GOTCHA! X 3

Today we celebrate 3 years of having Sarah Ying in our family.  It was one seriously hot and muggy day in Guangzhou when Abby and I went to the Civil Affairs Office to pick her up.  We were stunned when she walked in...Abby's first thought was "that CAN'T be her!"  She was that tiny.  It was frightening.  She had on a dress meant for a baby less than half her age and it was generous.  She couldn't really make eye-contact or chew food or play...but she latched onto me right away and really never looked back.  It wasn't hard to figure out which side her bread was buttered on...and for her, that meant everything.

I remember the first time I ran across the idea of people thinking that adopted children should be grateful to their adoptive families.  I actually laughed.  I think my reply was something like "it is pretty hard for American kids to be sincerely grateful...our culture doesn't much cultivate deep feelings of gratitude."  I am sure I looked at the guy like "you must be kidding!"  I don't think it is the normal thing for an adopted child to feel gratitude for their adoption.  I think it is more likely a sign of how terribly they were treated prior to adoption when they are grateful.  And Sarah Ying is soooooooooooo grateful.  It is really sad.  Though she cannot usually put into words what her life in China was like, she knows it wasn't good.  And she has no trouble telling us she is glad to be here!

So we had a pink cake with candles and we put on party clothes and we blew up balloons (and popped them afterwards) and we all said "Happy Gotcha Day, Sarah Ying!" many times over

...and she said, "THANK YOU!!!!"