Package #3...and hopefully the last!

Sweet Xiao Jie,

I hope that you are doing well. I hope that we do not have to wait too much longer to come to China. I am so excited to meet you. I think about you every day. We have done our some of our last papers and we hope we will be there in November

We got some new pictures of you in a beautiful green dress. You looked just like a princess! We were told that you are called “flower”. I like that, because you are very pretty, just like a flower. It looks like you are growing tall. You’re brothers are very tall. You will love having them to hold you up high. You’re sister is very tiny. She loves to look at your picture. She always smiles when she looks at it. I think you will be very good at taking care of her. Do you like to play ball? Do you like to play with dolls? Your sister, Libi, likes those things very much.

We are sending you a pretty pink sweater to wear when it starts to get cool. When you wear it think that we will soon be in China and you will be with your family. We hope it will not be too cold before we get to come. We are also sending some balloons and chocolate for you to share with your friends there.

I want to share some more things with you about America that we may do different than China. In China, you use chopsticks to eat and we use a spoon, fork, and knife: inserted a picture for her
I had a hard time learning to use chopsticks. I think you will learn how to use a spoon and fork easily.

We take baths and showers here in America to get clean. I am not sure what you do to wash, but a bathtub is a big tub that holds water that you sit in and wash. This is your little sister’s favorite way to get clean. She loves to splash in the water and play with toys. It may seem scary to you at first if you have not taken a bath in a tub before, but I think you will like it.

You will have all new things to wear when we come. It may feel scary to leave all of your clothes and shoes that you have now. We want you to know that you are safe with us. We are your new family and we love you very much. We want to take care of you. We will help you when you feel afraid.

When we come to China it will be busy. We will have a lot of places to go and papers to sign so we can bring you home to the United States. Remember that you will need to hold our hand to stay close to us. We will have time for playing too. We will stay in a hotel. It is a building that has many rooms in it with beds. This is where we will sleep and play. In the mornings we will eat breakfast at the hotel in a large room. I am excited to find out what you like to eat.

The last thing I want to share with you is your American name. We have chosen the name Hadassah Hope Jie. We will call you Haddie. We know this will take some getting used to. When you are ready to use your new American name you can let us know.

There will be many things that will be new and strange to you. We will help you to learn. We are very excited and thankful that we get to be your family!
I love you,
Mama

Something happened to my camera and I have no pictures of this last package.

We sent Haddie some goodies for her to share with her friends, chocolate kisses, balloons, and Hubba Bubba bubble gum. There was an array of Hello Kitty goodies, a purse, a pink sweater and sparkly butterfly shirt. My most favorite thing in the package was a necklace that had a heart charm and another charm that had the word love on it. I could just picture that being placed around her tiny little neck. I wonder if there is any hair to sweep away to fasten it in the back. What does her hair feel like? What does her skin feel like? Can I tell you how anxious I am to be the one to put a necklace on my sweet little girl?

The great news is that all of our final US approvals are complete and now we await our TA (Travel Approval from China). Our hope is that we would travel at the beginning of November!