This just occurred to me today…
When we chose Lainey as the name for our daughter in China, we liked the meaning of it. It means “torch†or “bright lightâ€. Her Chinese name is Ling Qing Qin. Qing means “clear†or “sunnyâ€. It’s like this is meant to be or something!
Still waiting on travel approval! Hope to have it by next week (or sooner!).
Look at our Lainey! That’s almost a smile! We were overjoyed to receive updated information and new pictures from her orphanage today! Our agency received the information and sent it to us via email. We had been hoping for an update since the agency asked for one back on 11/5. Today’s email included the above picture, another close up of her lip repair, and also a photo of the hemangioma on her back….which is so tiny, it looks like a pink freckle. There was more detailed information about her cleft palate, apparently the cleft is on the left side only. We also received development information and measurements, including head and chest! Here are the details…
She can walk.
She is still on the bottle.
She has 11 teeth.
She can say “mama†and “dada†(wonder if they’ve been working on that??)
Her personality is active and extroverted, but sometimes she is a bit fussy. :)
She is closest to her caretaker.
Here are her measurements:
Weight 20.94lbs., Height 31.5in., Head 17.72 in., Chest 18.5in., Feet 4.33in.
We did a bit of comparing, and Lainey appears to be just about the same in size to Ethan at 18 months old, which means she is a little small for her age. We’ll be taking 12 and 18 month size clothes and we’re estimating her shoe size to be a 4 or 4.5.
Another big step today…we mailed off the next set of paperwork to our agency today AND sent off the paperwork/our passports to order our Visas. We hope to see TA in about 2 weeks. Until then, I have a new picture to stare at (while I pack and do all the other zillion things on my “to-do†list!)
We received the rest of the photos of Lainey that a family took for us, during their visit to the orphanage. Lainey was sleeping when they arrived, but when they asked to see Ling Qing Qin, the nanny obviously wanted our girl to be awake. Check out the progression of pictures below.
This one breaks my heart!!
Hmmm…if the girl is used to getting cookies/crackers when she cries, we have our work cut out for us!
We’re driving home from our Christmas trip to NC, and Randy’s cell phone rings. “303 area code??â€, he says. “ANSWER THAT, IT’S CCAI!!!â€, I calmly tell him. Turns out it was Sarah at CCAI, telling us that our LOA arrived at their office today! This is the letter from China that basically just needs our signature. CCAI will over-night it to us today…we’ll get it on Wednesday (because of the holiday) and over-night it back to them…CCAI will get it back on Thursday and over-night it to China.
She said that once they receive this form, we should receive our TA (travel approval) in 2-3 weeks. That means we SHOULD be leaving for China the 2nd or 3rd week of February. Chinese New Year is 2/7, and there is no travel during that week, which sets us back a little. BUT, it works out perfectly for us because our daughter’s 12th birthday is 2/9. We would most likely miss her birthday if CNY wasn’t in there.
So, our 2007 has ended with some wonderful news! Happy 2008 everyone!!
We received official word today from our agency that we’ve been pre-approved to adopt Lainey! This means that the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) has received and reviewed our Letter of Intent paperwork (essentially asking to adopt her, explaining how we’ll care for her, etc.) and have agreed that we can be her family. Yeah!
They will now begin the process of matching her paperwork with our dossier that we turned in August of 2006. Our agency will let us know when this happens. Another milestone down in our journey to Lainey!
Look at our NEW picture of Lainey! There is a family in China right now, adopting their little girl from Lainey’s orphanage. During their visit to the orphanage, she managed to find our Ling Qing Qin and took some pictures of her. She looks so sleepy and a little upset that she’s been woken up! The nanny, though, looks thrilled that her family wants a picture of her! There are more pictures, but she’s only sent me this one for now and will send the rest when they return home in a little less than a week. I believe this was taken yesterday, 12/23.
We’re SO glad to have it and will forever remember this family for this precious gift. This is our first good-quality photo, and we’ve really gotten a good look at her lip repair when we’ve zoomed in. It looks so good! We are blessed.
Yesterday, we went to Build-A-Bear to get a special present for Lainey. We chose a bear with brown hair and eyes (just like her), picked out a cute pink and black outfit complete with hairbows (thanks to Granma!), and named her Laineybug. We also had a sound box put in that says “I Love You†when you push her paw, and Abbey, Marley, Payton, and Ethan each got to put in a little satin heart before she was sewn up. She’s waiting for Lainey in her bedroom, and keeping the rocking chair warm for her!
A care package is on it’s way to Lainey in Bengbu, Anhui province, China as of yesterday! She should get it in about a week. We chose a cute black frilly hemmed shirt, leggings and a purple hooded jacket for her outfit. The nannies are getting chocolates and there is also a gift of Andies candies for the orphanage director (forgot that one last time!). We also sent another photo album with more pictures of us, a mini see n’ say, soft book, frilly socks (see a theme here?), and another disp. camera labeled with her name and picture on the back. Hopefully, we’ll get these cameras back on Gotcha day full of pictures of Lainey, the orphanage, and her friends and nannies.
Today marks 1 month since we sent our Letter of Intent (LOI), saying we wanted to adopt Lainey. We’re still waiting on our pre-approval (PA) and hope it comes ANY day now! If nothing else, international adoption is a wonderful lesson in patience.
