A little bit about Emily

I just realized that I never really posted Emily's referral info, so I thought what better time to do it than 3 days before I travel to China. Emily's Chinese name is Pan Xinjuan. Xin means "everything takes on a completely new look" and Juan means "new hope". Some of you may know that throughout this adoption I have used the word hope as my mantra. So the meaning of her name is perfect. Pan is her last name. Pan is her last name because she is at the Social Welfare Institute of Panyu District of Guangzhou City. Emily was found at gate No. 7, North Tanfang Street in Dalong Village, Shiji Town at 8:30pm on Nov. 26, 2007 and she was sent to the orphanage the same day. She was examined and weighed 2.5kg and was diagnosed with cleft lip and palate. They decided that her birthday was 10/26/07. Cleft lip and palate is known to be a birth defect due to lack of folic acid during pregnancy. Fortunately, Emily has had her lip and palate repaired. I was quite surprised that they repaired her palate, China does not usually do that surgery there. She may and probably will still need to have some surgeries as she grows, but we will face that as it comes. Emily has normal development, but due to being in an orphanage she will be behind a normal 3 year old for a while. They said that Emily is clever but shy. When others talk about her she covers her face with her hands and that her shy looks make her look lovely. She likes to play with her caretakers and her favorite toy is a plush doll. She loves music and likes to sing to it too. How could my daughter not love music, her mommy loves to bust out in song all the time. She knows simple monosyllabic words in Chinese such as dad (baba), mom(mama), sister(mei mei) and brother(jei jei). Emily is very obedient and quiet so her caretakers like her very much. That's my girl in a nutshell! I can't wait to meet her, only 3 more days until we travel and one week until I get my baby girl!