Letter from MSWI by way of Red Thread

What a mind-blower, we received a response from the orphanage. Ann from Red Thread translated it for us and will bring the original letter to our hotel when we are in Guangzhou.
Dear Juliet:
I got a letter for you from the orphanage and below are the answers to your questions in Chinese:
(1) What is her current weight and length? (no response)
(2) Is she close to a particular nanny? What is this nanny's name?
Her favorite nanny is ling yue ming.
(3) Was a note or any other memento found with her? May we keep it?
There is not any note or memento with Xin Jue
(4) What are her favorite foods and activities?
Mao Xin Jue is not picky with her food, she eat whatever she is given. she loves to play outside, she loves to sit in the big toy plane.
(5) How would you describe her personality?
Her Personality is smart but naughty.
(6) Does she have any likes/dislikes/sensitivities?
She loves to play balls, she hate people to disturb her when she is playing .
(7) What makes her happy?
She is very happy to put all the toys (on ground) into the basket.
(8) Has she had any health problems or allergies?
Except her special part, she does not have any other health problem, she also does not have any allergies yet.
(9) What medical treatments has she received?
On 1st, Feb, 2008, She received her left lip operation in Dong Guan Dong Hua hospital, she recovers pretty well. Sometimes she gets a cold or diarrhea, but after medical stuff, she is fine again.
(10) Do you have her finding ad? Can we have a copy?
We will give you one copy of your child finding ad when you come to meet mao xin jue
(11) Who chose her name and why?
The doctor from the orphanage picked the name for mao xin jue. Mao means she is from Mao Ming ... All the kids went to the orphanage during 2007-2008, their middle name was Xin, means love... jue, the doctor hopes xin jue will be always pretty and beautiful.
(12) What else would you like to tell us about her?
She can use spoon to eat food by herself. If nanny gives her some reminders, she can take off her pants and go to the toilet by herself, after that she can put on her pants by herself, also she can wear socks and shoes by herself too.
(13) Does the orphanage need anything in particular?
If possible, families can donate calcium pills, vitamins, A+D kids lotion. The orphanage is going to buy two large washing machines to wash all kids clothes stuff, if your economy permit, we will be happy to receive cash donation too.
Have a wonderful day, love, Ann

No TA for April

Yesterday ended that TINY window of opportunity of traveling to China the first two weeks in April. It’s a bittersweet thing, knowing that the May timing will work better but wanting to be there now. We just have to trust that the Lord has a plan and there is a reason we aren’t going in April.

Shower from the Stone Gang

Each Tuesday morning we have a group of retired gentlemen that volunteer by providing maintenance for the Village and any thing else I can add to their ‘To Do’ list! Glenn, one of the guys, commented to his daughter, Carolyn, that they probably wouldn’t be invited to the shower; she replied that they perhaps didn’t want to sit through hours of opening gifts of frilly dresses and pink tutus and instead offered to host a wine and hors’ devours reception with Joelle, a friend of hers who’s husband is apart of the Gang. They escorted their wives, a couple of the wives we had never met before, and it was nice to interact with them while in their unit. Violet’s grandparents were even invited and Todd’s mom was still in town so she was able to meet everyone. There were offers of babysitting and a few of the guys even said they change diapers! This is a group of hearty men, gruff in their love and always up for giving me grief with a twinkle in their eye; so after they said they’d miss me, I said they won’t get rid of me that easy. I explained my future Tuesday plans of Violet and I stopping in for their donut and coffee break and we two girls will continue to bring jokes and give them grief with a twinkle and a laugh. I just love these guys, what a great group of grandpa’s!

Mill Race Shower

Splendid, glorious and magnificent can only start to describe Violet’s fabulous shower at The New School Church in Mill Race Village. We were overwhelmed and walked around in a wonderful glow the whole day. Put on by four of the dearest friends: Brenda, a kindred spirit I have gained thru her husband (a friend of Todd’s from birth); Beth Ann, a dear friend from first grade; and both of our incredible moms! It was truly amazing; violet flower shaped name tags, snap bag purses made out of oriental print fabrics rained down as prizes, African Violets graced the center of the tables in delightful square pots, precious rings of violets adorned the Walker wedding cake, violet crepe bags of perfumes as favors, hand made fortune cookies containing parenting words of wisdom were housed in violet colored Chinese take out containers, chopsticks with multi-color patterned handled ornamented each place setting of clear glass antique dishes. Top that all with amazing friends and family. We were blown away by the outpouring of love and generosity on our new family of three! We will certainly treasure these memories.

Fingerprints and Visa

We received both our China Visa’s and our updated Fingerprints today, now all we need is our Travel Assignment. TA’s usually come 2-3 weeks. So March 19-26 is the typical window of time… we’ll see what happens. Violet’s shower is tomorrow, following that the main order of business is packing so we are ready at a moments notice (that and thank you notes). We are still working on getting her bedroom finished, and filing taxes, so we don’t need to worry about keeping ourselves busy!

Shower from the Archive Aunties

Heidi, the only other part-time employee, along with the volunteers that work in the archives gave Violet a luncheon tea shower! What a surprise and it was and SO lovely. The pot-luck menu was so delicious that requests for recipes have prompted each person to email them to the whole group. How fun, more fabulous recipes! We are so blessed to be surrounded by such generous and giving friends. Violet and I will have fun visiting on archive days. She has no idea what wonderful waves she has made just by her existence!

