We leave for China shortly and I'll only be posting to Kian's blog while we're away. See the link to his blog on the right hand side of the page and feel free to stop by and leave a comment.

We officially have received permission to visit Rhianne's SWI when we get to China, which I'm thrilled about. However, we did find out that the SWI has temporarily located since they are doing renovations. So most likely we will not be able to see much of where she lived, or the rooms she lived in. Still, we will be able to see the general area, and hopefully meet her special caregiver, as well as other people special to her. I would also like to try and locate her finding spot, and take a picture of it. Maybe she will want this info later in life, and maybe not. But this way the info will be available if she wants it. I even have the name of the person who found her. I wonder if that woman thinks about the tiny 4 lb baby she discovered that day, and wonders what became of her.
The very little bit I have seen of this general area is that it is very economically depressed and without much luxury. It will be interesting to see if that teeny glimpse holds true for the entire area, or just the area close to the SWI. The day we fly into Taiyuan, we will be met by a guide with a vehicle of some kind, who will immediately take us for the drive out to LuLiang. As I understand it, it's about 3.5 hours on dusty, bumpy roads. We will spend some time there, I guess we'll just play this part by ear, and then make that same drive back to Taiyuan. A long and exhausting day to be sure.
I hope we are doing the right thing for Rhianne. I can't imagine going all the way to China, being so close (relatively speaking) to her province, and not making this effort to go there. I really want to try and make some contact that can be preserved over time, and I don't see how that's possible unless we actually go there.
She has been a little clingy the past few days, i.e. holding my arm at the dinner table, constantly giving me kisses and leaning up against me. We definitely are reassuring her that we are staying together as a family, but it must feel hard to divvy up the loyalty in her head. I think the biggest thing is that she's worried about not being able to speak Chinese any more, and how the SWI people will react to that fact.

Rhianne first met her big brother S. only about 5 weeks ago. He left on a 2 year mission trip to the Philippines a year before we traveled to adopt her, and she's been hearing about 'Ge Ge' for some time, always wondering when he would actually show up. Since he's been home, she's been pretty enthralled with the reality of having a big brother and he, in turn, is pretty patient with her. I had hoped S. would travel with us to China but he is electing to stay home and spend time with his girlfriend/new fiancee, who has patiently waited his return for those two years. Their wedding will be about 2 weeks after we get home from China with Kian. Busy times in our household!

We are all thrilled at the news we received today. Go check it out here

I've been stressing a little about Rhianne's American passport. We applied for it in the beginning of May and, hearing about the backlog of applicants beginning to form, opted to expedite it. This normally means that the passport would be generated and mailed off in 2-3 weeks. However, it took about 4 weeks before it even appeared in the online system. As our travel back to China for Kian is getting closer, I started worrying that we may not get it in time. Because this is her first US passport, we had to send off the precious Certificate of Citizenship, and an official copy of her chinese adoption papers, along with the application. Paperwork I would really hate to lose, and may not be able to replace.
Fortunately, the new passport arrived yesterday, and all the documentation came back unscathed as well. The brand new passports are pretty cool, with a computerized chip in the cover and the inside pages are different than mine too. Now to send it back out to get the visas for China.

One year ago today, a little 5 yr old girl in Shanxi, China was loaded into a car with the directors of her orphanage. She had been told she was being adopted by people from America but she had no idea what that truly meant. Only two children had ever been adopted from her SWI before, and all she knew was they went away and never came back. She had to be dragged to the car, crying, and she kicked the car as she got in. Sometime along the 4 hour drive, she was sick to her stomach, unused to being in a car.

One year ago today, we walked into a warm, stuffy room at the Civil Affairs office in Taiyuan, Shanxi and saw a little girl standing next to her nannies. She was pale, scrawny, and scared out of her mind. Her nannies explained to her that we were her new family but she could scarcely even look at our faces. After a while, her nannies placed her in my lap and walked out of the room. I held her tightly as she tried to go after them, sobbing her heart out, feeling like it was tearing out my heart as
well.

What a difference a year makes. Thank you China for blessing us with our beautiful daughter, we still cannot believe we were so lucky to be allowed to bring her home and make her part of our family. We lit a candle on our Family Day cake today and marveled at how truly fortunate we are.

I've been working at home this week since our regular babysitter is on vacation. So I've been able to get Rhianne at noon when she comes home from school. This has led to some deep conversations over lunch. Here's yesterday's:
R - Mommy, I talked to Michael on my bus. I think maybe I marry him, but he say he don't want to. [said in mournful tone]
Me - Oh really? Maybe he thinks you're too young to decide who to get married to.
R - No, I not! I can decide now. I have Tyler and Jace in my class. Maybe they want get married. I ask them.
Me - I think you should wait until you're a little older. 6 is too young to decide who you should marry.
R - How old I have to be? Seven?
Me - No, a little older than that.
R - Eight?
Me - [seeing the futility of this conversation] How about at least 25. Mommy was 26 when she got married.
R - 26??? [Clearly I had one foot in the grave to get married at that age]
Me - Yes, I was a grownup then.
R - Humph. [a little disgruntled] I just wanna know who I marry.