We received Priscilla at 4:30pm Monday afternoon, at 8:30am Tuesday morning we had to be up, ready, packed for the entire day and in the lobby. That was a tough order, but we made it and only 5 min late!!

We traveled first back to the Civil Affairs office for another hour of paperwork. These documents marking our adoption official!! Priscilla is officially a Cooper! 😍 There was a bit of confusion as to which address we should use on our documents (Iowa vs Spain). Thankfully David sorted it all out and said we'd be ok!

After this we jumped into a different car and headed to QuJing (2.5 hour drive each way). We needed to go back and apply for her passport in her home town and we were to visit her orphanage.

Her orphanage is 6 years old and actually really nice. QuJing is a beautiful city, it's clean, relatively quiet, little traffic and the weather is fantastic. It's usually in the 70's year round and most often sunny. They have a spectacular playground and lots of grass to run around on. There are trees and flowers and many colors. Everyone we met was nice and friendly. Inside the orphanage it was cheerful and pleasant. Of course, being in a home with a family is so much better, but it was clear to see they cared for the kids. And it was definitely a lot different than the pictures I had seen when searching for orphanages in China online.

I knew this would be a confusing and difficult day for her and oh was I right! She was beyond excited to see the people she knew and loved! She was smiley, "talking" and walking with them!! You could tell that she is very attached to everyone there and they loved her very much. She was particularly fond of her Ayi and to one of the orphanage drivers who she referred to as "YeYe" or grandpa.

She was not a fan when they gave her back to us. I can't blame her, they are the family she knows and loves. I will be forever grateful for their care and love for her. Her attachment to them is quite strong and her grieving for them is also intense. While this is difficult for her and for us as we watch her struggle, I know this is a blessing.

After our orphanage visit, the director and the lady in charge of international adoptions took us out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. We were very touched by this! This also gave us the opportunity to ask the questions we had about Jiao Jiao. One of which was "if there was anything they'd like us to tell her when she was older". They were truly touched by this and asked if they could write her a letter for us to give her. Absolutely!! How special would that be!! They also welcomed us to come back at any time to visit the orphanage and gave us their email address to keep in touch. Another sweet gesture is that they gave us the blanket she was found in. They said they didn't have the clothes anymore as they weren't in good shape and were too dirty, so they had thrown them away.

After lunch we headed to three government offices to submit her passport application. The entire process took about 1 1/2 hours and they were amazed. The family that adopted last week spent 5 hours doing this paperwork!! Goodness!

Finally, we stopped by the orphanage one last time to say goodbye and drop one of the ladies back off. There were two kids (the little boy in particular) who really took a liking to Mitchell. He hopped right in our car and played with us (Mitchell was speaking to him in Chinese). It was cute.

Once back at the hotel Priscilla was quite sad and nothing seemed to comfort her. She doesn't want anything to do with Mitchell now. Won't even let him look at her. She'll "talk" to me if he's not in the room, but that's about it. She didn't want to play or eat last night. She was clearly heartbroken. It was horrible to watch especially because I couldn't comfort her or make it right. I know the grieving is a process they must go through so she can start to bond with us, but I wish she didn't have to!!