New Pictures!!!!

We were so excited to get updated information on Paul yesterday. Here's what we found out:

HT.79 cm (31.in he's already taller than Audrey) WT 10 kg (22 lbs. Audrey has him out weighed by a few pounds) 8 teeth

He is active and outgoing;can walk holding onto rails; shy with strangers; can stand on his own; very receptive; mischievous ( we're used to that); can say baba (dad) and mama.

the pictures were taken on July 17th.

What we know about Paul

Here's what we know about Paul: He was left at the gate of Chenzhou SWI on March 28,2005. He was wearing a blue and red outfit plus a white cotton hat. There was a red envelope containing 20 yuan and a note stating that he was born on March 23, 2005. When he was admitted to the SWI the doctor said he was in good health and good spirit. Besides his "deformed arm" and "umbilical hernia" he was considered "normal." The staff named him Zhi Qiang which means "hope of him being a strong man in spite of his handicap."

The staff wrote: He laughs with true delight when you play with him. He is very strong like a little tiger. They call him a true gentleman. He occasionally has a bad temper (great, he will fit in just fine with his siblings) and cries very loudly with such urgency.

All of the info and pictures we have of Paul is dated from July 2005.

Where is Paul???

Here are a few maps to show where Paul is at. His orphanage is in Chenzhou, Hunan. All of the children in his SWI (social welfare institute) have the surname of "Chen" from the city name of Chenzhou. On the map of China, Hunan is towards the south. On the map of Hunan you can see that Chenzhou is in the southern part of Hunan. Changsha is the capital of Hunan so that is where we will meet Paul. We will not be able to visit Paul's SWI because it is a 6 hour trip by bus from what I understand. Looking at the map of China you can see where Audrey is from, Shaanxi, which is considered north central China.

The paperwork is done!!!

Hi Everyone!

Well, we'll see how this blog thing goes. Everyone says it's so easy to "BLOG" but I don't know. My goal is to have this blog running smoothly by the time we go to China. Once we are in China I should just be able to update the Blog instead of emailing like I did for Audrey's adoption trip. I should also be able to post pictures on a daily basis this time too.

On Tuesday we mailed our dossier to the adoption agency. Our caseworker emailed me saying that she received it but she was having a hard time translating Ted's occupation. I'm sure she'll figure something out. I was relieved that she wasn't concerned about my name being mispelled on my birth certificate. For the adoption you have to have a birth certificate from the state capital's vital records. I've had mine since April but just noticed Monday night as I was getting our paper's ready that Alison was spelled Alaison. AAAHHH! For those of you who have completed an international adoption you can understand my concern. We are told to check our documents over and over and over somemore. The dossier will be sent to China on July 20th. My best guess is that we will hopefully travel sometime in November. But with international adoption sometimes guessing is all you can do.

Our agency has requested updated information on Paul twice now with no response. Of course we are dying to see new pictures of him and to know how big he is.

Thank you so much to all of you who participated in Paul and Audrey's "100 Good Wishes" quilt. We reached our goal just last week. We actually have 101 squares now. I did have to harass a few people to get those last few squares. I will post pictures as soon as they are done.

I probably will update this once a month until we have travel approval. For now I will email "all"saying that I have updated my blog. Once we go to China you guys will have to check it on your own.