Introducing Emily

This is a copy of the first email message we sent to our Adoption Update list about our referral.

Dear Friends,

Deborah and I just received the telephone call from our adoption agency, CCAI, matching us with our new daughter! We can't wait to share the information with you!

Our daughter's Chinese name is Lin Hui. "Lin" is her surname, while "Hui" is her first name. Her orphanage is the Xiaogan Xiaonan District Social Welfare Institute in the Hubei Province (Hubei is situated in central China, west of Shanghai and south of Beijing). Lin Hui is currently in foster care, which likely means she's receiving plenty of individual attention.

Lin Hui, whom we can now call Emily, was 25 1/2" and 16.4 lbs. when she had a medical examination in July. She was born December 9, 2004, so we hope to have her home by her first birthday. She appears to be healthy, and she certainly has a full head of hair! It's hard to tell much from a picture, but our first referral photo gives us something tangible with whom to fall
in love!

You can access our first photo of Emily at http://homepage.mac.com/hocuttfamily/public. Click on the "emily-referral" folder and you'll see the photo.

You can also learn a little about Hubei Province online at http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/hubei/ and http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/43585.htm.

Tomorrow we'll receive a full packet of information that will include additional photos and more complete details than a phone call can share. As we learn more, we'll do our best to share it by email and online.

We're ecstatic - please join our joy!

Love,
Deborah, Daniel, and Sydney