You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
-Psalm 139:16

After waiting since our official China log-in date of October 10, 2005, our referral finally came! On Thursday, February 1, 2007, at 1:48pm our social worker called us to tell us our referral was here! We called her back on conference call at 1:56pm to get the very basic information she had for us at that point. After almost 16 months of official waiting, we were introduced to our baby girl – Gang Xia An!

We met with our social worker the next day, Friday, February 2, 2007, at 4pm to get more details and to see her picture. She was/is beautiful!!! Following are more details about Ainsley Xia’an:

According to the report of the District Police Office in Maoming City, Maogang sub-district, there was an abandoned female baby in the road of the north slope of the Maogang district, Xiali community, on April 5, 2006. Unable to identify the parents of this baby, the District People’s Affairs Bureau received the baby into custody. The medical staff member examined her. She was 20.5 inches long and weighed 6.6 pounds. According to her developmental information, the medical staff member determined that she had just been born that day, April 5, 2006. She was named Gang Xia An.

The orphanage where she is being cared for is in Guangdong Province in southern China (the same Province where the US Consulate is located where we have to finalize the adoption with the US officials before leaving China).

According to reports we have been given, at 7 1/2 months old, Ainsley had 4 teeth, was able to crawl and stand holding onto support, knew the difference between strangers and acquaintances, responded to her name, laughed out loud, and was fond of quietness! One report also noted, “Facial expressions are rich. Scared slightly when there are strangers, but a few minutes later she will love you." She was also noted to be a moderate sleeper and closest to her caretaker. She was supposedly about 16.5 pounds at that time, but we don't know how accurate that really is.

Ainsley and Griffin (due date: March 8, 2007) will be about 11 months apart so we hope they become great friends! (Who is Griffin? See "Our Story") They're both going to be here sooner than we think. It is hard to believe this is all finally happening after all this waiting! Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for parenthood together, for an easy and healthy delivery of Griffin, for Ainsley to have lots of people caring for her and keeping her healthy before David goes to get her, for good bonding to happen, and for the timing of our delivery and our travel assignment to fall into place.

Care Package for Ainsley

Finally, you may be interested to know that we prepared a care package for Ainsley that we shipped to the orphanage via UPS. We sent pictures of us and the "traveling grandmas," a blanket, a stuffed animal, and a disposable camera (with instructions asking the caretakers to take pictures and bring the camera when we meet them to finally get Ainsley). In addition, we sent a letter (in English and Chinese) to the orphanage director thanking him and his staff for taking care of Ainsley, and seeking more information about her as she grows and develops. We also put some candy in the care package for Ainsley's caretakers!

We're so thankful to share this journey with all of you!