Care Package

This morning I ordered Celia a care package through Red Thread China. A lady in China, Ann, owns this company and she has contact with the orphanages and will be able to find out her correct sizes and send her our package. In it I have put a pair of pajamas, a doll, a blanket, camera and a note stating that we are Celia's parents and we would like her to have these things and would they take some pictures of her, her caretakers, her orphanage director and her friends, with the camera so that we will have them for her for later. In sending this package through Ann I am hoping to get Celia's true sizes and hopefully be able to pack the correct sizes for her for our trip. Keeping our fingers crossed and trusting God!!

Next Step

We have received Celia's Medical Exam and her growth report and everything looks good. The reports say that she is a happy, healthy baby. On June 23, Greg accepted the package from the FedEx man. Imagine his surprise when Greg asked him if he could take a picture of him holding the package. Greg told him that he had a crazy request and then told him that he really needed a picture of him because he was delivering our adoption papers and that I would hurt him if I came home and he didn't have a picture. The man was a good sport and let Greg take 3 pictures of him and then told him congratulations. Greg said he was a nice guy. I had to have the pictures for Celia's scrapbook. After we read through the paperwork we signed off that we would accept the referral and then took them back to Federal Express the same night and had them sent back. Our agency told us the sooner we had the papers back to them the sooner we would travel. The papers reached GWCA today at 8:13 AM and we received an e-mail from our agency stating that they received our package and they were moving us to the travel phase. They said that we should receive some information from our travel advisor sometime next week. We are so excited!!! We are getting closer.

WHAT A DAY!!!!

This has been one of the most exciting days of our lives.  At approximately 11:00 AM this morning Greg and I officially became parents.  I cannot describe how we feel.  We are "over the moon" in love with her.  We think she is the most beautiful baby that we have ever seen in our lives.  Of course, we are not being partial or anything:)   We are finally coming down off of our adrenaline highs.  Looking back on today we were talking about what we were doing when we got the news.  Greg was out in the garden staking tomato plants and I was at work eating Chinese food for lunch.  Who would have thought that this day would have turned out the way it has.  It has been amazing and GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!!!    His timing has been absolutely perfect.  It has been a long journey but the wait has been worth it all.  We will continue to keep everyone posted on any upcoming events and hopefully I will have my head on straight the next time I blog.  Thank you all for all of your prayers and please continue to pray for us as we proceed.  We do have a 15 hour flight, one way, ahead of us.  

Her Name!!!!

We are going to call her Celia Lu En Jones. We are so excited!!!!! We should get her paperwork by Federal Express on Monday. Now we are ready to jump on a plane and pick her up. YIPPEEEE!!!!!!!

Here are her STATS

Baby Girl: Lu En Zhuang
Born Sept 26, 2008
9 months old
7.1 kg 62 cm
Yi Feng County (SWI)
Province: Jiangxi
Deep sleeper
sucks her thumb
holds head up
can roll over
grasps toys with her hands
locates direction of sound
holds blocks in each hand at the same time
looks for dropped toys and reaches for them
laughs out loud
distinguishes between acquaintances and strangers
she knows her name
she is active, restless & fond of imitating
likes music
smiles
closest to her caretaker

AND WE LOVE HER TO CHINA AND BACK!

SHE'S HERE!!!!!!!!!

The Stork is in the air!!!!

We just got an e-mail from Beth at GWCA stating that they have a package on the way and they think that it is our referrals!!! We are so excited. I cannot even concentrate here at work. Beth said that the agency would get the package around 1:00PM (CST) and they would then call us and give us all of the information that they have on her (ex: age, weight, height, and any medical information). I will keep everyone posted on here as soon as I can. FLY STORK FLY!!!!!!!!!