Love Goes On a Plane

Today an ordinary looking cardboard box filled with diapers, Cherry Mash candies (made in St. Joe, MO), cinnamon graham crackers, a soft blanket, a stuffed animal, a photo album, a camera, and a letter in Mandarin is jetting its way towards China. In reality, that box is actually filled to the brim with Love and Hugs and Kisses. And in 9 or 10 days, a little girl with almond eyes and thick dark hair will see, for the very first time, the faces of her mommy and daddy.

I am missing my daughter so very much today. And I'm having a difficult time writing this post because my tears are blurring the computer screen. I'm so glad these gifts go before us, to familiarize her with our faces and our smells (the blanket); I just wish that I, rather than one of the kind Chinese women, could be the one to deliver these small tokens of love into our daughter's waiting arms.

Longlan, the friendly woman from Research-China.Org who translated our letter (and for an extrememly reasonable price), asked me to let her know when the package is expected to be delivered. She wanted to know so she could call the Hefei Orphanage just to make sure Noelle had gotten the package. Wow! We didn't even ask her to do this. She also said it would be no problem to check on Noelle's current clothing size and inquire about her health. Another wow! She wants to do this just out of kindness. This has warmed my heart and gives me such comfort. God bless her!!!

A Care Package for Noelle

This is something we have been wanting to do ever since we received that surprising and wonderful phone call on December 7th..."We have a little girl for you!" But our agency explained that until it was official from China that Lu Jia Zhen would be ours - until we received that Referral Approval (RA) - we would have to wait. So, since our RA came on January 25, I have been working on writing a letter, finding someone to translate it into Mandarin, tracking down the orphanage address, shopping for the perfect snuggly blanket, etc.

Well, you can see above that we found an adorable and incredibly soft and warm 'froggy' blanket and cute little stuffed green frog. Eric and I have been snuggling up to Noelle's blankey for the past several nights (though I'd rather be snuggling HER) so our scent will be on it when she holds it. Maybe this will make us more familier to her when we hold her in our arms for the first time. We are also printing out some photos of us and our home so she will recognize our faces when we introduce ourselves as Mama and Daddy.

I'd like to have everything finished this evening. We'll see. I have a couple other details to finish before we can pack it all up. My biggest concern right now is that the mail may not be running in China with the ravaging storms. And then you've got the Chinese New Year holiday as well. If you think of it, please pray that Noelle gets our package before we travel to China. It would mean so much.