Bran here again, Day... what day is it? It's 830p here and I'm the last one up, watching soccer highlights on TV while Addie, Mason, Kassie and Suzie all sleep in the big bed. What a day. It started off with disappointment, going all the way to the meeting place only to find our paperwork was messed up. Instead we went to Suzie's orphanage directly to get her.
There has been a mix up. We were in the room at the welfare center with 3 other families waiting for our children to arrive when all the other families got paperwork to fill out. As we waited for our packet, our guide was talking to the orphanage director and we could tell that there was a problem. We just found out that Suzie is not coming. The orphanage director thought we were coming a different day and so her paperwork is not ready and she is not on the way to us. We’ve been told that because of the mix-up we will now be able to go to the orphanage and get her there this afternoon. Usually they do not let groups of less than 10 families visit the orphanage. While this is a wonderful opportunity to see the orphanage, it is such a let down. 
😔 Just a few more hours...
I won't get into everything here but it went as expected, Suzie was totally overwhelmed and when we picked her up she panicked. She is the bravest girl I know and she tried to be tough to keep her tears down. It was extremely tough, maybe the toughest thing I've been through. Kassie held her for her first car ride and by the end of the ride she was starting to run out of energy. Once we got to our hotel room we all got down on the floor and spent the rest of the day playing and building trust, eating dinner, and after a few hours Suzie was giggling and laughing. I'm sure a big part was how tired she was, but still it was amazing to hear her laugh. She's super smart, very clever, confident, and she is going to be amazing.
The Mercer kids were so good as well. I can't imagine being out here without them. Kassie is already building that bond and after the Mercer kids passed out, Suzie and Kass lay in bed as Suzie tried her best to fight sleep. Eventually though, she caved, in Kassie's arms and now they're fast asleep.
Suzie has good movement of her legs and feet, she's ticklish all over, she rose up on her knees a few times. She's tiny and her legs have almost no muscle. She is able to put on her socks and only needs a little help with her pajamas.
We know this is just the beginning and it will be hard. Today was special, now to survive the next 10 days and get home. We're so blessed to be a part of Suzie's life.
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| on our way to get Suzie |
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| Walking through the orphanage |
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| first family picture, outside the orphanage |
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| just a glimpse of how traumatic this was for Suzie |
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| all giggles and smiles by bedtime |
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| I think we're going to be all right |
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