Second package to Xing Juan - Early Birthday/Xmas

OK, I started this a couple weeks ago, and haven't gotten back to post it. Here it is now!:

We just got an email from Angela at http://www.ladybugsnlove.com/ !!

We sent JuanJuan a package with a beautiful blankie, books and treats for the Nannies and other children at the SWI (Social Welfare Institute). We also sent a letter that Angela translated for us. The second part of the package is a Birthday Cake that Juan will be able to share with her friends at the SWI! We are patiently waiting for the Director of the SWI to send Angela back the disposble camera we also sent along. I hope Juan had a good time at her birthday party!

A Little Girl's Room!

We (mostly Robin!) have been hard at work planning and then DOING up Xing Juan's room. We decided on a nice pale yellow with an understated soft yellow wallpaper for one wall. The wallpaper has flowers, butterflies and princess crowns scattered on it.

For furniture, we searched and searched and finally found a set very similar to Josh's from South Shore Ltd (from the South Shore of Quebec, not far from where we used to live!) It's the same company that we bought Josh's furniture from, but the store in Ottawa didn't have this set in stock. They said they couldn't guarantee it before Xmas..... so onto the internet we went and ordered it from an american on-line store. It was supposed to take 3-5 days before the order left the warehouse in Quebec, and then a few days before it arrived here... well... literally 48 hours after ordering it, it arrived!

SO we cleared out the furniture and computer from that room and got the wallpaper up! Robin spent the next day putting all the furniture together. I washed the sheets and set-up the bed. Josh brought over some of his stuffed animals he wanted XingJuan to have, along with his 3D glasses... you never know when you might need them!We are waiting before putting up art of the walls.

We want to see what beautiful pictures we can find there, especially of Guilin City, where Xing Juan is from. SO... all we need now is our XingJuan!! Less than a month to go!

Updated Photos of XingJuan

Hi again!

I will soon be going to bed, promise!!

Here are some MORE photos of XingJuan. We asked for updated photos of her as the original referal photos were a bit "old". We were SO BLESSED to receive over a dozen new photos!! We are so lucky!! Here are a few of them.

Sending XingJuan her present! Ni Hao!!

Ni Hao!!

I'm getting into this blogging now!

I wanted to post some pictures of the package we sent XingJuan! We hope that she gets it soon! It contains:

- A letter to XingJuan explaining who her new forever family is, along with a description of the seasons in Canada (she is from a subtropical region in China, so NO SNOW! She will be coming home in January - so we are trying to prepare her for a proper Canadian Winter)

- An album of photos of her new home and forever family, along with pictures of Fall Leaves and Fun in the Snow!

- Fun Craft items

- Cool hair clips

- And a WONDERFUL letter Josh wrote to his sister, along with a BEAUTIFUL frame he made with his picture in it!

We hope she will receive this package!!

Signing the Offical Letter of Acceptance!

SO! Here we are signing the Official Letter of Acceptance (called LOA in the China International Adoption community). We were all VERY EXCITED! As you can tell!

All in a name!

So... we were doing research into XingJuan's name, and this is what we found:

Xing = Lucky (pronounced "Sing")

Juan = Beautiful and brooke/water (Pronounced "Jew-wen")

Yang = Sun

Hannah = Grace

Receiving XingJuan's referral

We finally received our referral!!!

:-) we were dancing in the kitchen and toasted 7Up to XingJuan (Josh had a cup for his sister in his hand so she would be there in spirit when we toasted - what a great Big Brother (Gege)!)

Figuring out how this works!

Hi all!

Just trying to figure out how all this works! We are hoping that we can use this blog as a way of keeping everyone updated on our preparation and then travels to meet our new daughter Hannah XingJuan in January of this year!

I'm going to post some photos of important events so far... receiving Hannah's referral package from our adoption agency, Family Outreach International (FOI), Josh opening the Official Letter of Approval from China, us signing the official letter saying we accept the referral of Yang XingJuan! Josh wanted to know where HE was supposed to sign! Just the parents, sorry!

Next will be before and after photos of Hannah XingJuan's room, and I'm sure, a few Mandarin lessons along the way. ;-) so book-mark this site and check in from time to time!

Love us, Dava, Robin and Gege Josh! (Big Brother Josh!)

p.s. In China, they put the last name first, so Yang is the last name and XingJuan is the first and middle name. XingJuan's Canadian name will be Hannah, but she will ultimately decide what she wishes to be called. :-)

Testing!

Hi! testing our NEW BLOG! Will be posting pictures and stories soon! Stay Tuned!