Gracie's Finding Ad

In China, before an orphanage can put a child in the pool to be adopted, they have to print a "finding ad" in the local newspaper to see if there are any relatives that would like to claim the baby before they proceed with the adoption. For Christmas, DH bought me a copy of Gracie's finding ad. Brian Stuy has adopted 3 daughters from China, and has made it his work to find out information on children that have been adopted from China for families that are interested. Brian is where DH got the finding ad.

I cannot tell you how precious this pboto is to us and I'm sure will be to Gracie when she gets older. This is the earliest photo we have of her. The date of the newpaper is October 26, 2006, so Gracie was just 25 days old. And as you can see she was VERY tiny. When Gracie went in for her 15 month checkup yesterday, we were talking about her development, and I showed this photo to the pediatrician. She said that she looked like she was born at just 28 weeks justation based on how she looked and her birth weight. What a fighter our little Gracie is, to be so small and to be so premature. She surely was meant to be part of our family with having so much to overcome to survive!

I don't know everything that the add says, as it is in Chinese, but the important thing I wanted to share here was the photo. What a wonder our little girl is!
 
And know here's the photo.


The other thing that strikes me when I see how tiny she is, and how vulnerable she must've been is how well she was taken care of at the orphanage to have made such strides. Comparing this photo with her referral photo, i.e. the one we first received from the orphanage when we learned who she was, she not only survived, but she thrived. She obiously was very well taken care of and loved, and for that I am eternally grateful to the orphanage director, her nannies, and to God for watching over our little girl.