On the Way

We're writing this from the Chicago airport as we wait for our long flight to Beijing. We're so excited to meet our little girl.  Although we know a little bit about her, we're excited to actually get to know her.

Here are a few things we learned about her from our latest and only update from the orphanage:

"She is introverted, but she is affectionate with familiar nannies. She is afraid of strangers." (Although being afraid of strangers is a good thing, this makes me sad to think that she will see us as strangers at first and be so scared. We won't look like the people she knows, we won't talk like the people she knows, or even smell like the people she knows - poor little love!)

"There were no notes or items with her when she was found."  (She was about nine or ten months old when she was abandoned.  I can only imagine the circumstances that led to this. And pray that we can provide comfort to her as she lets this fact sink in over the years ahead.)

"She loves to play by herself. She loves to play with the stuffed animals. She always lines those stuffed animals up." (Love this!  Don't worry, little darling, we have plenty of stuffed animals at the ready for you to line up!)

"Her best friend is Qin Sheng Li. And her favorite nanny is Tang Qing Ya." (It's heartbreaking to think of her going through another loss as she's taken from everything familiar, but we're trusting God to comfort and calm her. He's already provided a family for her and we're confident that he'll provide an abundance of friendships in the years to come).

"Her language development is behind. She can only say Mama." (I'll take it!)