Update, sort of

*** I just found out it's not supposed to be an update. It's part of the referral that they wanted to translate before sending it to us. That makes more sense. ***

Well, the update has the same date as the rest of the paperwork we got, so I'm not sure what exactly makes it an update, except that we did get a little new information. No pictures though.

As of June, she can walk while holding on to support. She loves playing with adults. (It doesn't mention if she likes other children.) She loves music. She babbles. She knows who is a stranger and who is familiar. She is a little shy to strangers. She is an active and smart girl. She loves to smile.

I'm glad they said she loves to smile. When I read "active" it reminded me of one summer in high school when I was a counselor for four-year-olds and I had to write a report to the parents of each kid. One of the kids was kind of bratty, and I tried to think of something nice to say. I started it, "Benjy is an active child..."

No updates until next week

It looks like we're not going to get our update until next week. Maybe it'll come tomorrow if we're lucky.

We sent a care package to the SWI this week. The package has mooncakes for the nannies (maybe they'll share with the kids) since the Moon Festival is coming up. It's kind of like our Thanksgiving. For Casey we sent a panda bear and a picture of us, which I hope doesn't scare her too much (I was having a big hair day). And we sent a letter to the director thanking them for taking care of her and asking them to take pictures with the two disposable cameras we included. We asked for pictures of her, her friends, her nannies, her crib, and the general surroundings. They are supposed to bring the cameras and the panda with them when we meet up in Guangzho. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

We found out we're not going to her SWI, unfortunately, but we may get to see another one.

Mug shot

I heard we're getting an update next week. I think that means we'll get new pictures. Here's one to tide you over until then.

I wonder if we got matched to her because she has the same haircut as Eric.

Ying 1 and Ying 2

There is a Yahoo group for everything. I joined a Yahoo group for families who have adopted from Yang Dong SWI or Yang Jiang SWI in the Guangdong Province. Dong Fang Ying is at Yang Dong right now. I logged in and started reading the posts and saw that there was a family from Australia who was on their way to Yang Dong to adopt a baby named Dong Fang Ying!

All of the babies from her SWI have the last name Dong, and the babies born in her year all have the middle name Fang, but I was shocked to see another Ying. Did someone make a copy of her file and accidentally put it back in the pile of folders to go out to waiting families? I couldn't believe they would give two babies the same name.

I couldn't read any more. I knew something like this would happen. Eric was still out of town. I emailed my girlfriends in our adoption group saying "What the heck!?!?!" (Or something like that.) Jeanine called me and said maybe it was a different character that also translated as Ying. Oh yeah, I should have known that! I'm taking a Chinese class and there are four different tones and the tone doesn't show in the English spelling.

Now that I had a possible reasonable explanation, I logged back on to the Yahoo group and found a picture of Ying1 and it was not the same baby as our Ying. Whew. The father of Ying1 said Ying means brave heroine. I found out that the character for our Ying means precious treasure, lustrous like a gem, sparkling, glittering. Dong Fang means Oriental or from the East. Precious treasure from the East.

The stork

Traveling late October / early November

We'll be traveling in late October or early November. We will not know the exact dates until about 2 weeks before we go. I know, this sounds crazy, but that's how it is. I guess it depends on when we get our consulate appointment. We'll be there for 2 weeks and we'll get Casey on the second or third day and then go on outings with her and the group and take care of paperwork.

There are 17 families in our travel group. We have met 4, are in contact with another 5, and don't know anything about the other 7. Nine (including us) will get their babies in Guangdong Province, and the rest will go one province north to Jiangxi. Some of our friends are going to the other province so we were a little disappointed. So far, one other family from Denver will be getting a baby from the same SWI (Social Welfare Institute).

They will probably bring her and all of the babies from Guangdong to us, and we won't find out if we get to visit her SWI until we get there. It's several hours drive from where we'll be in Guangzho, but if we get the opportunity to go, we will.

One word

They say a picture says a thousand words. These pictures say one word. Cheeks!

Although the last one kinda says ballerina.

Update

Bad mommy - I got the name wrong. It's Fang Ying. With an "F". I did not get the chubby cheeks part wrong, however. Pictures coming soon if I can figure out how.

It's a girl!

Chinese name: Dong Fang Ying (Her given name is Fang Ying.)
English name: Casey Carlson
Birthday: July 21, 2006
Height: 27.55 inches
Weight: 20.9 pounds
Location: Guangdong Province (In the south.)

In her picture, as described to me, she is very healthy looking, cute, and adorable, with chubby cheeks. We should get the picture in the mail tomorrow and I will post it.

The words "very healthy looking" were used several times. I asked, "Does that mean chubby?" and she said, "No, she looks very solid, with chubby cheeks."

She is also reported to be active, happy, and smiley, and likes playing with toys.

The call came at 3:30 pm. Luckily Eric's plane had landed by then so while I was taking notes I was texting Eric "GIRL" and "CALLMERIGHTNOW"

I can't wait to see if our friends are going to the same orphanage!

I'd write more but I have to go to the gym and start lifting weights. She'll probably weigh even more by the time we get there in late October or early November.

Is it wrong?

I know for sure that our referral call will come today. People around the world are getting their referrals already! I'm sitting here at home with the workmen who are installing our new heating/AC. It's VERY loud. Yelling. Drilling. Hammering. They had to turn off the electricity for a while. I was expecting a call from someone at work and she emailed that she couldn't get through! I almost had a heart attack. Our phone doesn't work without electricity! And our cell phones don't work in the house!

Then I got an email from Donna who has been through this twice already, asking if I'd checked my phone 20 times to make sure it's working, as thousands of others have before me. How could my phone not work today? Don't worry, it's fixed now. And my internet access is back up. And I have my list of questions and a pen in my pocket. And the phone is charging. Eric is on a flight to New Jersey that lands at 2:15. I am very worried that I won't be able to keep the news to myself until he calls!

So I was wondering,

Is it wrong to tell random workers in my house it's a boy or it's a girl before I tell Eric? They are finishing up today and I will never see them again. I guess just typing it I can see what the answer is. But what if I scream? Or faint? Don't you think they'd want to know why?

And is it wrong to have a shot of vodka at 11:00am? Just kidding. Sort of. I hope I don't have a heart attack today. I almost threw up while I was running this morning. Maybe Wendy was going too fast.