, and she enjoyed having a few Skype sessions with her daddy and sister!  She is very interested in my brother as I believe it to be the first white person she has ever seen up close and will walk by and rub his leg and arm hair and stare at his bald head! LOL!  She is just a delight and I cannot wait to bring her home to the rest of her family waiting...she is a perfect fit!

I must say this entire trip so far has continued to be surreal for me.  I feel as though this little girl has always been mine.  There was a time when my husband and I thought twice about adopting a toddler...and many times this long wait took it's toll on us...but this is that moment when it all melts away and nothing else matters but having your child in your arms.   

I feel incredibly blessed to be so lucky as to have three of the best children in the world call me mommy!  I can't wait to have them all under one roof. :)

Now off to sleep, if today was any indicator of how the next three days will go, then I better get all the rest I can!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers...clearly they are working!