August 26th: Gotcha day This has been one of the most exhausting, exhilarating, confusing, happy, strange days ever. We got up early and took a bus to the train station in Beijing. Then a bullet train (180ish MPH) to Jinan. Smog everywhere. One of the craziest bus rides to the hotel. Then to lunch with the guides. Both were extremely impressed with Kenley's Chinese and moderately impressed with everyones except Nick's who keeps getting laughed at when he asks for water. But all that is just a blur. We met Karwen at 5:15 this afternoon. She was so quiet at first. Just looking around. Then she smiled a bit. Then she cried a bit. Just quietly as though she was grasping that this was really happening. Then the kids gave her there presents (stuffed manatee from Kolya, blanket that Keely made from KG and Small doll from Kenley). She smiled quite tentatively. We brought a little Ed Emberly stamp creature pad and she really lit up once she understood what she could do. She asked the kids to help her draw a flower and they spent several minutes happily playing. Then she said that she had gifts for *us*. She brought candy from her foster sisters upcoming wedding, and toys for each of the kids (which she said that they could all share). She also brought Keely and I her foster parents cell phone number, QQ address and other contact information. This was an amazing gift as we were not sure how or if we would learn anything about her foster family. They also sent a picture album and a letter that would break your heart if we did not think this was really really the right thing. The family loves her and cherished her as part of their family. As much as she already fills our family, I feel for the hole that she must have left in theirs. We went to dinner and now she is happily (and a bit loudly) laughing and playing in the tub. Kenley said that she has used most of the foaming soap up already. Physically, it is about what we expected. Her wheelchair is not really useable - so tomorrow I will go shopping for a replacement. She is definitely independent and the only titch of irritation that I saw was when we would try and help her when she could do it herself. She has already called Keely mama and me baba. Kolya is shiao mei mei (small little sister). KG is doting on her and she seem quite interested in him. She had three foster sisters and no brothers. We do more paperwork tomorrow. I had to change money at the bank and there were some small hassles that way. I would not have expected how much extra money to bring, but they rejected a large stack of bills and wanted different ones. I am not sure what that was about...but it worked out fine. The WACAP helpers have been awesome and will help us do some more errands tomorrow. There is a ton of things to see in the immediate area. A large park is just a short bit away and the hotel has a pool, which based on the tub sounds, will probably be a hit. Mostly we will take it slow, but it already feels not so strange. Thank you all for the kind thoughts, prayers and help. If I ever wondered why we were doing this, I know now!