Marie Kathleen!

(I can't seem to post pictures now but will retry later.)

Whew...coming down after our whirlwind few days!
Monday was the hottest day this summer. I spent it at home, waiting by the phone. We knew that the referrals had arrived in Grand Rapids at 11:5 (thank you internet) so we were waiting for them to be translated and forwarded on to our caseworker. Needless to say, by 3 I was in tears. Jim called and found out that we wouldn't hear that day. And I could've been at the beach! Oh well..so we knew for sure it would be Tuesday!

Tuesday was an amazing day! From getting the call, to getting our pictures, to celebrating with family and friends. Marie received some clothes from "Aunt" Kate and "Aunt" Kerry - a fall outfit - and balloons and artwork from cousins Henry and George and their Mommy. The day ended with our waiting in line outside to see a film we had tickets to (the Traverse City Film Festival is this week), getting downpoured on while waiting and then the film starting 20 minutes late! We got home at about 1am, and yes, the movie was good. It was quite the day!

So what we know:
Lin Yi Hong (last, middle, first name) was born 12/3/05. She was placed in foster care on 12/12. Her last name is the name of the orphanage director. Her first and middle together mean "Great Joy" (or enlarged harmony - a slightly different translation - but you get the gist). We are still in discussion about whether we will incorporate this as part of her name.

She is said to be a deep sleeper (good girl), and likes her foster mom to look face-to-face with her while she bounces on her knees. Her favorite activity is looking at picture books. She likes pork soup(?), yolk and rice cereal. Yummy!

We are sending a care package with a photo album, a stuffed animal, and a disposable camera. There are no guarantees that she will get it but others have had success.

We will get our travel invitation in about 4 weeks. After that, our agency will set our consulate appointment. Then we can make travel plans. We will likely travel around the end of September. We will go to Beijing for a few days, then Nanchang and last to Guangzhou. We will get Marie either the first or second day we are in Nanchang and she will remain with us from then on! Guangzhou is where the US Consulate is - all Americans must go through there.

Thanks for following this with us!