Christmas Cards

I included an adoption announcement in our Christmas cards (great motivator to get them mailed early this year). To friends and family who are just finding this blog - welcome! I'm glad you came to visit. I hope you will look through the archives and read more about how we got to this point. What you won't find are any pictures of Alice Qiuwen. To protect her privacy our adoption agency asks that we not post personal information in public areas. I've also adopted the practice of not using names to protect our family privacy. If you're new to some of the abbreviations, here is a quick list: DH-dear husband, DD-dear daughter, DS-dear son.

The picture on the announcement you received was actually taken at the orphanage last summer! I found it interesting that she is standing in front of all those pointsettias. Very Christmasy! We know it wasn't taken last December because we have photos taken by our adoption agency during their visit in December 2010. Alice looks a bit younger and very bundled up in those pictures. I can't imagine the orphanage letting her wear a sleeveless dress in December. The Chinese are very much into "bundling" the children during the cold months.

I hope you will wander around. You'll find explanations for some of the crazy alphabet soup items in the timeline, "Steps to China". You'll find several posts about her name(s) and information about the quilt. And you'll find posts about my rambling thoughts while I wait for the papermill to grind through the process at its own pace.

Please come back. Besides updates about the final steps leading up to the adoption, I hope to post (daily?) updates during our trip to China, along with pictures.

If you are planning to send a fabric square for the quilt, try to send it by New Year's. I'm not sure how long my neighbor will need for designing and assembling the quilt and we'd love for it to be ready when Alice arrives home in March. I'll post pictures of the donated squares and finished quilt on the "quilt" page. (See link under the heading banner above.) Thanks!