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Friday, April 3, 2009

At last, Phoebe!










Here she is-- Ling Qian Yang, born on my Grandma Connelly's birthday, February 26, 2008. She is thirteen months old, and has been living in the Shangrao Children's Welfare Center (also called the Ling Orphanage) in Jiangxi Province since she was one week old. At ten months old when her survey was filled out, she could crawl, look for a dropped toy, roll over, and eat biscuits without help. She knows her name and turns when called. And, inspite of her grumpy look in the pictures, she laughs aloud and smiles readily. She is "active" and "fond of playing games." The box for "quiet" is not checked, and the box for "obstinate sometimes" is. That's our baby!

Funny, I've been glued on-line for days now, hoping that each day would be the real one, until this morning, when I gave up hope on this week, for the complete lack of on-line rumors. I had the day off-- and actually slept well on-call last night. I spent the morning at the Children's Museum with Miranda, had lunch, and put M down for a nap. I thought I would check just once, just in case, and my heart stopped when I found a posting from just 5 minutes earlier from a fellow parent in our group that said, "We have a daughter!" There we all were, the expectant parents from our agency, sitting at our computers hitting "refresh" as we got the news one by one, waiting for our own phones to ring.

I drove in to the city, and Mark left work early to meet me at our agency. And suddenly we were handed a few photographs-- there she is, this little person who will change our lives forever.
So good to know who she is, and yet so strange to know so little about this little human being who will be with us for the rest of our lives.

I heard somewhere that this orphanage has an old folks home within its walls, and many of the "Grannies" take a baby into their room and into their lives. I hope that's true with Phoebe, that someone has been snuggling her and singing to her and kissing her goodnight. I can't wait to get this little one home and make her smile.

26 comments:

  1. So beautiful! Congrats!
    Kelly LID 7/23/2007

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  2. Congrats on your beautiful new daughter!

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  3. Came over from RQ. Look at that sweet face! The first photo cracked me up. Her expression is so open and direct. Those kissable cheeks! Congratulations!

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  4. So great to see another ShangRao Ling baby.My Isabel is from the same orphanage. Her CN name is Ling Wan Qin. Phoebe's pictures look eerily like my daughter's referral photos. There is also a Ling Yahoo group you might be interest in joining. Please feel free to contact me if you want any info. You can get in touch with me via the contact button on her site:
    www.babysites.com/sites/laureenmary
    Congratulations!!!
    Hope to heare from you.

    Warmly,
    Laureen (a.k.a. Mom2Isabel)

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  5. Congrats on your referral. I saw your blog posted on RQ. Had to send you a message because my daughter is also a ShangRao Ling baby. We adopted her about two years ago, she is 3 years old now. Definitely join the Ling Yahoo group as Laureen says above. Lots of information there, especially the address for where to send a care package. Wishing you speedy TA so you can go to China and bring that beautiful baby home.
    Congrats,
    Jana

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  6. Your Phoebe is so adorable!! Congratulations!

    What a fun-filled weekend you will have! And I guarantee you will look at her picture no less than a million times! :)

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  7. Congrats!! I found your link from RQ.

    Our oldest daughter Simone is from the same orphanage in Shangrao.

    Enjoy every minute.

    ~Michele

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  8. She's beautiful! Congratulations! She has the look of a snuggly one.
    We received TA for our waiting daughter today. Happy to share the "Babies" post with you.
    Congratulations!
    Trena

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  9. Oh my, she is darling. Look at those cheeks! Congratulations, what a wonderful way to start the weekend!

    Cheers, Kiy

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  10. She's adorable! What kissable cheeks she has! Congratulations!
    Kim

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  11. Congrats... she is lovely. Miranda will be a great big sister.

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  12. Awww, look at that sweetie! Congrats from a Jiangxi mom! Get ready for the biggest blessing this side of heaven. You're in my prayers!

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  13. She is Beautiful. Congrats from the RQ world of IA.

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  14. Congratulations!!!! Our little one is also from Jiangxi. Shists

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  15. OMGosh Pheobe is cute!
    She is beautiful! Congratulations. What a lovely family you have! Here's hoping TA is soon!
    xx~
    D&D
    3/27/06

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  16. Oh, look at that perfect little face! She's GORGEOUS!!! And I'm partial to "Phoebe" myself, as I have one too! Phoebe Joy. :)

    Mary (OneBlessedFamily on RQ)

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  17. Dear Family
    Firs of all, Congratulations for your new daughter HU Wan-Ling.
    Let me introduce myself. Our name is Adopchina (www.adopchina.org) and we are a Spanish ONG that helps many orphanages in China.
    Your daughter lives in Shangrao orphanage (Jiangxi) and this is one of our most protected orphanages.
    Many Spanish families have sponsored children in this orphanage, and your daughter is one of them.
    We have photos and maybe short videos of her stay in Shangrao, and if you want, for us would be a pleasure, send you everything we have about your daughter.
    We were with her in September 2008 and February 2009
    Congratulations, again
    I would like you to know how much their caretakers love in this orphanage the children .
    Its director, the person who will deliver your daughter to you is the best person in the world.
    We know that this month they have been assigned several girls from Shangrao to USA, so all families referred in Shangrao Ling, if they want, can write us in Adopchina and we'll give them all information we have, photos and videos of their daughters.
    We wish you happiness.

    Adopchina
    adopchina @ adopchina.org
    www.adopchina.org

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  18. Congratulations!! She is beautiful!

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  19. Congratulations on your Jiangxi baby...she is beautiful. I found your blog from RQ site. I have 2 Jiangxi daughters and one of mine is also named Ling. The other is Jing. Enjoy your trip to China.
    Debbie

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  20. Hello--Obviously I'm a total stranger to you, and I'm not even a waiting parent. I still follow RQ's site from time to time from the days when a girlfriend of mine was expecting her referral and I knew she was tired of telling all of us "how much longer". I always like to see the blogs from the Babies! post. Anyway, that's how I came to find yours and I was just so touched by what you wrote in your previous post about why you chose to adopt: "In the simplest way, it is an easy match of the world’s needs with our desires. And it makes sense to me to have a family that reflects what I deeply believe—that all the world is beautifully interconnected—so much so that a child born in China can become my own." I felt like I just had to tell you how profound and moving I found that to be. Congratulations on your new baby girl and I pray God's blessings on your family!
    --Christi

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  21. Congratulations on your referral! Your baby girl is so precious. Our daughter was also 13 months old at referral.

    All the best to you and yours!

    Donna
    Our Blog: Double Happiness!

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  22. The cheeks, the soulful eyes, the hair, the beautiful face. Congratulations.

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  23. Congratulations! She is a sweet looking baby.

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  24. Congratulations on your referral!! When you are ready to obtain her newspaper finding ad (which has a photo younger than her referral picture) come visit us at www.research-china.org. We also have a lot of information about her orphanage.

    Good luck!

    Brian

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  25. Congratulations, she is just beautiful!!

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  26. Oh look at that face! What a cutie! Congrats!

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