MAY 25TH (gotcha day)

Today has been a whirlwind, left Guangzhou this morning and arrived in Xi'an missing a suitcase. After phone calls and double, triple checking, the airline has concluded it's on a flight coming in tomorrow. Everything I brought for Lu is in there and for tonight he's wearing Clara's pink pj's. The airline says they'll deliver the bag tomorrow, I really hope so.

After checking in quickly at our hotel, we walked the 5 or so blocks to the gov. center to meet Lulu. The room was very hot and contained anxious families all waiting for their child. I honestly thought it was the stress, heat, chaos and lack of sleep that made me feel as thought the room was spinning. In reality, it was earthquake aftershocks. You feel them and know something isn't right, but it's so unnatural for the earth to move in that way, it's hard to believe what you just felt. After about an hour, Lulu finally arrived. We knew him the minute his Auntie carried him out of the van.

He is a sweet natured boy and we've all fallen madly in love with him. He was hesitant to come to us, let us hold him at first but after a short time seemed comfortable. I attribute this to the wonderful preperation Aunt Sandy and Lu's orphanage has done. Lu knew Clara and called her by name with no prompting within an hour. Some of the other children were devastated though, their tears and screams heartbreaking. In a hot room, with anxious, paniced parents, aftershocks and overwhelming emotions, Clara lost it. Poor girl, she didn't know what was happening as the officials shuttled Pete, Lu and I over to be photographed and she wasn't allowed to sit with us. She has been such a trooper and was SO HAPPY to finally meet Lu, telling me "I think I love Lu more than you Mom". And under the circumstances, I was thrilled to hear her say that.

Both the kids and Pete are now fast asleep, I'm sure tomorrow will be an easier day for all. Clara and Lu are nuts about each other and in between Clara's understandable bouts of fretful tears, jumped together on the bed and held hands through the hotel. Lu doesn't like Clara out of his sight and follows her around, imitating the things she does. We are all amazed at the ease in which he fits, just perfectly into our family already. And guess what, he has dimples. Not as big as Clara's, but they're there. It's that red thread at work, I'm sure of it.

I'm barely coherent as it is, so tomorrow I'll post photos.