Sunday, April 29, 2012

Where Our Daughter Has Been For The Past 16 Months

We thought we would take a post and tell you where our daughter has been for the past 16 months. 

She is in the southern part of China in the Guangdong Province.  Guangdong is on the South China Sea coast and the provincial capital is Guangzhou.  The literal translation of Guangdong is  "The Eastern Expanse".


The Guandong Province is divided up into 21 prefecture-level divisions.  The prefecture-level divisions contain 121 county-level divisions and these county-level divisions contain 1585 township-level divisions.  She is in the southern most district know as Zhanjiang City prefecture-level division.  This area of China has a tropical climate with the yearly average of 78.8 (F) for the high temperture and 70.2 (F) for low temperture and they receive an annual precipitation of 59 inches.


In the Zhanjiang City prefecture-level division, she is in Lianjiang City (considered one of the county-level divisions)


Within Lianjiang City there is the Lianjiang City Social Welfare Institute.  Our little one has been at this orphange since her birth.

At this orphanage they have a Baby Building.  In our previous post, in the picture of our little one's hair that looks like her dads you will see the railing on this building behind her. 


Below is a video from 2009 of the front gate and front courtyard of the orphanage.


Blessings,

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Update On Our Baby Girl and Pictures

Today we received updated information on our little one.  There has been little change in her size.  She is still at 16.5 lbs, although her height, head and chest increased by about 1/2 inch each.  She does have 4 teeth now and her foot size is 4.7 inches.  We learned that she has not had any surgeries to correct her cleft lip or palate and that she has slight deformity of both outer ears but her hearing is not affected.  They tell us that "she has good imitate ability" and "when see strangers or in a strange environment she will cry". 

December 2011 - Those eyes are what stole our hearts!
She wakes up at 6:30 am, takes a midday nap at 11:30 am and goes to bed at 9:00 pm.  She has her meals which consist of  milk powder mix and rice flour, 4 times a day at 7:00 am, 11:00 am, 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm.  They also tell us that she likes to be held, so we hope she likes to cuddle.

December 2011
Here is a current profile picture of her hair - does it remind you of anyone you may know?  (I have to say she is her daddy's daughter!)

April 2012

We are so honored that God has placed this little one in our care.  It truely is a blessing to call her our daughter.  Please continue to pray for all of us as we are working hard to unite with her and bring her home.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The "Stork" Arrived

This is not the typical stork but it is the one that delivered the official Letter of Confirmation from China approving adoption of our baby girl.

"FedEx Stork"
We are so excited to be at this step in our adoption, however, our home study and US Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) paperwork are due for our fourth update.  We are unable to return the form to China until we receive the updated USCIS approval.  Please pray our USCIS case worker will be able to review and return our approval in a speedy manner.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

We Have News to Share!

Today - we were able to let our friends and family know the great news!

Hello friends and family,

We hope our email finds you all well.  We have been blessed and want to share our good news. As you know we have been in the adoption process for many years.  In February we felt urged to complete paperwork with our placement agency for a special needs child; were told that it may be 4-6 months or longer before they may have a child for us.  But the good Lord had a different plan!  One month to the day our agency sent us a referral of a baby girl. Her paperwork was updated in December of last year and listed below is what we know about her. 

Her Chinese name is Lian Yin Qing (pronounced Ching) and she was born on 10/11/2010.  She has a unrepaired bilateral cleft lip and palate.  At 14 months she weighed 16.5 lbs and was 27.5 inches tall.  They tell us that she is shy, timid and quiet but energetic and is fond of playing with toys especially blocks.  She is close with her caregivers and gets along well with others.

We are sending a request for updated information and pictures.  We haven't decided on a name yet and are hoping to travel in June/July to bring her home.  We will let everyone know as soon as we have new details.

Things happened so fast that we are still caught up in the whirlwind but we are so excited.  We have waited for her for many years and we know that she is perfect for our family.

Blessings,