Lena Day

When I was young I remember a roller coaster call the Supper Dupper Looper. It was the most intense and fun filled adventure there was. The process of waiting and growing closer to the day we leave for China is like the climb to the top of that ride. Yesterday was the day we were to get Lena (Cui Feng). The plan was for us to be at the CAB at 2:20pm, so for the morning it was just the three of us. We explored the local park which is filled with people walking and on the paddle boats in the large lake. It was getting close to pickup time and we told Jun that we had to get ready to get his little sister. He went thru the roof. He couldn't stop jumping up and down. He put on his "big brother" tee shirt and made a little basket full of a small Chinese doll (with included comb and fake milk bottle), he also took a picture of Kim and I with his Polaroid camera and wrote her a note on it. The note read, For Lena From Jun, he also included his personal signature and a heart. Kim almost lost it right there. We have been telling Jun for a year and a half about his sister and now is the time we see her. Unlike Jun's adoption the room was filled with adoptive parents nervously pacing around waiting for their new child to walk thru the door. Lena was one of the last ones to come in and she walked passed us without us knowing. Cordilia (our guide) told us "your daughter is here! She is beautiful". Lena's orphanage director told her this is your Ma Ma, Ba Ba, and big brother. She took one look at us and fell to the floor with her legs bent out like and baby giraffe and begin to cry like I have never seen before. She really was crying a river. Jun was so concerned that he started to dry out her tears. Anytime someone tried to console her she would do the weedwacker spreading her arms out and twisting until she hit something. It didn't help that the room was full of about 30 screaming kids all with their new parents trying to talk to them and snapping cameras at them. We found out that she did not receive the photo book that we sent her, so she really did have no idea what we even looked like. We quickly left the building after I paid the Orphanage donation. Instantly Lena stopped crying and let us carry her to our getaway car. We came back to our hotel room and tried to bond as a family. I really think it was a relief to Lena to have Jun as amusement. After all the random caged wildlife he has seen lately he likes to walk around as a "crouching lobster". This makes Lena laugh and helps ease the tension in the air. She really is beautiful, calm and happy.

-Todd-