This photo of Carly is my favorite. We received it about 2 weeks after our referral date. She is 9 months old in this photo. She appears to be wearing at least a couple of layers of clothing. This is normal. In China, babies wear several layers of clothing. It is not unusual for them to have 5 layers. We have been told that we will be scolded by the Chinese if we take her out in public while we are in China without bundling her up in this manner.

These photos were sent to us from Carly's orphanage. They were taken in July 2009, so she is around 6 months old. It's nice to think of her as running around and playing in the walker, but the reality is that she probably did not get to stay in it for very long. As Sandy and I have researched and found other orphanage photos of other children, we have noticed that almost all of them are placed in a walker or an inflatable chair for a photo. This makes us believe that a line of children are waiting behind the photographer, and will be placed in the chair or walker just long enough for the photo.

A Little History...

In 2005, Sandy and I realized we wanted a daughter from China. This began a flurry of paperwork. We filled out applications, completed immigration forms, had a homestudy done, were fingerprinted, had background checks, had medical checkups, and, it seems, wrote a check to anyone that could possibly be related to getting all of this paperwork finished!

On March 27, 2006, our paperwork arrived in China. We had our Log In Date (LID)! The LID is the date you begin the final countdown. Now, we were waiting for China to match us with our daughter. Imagine it this way: our paperwork goes into a huge stack of files from parents from all over the world wanting a child from China. Someone at the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) diligently sorts through available orphans to match with the parent file on top of the stack. This is a long, long process. Our file would not reach the top of the stack until October 2009!

On October 13, 2009, Beth, from our adoption agency Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI), placed a three-way call to Sandy and me (Sandy was in Little Rock at a conference). Beth told us all about our new daughter!

Her Chinese name is Feng Yue Yi. She was born January 14, 2009, and has lived in a foster home since the second day of her life. On that day, she was brought to the hospital in the city of Fengcheng in the Jiangxi Province of China. The doctors examined her, and placed her under the care of the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute.

We do not know where she spent the first day of her life, nor do we know why she was given to the hospital. We can only assume that she is one of China's many victims, mostly daughters, of the One-Child Policy. Chinese parents desire sons. A daughter is not as valuable to them, and so, are given away so that the parents can try, again, for a son.

We have renamed our daughter Carly Anne Yue Yi Russell. We are, once again, in a countdown as we wait for our Travel Approval, visas, and a Consulate appointment.

Carly, we'll be there soon!