Signing our LOA

We received our LOA and it is a beautiful document! We checked that we would accept Violet, signed and next day mailed it back. Ming, the China travel coordinator, emailed us a family information form requesting any special requests. After a long conversation with the travel agent we determined that all extra travel will have to happen prior to Guangzhou so we will be able to leave Guangzhou (after our major shopping) with two pieces of luggage each. All flights in country only allow once checked bag. So we settled on requesting 3-4 days in Beijing (rather than 1-2), one day in Maoming to visit her city and tour her orphanage, 2 days in Hong Kong and one day in Dongguan to tour True Children’s Home and the Tung Wah Hospital. We’ll see what Ming can do with scheduling appointments.

LOA – Letter of Acceptance

I received a conference call from Laura, Lisa, and Mary from Adoption Associates. My first response was “I’m not sure if I should be scared or excited that you are all calling so you better tell me what’s going on”. After they said “we got LOA today”. I sputtered for about five minutes… 3 WEEKS!?!? Unheard of… unbelievable… unreal… they told me they next day mailed our LOA, and that once received we needed to sign, date and check the box to accept Violet. We would then need to next day mail it back. They also ended with “the trade fairs are the end of April so you could be going either the first two weeks in April or the first two weeks in May”. Once I stuttered “I need to call Todd” we said good-bye and I called Todd.
Talking to him, the reality set in and all the questions started flying between us. The seasonal trade fairs in Guangzhou are HUGH. The hotel and air fare prices quadruple if you can even find them. The crowds are crushing, compounding a country with overwhelming population during calm times. Needless to say, if someone really wanted to go the agency would try, but we already discussed that possibility and we are not interested. The agency would try to squeeze the trip in prior to the trade fair or we would have to wait until after. Todd and I started calculating the timing and couldn’t even see how the April dates were even feasible. Not only that but we couldn’t see how we would be able to add additional travel with it being “squeezed in”. We had the offer from Jenny that if we came to Dongguan, she would arrange a tour of True Children’s Home and Tung Wah Hospital. She would set up a meeting with Dr. Li and his staff, who performed her surgery, as well as, Zhang Zhao Lian and Li Jiu Hui, Violet’s foster parents. We also wanted to travel the 6 hours to visit her orphanage, not to mention all the places we wanted to see: adding a couple days in Beijing, go to Xi’an and see the terracotta warriors, sightsee in Hong Kong, and tour Three Gorges Dam. Realizing that we won’t be able to visit most of the places on our list, we would still like to see some of China so we decided that we would rather go in May. After a quick return call to Laura to determine if we could “choose” to go in May even if the April timing worked, she said sure! So we are focusing on going the first two weeks of May, we still need to wait for our TA (travel assignment) and embassy appointment dates but it gives us a better stab in the dark. EVEN SO, we are thrilled at the possibility of traveling so soon, in the back of my mind I kept thinking ‘nothing has gone quick so far, we will be lucky if we leave by the end of May’. I expressed my surprise at potentially leaving at the beginning of May to Todd and he said he assumed it would be the beginning of May just to make sure we’d have everything done in time. Smart Man! We are thrilled; each step makes it more of a reality in our minds.

Red Thread China’s additional information

Ann from Red Thread is too cute, she always ends her emails with “love, Ann” even from the very first email. You can tell this is a more of a mission of love than a job. Ann sent this photo of the package she sent to Violet and included new measurements! She is growing! She moved up on the growth charts from about the 25th percentile to 40th. Most children in orphanages range from the 3-10th percentile so we thought she was great at 25! They are obviously taking good care of her. Measurements at 15 1/2 months: height 77cm, weight 10kg, head 45cm, chest 47cm, feet 12cm, and 4 teeth. I love the fact that they included the length of her foot and how many teeth she has… such fun!

Jenny Smith from TCH

Jenny has been a wealth of information, she’s graciously responded to another list of my questions. It is so important to get as much information as possible prior to traveling to China. Once we’re home and busily settling into a routine, piecing together her history will be much more difficult and as time continues it will be less accessible.
Jenny’s History: She is originally from Conway, SC and moved to China from CA more than five years ago with her husband. She is the “volunteer” Executive Director of TCH, which she considers her ministry in helping orphans in China.
Photos: Jenny emailed us the original photos of the ones I copied from their old newsletters. So we now know exactly when they were taken (rather than guessing) and they are much better quality. Jenny said when she comes to the Adoption Center to meet us she will bring a photo album of Violet that was made by a volunteer of her time at TCH. How exciting!
Emma Thompson: The Emma Thompson Sunday School Class at the First Methodist Church in Conway, SC provided the funding for Violet’s cleft lip surgery. The Sunday School was named after Jenny’s great-grandmother. They heard about TCH through her mother who came to speak to the Sunday School Class. After her mother shared about TCH the class wanted to help make a difference in the life of a child by providing funding their surgery. Jenny selected Violet for them to sponsor, she was their second sponsored child. Jenny also gave us contact information for a person in the class.
Dongguan No. I High School: Jenny knows a teacher at the school and he asked her to come share with the students about TCH and making a difference in the lives of orphans in China. So that’s how Violet ended up as ‘Show and Tell’.
Foster Parents: Jenny responded that we could meet Violet’s foster parents if we’re able to visit TCH.