We have Romi!

I slept really well--the miracles of modern medicine!

We were excited and anxious. Rob would have happily slept 15 minutes longer but I just couldn't stop talking to him. We got up, got dressed, changed money and headed for the hotel breakfast. It was wonderful to see hot, fresh and beautiful food. We didn't eat anything too interesting because we were already anxious and excited, although I did try a wonderful passion fruit. It's sour and I learned, mainly through pantomime with a woman in line, that you don't eat the hard outer shell. Tomorrow I will branch out, although I will probably skip the green salad, sushi and silverfish.

Mr. Yeh was waiting for us in the lobby and we spent the two-hour car ride talking with Theresa and Lee, soon-to-be-parents from Houston. We laughed about the process together and shared both our excitement and anxiety. I feel so fortunate that we traveled together.

We stopped briefly at a rest stop. The sweet shop had samples and we tasted some funky but surprisingly good jelly-type yummies, one strawberry, the other peanut butter and chocolate. We arrived at TWCA and took pictures, excited and nervous and a bit in disbelief. They sat the four of us at a small table and we tried to wait patiently.

Lee and Theresa left first with their caseworker to get their daughter. I remember looking at the clock--it was 10:37. Soon Samantha showed up to take us to our appointment. We piled back into Mr. Yeh's van and took a short drive to Romi's foster home.

And then there she was, Romi's foster mom, waiting in the open entryway, with Romi in her arms, and I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful. I know everybody wants to know all about it, but I just don't think I can describe it. He was absolutely stunning. We passed him around and hugged him and kissed him and took loads of pictures.

His foster mom was a really wonderful woman. She seemed to understand more English than she spoke, so we were glad to have Samantha to translate. I have no idea how long we were there--long enough to get some questions answered regarding our newest family member, and short enough that the goodbye, hopefully, wasn't too painful for his foster mom.

We piled in the car, with the baby on my lap. It's funny how back home we had a certified expert put the car seats in, but here we don't even wear seat belts. We headed to the two-story baby store on the corner and loaded up on bottles, formula, rice cereal, pacifiers, etc. As we were shopping Theresa and Lee came in with Maddy, their beautiful six-month old baby girl.

We all headed back to TWCA, where Theresa and Lee were to meet Maddy's birth mother. For a variety of reasons, this was something that Rob and I did not get the opportunity to do; I was both relieved and disappointed. We signed one form, got more paperwork, and that was it. I looked at the clock and it was not yet even 12:30. Only two hours had past, and now instead of four of us sitting at the table, there were six. I have to echo Theresa's sentiments: I underestimated the happiness factor. It truly was even better than I expected.

The babies alternately slept or stared at one another on the trip back. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop, but there was literally nothing for Rob and I to eat. We got all excited when we found potato chips in the market, but when we read the ingredients, they had roasted meat powder. We spotted three Buddhist monks and wandered over to see what they were eating--nothing. Sigh. Luckily Theresa had granola bars and goldfish crackers and she happily supplied us with a snack.

We made it back to the hotel safe and sound. Romi is cute and curious. He's good at taking naps and rolling over. He has a wonderful smile and, finally, ate an entire bottle. We figured he'd had enough excitement for one day, so Rob went out and got us a pizza for dinner. (It came with two packets of ketchup--yuck.)

We are staying in, enjoying our baby, trying not to give in to jet lag. We will attempt to send photos tomorrow because he's so darn cute, you all really deserve to see him. Our appointment with AIT is early Wednesday morning and we hope to get some sight-seeing in after that.

I've given Romi kisses from every one of you, plus a few from us. I can't wait for you to meet him!