Visit to the Orphanage

Hi everyone! I thought I would take my turn and provide my first official update. Ken has been doing a spectacular job at keeping everyone up to date but I kindly requested a turn.

Where do I begin??? Our lives have taken a miraculous turn and things couldn't be better. Yan Yan (Lauren) is absolutely amazing. She is sleeping, eating and loving Ken like she has known him her whole life. Someone was really smiling on us as she is quite taken with her daddy. I still get my kisses and a whole lot of smiles but daddy is clearly the first choice. This works out brilliantly as I can then tend to Miss Lia's needs while he takes care of Miss Lauren. (Deb - your words of wisdom were once again so true! Thank you.)

Today we went to Lauren's orphanage. We were quite nervous about the potential affects this may have on Yan as she was so terribly distraught when we were first presented her. Our fear was if she saw all of her nannies again, it would be a set back. I am happy to report that was not the case. She was so clearly well loved and taken care of - I am so happy we got to see her home. When we first entered the building the nannies were so excited to see her again. They smothered her with kisses and passed her around like a rag doll. She loved every minute of it. Then they asked her who her mama and baba were - she pointed to us and she readily went back to Ken's open arms. It could not have gone better had we dared to play it out that way in our minds. Ken took lots of pictures of the other children in the toddler room and he plans to post them on-line for the other waiting families from our orphanage to see some of their children. (Again, I think of our dear friends Deb and Phil who we travelled with the first time. They assured us things would go this well. Our negative natures made us assume the worst would happen and pray for the best. Wish you were both here!)

On the sleep front, Lia slept almost all night last night. Yeah! We were zonked at 7:00 pm so we all went to bed. I am proud to report Lia slept until 5:30 am! 5:30 I can deal with. 2 am - not so much.

After the orphanage we stopped at a silk factory. The moms went all crazy buying out the place and Ken stocked up on ties. We purchased a silk duvet cover for Miss Lauren.. We bought one for Lia the last time and thought it was a nice keep sake for them some day. (No actual silk duvets this time!!! We do learn from past mistakes...)

Anyway, I should wrap this up. We are just about to have some lunch and then see if we can take the girls swimming. Things are going far better than I ever expected and while I miss the routines of home, we are all having an amazing time on our grand adventue. The grandmas have been a godsend and we are forever grateful for their help.

Tomorrow is a free day so who knows what will happen but I am sure Ken will continue with the daily updates. Again - love to all at home. I can't wait for you all to meet our amazing new daughter.

Susan

Ok so I'm back. The warriors were awesome! What a site. We spent a few hours there and saw the 3 pits. Much of the site is yet to be excavated. If you get the chance to see it I highly recommend it. Too much to say about it for a blog. The one picture is of Lauren and her nanny at the orphanage. Sue's comments say it all. The other picture is of us watching Dora. Thanks

Ken