Upon seeing our little daughter for the first time, we cried tears of joy, happiness.  We couldn't believe that all of the waiting, all of the uncertainty, all of the worry, had finally come to an end:  the dream of having a new child to love had finally come true .

We took our new daughter into our arms, accepted her joyfully.  She was even more beautiful than in her pictures.  She had grown taller, her hair was fuller and longer, and she was wearing a traditional silk Chinese dress with sandals on her feet.

At our strange touch, she drew back, cried a little; she soon settled down when she realized that I was now her new mommy.  Somehow she seemed to make the connection.

My other two children, Rayven (seven) and four-year-old Kyle, were excited:  the little sister they'd heard about for so long was finally here; they now had a new playmate they could pal around with.

My husband, meanwhile, stood there, grinning like a goon.  He didn't know what to make of this situation.  I am sure he was feeling a whole jumble of emotions as we both loved on our new daughter, just as I was. 

I was bursting with happiness; I also felt a combination of fear, uncertainty, embarrassment, even some sadness.  I knew that Kai-Lan faced some reconstructive surgery ahead, so my heart ached for her.  I hoped that she wouldn't think that she came to America, only to end up being hurt in a way that was beyond her control.

I didn't want her to hate us, her new family, because we were the ones who inflicted this pain upon her.

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Happily, though, she sailed through her reconstructive surgeries with little incident.  She did have some weeks of pain, but they passed quickly; she was soon laughing, jabbering away in pidgin Chinese, trying to teach us Chinese.  We'd try to teach her English; she insisted we learn Chinese.

We learned a few phrases in Chinese:  hello, how are you, I love you, beautiful girl, bye-bye. 

Kai-Lan was a very smart little girl who learned things quickly.  We were pleased at her intelligent mind, her renewed health, as she recovered from her surgery.  She looked far better than the little girl with the deformed mouth when she first arrived to our family.

The change in her was nothing short of miraculous.  It was as though a brand new world had opened up for Kai-Lan.

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Now it's been a year and a half since Kai-Lan first arrived.  She is now nearing the age of four, growing, learning every day.  She loves pre-K, loves playing with Kyle and Rayven, loves playing with the family dog ("Chutney", a loveable golden Labrador retriever), watching "Arthur", "Clifford", and "Sesame Street" on PBS. 

She is in all ways a typical little four year old girl. 

And we can't be any happier. 

Now we are in the process of adopting our second child, this time a little boy from Kyrgyzstan we plan on calling Noah Jeremiah.  This way, Kyle can have a little brother, not feel so overwhelmed by little girls, his sisters.  Right now he's the only boy, and he feels intimidated.

The journey starts all over again, and we plan on enjoying every moment.

*To be continued.*