Meeting the Twins

As we waited in the Civil Affairs Bureau receiving room in Changsha, China, a little girl started to walk into the room, followed by two nannies. One of them was carrying a baby. Then I realized those were OUR girls! While Marshall held Annaliese, I picked up Aliza, who was very upset by this. Marshall handed me Annie and he held Aliza and began singing to her while she kept doing backbends trying to get away from him. Aliza continued to cry for a long time and was extremely upset until she fell asleep in Marshall’s arms. Annie, on the other hand, was happy and not at all afraid of us.

Friends that have volunteered at the orphanage the girls are from had told us a lot about their personalities and so this was exactly what we had expected. Aliza is one of the favorites at the orphanage and has had a lot of attention and has obviously had too much food to eat. Annie has cerebral palsy and is extremely malnourished and is so happy with all of the attention she is finally getting. When Aliza woke up, she was no longer upset and was fine leaving Civil Affairs with us.

Back at the hotel room, Aliza was happy eating fruit and a bottle of formula and Annie drank her bottle. Annie does not know how to eat, but we will keep trying and she will learn.  All she has ever had is a bottle of formula with rice cereal in it. She is so thin that it makes me wonder how she has been able to survive this long.

We were told that Aliza likes to have a lot of snacks and that her favorite food is candy. She came with a bag of her favorite treats, which was a bunch of sugary junk food. No wonder our 2 year old weighs about 40 pounds! If I had known, I should have started weight lifting!

Daniel and Trevor wanted to go to Pizza Hut for supper, which ended up being a 30 minute walk. We were quite the spectacle pushing 2 strollers with little Chinese girls, a 5 year old Chinese girl and 2 blonde, blue eyed boys. People were stopping to stare at us the entire evening. It seems like they are trying to figure out what we are doing with children that do not look like us.

Aliza enjoyed her 2 pieces of pizza and Annie had a bottle. The meal cost $15 more than we would have paid in the U.S.!

Both Annaliese and Aliza went to bed without any tears. They are so sweet and precious. We are so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to give these two little girls a family and look forward to introducing them to their other big brothers and big sister soon.