LEXI AT
LAST!
On November 5, 2008, after 2 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, and 5
days of waiting, at exactly 1:49 in the afternoon, I FINALLY
received THE call!!!
Our precious second child’s name is Jing Hai Lan, soon to be
Alexis Catherine HaiLan. My sister Cathy is her namesake.
She was born 12/16/07. That’s the year of the Red Fire Pig, aka
the Golden Piggy. Her birthplace is in the city of JingDeZhen,
located in the northeast corner of the Jiangxi Province.
She has spent almost all of her life in foster care. I am
beginning to learn bits and pieces about her city of birth and
have been in contact with another family that adopted from the
same SWI. This mother shared that the JingDeZhen SWI completes
very few international adoptions and that the babies there are
well cared for and loved by their foster mothers and ayis. What
an incredible blessing for us all!!!
On July 20, she weighed 13.7 pounds (a tiny little thing), and
she was 26.4 inches long.
At seven months, she could hold her head up when she lay on her
stomach and she could roll over. She could pass toys between her
hands and pick up beans with her fingers. She was able to locate
sounds and could follow the direction of those sounds. She’s a
baby that laughs out loud (yeah!!!) and distinguishes strangers
from people she knows. She was and is closest to her foster
mother, knows her own name, and can recognize facial
expressions. It appears she is developmentally on target. We can
only imagine how much she’ll grow and change by the time she
joins our family! I’m sure she is crawling. Maybe she even
cruises furniture or is a walker by now!
She is described as a deep sleeper, but active and restless
during the day. Doesn’t she sound like a delightful child!?! She
loves music, has learned to enjoy toys and games, and apparently
can be quite impatient! I think she may be a hot ticket that
will bring a great deal of joy into our lives!
We are so excited to meet this tiny blessing who will soon be a
part of our forever family! We look forward to learning more
about her personality and about all that makes her the special
child she is!!!
We are all over the moon!!! Zoe in particular, is very excited
and wants to know why we can’t go to China now! Luckily, there
is a tangible holiday that she can use to mark the time. We have
explained that we will all travel to bring Lexi home AFTER
Christmas. The time is going to fly between now and then, and
we’ll be on a plane to China before we know it!!!
I was hopeful to have her home by her first birthday, but it
seems we may miss that. My heart tells me that missing her
birthday is a good thing though because in waiting a bit longer,
her foster mother will have the chance to share in her birthday
celebration! Besides, we are going to have a small celebration
for Lexi’s first birthday on the December 16 here in the US! I
am sure Zoe will be more than happy to blow out the candle and
open the presents for her!!!
My prayer for Lexi HaiLan is that she continues to receive
loving care from her foster mother and that she has a smooth
transition to our family. I also pray for her foster mother, who
has loved this precious child for almost a year now, may she
find peace in knowing HaiLan will be joining a family that will
love her to the moon and back again.
Before I end this post, I want to share a conversation Zoe and I
had last night before bed about her sister.
Z: Mommy, I can’t wait for Lexi to come home!
Me: I know honey. It will be so wonderful when we get to see her
picture tomorrow.
Z: You know what I’m excited about?
Me: What’s that?
Z: Now ALL of our hearts are going to grow bigger!
Me: You are so right. I will still love you and Daddy as much as
I always have, and now my heart is going to grow even bigger so
I’ll be able to love Lexi that much, too.
Z: Yeah, and my heart is going to grow really big. It’s not like
cookies. With cookies, the more you share the less you have. But
with love, the more you give, the bigger it gets!
She is one smart cookie, herself, and I know Zoe is going to be
the best big sister ever to our little Lexi!!!
Thank you so much for sharing in our joy!!!
((((hugs))))
Susan, Rob, & Zoe
Click here for video of us opening Lexi's
referral package! |
Zoe put a sign in our
front door for the FedEx delivery person.
Our very own stork!
We are so blessed to finally have Lexi’s referral! |
