Friday, May 29, 2009

From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4

After much agonizing, I've decided on a name - Claire Jia Ellen Deacon. Jia means beautiful - and she is.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

When is she coming home?

I talked to my agency to day and their best guess of when we will travel is that we will leave July 23rd. We'd be there a couple of days and then "Gotcha Day" would be July 26th. We'd travel home on August 5th or 6th. I may be holding my baby in less than two months!!! There will be 6 families traveling together - I'm the only single in the group:) Glad Jill's going with me!

Where is she now?

JiaBin is living in the Chenzhou Social Welfare Institute. Chenzhou SWI is an orphanage located in Hunan, China. It is about a 4 hour drive away from the city of Changsha, Hunan. Chenzhou SWI is actually a residence of not only over a hundred children ages 0-13, but they also have a part in the orphanage for the elderly!
Chenzhou is situated at the juncture of Hunan and Guangdong provinces at the foot of Qitianling Hill of the Nanling Mountain Range. Places of interest, natural scenic spots, ancient relics and buildings make for over 100 tourism spots in the city. The major ones are the Suxian Hill, the Wanhuayan the Dongjiang Lake and the Wugai Mountain Hunting Field.
In the beginning of 2008, Chenzhou was seriously struck by a freezing rain and snow disaster.
The areas of interest in this region include:万华岩(underground cave, translated to Magnificent rocks) 五盖山,Wugai Mountain Hunting Field, 苏仙岭,Suxian Hill and 东江湖,Dongjiang Lake.
苏仙岭,Suxian Hill It is located about 1.5 km east of Chenzhou, covering 15 square km. Beautiful peaks and dense forests give the place the reputation of being "the 18th blessed land in China".
五盖山,Wugai Mountain Hunting Field Situated 30 km away from Chenzhou it has over 8,000 hectares of land and can offer for hunters many kinds of animals which are permitted to be hunted. Hotels and campsites are available. It is the only hunting field in southern China.
东江湖,Dongjiang Lake Located in Zixing, it covers an area of 160 square km and can contain 8.12 billion cubic meters of water, equaling half of the Dongting Lake. Dongjiang Lake is wide and misty, dotted with islets and docks. Around it mountains rise and fall and embrace new small villages, forming a unique picture of mountains and water.
Chenzhou is really pronounced "chin joe". Same thing with Guangzhou. It is not "guang zow" but "guang joe".

More info on my girl

I got her translated medical information today. It looks great to my untrained eye and to the biased eye of my sister the pediatric nurse (who said "just go get that baby!"). I'm waiting to hear back from a developmental pediatrician work works here at ODH. One of the items that stood out to me on the report was the statement that she "would stop crying when being held and talk with her or give her something to eat." Yep, she's my kid:)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Chenzhou SWI

There is a video of the Chenzhou SWI where Chen Jia Bin is living on youtube. It looks like a nice place:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X0Xzo2UPr4

Thursday, May 21, 2009

She's here!!!!!!!!!!







I got the call at 12:21pm on May 21, 2009 while I was having lunch with my nieces that I'm a MOM!!!!!!!!
Her name is Chen Jia Bin
DOB 6/21/2008 11 months
Length is 66 cm = 25.93 inches
Weight is 7 kg = 15.4 lbs
Medical was done in 3/4/2009
Institutionalized in Chenzhou, CWI of Hunan Province
I can't believe this day has arrived!!!!!!!!