Newest Update - Sifting for Clues

I promised I'd share the other news we received in our update from the orphanage. This is what we now know in general terms (still erroring on the side of cautious in posting details):

She has grown slightly since the July update. She enjoys eating vegetables, fruit and chicken legs. She also likes learning English and singing. She gets along very well with other children and has many friends. She's active, talkative and loves reading books (YEA! She'll fit right in!) She's healthy and attending school. Grade-wise she is behind due to a late start. We will probably jump her up 2 grades to get her closer to kids her age.

This single sentence in the update about her name includes a clue -

"Her English name is Alice and she wants to keep it in the US."

I understand that to imply that she not only knows she is being adopted (we were told that in the July update), but that she also knows that she will be leaving China to join an American family. I think that is HUGE! At her age she understands more about what is happening and the impact of being adopted by a foreign family is more real for her than a much younger child. I'm glad she has time to start processing this dramatic change. Clearly there is no way for her to fully comprehend all the implications of the situation, but having this time to (hopefully) grow into the reality, to look at where she lives, who she lives with, what she does, basically everything about her life now knowing that she will be leaving it in a few months may (or may not) help her through the grieving process when it actually happens.

I am so grateful that this will not be sprung on her at the last minute. Some children (even older ones) don't find out they are being adopted until a day or 2 before they are handed over to their new parents. I've been reading the blog of another mom who just adopted another Wen days before she became too old (14) to be adopted. The poor child was not told ahead of time and had a difficult time. I credit the mom for handling it with considerable grace and understanding. They've only been home about 2 weeks and she is growing into her new family. I am relieved to know our Wen will not be surprised by our arrival.

Now if our Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC, aka LOA) would arrive soon we can send the box of goodies I'm collecting and the photo book of the family I created. I'll show you some pictures of the photo book when it arrives in about a week. I'm really excited to see how it turns out. If our timeline continues to stay AVERAGE, we should get LSC in another 3 weeks. Prayers are welcome!