This picture was taken on January 26th. It looks like she can walk now!









These 2 were taken just last Friday on 2/17/2006. Notice the many layer of clothes she's in. I count at least 3 on the top and who knows what in underneathe. Yes, it is winter in China. However, she is on the southern side where it is quite warm. Right now it is in the 70's and it is winter.

We will start our travel in China by spending a couple of days in Beijing. Click here for current temp in Beijing: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/CHXX0008.html Yeah. This week high is in the 40's. From there we go to Guangzhou: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/CHXX0037.html This week is in the 70's. Now how do you pack for both types of weather when you are only taking 3-4 outfits per person? We will send our laundry out for cleaning as it is very inexpensive and will save much needed packing space.

Hang on baby girl! We're coming for you soon!

Name and Measurement

Officially: Maelynn Han-Jade Geoppinger.
After much debate, we compromised. We wanted to keep the name she is familiar with already (Han), but I also wanted to use Jade. Jade is my niece’s middle name who's been with Jesus for 9 years now. Jade also comes from China, so I thought this was a very fitting way to honor Miranda.

Our requests for Visa’s are being sent to a courier in Chicago today to go to the Chinese consulate there. This will take about 10 days to get back. FTIA sent request for our travel approval (TA) a few weeks ago. We are still waiting to hear about that. Folks who receive their referral in early January are just now getting theirs so it will still be a few weeks.

We should close on the Milford house in a week. I pray it goes smoothly. That will be one more item marked off our list. My mom has been a tremendous help lately. I am still working a lot of overtime so she is helping me stay on top of the basics like laundry. Most of the painting in the new house is done. Thanks Mom and Aunt Phyl! I love you!

Per request from friends and family, we have registered at Babies R Us.

We received updated measurements today. Maelynn is now 21 lbs and 2 1/2 feet tall. She also has 4 teeth on top and 2 on bottom. The accuracy is always questionable as this is the same weight as she was in September based on the referral. It could be that when she was weighted back then that she had layers of clothes on or she was too wiggly to get a measurement. I expect to travel in 4-6 weeks.

Robin