Pagodas and Pine Trees

Last week a Large Envelope arrived in the mail from Children's Hope. Mail from Children's Hope is generally either something Very Important or Very Exciting. This particular envelope contained several things. The first was a letter stating what the contents of the envelope were. Of course! Next there was a stapled packet of papers with a bright orange cover page that said FINAL CHECKLIST in bold letters. The inside pages listed all the documents that we need to bring with us to China. Fortunately we had been given a copy of this list earlier and I had already gathered the items on the list. Set that aside. Third was a copy of the official letter we had had to sign and return by FedEx the day we got Gwen's referral packet. It is the "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter." Funny enough, Scott and I had both signed the letter but failed to check the box stating that we "accept the child mentioned above". We realized it later and called Children's Hope in a panic, but they said the form was included in a packet with a cover letter stating that all the referrals were accepted. Whew! Big sigh of relief. So here again was a copy of this letter, signed, but still with no box checked. Silly us! The fourth item in the envelope was a list of all the Children's Hope families who we will be traveling with, 33 in all. It included their names and contact information, and also their new daughters' names (both their Chinese name and their new name) and birthdates. Our whole group is divided into smaller groups based on what province we will travel to to receive our daughters. The smaller group Scott and I are in has a total of four families.

The last thing in the envelope was a very official looking document on a parchment type paper with a watermark and raised seal. It is the Notice of Coming to China for Adoption. It has a small scanned picture of Gwen on the bottom, a close-up of the posed referral photo. The title of the document was written in both English and Chinese, and our names, Mr. Scott Thomas Liptak & Mrs. Lynne Ellen Liptak were in English. Within the text of the document I could make out 2004 3 14, which is Gwen's birthdate.

The rest of what it says, we can only guess. As Scott said, all he could make out of that foreign type is little pagodas and pine trees.