Presenting...

Hail to the Princess Aurora!

Christmas 2006
&
Here's Aurora at a Chinese New Year party.
Two weeks after we came home! January 1997.

Aurora Wi Suan Morrison

Aurora's name

The referral picture was taken on August 6, 1996. Aurora was born on May 13, 1996. She was living at the YiYang Children's Welfare Institution in the Hunan Province.

I've been debating with myself over whether or not I should write the origins of her name Aurora. I've asked some of my friends and fellow list mates and they all encouraged me to tell you all. It's kinda wierd, and I'm sure you'll all think I'm somekinanut, (well... those who know me well already have reached that conclusion) but here goes...

We'd been trying to think of an "American" name for the baby since before we got her picture. We had decided on "Victoria", but a Chinese friend told me that a lot of Chinese hate the name. Queen Victoria, Opium Wars, loss of Hong Kong and all that. (I'd never even thought of it before, to tell the truth. Goes to show how 'politically sensitive' I am!) Anyway, there went that name! So WHAT DO WE NAME THE BABY?

One night, soon after we'd gotten the referral, I had this strange dream. I was walking down a long, dimly-lit hallway. The last door on the right had a bright light streaming from it. I went to the door and into the room. It was a very small bedroom, one twin bed up against the left side and three or four little cribs, like baby doll cribs, against the right side of the room. I looked into the cribs and saw one that drew my attention. The baby turned and looked at me. She had big, dark brown eyes, a large forehead, and big round cheeks. I knew she was my baby. Next to her crib was a brilliant figure. So bright I couldn't tell if it was male or female. I knew it was an angel.

"Her name is Aurora. She is the Morning Light," whispered a voice so soft, almost a whisper.
"AURORA!" I cried. "I can't name my baby 'Aurora'. People will call her 'Rory Mory'!"
"Hush," said the angel, "Her name is Aurora. She is the Morning Light."
"MORNING Light? It means NORTHERN Light, doesn't it? She comes from South China. I can't name her Aurora," I cried.
"Hush!" demanded the angel. And for the third time gently told me, "Her name is Aurora. She is the Morning Light."
"All right. I give up. Aurora it is..." and I woke up.

"Aurora?" I said skeptically.
"Huh? What?" croaked my sleepy husband.
"That's our baby's name," I replied.
"Aurora? That's beautiful. What made you think of that?"
So I told him the dream...
Steve's eyes got wide and he said, "Leave it to you, Laura! You finally get to see a real angel and you gotta argue with him!"

So, Aurora it is. And ya know what? I got on the web and searched for the name "Aurora". It really DOES mean 'morning light'! SPOOKY! OK... is Rod Serling hiding in my closet?

Her middle name is WiSuan because Steve's grandmother, Betty Frazier, had a best friend by that name (pronounced like a little bird... "Wee Swan") who she said was Chinese and asked us if we'd please use it in our baby's name. We wanted to honor Steve's grandmother, but in Mandarin, there is no such sound as "wee", so we were going to name her "WeiSuan". Imagine our surprise when we got a letter from Ms. Wi Suan herself!!! It turns out that it is a Fukian name and means "Mother of Comfort". I REALLY like it!

If you would like to read about the journey to adopt Aurora, here ya go: