Is Maddie looking at her picture book today?

Dave and I are doing one of our favorite things this evening...........looking at Maddison's pictures.  The USPS says that priority mail arrives in China in seven to ten days.  We were discussing how today is Wednesday and we sent care package #1 ten days ago.  Do you think she is looking at our pictures at the same time we are looking at her?  We will never know the answer to that question, but we do pray that the package arrived, made it through customs, found Hebi City SWI without a glitch, and is bringing some excitement to some children ... especially our little girl. 

- Robin

Updated Pictures of Wen Jia

One of our dogs, Cookie, woke us up this morning at 4:40 AM.  We think she heard the email beep and thought it was our alarm clock.  Since we were up, I went ahead and checked our email.  I have been doing this quite regularly lately hoping that we would be getting pictures from China.  Well, today we received an update from Ann.  In 2 Corinthians 10:15 is says..."Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."   These pictures are truly a gift! 

The subject line hinted that updated pictures were attached to the email.  However, Ann's internet connection was having issues and she couldn't attach pictures!  We couldn't believe that there were NO pictures!!!!  We we were up, and couldn't go back to sleep.  I kept checking to see if they had arrived.......not yet!  I got ready for work and headed out.  Still no pictures by the the time I left at 6:15 AM.  When I got to work, I checked our email and we got an email from Ann at 6:33 AM.  I called Robin and she had already spent thirty minutes looking at them.  She wanted to call me, but realized I was driving and it was snowing/raining and thought it would be better to wait.  We received 4 pictures of her in the orphanage. ( In China, people don't have all the amenities that we have here in the states.  Many people don't have access to heat so they dress in multiple layers.  We think she must be dressed in at least 5 layers.)  "For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.  How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!  Psalms 92:  4-5.  Robin said I melted when I saw her bib.

Enjoy, with us, the pictures:

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.  Psalms 118:  28-29

Here's the email from Ann at Red Thread China.  Sometimes the numbers don't quite make sense, but we trust the pictures more. 

Dear David :

Attached are pictures of dang wen jia and below is her information:

head :47cm

chest:51cm

foot:13cm

height:78cm

weight :7.5kg

teeth:7

Her nickname is Hei Mei Gui (Black rose ),because she has dark skin but she is a beautiful girl,that is why she got that nickname !!

Ann

Care Pack #1 for Wen Jia

We have been compiling a "Care Package" for Wen Jia this past week.  Robin has been having fun running around town to various dollar stores and picking up things for her and the orphanage staff.  We thought it would be nice to get a few things for the nannies and orphanage director.  We found some chapstick, pens, pencils, sticky notes, and other office supplies for them.  For the orphanage children, we found coloring books, stickers, crayons, stamp pads, little books, beach balls and a few other toys.  For Wen Jia, we included a disposable camera, a picture book, a taggies blanket, and small stuffed "Lady Bug".  Here are a few pictures:

We spent the afternoon trying to fit the items in a box for shipment to the orphanage.  The boxes we had were either too big or not quite big enough.  After a couple of trips to the UPS Store we settled on a medium box that we could ship to China.  We found that using the priority mail standard box with a weight limit of 20 lbs would be the cheapest way to go for sending our stuff to China!

Which BOX???

Our adoption agency supplied us with a mailing label and letter that we could use to send to the Hebi City Social Welfare Institute.  We also had to include a copy of our Pre-Approval (PA) letter from China.  Here's what we ended up with:

Package, Address Label, Letter to Orphanage Director, and PA Letter

Maddison's First Care Package

Package is ready to go and Robin will mail on Monday!

Update on Finding Ad

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

 
Today we received Wen Jia's finding ad in the mail from Brian Stuy.  We received a copy of the newspaper page that shows her picture and finding ad.  The finding ad was published in the "Henan Farmer's Daily" on June 9, 2011.  She is the second ad in that addition.

Information Received from Brian Stuy

Second Ad is Wen Jia

Brian translated the ad for us:

Dang Wen Jia

Female

She was born on November 15, 2010.  On November 20, 2010, she was found abandoned in the Fifth Mine Worker's village in Tanghe Bridge, Shancheng District, Hebi City.  On the same day, she was sent into the Hebi City Social Welfare Institute by the Hongqui Police Department of Hebi City Police Bureau.

Characteristic:  She has a round face, double-eyelids, slightly dark skin, and she has a cleft palate and lip.

Photo of Wen Jia in Newspaper along with Translation

Donation to Wen Jia's Orphanage

We have been following a lot of adoption blogs these past few months.  Apparently, there are a few businesses in China that you can use to send "Care Packages" to your adoptive child.  We found Red Thread China on the internet and browsed through their services that they provide.  Apparently, Ann has been doing this for a few years and has provided this service to many adoptive families.  All the blogs rave about Ann and how she has been able to get care packages delivered and receive updates of adoptive children.  We sent her an email and asked if she has dealt with the Hebi City Social Welfare Institute and if they are open to receiving care packages and/or donations.  She replied they are and so we took the plunge!

We thought about what we would like to send to the orphanage and Wen Jia.  We both agreed it would be beneficial if we would send something that would benefit the entire orphanage before we sent things specifically to Wen Jia.  We finally settled on sending some shoes, socks and undies.  We wanted to include some hard candies for the nannies and kids.  We contacted Ann and she recommended that we get long sleeve tops instead of the shoes at this time since the shoes she had were more of a summer shoe and it is still winter in china.  We agreed and her's what she put together for us.

Donation of Hebi City SWI

Ann's email said these should be delivered in the next few days.  Hopefully, we will also be getting some updated pictures and information about Wen Jia.  Once we do, we'll post the pictures!