Today was official Adoption Day! She is so picked by God just for our family! We signed papers and more papers from 9:30-11:30 in the
Day! (being adopted by Americans she has to have american food to celebrate :) ). Now the kids are happily playing in the bath and then the girls will paint their toenails. It's truly been a wonderful day enjoyed by all 5 Yosts!
This morning we met our Halle Bei at 9:30 a.m. We were all excited and nervous and then in she walked. She was hesitant at first and I picked her up. She was fine for a few minutes of that but then she began to cry. She was a bit overwhelmed I think with the grief of saying good-bye to her caretaker from the orphanage, being surrounded and gawked at by these 4 foreigners, and just the realization that life as she knew it was about to change. The hour at the civil affairs office she mostly just sat there quietly taking it all in. On the van ride to the hotel, she sat there quietly and eventually fell asleep for a few minutes. Once we were in the hotel room though it only took a few minutes before she was looking at books, holding her toys, changing her clothes, and interacting
with us. After 45 minutes of hotel time we went to McDonalds (always a good place to take kids to warm them up to you!) and on the way she was holding hands with Marissa and DJ and even beginning to laugh about some silly things they were doing. She loved McDonalds and ate very well. After McDonalds we came back to the hotel and played again and this time there was lots of laughing. I felt bad having to stop all the giggling so they could take naps. her and Marissa napped together and she fell asleep. That is where we are at presently. We are thrilled with her, her laugh, and that she is already beginning to feel comfortable and happy with us. We are very blessed! 
Today was a day to enjoy the falling snow and get comfortable in our surroundings. The closest thing Harbin has to a Starbucks is a USABucks that is a coffeebar. We've enjoyed seeing the buildings and the russian influence in architecture. 
We started the morning with a walk along the riverside. The kids mostly found old snow piles and jumped on those. i saw a beautiful mother/son statue that i took a picture of. The kids were so excited when the snow started falling even though it meant it was getting colder!
Only a few more hours to go until we meet Halle. The kids and us had a great talk about what to expect tomorrow and prepared our hearts and minds for the meeting tomorrow. We are excited! Pray for our transition!
