Updates on Gracie!!!

We are so happy that we received updates on Gracie Monday! She seems healthy and happy, except the crying picture. I was amused that it was part of the pictures--maybe they are trying to prepare us as first-time parents---here is Gracie crying with a messy nose-lol. We were thrilled that we have a picture of her
ai-yi (foster mother or nanny) and one of her foster sisters. The last picture is of Chloe, daughter to one of our travelmates, and Gracie is to the right of Chloe.

Here are the stats we were given for Gracie:

At 11 months she is 17.6 lbs., 2 ft. 2 inches in length, and has 4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth. On the American charts she is small, but in a good range-10th to 20th percentile. Many of the babies don't register on the American charts, so we are happy that Gracie is doing well. We just wish we could have her now to love her and hold her.

So when are we traveling? Our dates aren't set in stone yet, but, our director,Mr. Wu, believes that our schedule should be close to this:

Arrive in Beijing (if we want to go there, which we do)-Oct. 31-Tour Beijing
Arrive in Nanchang-Nov. 4--Gracie Day may be Nov. 5, then we stay there until local gov't clears all paperwork-about 5 days
Arrive in Guangzhou-Nov. 9-Tour Guangzhou Nov. 10th and 11th
U.S. Consulate Appts.-Nov. 12 and 13th
Leave Guangzhou-Nov. 14

These dates could change because Mr. Wu is waiting on our Consulate appt. dates to be confirmed. Right now is National Day--which is actually a week long--and the U.S. Consulate is closed.

As soon as our dates firm up, we will repost. We didn't think it was possible to get more excited, but I think we are there:)