Our girl of much beauty

Another Xuzhou mom, Sue, who is currently in China with her family to pick up their daughter Jia, visited the orphanage yesterday and took these lovely pictures of QiuQiu for us. I am so touched and humbled that she did this. In the midst of the journey of a lifetime, with her entire family there, and a new daughter to lavish with attention, Sue not only took the time to write to all of us waiting Xuzhou families, but also to take pictures of each and every one of our children while visiting the Xuzhou SWI.

She posted those pictures this morning so that all of us could have an update on our children. She took several, of which these are my favorites.

I am so very grateful to Sue for going above and beyond to do this, and I have so enjoyed watching her own journey to her beautiful Jia, who is truly a child of light - full of such a brave and happy spirit. I feel like Jia is just the right child for this generous and loving family.

As I pore over these new pictures of our QiuQiu, my first thought is: She's already grown!! The last pictures I saw were taken only two or three weeks ago, and she already is bigger and has more teeth! This thought came to me with a jolt, and for the first time I felt really impatient - really in a hurry to get there and scoop her into our lives. The idea that in just a handful of days she has already grown and changed without us watching over her is quite startling to me, and really brings home the fact of how quickly children grow and develop at this age. I want to be there to see each new tooth, to watch her try out her limbs and learn new skills.
The wait affects everyone differentely, and for me the hardest part was the last few months before we received QiuQiu's referral. Since the referral, it has not gotten harder for me (as it does for some people) but easier. I feel calm in the knowledge that she is there, healthy and real and in a good place, and that we will be with her before long in the scheme of things.
So this is the first time that I have felt a real jolt of urgency, a visceral impatience. I want to stay calm and in peace during this time, because I want to be in a good place, emotionally, when we meet her. I want her to feel our calm and our happiness, and take strength from it. Also because I (we both) have a lot of work to do and a lot to accomplish before we travel.
But I do hope that our approvals come sooner rather than later.

Finally, a picture of the baby room in QiuQiu's orphanage.
Thank you, Sue, for taking these wonderful pictures!

Update: Sue, dear-heart that she is, wrote something about each of our children on her blog. Here's what she wrote about our QiuQiu:
"Maia, Flynn Ava is a knock out! She has beautiful eyes, I know you can see that in the photos but in person, she is just breath-taking. Her head of shiny black hair helps too! She seemed content and liked the attention. oh, and green is her color!"