Celebration

We always like to celebrate Claire's Gotcha Day by going to P. F. Ch*ng's for a special dinner. She gets to open a little something to mark the day. This year she got two books and a bracelet that we had gotten in her province, Guizhou. It is hand-made sterling silver. Since Claire's most favorite dessert is always chocolate anything, we always order her the Great Wall of Chocolate Cake. This year we had them add two candles to celebrate her two years home. (I got that idea from our travel-mates who did this with their sweet AnnaClaire.)

Two Years Today!

Two years ago today at 8:00 am, the most amazing little girl was placed in our arms. She didn't cry at all, but she she studied us very intently. Her SWI director kept telling her we were her Mama and Baba and she would look at the correct one each time the director said that. We adopted Ling Ling the same day. We were told her name translated to mean "a unique clever girl" and she certainly is that. We called her Ling Ling for several days and added Claire to the end some. Eventually we called her Ling Ling Claire and when she was ready, just Claire. We decided to keep Ling as part of her name and she is now known as Claire Reagan Ling.

I can't describe to you adequately how much this wonderful child has enriched our lives. She makes us all smile and laugh every day. She is a constant source of joy and she has blessed us beyond measure. She is God's gift for our family.

The pictures above are from the first moments we got her and the one with the ball is after we got back in our hotel room. They were all taken on our Gotcha Day.

Here is our very short Gotcha Day video.

The picture below is from today. Two years later. Claire is 4 years old.