Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Meet Merrilee!!!

Dear Friends and Family:

As most of you know, since March 2005 we have been in the process of adopting a baby from China. Today, after years of waiting, we finally got our referral. We got the phone call just after noon. This means the Chinese government has chosen a child for us, and that information has been passed on to us by our adoption agency (which is Chinese Children Adoption International in Colorado.)

Here she is:

Here’s what we know about our baby:

Her name is Pu Fu Na
Her surname is Pu. Her first name mean blessing/happy. Her middle name means feminine.

She is in the Hubei province of China, in the Chibi orphanage

She is 13 months old. She was born on June 15, 2007, and was taken into foster care on June 18, 2007.

As of April 18, 2008, she was 26.57” and weighed 18.04 pounds

They tell us she rises at 7am and goes to bed at 8:30pm. She is a good napper (perfect for us) and a good eater (again, perfect for us!) She is on formula. She is close to her foster mom and loves to play outside. Her favorite toy is a pretty toy that makes sound. She can hold up her head while on her stomach, she rolls from side to side, she can stand with support, can pick up small things, and can sit alone. She likes to tear paper, and she is crawling.

Since many of you will ask, here’s the process we will go through now. There will be a flurry of activity during the next 48 hours. We will receive an overnight package of information from our agency. In this packet will be our “letter of acceptance.” This is the document we must sign for the Chinese government accepting the child. We return that to our agency and they send it on to China. Upon receipt, the Chinese government will then send along a “travel approval.” Once that is in the hands of our agency, they then begin to schedule the multitude of appointments in China. It is likely we will go to the child’s home province for what’s known as “gotcha day.” Then, we will ultimately end up in Guangzhou, the home of the US Consulate, and exit China from there.

We don’t know anything about our trip yet, except that travel usually occurs between five and eight weeks after you get your referral. One big question everyone has now is what impact the Olympics in Beijing will have on travel schedules. Once our travel schedule has been put together by our agency, we will only get 7 to 10 days notice before we will have to leave. We are likely to be gone 17 to 21 days.

We have decided to name our little girl Merrilee Margaret Miller. Merrilee comes from Beth’s mother’s name (Mary) and her grandmother’s name (Lee.) Plus, we have a very dear friend named Merrilee. Margaret was the name of Mark’s grandmother.

We’ve started a blog to keep you updated on our progress and our trip. You can read all about it at:

http://www.merrileemakesthree.blogspot.com/

So there you have it – you know what we know. Thanks for hanging in there with us and expressing an interest in this process. We’ll keep you in the loop.

Fondly

Mark and Beth

20 comments:

Bo, Becky, and Sophie said...

Congratulations on the referral of your beautiful daughter!

Becky
Alabama
www.journeytomarysophia.blogspot.com

Sue said...

What a cutie pie!!! Congrats on your referral! Enjoy the preparing to meet your little girl!

sueB
(via RQ and a CCAI client!)

Snowflowers Mum said...

congrats from another CCAI family!

The long wait is over, now the fun begins!

Louise in SC said...

She is gorgeous! I received my referral last month and my daughter, Brielle, was born on the same day! June 15, 2007!!

Petrie said...

Congratulations! She's a doll! You cannot imagine my surprise to see my own daughter's name on your blog, and to see you are also from MD. I haven't seen another "Merrilee" since we chose that name in 2003 before our first trip to China. Wishing you speedy travels.
Petrie
(via RQ)

Katrina and Ken said...

We brought our daughter home from Hubei last August. She was in Huangmei. All 9 of the babies in our group were from Hubei, all were in foster care, and all were quite healthy.

Congratulations!
Katrina

Blessed Single Mom said...

Congratulations on your referral. She is so beautiful. My daughter is a Hubei baby. She came home at 3 years of age. If you have any questions about Wuhan let me know. We had such a great time. Enjoy the trip is wonderful.

Julie

Lisa said...

She is precious!! My first daughter was 13 months when we brought her home - such a FUN age! Congrats!

Lisa
www.mycuprunnethover.typepad.com

Alyson and Ford said...

Congratulations!!

Alyson LID 01/27/06

Andie said...

She is so adorable, and those lips...so cute! What a little blessing! Congratulations!

Andie

Catherine said...

What a precious daughter you have! Congratulations!!

Isa + Steph + Sijia + William said...

Congratulations!
She is a dream come true!

isabelle
lid 03/23/206

Kath said...

She has to be one of the cutest babies I've seen!

Congratulations!

The Landes Family said...

What a cutie. We also have a Hubei hottie. They grow them big there also. You will enjoy going to Hubei. Feel free to check out our blog and our trip to Hubei. Again Congrats she is sooooo cute.
www.tfljourney.blogspot.com

Tracy said...

She is beautiful - and what a fun age! Congratulations.

Tracy from RQ

Karen said...

I saw Merrilee on RQ and see that she is friends with our Pu Fu Fen in Hubei. We got the referral yesterday and are still waiting on the package. I hope we meet on this journey.

Karen

Lisa said...

Congrats on your beautiful baby.

Billy & Nikki said...

I just realized I hadn't commented on your beautiful baby girl! I am so very happy for you two and cannot wait to meet you as well as your Merrilee in person. She is definitely a cutie. So glad we met and hope to remain friends for a long time.

Billy and Nikki
www.idreamofkassidy.blogspot.com

Angelica said...

Beth and Mark,

Congratualtions again, I am checking you blog every morning. Hope her little foot is ok, poor baby got her first real boo boo. Samantha can't wait to help with her new little friend.

Angel, Randy, Melissa, Danielle and Samantha

DiJo said...

She is truly beautiful! Congratulations!!! I am so sorry to hear about her burn, but I have no doubt that she is getting the loving care she needs to heal it! We came home over a year ago with our daughter from the Jiangxi Province. It continues to be an incredible experience for our family. I wish you the very best!

Blessings,
Diana