Translations- Video and Finding Ad

I was interested in knowing what the nannies were saying in the video and what exactly they were calling Ava. The chinese coordinator with our agency, who is amazing by the way, sent me the following last night:

"I reviewed the video and the nannies are speaking mandarin with the local dialect.  I guess "Dong Yue" is pronounced "da or dan ya" in their local dialect.  Dong means winter and yue means moon.  What a beautiful name!!! 

 

In the video, couple nannies asked her not to hit boy and to hold "mei mei" (little sister)'s hand.  The other girl walked away as Ava tried to walk towards her.  Yes, they did ask Ava to come to the camera to say "mama".  Love her little hairdo!!!  :)  Walking in such thick (multiple layers) clothing will make anyone walk like a penquin.  :) "

 

I have also received the translation for the finding ad and it says the following:

On June 28, 2008 the "Shanxi Worker Daily" published on November 18, 2008 a baby girl, about a month old, was found at the gate of the Recovery Hosptial of Lvliang City. She has a cleft palate and lip.

Care Package Sent to Ava!

Ava

So yes, that is what we have decided to name her- Ava! The boys have pushed for this all along and I do love it but had to rule out a couple of other names first ;-) I haven't quite figured out her full name yet, as I want to use her Chinese name but don't want it to be too long either. But progress has been made and now we have something to call her besides a mispronunciation of her Chinese name.

On Monday I got Ava's care package together and sent it off to the translator.  I wrote a note to the orphanage and to her. I wrote that we loved her, would see her after the summer and that we hoped she would be happy to come home with us on a big plane and meet her wonderful brothers. I think Aaron had one of those weird reality moments when I told him that. Like, wow, this is really happening... It definitely did seem weird to be writing to her directly. I can only hope that the nanny reads it to her and talks to her about us for the next 3-4 months so that she can be prepared, somewhat, for meeting us.

This is what we sent:  Her blanket with her picture on it; a soft doll; a soft photo album filled with pics of us; a disposable camera; two sundresses; a sweater; a hair bow (for that adorable pebbles pony tail); and a bag of Lindt chocolates for the staff .

Note the little bow on the teddy bear on the photo album matches the blanket ribbon. So cute! The little sundress has watermelon slices on it. Not sure if they will dress her in it as they seem to really like the uniform she is in but it is worth a try!

                                               Every little girl needs a doll and blankie!

Photo Album with pictures of us and her home!

LID!!

Finally... phew...we have notice of LID. The magic date is May 10th. Now for a couple more months of waiting...

Where is Logged In Dossier (LID)?

It's a good thing that I've been able to keep busy with all of these updates of Dongyue, otherwise I would be even more consumed with the fact that I'm not LID yet.  It was only supposed to take 1 week to 10 days before we got notice of LID. We are going on almost a month. It is so frustrating to watch other adoptive parents move on and we're stuck.  Our agency says that we may be logged in but just haven't received notice. I'm hoping we know something by the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed for us :-) Best case scenario- we were logged in on 5/1 and already a week and a half into getting our Letter of Approval (LOA).

In the meantime I'm getting a package together for Dongyue including her blanket, a doll, a soft photo album with pictures of us and her home, some clothes and some chocolates for the nannies. I'm also able to ask 10 questions that will be translated for me. And, of course there is still the required 10 hours of parent education to keep our mind off the wait....

We have a video!

The orphanage sent us a video!  We know this doesn't happen very often so we are just so grateful and thrilled. They certainly went out of their way for us.
Some observations before you watch it:
1) I knew that we weren't pronouncing her name right. Dongyue obviously isn't pronounced the same in Chinese as it's written english form. We knew that, but didn't know how off we were. In the video the nanny says "Doy-ya" alot. I'm assuming this is her name. I'm going to try to find someone to translate the video for me just to make sure.
2) She is obviously ok with standing her ground with boys. That's a good thing ;-) She is going to need this quality around here. She does not want this darling little boy to touch her. He is such a love bug! But alas his love is unrequited.
3) As they go in circles- him trying to hug her, she trying to hit him, they remind me of a couple of sumo wrestlers and it makes me laugh.
4) The orphanage is letting her hair grow out! Proven by the darling, little pebbles updo she's sporting. Love it!
5) The boys think she walks like a penguin. And I have to agree!
6) I think the nanny says something about "mama" in the video. That's me! Probably told her to wave at mama or say hi to mama or something like that. Awww!! So Cute!!

So here she is... Our "Doy-ya"

Finding Ad

When the children in China are found they must post a "finding ad" in the paper with the babe's pic and info about what they were wearing, any notes left, etc. I don't have the translation of her ad yet but here is Dongyue's picture that was in the newspaper. She was found November 18, 2008 and I assume she did not have a note with her because her birthdate had to be estimated as September 18, 2008. This will probably be the only baby picture I will get so I will treasure it. Look at all that hair! And those cheeks! Oh, and there is a rumor that there is a video on the way... Stay tuned.