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|  March 21, 2007  |  May 8, 2007  |  May 8, 2008

Tuesday, May 8, 2007 One year ago today I met my lovely Sophie Lu in the Nanning Civil Affairs Office. I was so nervous as we rode up the elevator, I remember worrying that I might faint! I was about to meet the little cherub-faced girl who had captured my heart eight long months before. But my sweet girl was about to lose everything that had become precious to her. I was told to wait in one of the empty rooms, and soon I heard the sound of squeaky shoes approaching. She was lead into the room by the Guilin SWI director, wearing a black t-shirt, white pants and navy blue squeaky sandals. My first glimpse of her was truly love at first sight. My cheeks felt hot, my knees almost buckled and I couldn't hold back the tears. It was the beginning of something amazing. Sophie has comfortably found her 'spot' in our family. She definitely has a confidence about her that has taken the last year to develop. She still prefers momma for most things, but daddy is quickly becoming a close second pick. He has been away for almost half the time she has been home, so I imagine that now that he is home to stay for awhile, my top spot might be overthrown soon! She asks about him during the day and often wants to call him on the phone to tell him that she misses him. Of course, this gets her just about anything when daddy gets home :) We are thrilled that she is learning that she can love more than one person. For the longest time she would only say she loved momma, even though she clearly loved the rest of the family. I suspect it had something to do with her time at the orphanage and feeling like she had to be 'loyal' to her caretaker for fear of losing the one she loved most. We try to remind her frequently that she can love all of us at the same time, she's not getting rid of any of us!! Sophie loves to play and is almost always on the move trying to find something new to entertain herself. She enjoys books and is as content to listen to the Merck Veterinary Manual as she is good ol' "No, David!" We have several sets of flash cards to help build the girls' vocabulary (really just Isabelle's!) and she, if given the chance, would name everything off before Isabelle can! She loves to learn new words and almost always incorporates them into her vocabulary quickly. We still have moments of misunderstandings, but she is becoming more forgiving of her ignorant momma. She also enjoys asking questions, her two favorites are "Are we going bye-bye?" and "Can I go outside to play?" The first is based on her LOVE of going...going anywhere. The second is probably a universal query of kids everywhere; Sophie loves to play outside. We have been going to the park on a regular basis since Asher's twice weekly baseball practice is next to a park. The girls have been loving all the free time and it is amazing to see how much Sophie's ability to run and climb have improved. In late April we spent a long weekend away in Nashville. We stayed at a hotel and, as usual, did all the fun-for-kids things while we were there: jumping on beds, staying up late, swimming in the still-icy pool and eating anything and everything at the complimentary buffet. Sophie loved it so much, she has been asking to go back to the hotel ever since :) We spent Saturday at our friends, the Haleys, farm. They have 250 acres of beautiful land, a creek, some neighboring cows and donkeys and a couple of ATV's. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day skipping rocks, riding the 4 wheelers, making a bonfire and trying to ignite a cow stampede. Sophie loved every minute of it, she is definitely a girl who loves to be on the go. On May 1st we officially readopted Sophie Lu! In fact, up until that time, her legal name was still JingXiao Yang(maybe that's why she still wanted to be called XiaoXiao!) We filed the papers at the courthouse ourselves and the process could not have gone more smoothly. The judge was so kind and excited for us, we went into her chambers and were done in less than five minutes! Sophie took it all in, not really having any idea what all the fuss was about. But we tried to impress upon her what a big event it was, it was HER day.

Sophie loves to play "dress up!" Enjoying an afternoon at the park Posing with big sister Tori Officially readopted on May 1st! Yay! Stopping to smell the flowers   Our precious Sophie Lu

We went out for Chinese afterward and then to Target to buy her a present of her choosing. Her pick? A Dora the Explorer Super Sticker Book. It was such a special day for all of us, knowing that our sweet girl was now Sophie Lulu JingXiao, now and always our daughter and citizen of the United States of America!! Sophie has astounded us all with her ability to love, to laugh and to enjoy life no matter what it comes her way. She lost so much that day that we met and became a family in the Nanning Civil Affairs Office. At just one week of age she lost her birth family, when she was placed at a gate near the train station in Guilin. At the age of two she lost the safety and comfort of the place she had known as 'home' for as long as she could remember. She also lost a nanny that she called "mama," whom she had grown to trust and love deeply. Since then she has found the courage to trust again, to love again. We are so grateful that God chose her to be our daughter, and chose us to be her family. And we are very much looking forward to helping her fully grasp what it means for her to finally have a family of her own: no more loss without someone there to comfort her, no more sadness without someone there to mourn with her, no more loneliness without someone's arms around her.

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