Welcome to Sophie's Pages!  We're glad you're here to learn more about our trip to China to adopt our second daughter, Sophie Rae. 

We updated these pages regularly from China to allow our friends and family to "tag along" as we picked up Sophie, got to know her as we went through all the paperwork, and finally made the long trip home to introduce Sophie to her big sister, Mia, and the rest of her new family.

About Sophie
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Birth Date:	July 13, 2004
Adoption Date:	December 5, 2005
Place of Origin:	Shangrao Children's Welfare Center, Jiangxi Province, China
Given Name:	Chinese: Ling Xu Chun English: Sophie Rae
Meaning of Name:	Chinese:  Ling is the last name given to all babies in this orphanage; Xu indicates the region in which she was found; Chun is unique to Sophie and means "springlike"   English: Sophie means "wisdom"; Rae means "raving beauty" or "doe" Since children in Bible times were often named out of life circumstances (and also Chinese orphans have "unique" middle names only), we thought it was appropriate to give Sophie a middle name that reflected the fact that we had a mother doe and 2 babies unexpectedly start appearing in our backyard in the Spring before we received Sophie's referral.  God often reveals Himself to our family through signs in nature.
Dossier Sent Date:	8/5/05
Referral Date:	6/9/05, almost exactly 1 year after Mia
Travel Dates:	12/3/05-12/16/05
Additional Info:	Our agency is America World Adoption Association (AWAA). Sophie was referred to us as a special needs child off the Waiting Child list for China.  Her growth report listed her as healthy at the time of finding but a later medical exam reported: "Congenital Heart Disease; Interventricular wall deformed; surgery recommended when neccessary."  Maybe a small VSD (hole in her heart)?