Dossier translation and next steps

We got the translation for Xin Zhi's medical record and dossier this week. How fun to read it all in detail and not have to fuss over little characters that I cannot dredge up from my addled memory! Below are the highlights, directly quoted from the dossier:

* She was found on the steps of the orphanage on November 15, 2007, the day after her birth
* She was wearing a blue cotton top and flowered bottoms.
* She was given to a foster family, and "Grandma Pan" was responsible for her well being
* She enjoys interacting with people
* Little Xin Zhi has a pair of sparkling eyes that seem to talk
* Sometimes she is so happy that she bursts into giggles
* She has rosy fat cheeks that make people want to kiss them
* She started standing up at 8 months as is now walking a few steps
* In sum, she is a lovely smart girl


We cannot wait to meet little Ginger (this is the name we have finally chosen. The reason is that it is close in meaning to her name, which means one medicinal plant, and it sound phonetically as close as we can get in English.) So, her full name is Ginger Xin Zhi Nina Peck! Cuyler was not willing to let go of the Nina part of her name that we had already chosen to use. Ginger was never even mentioned as a name originally, but it really just seems to fit for her.

I am going to a travel meeting Monday and will learn more, but they have tentatively told us to be in Hong Kong by Feb 27 to meet the group, then travel to Nan Chang, the capital of Jiangxi province, where Xin Zhi lives. We may get to visit the orphanage, and we will hang out for about a week in Nan Chang with our new babies. Oh, yes, we are travelling with 9 other families! After that we are off to GuangZhou to the US Consulate where we will hang for another week, taking care of immigration issues. On their current timetable we will be home by March 12. However, it could all be pushed out a week. we will see. My sister Nina arrives Feb 26 to take care of Cuy-Cuy and will stay till end of March- a great help!

David and I plan on hitting HK a few days early, recovering from jetlag and tooling around HK. I haven't been in years, and I can't miss an opportunity to get is a few good Hong Kong walks! It wil be fun to be there with David, and we will stay at the Peninsula for a night, which has long been a dream of mine.

The next couple of weeks are jam-packed with buying everything we need, packing, arranging everything for Cuyler and buttoning down our work issues. Oh, yes, and TWO baby showers next week! We are busier than centipedes in a tap-tapping contest, and WAY more excited!

More as soon as we get definite travel plans