We're sending a little "care" to Grace in a package!

Recently we were given the info we needed to send a care package to Grace at the orphanage in China. The adoption agency told us that often the orphanage finds out that a child is being adopted with the arrival of a care package from their new family! As I go through my day, I often imagine what Grace is doing right now - sleeping....maybe playing, eating breakfast, getting dressed....Next Monday (if not a few days sooner) she will be opening a box full of toys, clothes, candy, a camera, and her first look at her new family! The coolest thing we put in the box was a book I made for her (with some help from Copyworks) with photos of each of us: Mother, Father, Big Sister, Big Brother, Grandpa, 2 Grandmas....our animals - Oreo, Sherman, Nickle and a picture of our house. I used the computer to translate these "titles" into Chinese characters and pasted the Chinese name next to each photo. I had each page cut to 8" x 6", laminated, and all the pages put together with a spiral binding. The front cover is this picture of Grace on the blog - with the Chinese words for WE LOVE YOU! The agency gave us a "cover letter" for the box, written in Chinese, that asks the Nannies at the orphanage to give her the gifts and explain to her about the new life she will soon have with a new family. The disposable camera in the box is for the Nannies to use to take pictures of the orphanage, Grace's friends, caregivers....anything to document her life in China. Since we won't be going to the orphanage to get Grace, these pictures will be the only ones she will have of her "beginning". Someone from the orphanage will be bringing Grace to the city of Xian to meet us. The cover letter makes our request that they take these pictures and bring the camera with Grace when they meet us in Xian.

Please say a prayer for this little one....a prayer that God will speak to her heart and let her know that this change is a wonderful thing in her life....that she won't be frightened of our white faces and hair that is not jet black.... that she won't mourn too long for the world she is leaving...... As nervous and anxious as we are to meet our daughter, I keep reminding myself that she will be even more uncertain and scared. Hopefully, our "care" in a package will introduce Grace to the concept of family... and show her we are already loving her!