We have a daughter!

In May of 2007 we had begun to explore adopting a 'special needs' child who was waiting for a home. Our adoption agency, Hand in Hand Adoptions, is piloting a new program working with the Nanjing Orphanage.

The following is the text of the email we sent to friends and family to announce the referral for our daughter on July 2! We apologize if you did not receive this, we had a few outdated addresses.

Hello Dear Friends and Family,

We are very excited to announce that we are going to be parents! We have received a referral for a beautiful, almost 2 year old little girl from Nanjing, China. Her Chinese orphanage name is Cao Jiang Jiang; the surname is first followed by her given name. Jiang Jiang means big or mighty river and is meant to imbue her with great expectations or wishes. Her birthday is 7/18/05. She was born in the Chinese year of the rooster.

She had heart surgery for a congenital problem in December 2006 at the Nanjing Children's Hospital next to her orphanage. She seems to be doing well, she looks good and she is growing. She is behind developmentally, but this is very normal for children from orphanages and they usually catch up quickly once they arrive home.

We do not yet know when we will be able to travel to China to bring her home. Sometime in the next 3-6 months is what we have been told. We hope sooner than later, we have been in process for over 2 years now! We are really looking forward to our 2 weeks in China. We are also nervous about the long flight home with a sweet, but traumatized little girl. A bit worried about our fellow travelers also!

We have been reading a lot about how to best introduce a toddler into our home and will try to follow the expert's recommendations. Early attachment of children to their primary caregiver can avoid many emotional and behavioral problems down the road. The books we have read strongly encourage that in order to avoid these problems, we need to provide a calm, controlled environment for the first 3 months. We must be the ones to hold, feed and change her during that time. She must learn to look to us, her parents, to trust that we will provide for all of her needs. We are so excited to share her with the people we love, but we will try to do what is best for her first. We will be looking forward to lots of visiting after these first 3 months!

We have attached pictures and according to her Dad she is soo cute you may need to make sure you are sitting down before you look. We have fallen pretty hard for our little dumpling! We are not sure about her new name yet, but we will let you know as we figure it out.

Love,

Deirdre & Doug