"Sorry ooosh in China, baby!"

We got our first update on Calli Faith last week! We are able to request updates through our agency at three points during the process, one being at referral, one at LOA, and one right before travel. Since we are in between referral and LOA, we decided to get an update another way, which is to send a care package through a service called Red Thread China. The lady who runs this site is named Ann and she is in China. You can order care packages through her, she puts them together there in China, and then she requests answers to questions and pictures when she sends the care package. I decided to do this without Randy knowing, in hopes that we might have an update by Christmas. Of course I couldn't wait when we did get the pictures and I showed him right away! He was so surprised and we were both so excited.
I chose a package called the "girl pajama package." It included pjs, a doll, a blanket, candies, and a flash drive for her caretakers to put pictures on of her. I also added an album of pictures that I emailed to Ann so that Calli can begin to see who we are. I was able to ask some questions and write a letter to Calli and to her caretakers. Here are the pictures of her care package! I was so pleased with the things Ann sent!

 

It was great to be able to get some answers to questions we had. Here are their responses:

1.Li Xiao Fei is called as Fei Fei.The orphanage has passed her new name Calli to her foster family .

2.Height :78cm weight :12kg Head:45cm Chest:47cm Foot:12.5cm teeth:6

3.She lives with foster family.

4.She sleep with her foster dad and mom in adult bed.

5.No ,her ears are fine.

6.She can not speak yet but she can make some noise now .

7.Her foster  family feed her with spoon.

8.She is too young to know what is adoption.

Love that we know she is called "Fei Fei!" We learned that is pronounced like "pay," so it sounds a lot like her middle name, Faith. We've been calling her Calli Fei Fei. :) 

Also, she is a big girl! Those sizes mean she is wearing 24 month clothes and size 5 shoe! And she just turned 15 months! 

We are very thankful that she is living with a foster family. Even though we know this will make separation harder on her, we are thankful to know she knows how to attach and bond and that she will eventually be able to transfer that attachment to us. Such an answer to prayer! 

And finally, here are her latest pictures! These were actually taken last week, so she is 15 months old here. Such a big girl! Still in love with those big brown eyes!

We sent these to the specialist we have been talking to and heard back from him today. He said that he still believes her palate is involved, even though her teeth are facing forward and there is such a small gap in between. He said he is glad we made the decision to have the repair done here. It is an incomplete cleft which does not go up into her nose, so that is good, but the area below her nose is pretty wide. We are confident that we made the right choice in deciding to wait to have her surgery and are thankful for helpful doctors as we navigate these decisions!
Calli's sisters could not be more excited about her and can't wait for her to be here! Kendall is ready to dress her in lots of girly clothes with big bows and lots of pink and ruffles. Cooper asks to see my phone and scrolls to Calli's picture at least once every day. She loves baby Calli. She talks to her and shows her picture off to anyone she sees. It is so precious to watch her becoming a big sister. We have a 5x7 picture of Calli framed on our kitchen cabinet. The other day Cooper was running around the house playing and she stopped in front of the picture, looked at it and said, "Hi Baby Calli! Sorry ooosh (you're) in China baby!" She talks about mommy and daddy getting on the "hairpane way up there" and asks us to go every day. All of it just melts my heart and I long for the day when Calli knows the love of these two sweet sisters!!