New Information About Mei Mei

We just received her translated progress report. What a tough beginning she's had. She'll be ready for some love and predictability...

Name: Xiao Xin Jin Sex: F Date of Birth: October 2nd, 2006
Institution: Xiajiang Social Welfare Institute
Date of report: March 16th, 2007


Xiao Xin Jin, F, was found at the entrance of Xin Gan county Civil Affairs Ministry on October 2nd, 2006. On October 2nd, 2006, Hu Chun Hua went to Xin Gan county Ministry of Civil affairs for work, and found a cardboard box at the entrance, and when she looked in, she found a infant girl, she immediately dialled Xin Gan county Public Security Bureau, Jin Chuan Branch’s number, after searching for her birth parents or relatives without any success, she was confirmed as an abandoned child and was consented to be sent to Xin Gan Social Welfare Institute for custody. At the time of admission, her face was wide, very little hair, pale skin, taken in a box with one packet of milk formula, a milk bottle, and 1kg of white sugar. After two months of care in Xin Gan Social Welfare Institute, on December 2nd, of 2006, she was agreed to be sent to Xia Jiang County Social Welfare Institute for custody.

After she was transferred to Xia Jiang County Social Welfare, we sent her to the county hospital for a full medical examination, she has no physical abnormalities, her facial features are normal, and internal organs and all part of her body are all very normal and diagnosed as a healthy baby. According to the information provided by Xin Gan Social Welfare Institute, this infant girl’s birth date is the same as her founding date, both on October 2nd, 2006. SWI leader gave her the name Xiao Xin Jin. Her name has two meanings, one "Xin" is because she was born in Xin Gan, the second meaning "Jin" (golden) is in hopes that when she grows up, all aspects of her life is bright and prosperous.

After Xiao Xin Jin entered our institute, after caring her for a period of time, all of her development was normal and healthy. At 3 months time, she can distinguish strangers with familiar people.

Although the report doesn't address the meaning of her first name "Xiao", we have been told by other families that "Xiao" is the last name of the orphanage director and every baby from that orphanage has "Xiao" for her first name (which is actually her last name).

Announcing the referral of our daughter...

We are elated to introduce you all to our daughter and baby sister...

Xiao Xin Jin ... our boys call her Mei Mei

Date of Birth: October 2, 2006

Jiangxi Province, China

According to her paperwork she is in an excellent orphanage, she likes music (rock on baby) and nature, sleeps deeply (yeah!), and can be obstinate (Jeff rolled his eyes when he read that).

We will probably fly to China at the end of July or beginning of August to pick her up.

Check out her split pants. They start potty training at 6 months.

We will send her a care package next week.

During the past week we were reminded about the mystery of God's plans. The news of our nephew's illness hit our family very hard. A few days later, this news lifts our family up. God planned for us to be a part of a large family. That makes us susceptible to big happiness and immense times of sorrow. We find ourselves drawing upon our strength to get us through difficult times and looking forward to happier times.

Around the time our Mei Mei comes home, Jason will hopefully be done with chemotherapy and will also be coming home. Two precious homecomings for two precious people.

C, J, G and J

Difficult News

Last weekend we received some distressing news. Our nephew, Jason Robinson was diagnosed with leukemia. He is a junior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He had been feeling worn down with a persistent cough that turned into chest pain on Saturday. Colette's sister took Jason to an emergency care clinic where they received the horrible news and were sent immediately to UCLA Medical Center. The most recent tests indicate a need for chemotherapy and a very long hospital stay. Please pray for Jason and his family as they have a very long and difficult recovery ahead. He is a great nephew and a wonderful role model for our boys (he also makes an excellent jungle gym for our boys to climb on). We love you Jason! Fight, fight, fight!!

The House

Jeff is doing a beautiful job finishing up the construction for the final inspection. Apparently all light fixtures, tub and shower fixtures and other plumbing and electrical must be done before the city will sign off. I've attached photos of the house exterior (still need landscaping) and Jeff working on the tile in the master bath. Sometimes Jeff gets paroled for good behavior. Ha, ha. We'll be glad to have our daddy back once it's all done.

News on Mei Mei

Well, the Chinese government keeps things very hush, hush. The adoption agencies aren't much more help. We have discovered through internet searches, the families who submitted their paperwork the week before us, were assigned babies. Our LID (log in date) for our dossier (large file, kind of like a portfolio) was Nov. 7, 2005. They assigned babies through Nov. 1, 2005 and those parents will be flying to China in July to pick up their babies. Hopefully, we will be flying to China before the end of the summer.

