Sleepless in Thomasville

Okay, while I have three more days until traveling - 3 more DAYS - I figured I would back up and give a little info on Julia. Julia, Hua Yu Fen, was born on 11-27-04 in the City of Yulin, Province of Guangxi. Julia was abandoned at the gates of a medical clinic at the age of 10 days old. Her parents left a note on her giving her a name and a date of birth. Someone found her and gave her to a police officer who then took her to the station where she waited and was transferred to the Yulin Social Welfare Institute. She was born with a bilateral cleft lip (no palate involved). In the picture above you will see her after surgery with her foster mother. She had surgery in October of 2005 to correct her lip. She will visit the Cleft Clinic in B'ham to be evaluated to see if she will need another surgery.

In the group photo above, you will see Lori and her family. They traveled in March to get their second child. They asked to meet Julia and took pictures for us. You will see Julia in the red outfit being held by her foster father with her foster mother standing beside her. She looks like they have taken really good care of her and I am so thankful for that. Her hair is fixed in the traditional chinese hairdo and she looks clean.

One week from tomorrow Julia's life will be changed forever. I can only hope that they have started talking to her about me and that she has been looking at our pictures since February. We sent her a big keyring of laminated photos of us so that she can flip them around and look at her family. I also gave them two disposable cameras so that they can take pictures of her for surroundings and everyday events for me to give her later in life.

I have packed and repacked several times. We have to take several gifts to be given to the foster parents, the guides, the orphanage director, etc. Organizing those and the gift wrap has been the hardest thing. There are so many little things that you have to remember that it starts to make you absolutely crazy.