The Pearson family of Fort Worth, Texas, grows in size by two, thanks to the additions of Hanh Ly and Linn Chan, who are Cambodian sisters who had previously been staying with the Sandusky family of Nashville, Tennessee, until the Pearson's paperwork could be completed. This is the story of the two sisters' arrival.
Today was an exciting day for our family, one we would probably never forget as long as we shall live!
This is Phoebe Pearson speaking.
Today, two sisters from Cambodia have joined our family, now making us a family of two parents and eleven children. Hanh Ly and Linn Chan are now settled in, and we are still pinching ourselves, to see if this is still a dream. We have waited since last year for this moment!
Hanh Ly is 13 years old, and she is rather shy in nature; and she wears glasses due to a vision impairment; but other than that, she is healthy (albeit smaller than a lot of kids her age; she looks more like nine). Her little sister, Linn Chan, is 4 1/2, and she is healthy, too, but she is more outgoing than her sister; ever since she stepped off the plane, she has been chattering in pidgin Cambodian practically nonstop! She does, however, have a noticeable physical disability, that being born without arms. She has no arms whatsoever; we are told she does everything with her feet.
Both Linn and Hanh are very pretty girls. They both have straight, jet-black hair (Hanh's is longer than her sister's) and uptilted eyes of brown, round, yellow faces, and dimples in their cheeks when they smile. They are also incredibly thin; it looks like the pair hasn't eaten in months. They are pitifully skinny; but we know they will soon learn to love American food.
We were a noisy crew when we welcomed Hanh and Linn to our crew; but I think our cheers overwhelmed them. Hanh ducked behind the lady in front of her, and Linn stood there, her eyes round with fright. But we reassured them that all was okay (thanks to the help of the woman, who translated what we said to the girls back to them in their native Cambodian tongue); and soon, they tentatively joined our group and fell into place. But they didn't say much; they just stared at us.
The pair will get used to us in time; but they already have had a head start. They stayed with another family in Nashville, Tennessee, the Sanduskys, until we could get our pre-adoption paperwork done; they stayed with the Sanduskys from November until today. Today is March 22, 2003. So they already have a taste of big family life.
Our other children (Henry Long, Hayleigh, Sapphire, Brandt, Jordan Kyung, Jamar, Ashton, Malik, and Miracle) were also along, to see the arrivals of their two newest siblings; but I could tell that Brandt was annoyed. "Two more females in this house!" he grumbled, before my husband shot him a Look, so as to quiet him. They were more than happy to have their two "unseen" sisters home at last; they were now officially here, and they were now officially part of our International Family.
~Welcome to Texas, Hanh Ly and Linn Chan, and Welcome to Our Family!!~
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