Ann sent me 6 new photos this morning. All I can say is WOW! She is getting so tall. She got our first care package too. That's evident by the photo taped to the wall by her crib. It cracks me up -- to think that our faces are on a wall in China for our daughter to look at each day. This photo was taken on 7/11 - just 4 days ago.
We also received more fantastic news! The leader of the orphanage staff provided us with her email address and wants us to skype with them and Meili. They've started doing this for adoptive families. She and her husband know English fairly well. I'm going to contact her this weekend and get this set up ASAP!
Below are Meili's 1st birthday package contents from Ann @ Red Thread. She sent these to Meili's orphanage yesterday. She ordered a cake from a local bakery that should be delivered in 1-2 days. Ann also requested photos from the party. Hopefully, the staff will take a few!
I've finally been able to send care package #2 to a family that will be visiting Yangchun in July. I would have loved to send a suitcase filled with items for Meili and her friends. For now, she will have to settle for these 4 items. I included a wipeable photo album of family photos. Hopefully, this will be able to stand up to a 1 year old. I also put her photo at the front of the album - in the hopes that her caretakers will know that this family belongs to Meili!
The photo album contained pictures of the entire family, not just Ben and me! And yes, the only other family members include 2 dogs and 2 cats.
This is our first package sent to Meili. Ann at Red Thread bought the items in China, translated a letter and photos, and requested photos/update for us. The candy is for the staff taking care of her. I cracked up when I saw our photos in the photo. It was just funny to think that our photos are in China and will be mailed to our daughter's orphanage. I requested in the letter for the staff to start calling her Meili instead of Fu. Cindra, from The House of Grace, told me that they will. But who knows if the Chinese orphanage director will relay this letter to Sandra or the package to Meili.
Through Meili's yahoo SWI group, I found a family who will be traveling to HOG in July. They have agreed to take Meili a small care package. Woohoo! This is awesome for us. I hope they get to meet her and give her lots of love. They are volunteering at HOG for 1 day and have told me how Ben and I can go about doing this. She said that we need to get Sandra our information early as we have to be approved by the Chinese government. I guess they need to make sure we are legit. I guess it's a good thing that we're used to being checked out.
On another note, the agency received the *last* piece of documentation from us on Friday, April 7 for the dossier. It was the notarized copy of the I-800A approval. I paid extra for delivery confirmation as I wanted to make certain that they received it. I checked online today @ USPS and, sure enough, they did!
