A Special Friend Visits the Princesses

It is very hard when you love a child who lives on the opposite side of the world.  Getting information about them is difficult. They do so much growing up in the year or so that you are "in process" and there are NEVER enough photos.  One thing that adds a spring to your step while waiting is for another traveling family to check in on your child.

While we were paperchasing to bring the two Little Princesses home, a few online friends visited their orphanage.  One was a therapist, and the others were adoptive parents there with their own newly adopted children.  Beth was one of these friends to me.  She took the time to meet my girls, get photos and tell them that we were coming soon.  Priceless.  Golden.  The photos I looked at time after time after time while I waited; and they helped me to stay just a little bit more sane through the process.

I had another priceless moment on Friday when Beth and her adorable son, Bobby (who had appointments at a nearby medical facility) were able to come to our home for a visit.  Bobby and our girls lived in the same orphanage in China and attended school together there.  I showed Bobby's photo to the girls, and they obviously remembered him and called him by his Chinese name.

The princesses were very excited as our special visitors came up the driveway.  Abigail actually chased Bobby to give him a hug (we're a huggy group around our house) but he didn't want much to do with that nonsense! 

Abigail was right there to check out their arrival.

Jen watched from the porch.

I have to say that Bobby is a charming, well behaved little guy with lots of curiosity and an AMAZING command of the English language after having been home only six months!  After answering his burning questions about how many pets we have, their color, and their names, he was ready to go in the house.  Bobby was interested in looking around and especially in seeing the girls' room.  You've seen the photos on this blog of the princess canopy beds - yeah girls live here - girly girls.  I don't think he was super impressed, and quickly moved on to better things.  Things such as the beginnings of Wonder World in our back yard.

The three kids played happily while Beth and I visited.  They didn't really seem to play together,  but parallel played for quite some time.  They preferred to play on the back patio and outdoors, so we mostly stayed out there.

Bobby seemed to remember Jennifer more than Abigail - it is likely they may have slept in the same room whereas Abigail slept in a foster family's apartment.  Also, since Bobby and Jen are big kids (age 7) and Abigial is only six, it may be that they were in different classrooms at times.  Beth said that Bobby asked about Sha Mei (Jen), so it seems they knew each other fairly well.  It was sweet to see the three friends reunited in America.  It made the world seem pretty small to me!

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit and hope we can do it again very soon.