It's Official!

Today at 10:00 AM we signed all the papers for the Chinese government and the Guangxi Zhuong Autonomous Region that made An Lin officially a member of our family. We agreed never to abuse her or abandon her, to love her forever. We were asked what we thought about education. We replied that college was in her future! The official was mildly concerned about us as An Lin was in the middle of a meltdown during the official interview, from her evening caregiver first monopolizing her at the government office, then departing abruptly. We were also asked had she been crying all night? We showed photos of her playing and feeding Mama. The official relaxed after we responded to her question that, yes, we had experienced this kind of reaction before, with our first daughter. (Xing Xing, of course, had expressed her rejection more vigorously!!!) We were not worried..... As before I choked up thanking China for the privilege of parenting these beautiful girls. After that emotionally draining start to the day we had a relaxing morning with the girls playing in our hotel room. An Lin is incredibly curious and observes everything. I just had to show her twice how to start her sister's Barbie "computer" for her to get the hang of it. Xing Xing is being a great big sister, most of the time being exceedingly generous. An Lin was given three new dollies, very similar to ones that Xing Xing has, but, of course has decided that she prefers Sally, Xing Xing's doll from her Aunt Mary who has seen a fair amont of wear and tear! We received an incredible gift from the orphanage: An Lin's file from the beginning including the records from her participation in the Half the Sky Little Sisters Program. We were thrilled to receive this priceless information. The file contains many photos and An Lin loved looking at it, pointing to herself and saying her name. (She also loves to look at the photos on the computer, pointing to each of us and identifying us.)An in likes to imitate her sister. When the two of them were having fun in the bath, she dumped a cup of water on her own head following Xing Xing who was rinsing her hair. She is a fun-loving child! An Lin is quite content to wander around the hotel room checking things out. She is delighted with her new toys and any thing else we have given her, like her new purple hair brush. We went shopping with Yolanda our wonderful Holt guide in Walmart(!) and An Lin vigorously indicated she would like a particular pair of squeaky sandals. When those didn't come in her size she let out a large bellow that had the three adults scrambling to find a substitute. Later, when it was time to go to dinner, she quickly went to get her new shoes then chose one of her sister's jackets to wear and brought both to her mother to put on. I can see we are in for it!!!