The "Referral"

On Monday, October 18th, 2004, we got a call from Yulin, the founder of Family Outreach International (FOI), our adoption agency.  She called from China, where she was traveling with another group of parents.  She told us the birth date, the province, and the name of the orphanage.  She said we would probably be traveling before Christmas. She may have told us the name, but we had trouble understanding.  We were thrilled!

On Tuesday (October 19), we called our adoption practitioner, Lorraine Murphy to tell her the news.  The adoption practitioner is a social worker licensed to do adoption home studies.  Lorraine told us that she had already received electronic copies of our referral documents, including the translations done by FOI and photocopies of the pictures.  Vicki asked if she could send the pictures.  Lorraine said "why don't you come and pick them up right now."  So out the door we went.

Since Vicki did not remember to bring her glasses, she did not get a good look at the grainy little pictures until we got back home.

Here's Rick holding up stuffed animals he picked up that afternoon for the baby.

The following day, October 20, the package arrived from FOI.  It included the original medical reports (in Chinese) and the original color pictures sent by the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), the branch of China's federal government that handles all the adoptions in the country. 

The sent three pictures, which is more than many adoptive parents receive.  This picture is the official identifying picture. (I fixed it up a bit because it had many holes from staples.)

                    Click here for hi-res version.

Here she is "reclining" -- dressed in many layers of clothes to keep warm because there's not very much heat in the orphanage.  Note the innovative use of color!

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Here's Elisa in her walker, looking like she's ready to head out.  Lorelei told us that she had the same walker.

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On October 21, 2004, we met with our adoption practitioner, Lorraine Murphy to go over the referral documents .  We reviewed the physical and developmental exam and the pictures.

Vicki signing the "confirmation from adopter" forms.

On November 9, we received some recent pictures of Elisa at the Xiushan orphanage.

"Hey, Mommy and Daddy, come get me already!"

        Click here for hi res version cropped for 4x6 printing.
        Click here for hi res version cropped for 8x10 printing.

"See, I can stand up!"

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            Click here for hi res version for 8x10 printing.
 

"Hanging around with my friends."

            Click here for hi res version for printing.