Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Getting news from the Eastern Front!!!!!

We got an email from Michelle last night (or this morning) and I'm going to copy and paste it so you can read the whole thing. :-)

Hi Wayne and Melissa,

I just returned from the orphanage where I saw Lu Yin Gui. Oh is she cute!! She has quite a personality too! I don't think that I can figureout how to send pictures but I took several, and got some video. I mether foster mother too. Lu Yin Gui is small but looks well cared for. Shewas so happy to get the gifts that you sent her and then she tried to takethe other baby's gifts too! Her foster mother looked at your pictureswith her and pointed to you and called you mama and papa. She alsopointed and said the words. She also pointed out 'big sister' and 'bigbrother'. She was such a clown! she played with all of the toys in theroom and found a symbol that she started banging on. The director saidthat her hearing is normal but that she needs corrective surgery to herouter ear. She certainly seemed to hear just fine. The director saidthat he will have pictures taken for you with the camera and that theywill have them ready for you when you come for her. He asked that I passalong his sincere thanks to you for wishing to adopt her. I also got somepictures of the city. Lu Yin Gui lives with her foster mother but comesto the orphanage every Monday to spend time with other children and tohave a medical exam. Well, I will be in touch as soon as I'm back; Ican't wait to share the pictures and video with you; she is reallyprecious!

Michelle

WOWZA!! How exciting is that?? We are really beside ourselves!! In just a few days we will see new pictures of our little girl!! We can't thank Michelle enough and well, there is thanking GOD! Ok, I need to get some stuff done around here. Take care and I will update more after the visit with MaryBeth afternoon. Later!!

After a long weekend of marshmallows, dirty feet and campfires

So....we went camping this past weekend. All went well, especially the weather. The weather was really good. No rain, no clouds, no bugs!! Anna had the dirtiest feet of any child. We darn near had to powerwash her feet after she ran around all day wearing nothing but flip flops. Hey, if she's happy, I can be happy. Cameron on the other hand, I never saw. He played with Max, Mackenzie and Adam the whole time. We brought the soccer net and so the boys played all the time. (Good idea, Wayne!!) Camping does get easier for us as parents as the kids get older. So what are we thinking by adding a soon to be 2 year old?? I suppose we could call it temporary insanity.

So, there are no new updates on the adoption process. We choose my parents as the guardians for the dossier and homestudy. We do have our 2nd homestudy visit in Jenison with with MaryBeth tomorrow at 3:00. Still no word from Michelle about whether she's been able to get to see Yin (aka Julia). We may not hear from her until she returns, but we are hoping for an email to let us know. We are also in a holding pattern for the pre-approval. That is suppose to take 6-8 weeks. So we are waiting for 6-8 weeks for our passports too. Wait, wait, wait...I think adoption should be renamed the Waiting Game. :-)

Now about the aka Julia mention above. I think we settled on Julia YinGui. I saw a picture of a little girl that died before she got a chance to find her forever family. She had been born with a severe case of spina bifida. Her lower spinal cord and tailbone were exposed. The picture they showed was horrible and my heart truly aches for that little girl. So, having tossed around the name Julia already, I think it's a done deal now. I like it, Wayne likes it and I asked both the kids what they liked. I asked if they liked Allyson or Julia better. Cam's vote was for Julia. Same with Anna. Besides Julia fits with the whole girl names that end in A in our family. Check out this pattern: Melissa, Theresa, Samantha, Carla, Sarah, Anna and now Julia.

Well, it's now 10:59 and I'm tired. I'm glad you liked your sweatshirt Auntie Cheryl. Thanks for being the most supportive person in this journey. We are happy to have you along for the ride. Many hugs and kisses!! G'Night!