Update and Photos

Jacquie and Xiao-Ling are fast asleep, worn out by the emotions of the day. Our daughter pitched a small fit before falling asleep, insisting "wa hua-hua" ("I want to draw" - she's very artistic!) over and over again before eventually succumbing to the sandman's wiles. They've been sleeping now for almost five hours. On the one hand, we'd like to get her up to give her dinner and not completely wreck her schedule. But on the other hand, it's been a very big day, so we might as well let her sleep.

We're also pretty sure she fought sleeping so hard because she was grieving the loss of her friends from the foster care center. It's actually standard in adoptions; when Harry came home, he cried a lot for about two weeks before he made the adjustment. Xiao-Ling knew for some time she'd be going with us, and even gave goodbye hugs to all the other kids before we left, but grieving is still to be expected.

Many of the center's foreign volunteers came to the party and all of them gushed over how wonderful our daughter is. She actually had some anxiety when they all started to leave, worrying that we'd be leaving too. We hugged and kissed her and told her in no uncertain terms that we weren't going anywhere without her.

Now that I have a chance, here are some of the photos taken with our camera from this wonderful morning. (The whole thing was also filmed, and we will receive a DVD from the agency when it's ready.)

Xiao-Ling feeding her mom a chocolate-covered breadstick
************

The perfect hostess, cutting the cake for everyone

************

A mother and her wonderfully messy daughter
************

Father and daughter, happy together
************

Party time!

************
A million-dollar smile
************

Tomorrow, we head for Haikou, on the northern coast of Hainan Island, to adopt her formally. More to come!