A few activities this past week

I just uploaded these cute pictures. We have been enjoying the nice fall weather.

The kids had a great time last Monday carving pumpkins. (Meili insisted that her pumpkin had ears... Scott was great to go along)

One afternoon after school we went to the park and played with Meili's little friend Maddie. (I had fun visiting with Lora :) I hope is ok that we posted her picture...)

And I took the last picture today. Greg and his family are here visiting (he is interviewing at the hospital here... we would love to have them live here!!!). The kids have such a great time playing! I about died when I went outside and saw only the top of Reeses head... I think they may be digging a hole for me to get Lili :)

Mckenzie is trying out for the school play today. She is very excited!

No news yet on Lili. We hope to hear something soon... in fact, in order for us to have her home by Christmas or the New Year we need to receive our LOA this week. I am hopeful but it really could take another couple of months to get... if only I had a crystal ball. I am very glad to know that she is in great hands and that she is being taken care of.

A Child's Right . org

I love the pictures shown on A Child's Right organization website. They went to Nanchang SWI (where Lili is) in May of 2007 and installed a water filtration system. To see the great photos of the orphanage go to http://www.a-childs-right.org/projects.html and click on China 2007, and go to photo number 98 (this is where Nanchang starts). It will tell you at the top of the page what each photo is showing. There are so many amazing people that go and volunteer to make the orphanages a better and safer place. Very amazing and I am grateful to this group who made the drinking water safe for Lili to drink!

Lili is 17 months old today

We have had this bird (the kids insist it is a pigeon) on our roof. I took the pictures last night and this morning when I woke up he was still sitting there. Reese is insisting that we call animal control this morning so the bird will survive but I'm not sure what to do. The kids are learning the waltz at school during PE. Here are some pictures with Mckenzie and Scott, Reese and Grandma Hunsaker, and Davis and Meili practicing the moves.

More information

I received this from Maury today:

Hi, Melanie! Today we received a little more explanation re the Loving Families that Yuan Xiu is in:

Loving family is one of programs in the orphanage. The orphanage offers apartments to six selected families and six children live with each family. Mothers stay at home to look after children and fathers go to work.

Sounds like a good program

Updated Developmental Information about Lili

Our agency is amazing! Maury (the lady we work with) provided us this information this morning. She is surprised that the orphanage gave us so much information... generally they keep care takers and foster moms name private but they gave us them. Yahoo (Yaboo :)) She sounds perfect! I can't wait to get my arms around her... have fun reading about her :) (Oh, when it talks about Loving Family this means a foster care situation with 5-6 children)

Hong Yuan Xiu—10-16-07


The orphanage would not like to provide more photos since they just provided some photos on 9/24.
She is as same as a normal child except for her hemangiomas. She can sit, crawl, run and walk. Her physical development is normal. She can say some simple words like baba (dad), mama (mom), chi (eat) etc. She has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on bottom. She is outgoing and restless. She is very smart. She has no primary caretaker but she is very attached to one caretaker named Liu Yu Ping. She stays in the childcare center in the orphanage along with all other children between 4-18 months during daytime and she stays in the Loving Family at night. Her mom in the Loving Family is called Zhu Nian Ci.

The Today Show clip

On May 8, 2006 I happened to watch the Today Show. I finally came across the clip that I remember seeing: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12644600/ This is of the litttle girl with the hemangioma on her nose. The doctor, Dr. Buckmiller, is the doctor who will do Lili's surgery. During the clip you will see 3 kids before and afters and I think the the third child's hemangioma (above the lip) looks similar to Lili's. It is great to see how well the children look after surgery. This aired right before Lili's (suspected) b-day... I have been going through my calendar seeing what I had been doing around this time - so this is fun to learn that I was learning about hemangiomas about the time she was born.

Lili's current measurements...

I asked for an update on Lili and they provided me with her measurements. I was hoping to also know if she was walking, talking, etc... but, this is what they provided... which is better than no info at all:
Date of Provide: Oct. 9, 2007
Per our request the orphanage provided the following measurements:
Name Hong Yuan Xiu
Height 73 cm (28.7 inches) (American charts- below 5 percentile; Chinese charts - below 3%)
Weight 9 kg (17.6 lbs) (American charts - below 5%; Chinese charts - 10%)
Head Size 45 cm (17.7 inches) (American charts 10-15%)
Chest Size 45 cm (17.7 inches)
Feet Length 11 cm (4.3 inches)
Teeth ?
Looks likeLili is teeny, tiny!!! Quite a change from that finding ad photo... :)

Lili's finding ad

Hong Yuan Xiu

Female

She was born on May 18, 2006. On August 18, 2006 she was found at the gate of the Welfare Institute. She has single eyelids, and a round face.

This is the finding ad and translation that was placed in a newspaper in China.

Her cute, chubby cheeks are so large that she can't open her eyes. Someone was feeding her well.

Our documents are still in China waiting for review. This week has been a week long holiday in China - it is similar to our Thanksgiving holiday (I'm told). Anyway, this means that nothing has been completed due to the fact that no one is working. Hopefully, they will get right back to work on Monday and quickly review our file so we can bring her home. (The Wefare Institute is the orphanage where Lili was found and is now living - Meili was found at the gate of a cancer hospital)