Highlights of our Two-Daughter Week!

Elspeth on the bed watching us get ready in the morning.














El and Maeve getting to know each other ... It's called a bottle, kid sis.














Mind if I borrow the bottle, big sis?

Borrow what-eva you like, xiao mei mei!














Hey, there's no bottles in there, little El!















Elspeth's so funny she's cast a spell over me!














I so want to feed her that myself, Mom.














Can Jie Jie Maeve feed me, Aba-mama? Maeve promises she won't spill anything on the bed.














Here you go, mei mei of mine.














Meanwhile, Baba tries once again to get info out to family and friends far away ...














... And next morning, Kath tries to read her email to El---good luck getting anything on your new netbook, Mom. Windows 7 has cast you back to the Bronze Age!


















Escaping from Bronze Age frustrations, Mama and El visit a Nanchang museum for a bit of Jiangxi history.














Then we revisit a place with a more personal history ... Here is the very spot where we first laid eyes on our Maeve---and saw her foster sisters Kennedy and Claire, and her Xinyu sister Ava. What wonderful memories we have of the lobby of this Nanchang government building!













Upstairs in the same building, on the very floor where Maeve was handed over to us, we run into the very same orphanage nanny who brought Maeve from Xinyu, and placed her in Kath's arms ... That's the Xinyu nanny on the left. The odds of meeting her in Nanchang, far from her home, were quite small indeed!

A happy coincidence ... And we had on us a picture of her handing Maeve to Kath, and she was absolutely astonished and delighted when we pulled it out to show her!














After receiving our beautiful El on Sunday, we knew this trip to Jiangxi held one more unforgettable day in store for us:

A daylong trip to Xinyu to rendezvous with the foster mother who looked after Maeve from the time she was ten days old until the day she joined our family. Meeting her in person was a moving and amazing experience. What a wonderful woman, so full of life, laughter, cheerfulness, kindness ... One of the most gentle, affectionate, loving souls we've ever met.

Just look at her smile! Our Maeve is just as full of life and joyfulness, and no doubt that's partially Maeve's innate personality ... But surely she was influenced by having this woman as her first tender mom!














Maeve was a little nervous meeting her, a little overwhelmed. But she consented to climbing into foster mom's hungry arms ... The woman was reaching out to her, calling 'Cai Ling!' from the first moment she saw her. She regaled us with memories of Maeve and her foster sisters.














It was a beautiful and sad meeting ... Over the ninety minutes we were with this woman, it was clear she had difficulty keeping from scooping up our daughter and hugging her for all she was worth.














Just before we departed the Xinyu orphanage where the meeting took place---the same orphanage which Maeve was sent to for transfering to a foster family---the girl who was once Cai Ling, the long-gone foster daughter, gave her loving Jiangxi Mama a kiss goodbye.














Outside the orphanage, time for one last pic with the woman we'll never forget, never be able to thank enough. The banner draped over the entrance to the orphanage reads "Welcome back Yu Cai Ling" ... And when we first drove in through the orphanage's gate, fireworks were set off in Maeve's honour, and a pair of drummers began drumming on huge drums. Maeve was astonished, and so were we, naturally!

Note how even at the end, foster Mom could not take her eyes from Maeve. El, meanwhile, was being held by our guide, Helen, who arranged the whole head-spinning emotional day for us. Thank you so much, Helen!














After retracing the route our daughter and her foster sisters had taken from Xinyu to Nanchang, peering out the windows all the way and thinking how long and confusing that journey must have been on the Xinyu sisters, we settle back into our Gloria Grand hotel digs for a relaxing night.

Baba Pat and Elspeth at play on the bed together.














El loves to be tickled by a bit of Baba neck-blowing, just as her jie jie Maeve does!














Well everyone, we depart the Gloria Grand for the airport tomorrow at noon. Next stop, Beijing ... And early next week, the Great Wall and Forbidden City with our Jiangxi girls!














So goodnight and goodbye to all from Mama Kathleen and her youngest daughter :)