WOW! What a day! We arrived at the civil affairs office a bit early and had to wait for the girls to arrive. Phil, I think I still owe you 200 RMB from last time I was in a place like this. I'll pay you on the homeland tour! I was as nervous as ever and Sue was anxious as well. We knew Lauren would be scared as we were told she was afraid of strangers so we expected the worst. When they brought her is she immediately started to cry which is normal but once the nanny tried to pass her over she was beside herself. I think she knew what was going on! She was so terrified and I was immensely sad for her and the guilt I felt at causing this was horrible. The look on my face in the picture above doesn't come close to the feeling of sadness and guilt! She has a very loud cry. She would shake and wail. The nanny would say to her waive to you mama and baba and she would but it was a furious waive of good bye I think. After a half hour of this the director said to the nannies to had the girls over and they did and left the building. This caused more commotion as you would guess. At one point Lauren was standing on the floor and she realized she was able to move. The fight or flight instinct kicked in and she ran for the door. These kids are amazing! Sue picked her up at the door and she actually began to calm. Sue was fantastic! Lauren began to soothe and melted into Sue's arms. This was way different then with Lia. There were only 2 girls and they were both a year older and understood what was happening. Lia was awesome! She shared her favorite toy with Lauren and that helped a great deal. She even helped change her and put her to bed. We got back to the hotel and Lauren was a champ! She only whimpered a bit when Sue would change positions or move. She is starting to warm up to me more and more. I can get a smile from her and even feed her but no kisses yet. I guess she is like every other girl I ever met! The kisses are saved for her mommy I guess as Sue gets them on demand. Last night she slept the entire night mostly but Lia was up at 2:00am so I was as well. This morning Lauren was awesome. No tears! She eats like a champ but is packing too. She will take food but save it in her mouth. This is apparently the norm as they feel they better take while they can get it and save some for later as they my not know when the next meal comes. It is quite sad but understandable too. I am rambling a bit and I am sure Sue will have more thoughts soon. I could not post pictures yesterday for some reason but today it is all good. What a day! More to come but I want to get this off before they close it down again!