Wednesday, February 27, 2008

We received more news about Noelle!

Last week we received additional information about our daughter!

One bit of news came from Longlan, the sweet gal who translated the letter for our care package. She was able to discover that the package did in fact arrive at the orphanage (cool!). AND she was able to speak with the director who told her JiaZhen was doing great (yay!). AND she had the nannys get JiaZhen's current height, weight and foot length for us (awesome!). Noelle will be 18 months on March 2, and from her measurements, it appears that she is growing healthy and strong. According to various children's clothing size charts I consulted on the web, she appears to be almost or right at the 18 mo. size for height, and into the 24 mo. size for weight (our girl likes her meals!). And her feet are just over 5 inches long, so it looks like she's definitely not wearing baby shoes any more.

Having this information is SUPER helpful. Only thing is, we thought she'd be smaller and that we would be traveling earlier, like on February 28th (yeah I know, I know...), so we have all these size 12 mo. winter clothes hanging in our laundry room. When I thought we would be leaving this coming week, I had been scouring consignment shops, and Target's & Walmart's winter clearance sections. So...now I've been sorting through things to figure out what might be large enough. The big tub of clothes donated to Noelle by little Melody Simmons has come in handy (thanks Dana!). Most of the clothes are too large at this point, but I found a couple outfits I think may work. We're gonna get it together. :)

The second bit of news about Noelle was even more exciting. We're talking "10" on the richter scale of excitement - a total God-thing. Unfortunately I cannot tell you a thing about it at this time. Seriously! Not a word, but trust me, it's awesome, and you might even cry like I did!

When I'm able to share, I will post it right here. (This is good stuff! Well worth the wait...)

11 comments:

forever sisters... said...

Wonderful update! Just keep in mind that sometimes they are a bit off on the weight. You may want to pack a few of the 12 month outfits (2 piece) just in case!! I'll be back for the other news. Oh gosh, just have fun packing, you are almost on your way.

Carrie
a Hefei Mom

Jennifer said...

Carrie,

Wow, I didn't realize that about the weight. Maybe this is a silly question, but do their scales tend to be off, or do they just weigh the kids differently than we would?

Redmom2005 said...

Oh...WHAT?!!! You're going to keep us waiting for the exciting news?!! Oh, COME ONE!!!! I'll be checking back often!! Can't wait to hear it :)

Erin DeNicolo
adoptedfromhefei group

forever sisters... said...

The diffence usually is because they are weighed with all their layers of clothes on! I packed all 12 mon for LinLin thinking they would fit perfectly (she was 11 mon, said to weigh 18 pounds). Well under all her clothes she was tiny, maybe 16 pounds and a size 9 mon fit perfect. But then another girl adopted with our group was bigger than expected, so it can be hard to pack. Two piece outfits are great, and maybe some that mix & match, in a few different sizes.

Carrie

Tina said...

Going to China with you! Received our TA today!!
Praise God!
Blessings,
Tina

The Woods Gang said...

Jennifer,

We are with AWAA and just got our TA today. We will be going with the group on the 13th and we are also going to Hefei! Our daughter is in Dingyuan SWI in Anhui! So I just thought I'd introduce myself!

Amy Woods

amorisa said...

Hi Jen,
Great news about Noelle! I'm so glad she is well. I can't wait to hear what the surprise news is! I'll be seeing you in China. The 13th! WOOOOO HOOOOO!

Jennifer said...

Amy,

SO nice to meet you! Big congrats to your family on the TA! And you are going to Hefei as well? Is that where you will be staying during the week, or closer to Adiah's SWI?

We will love getting to know your family. :) Did you know that our daughters are only a few weeks apart in age? Noelle turns 18 months on March 2. They're gonna have such fun playing together!

See you soon!

p.s. I have visited your blog several times, too. Looks great!

Jennifer said...

Tina!!!

I knew it would happen -- yeeehaaa!!!

See you in China!

WOOT!! (I have no idea what this actually means, but my dear bud Lisa says it lots when she's happy!)

Jennifer said...

Carrie,

How interesting! I'll definitely keep that in mind as we finish up shopping and packing. Thanks for the heads up!

Jen

Jennifer said...

Amorisa,

Hey girl! You think we might bump into each other at LAX? :) We're seriouly considering flying there then to Beijing. who knows...?

Here's a {{{BIG HUG}}} for you until I get to give you one in person.

oh happy day...oh happy day-ay-ay...!