More on Alexander

Where: Sanmenxia Social Welfare Institute, Henan Province, China. I have only been able to find two other moms with children from this orphanage, and they are on the same timeline waiting for SN children. So we don't have alot of info on what it's like there. I suspect he may be in foster care, sometimes it is not specified in the report.

Birthday: January 28, 2006. He is about 9 months younger than Zach. They can be my Irish Chinese twins :)

Personality: Light sleeper (uh oh), timid (I don't think so from his pictures), restless, fond of music, singing, picture books and cars, energetic .

Special need: Alex has a cyst on his back which is a mild form of spina bifida. It has fortunately not held him back from walking but should have been treated as a baby. He will need surgery when he gets home, so pray that they release him quickly. He may have some minor problems as a result of his condition, but we hope nothing will hold our little guy back in life !

His Name:

Alexander- We wanted something long and from the same language derivation as others in the family. It is from the Greek-like Pamela and Dorathea, and it means "Defender of Mankind". which turned out to be perfect name because his Chinese name is...

Fang-Cheng- which means the square gate in the city wall- the defense of a city! It is symbolic of strenth and integrity. This was the name given to him at the orphanage, where he is known by the nickname "Cheng-cheng" . The nickname sounds a little like the Chinese name for the Great Wall- changcheng :)

He was also given the last name Dang which has something to do with the communist party. This name is shared by the other children at Sanmenxia SWI. (It is common for all the children to take the last name of the director, but we are not sure if that is the reason in this case).

Song-Wei- means Praise God for His greatness. Our other two children have Song names and we wanted Alex to have one also. Dora's name, Song-Yue, means praise with music and Zach's name Song-Yong means praise boldly.

When are we going? Hopefully late June or July, worst case is September. It we get a date during the Olympics we will have to wait until they are over, as ticket prices will be sky-high. I'll be traveling with my big sister Christie from Pennsylvania. The ultimate girls adventure. We'll try not to put Alex through too much shopping...

Pam