The boys are keeping us busy while we wait. Also, Jeff is finishing our new master suite so we can finally move in. He is tiling the bathroom today (his 40th birthday).

C,J, G and J

Fun in the snow...

We were able to get away for a quick weekend at the snow. We have such "California Boys". They get very excited over the slightest patch of white. We always forget how tedious it is to put the snow clothes on and get them off when someone has to go potty. I know, I know. Those of you who live where it really snows, actually know what real weather is.

C, J, G and J

Welcome Hazel (dog, not human child)

We thought we might have some time off from dogs. We were wrong. Colette missed having a dog home during the day and the boys missed having someone to blame their mischievous doings on. So we adopted Hazel. She's a 6 month old Beagle. We never thought we'd get such a little breed. But, she is sweet, patient and eager to please (and much more portable than our previous pooches).

She has a hound's nose so we have to be careful about shutting the trash up tight.

No news on Mei Mei. Every day we pray she's being held and cuddled by her caregivers until we bring her home.

Oh, and Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

Good Bye to Grizz Lee...

We had to say good bye to our dog of 14 years, Grizz Lee. She continued to be loyal, patient and ever watchful of the boys up until the very end. We will miss her each and every day.

Happy Holidays! And Ho, Ho, Ho!

Calling all Kings from Afar and Shepards Keeping Watch... Best wishes to all our family and friends during this beautiful and magical season. May God bless you as you venture through 2007!

Construction Through The Holidays...

We were hoping for a new baby and a new house by Christmas... maybe next year. The construction, dust and dirt continues. Oh, well. There must have been alot of dirt in the manger too, right? Things are progressing... slowly. We have learned alot during this process, including some inspectors are more strict than others. Check out the before and after photos of what we're attempting to do. I couldn't get them to download in chronological order. They should be 1) our little house with grass in front 2) "boys" watching the cement mixer 3) Julian standing in the framing and 4) the house as it is today with windows, unfinished door and some plywood.

No new news on the baby. We pray she's healthy and happy during her months of waiting for us to show up.

The boys have been busy with school, piano and swim lessons and Indian Guides. Jeff is the Assistant Nation Chief for the Indian Guides. He seems to enjoy the activities with the dads of other active boys.

We hope to see many of you during the holiday season. Please drop by if you're around (especially those of you who are good with a hammer, electrical outlet installation or soldering tool).

Happy November!

Colette and "The Boys"

More waiting but keeping busy...

We have run into some snags with the adoption. The time frame between your file going to China and receiving your baby has increased considerably. Remember our paperwork went to China in October 2005. Now the Chinese government says we can expect a referral in early 2007. Meanwhile, we're keeping busy.

Gabriel finally lost his 2 front teeth. He's so cautious about everything so we had to beg him to wiggle them and pull them out. Jeff and I even wiggled them at night while he was sleeping because his new teeth were coming in. He started kindergarten and seems to have adjusted fine. Waiting the extra year for kindergarten proved to be the right decision and there are other 6 year olds in his class. He loves his teacher. Although he tries to convince us that kinder is really long (even though it's actually 45 minutes less than his pre-k class last year).

Julian is enjoying his new preschool so much so that he's been getting up at 4:00 a.m., getting dressed by himself and coming in to beg us for breakfast on school days. Our new house rule is that no one leaves their beds until they see sunshine. He became quite a good swimmer this year even though he's still "little but mighty". Both boys are spending alot of time in their fort Jeff built them out of wood recycled from the facade of our house.

Jeff has been working on base alot and working on our addition. They poured the foundation yesterday (finally) and look forward to the sounds of pneumatic nail guns this week. Colette has been picking out flooring, paint, doors, cabinets etc. We can't wait to have our own bathroom.

We will keep you posted on any changes in the family. We look forward to meeting our "Mei Mei" (little sister in Chinese). Take care and God bless!

C & The Gang

The Wait

This is a journal of our long life's journey to add a baby girl to our family. All of our adoption paperwork is in China. Now we just wait and wait. Our social worker said the wait time to a match is 11 months. We can expect a referal in September. The boys want to buy clothes for the baby. We keep telling them to wait until we have her so we know what size she is.

While we're waiting we are trying to get some things done. We are going to begin construction on the new master suite and laundry room within the next few weeks. The week before Easter we will be taking a trip up to Monterey and Big Sur. The boys love nature and the Monterey Aquarium. Yesterday we enrolled Gabriel in Kindergarten for Fall. He will attend Colette's grade school. We also enrolled Julian in a Presbyterian preschool for Fall. Both schools seem like a good match for our family.

We'll keep everyone posted on adoption news and Gabe's loose teeth.