Hope all of you had a very nice Christmas and that Santa was good to you. Santa was very good to Emma. She is having a blast playing with all her new toys. Her favorite is a poseable, life size, black Labrador retriever, whom she has named "Blackie". She also received many fun things to take on our big trip, that will hopefully keep her busy in the confined time on the very long plane rides and in the hotel room.
I put together a holiday care package for our littlest angel. I put a few noise toys and a pink bunny that sings a lullaby in a Christmas stocking. I also enclosed a very cuddly soft blanket and a photo album with about 50 photos of our family and friends. I got some nice chocolates, fudge, cashews, and candy canes and lollipops to share with her caretakers and friends. I put a couple of disposable cameras in so that she will have pictures of the place where her little life began. I am extremely fortunate to have met a new friend online that adopted their daughter from JianShui in May, 2006. She looked through her pictures and came up with one of her daughter and Annie sitting next to each other in the orphanage when Annie was about 5 months old. This mother is of Chinese descent, and graciously offered to translate a letter to enclose in the package. This letter is really a work of art and expresses the feelings of my heart that words could not explain. We sent the package to Annie at the orphanage via the "Packaging Store", "Shipping Experts". They encouraged using Federal Express, as the best choice. Well, the package was sent on December 18th, and reached Shenzhen, China on the 20th. There it was being held "Recipient not in service area". Hmmm...nobody could figure out why it had been allowed to leave the country with the postal code approved...I must say that everyone at the Packaging Store was very sympathetic with my story. They were in constant contact with Federal Express, and let them know that UPS and other services did indeed service that area of the Yunnan Province. A gentleman at Federal Express took on the case and assured personally that the package would be delivered to our Annie no matter what it took; courier service, etc. I finally read the updated information on the tracking screen "Delivered - Dec 24th, 11:00 a.m. - signed for by the receptionist at the front desk". I am sooo happy that she is now looking at our faces and will be at least a little familiar with us when we finally get to meet her.
More coincidences: our contact at Emma's orphanage in Gejiu, has been helping with some remodeling at JianShui, and offered to send his parents, who are visiting from the states, home with a copy of the pictures of the orphanage before and after the remodel. He also said that he would give our Min Mei a hug when he goes to visit there this week. So, so jealous, but at the same time also so grateful that he would offer to do that. We are so blessed to have these connections to our hearts on the other side of the world.
We are still waiting for our travel approval, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully to be traveling at the end of the month. We are applying for our visas this week and should have them back by the 6th. We have new approval from Homeland Security, as our first approval was scheduled to expire on January 25th. They are only good for 18 months, and the fingerprints are good for 15 months. Who knows why these dates are different, but we had updated our fingerprints in October.
I've been pulling out all of Emma's baby clothes and figuring out what to take for Annie to wear. She was about 17 pounds at 11 months, and if she is anything like her sister, she has not grown a whole lot in the last 3 months. We can always roll the sleeves on the 12 months clothes. It's going to be a lot different around here again! We have had Elijah, who is 10 months old, visiting often and are getting a fresh taste of the baby "thing" - everything up and out of reach :)
I thank God and all my angels that the time is drawing nearer and we will be together with Anne Min Mei very soon. Thank you all for your support during this tough time of waiting. It has meant the world to us and given us strength and hope. We love you all.
Love,
Nancy & Barry & Emma & Annie
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