The Red Couch

Luci Willingham (9 months), Annaleah Bearden (18 months), Hannah Lane (2 years)--from Liu Zhi Social Welfare Institute in Luipanshui, Guizhou. I call them the Guizhou Girls.

This photo is on my computer desktop. It is my current favorite, and I see it every time I pass by the computer. That red couch has been in my mind a lot lately--two families we know have been to China and have come back with their new children recently--one with a daughter, the other with a son. They had their own Red Couch photos, too.

In this photo, Annaleah has a bandage on her left hand; she had several doctors look at her and once she was home, her affliction healed. Hannah is not quite sure about all of these strange white people taking her picture; she is quite a ham at home now, we hear. And little Luci is propped up because, even at nine and a half months, she still could not sit up on her own; within 3 weeks of being home she was crawling!

U.S. citizens pass through Guangzhou to finalize their US documentation for their newly adopted children. Many stay in the White Swan Hotel, and those who don't stay there visit the hotel to have the Red Couch photo taken. It is a tradition. Whenever you see a photo of Chinese children on a red couch, you can bet it was taken in the lobby of the White Swan. There is even a Merrill Lynch Financial commercial on TV about planning for your future, and one of the vignettes shows an American couple sitting in this lobby, on one of the red couches, with their new daughter. Makes me cry every time I see it.