"Four Family"

For months Xing Xing has been talking about the fact that we were a "three family" about to become a "four family" and tonight we became one!!!! We are very happy!!! Our new Xiao Xiao /An Lin is a beautiful, bright child who has strong ideas about what she wants! At the "handoff" at 4:30 An Lin gradually accepted our presence until it was time to leave the government office and she realized her caregivers were going away. She broke out into heart wrenching sobs, then quieted on the ride back to the hotel and again gradually became more comfortable. Clearly the orphanage staff had prepared her for us, using the album we sent ahead of time to identify us to her. She could point to our pictures and say Mama, Baba, JieJie. An Lin enjoys her Jie Jie (big sister) and her big sister Xing Xing also likes playing with her , although she would prefer to have all the attention. Later on that evening An Lin began to initiate games with her new Mama,laughing and playing, culminating in deciding to feed Mama a cookie, a game that Xing Xing joined in on. An Lin is a lovely child, very tiny. She is more curious and mischievous than we expected from the info we had received and is very clear about expressing her wants. At sleep time, An Lin became more distressed and once again had a melt down. All, of course, very normal, but our hearts break for her fear and pain of loss. Finally, she calmed down and fell asleep with Mama, who didn't sleep too much!!