Gabriel: Adoption 14

Gabriel's adoption is completed as of last Sunday and he has done really well. He was so quiet for the first few hours, hardly said a thing, just watched everything. Finally, after about 3 hours he started to thaw and played with his three siblings in the hotel room. His mom said, he has bonded best with his sister Lucy, who is 12. Esme his 4 and half year old sister, who is from Chongqing thought she would be able to carry him around. Gabriel at 2 and a half, weighs 8 pounds less than she does, 32 to her 40.

On a more personal note, they have a lot of my family's names. My sister's name is Karen which is Gabriel's mom's name. Esme is the name of a cousin and Henry, Gabriel's brother, is my maternal grandfather's name.

The family came to visit yesterday and see his reaction on coming back was just too precious. He was so happy to see everyone. Gabriel got a new pair of green and yellow crocs and it was too funny when Rebecca came back from her walk, she immediately pointed to his shoes.

The older kids have been talking about Gabriel. It is cute to hear them say that Gabriel "hui jia" which means go home. They will be leaving Xian next Monday and so have spent a week in Xian. We have pictures of Jeannie, Nathaniel and Gabriel's family in the entry way and the kids often look at the families. We talk about the babies leaving to find their families a lot. I guess that this new concept has stuck. Rebecca has been talking about "going home."

The nannies and I were discussing about who is going to go next. We have five babies matched that we know of. There could be more, since we know nothing about Heather or Lily. It is always a surprise to see who is on their way home to a family. So we wait to see which little Starfish will be leaving next.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

Starfish Foster Home
www.chinesestarfish.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com

chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 1348.812.4847