by Cao Yang

CANBERRA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Nestled by her father's burly body, Emily is petite and pleasant. Once a baby in an orphanage in China 's Chongqing, she is now an eight-year girl living happily with her Australian parents.

"This is we at the Beijing Zoo. This is one of my favorite pictures, because it has got a panda!" "This is we at the Great Wall." Emily was seriously looking at the albums, gesturing to the photos while commenting in soft tone.

One day in 2003, Emily's mother, Lisa Wilson, got an exciting news, she and her husband Stewart Turner could finally see their daughter in person which they had been dreaming of!

"Oh, I'm in the same country with my daughter, I'm in the same province with my daughter, and I'm finally in the same city with my daughter..." It was too difficult for Lisa to hide her excitement on the way to Chongqing.

Lisa told Xinhua that the first time she and Stewart saw her was the photo from the China Center of Adoption Affairs, taken by orphanage staff. They fell in love with her at first sight.

In a Chinese style living room there was a tea table with two photos of little Emily, same as many other babies Emily did not have much facial expressions, but the two big black eyes seemed to be a mark of strength which is unforgettable.

"In those photos, she was about 7 months old but we wouldn't meet her in person until she was 13 months old. When we fly to China we feel quite surreal!"

"We went to the orphanage, the nannies put Emily in." Lisa turned to Emily as she recalls the exciting moment. "They pass you to the director, the director passed you to Debra, our friend, then you got passed to me. The first thing you did is to grab my glasses!"

"I couldn't see because I was crying so hard, you were crying, dad was crying, everybody was crying..." "Happy tears!" Stewart said.

Lisa looked at Emily nestled in her father's arms and laughed at her, perhaps Emily was amused by her absurdity back then and she chuckled also. The way they looked at each other is the one of love

In one photo, Lisa and Stewart squatted on both sides of the baby car, little Emily was lying and opened her eyes widely as Lisa was waving the adoption certificate, behind the scene there was a big red Chinese knot. Their joys were beyond words.

Short hair, dark eyes and born to be lively, Emily is fairly versatile at her age, which distinguishes her from others. She has a sound drawing skills, now she owns a big sketchbook that has guardians, villagers, and warriors and a lot more.

"I like playing basketball, sketching, and playing games, I'm good at maths." Emily recently joined her school's basketball team, her dad said she is the best player in the team.

"I like to play basketball with dad, but he is too tall, he can always catch the ball." Indeed, an ordinary basketball is too big for her. However, under the backboard, Emily was on tight like clockwork, skillfully jump from time to time, or going interlude around her father, she often toss the ball up high and bend chuckled under her waist.

Emily said "I have Fu Deshu in my name. It used to be my last name but now I have it my middle name." "Fu" "De" "Shu", the three Chinese characters means fortune, virtue and grace respectively.

"The orphanage gave her name Fu Deshu. Her full name is Emily Fu Deshu Turner. So we kept her Chinese name in the full name," Stewart told Xinhua.

Lisa said, Emily is very proud of her Chinese identity. The family have been to the Open Day of Chinese Embassy many times and have visited China four times since the adoption, next year they plan to visit China again.

Lisa said about 350 Chinese kids were adopted by Australian families. She and Stewart are thinking about buying a bigger house as they plan to adopt another kid from China, they need an extra bedroom.

The adoption program with China has grown steadily since the introduction of the bilateral agreement between China and Australia in December 1999 -- The first adoptions under the Bilateral Agreement took place in 2000.

After the interview, the sun was setting. Canberra is already in late autumn where the trees leaves begin falling. The golden yellow leaves lying on the road were blown rustling by the wind.

The little Emily was waving her arms and gradually faded out from the car mirror, but the story of Emily and her delightful laughter linger for a long time, which complements the beauty and livelihood of Canberra's fall season.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-06/01/c_13326897.htm