Madeline's first Care Package

A few weeks ago, we sent Madeline's first care package to her orphanage in Ningdu, Jiangxi. 

We ended up sending her few little items like a plush Hello Kitty doll, a musical phone, some socks, and a sippy cup, but most importantly, we sent her a little album that contained our photos so that her nannies or caretakers can begin to tell her about Mama & Baba.

The rest of the items like the lollypops & stickers were for the other children & the Jelly Bellies were for the nannies ( yikes.....I forgot to send something for the Director ). Well, at least we did write him a letter....sort of. It was a letter we had translated into Chinese in which we ask several questions regarding our daughter that hopefully we can get answered even if we get the letter back when we travel. We also included 2 disposable cameras in hopes of getting some photo's of Madi's surroundings or anything that would give us a glimpse of her life at the orphanage.

I was originally going to send her a little dress I made for her & some shoes, but after my husband mentioned to me that if I sent these items, the caretakers would most likely put the outfit on her when we would receive her & we wouldn't get her wearing any of her orphanage clothes, which we might want to have to show Madi one day as she gets older & wants to remember what she was wearing.

So although this Mama was not too happy about not sending Madi this little dress she made with lotsa love one night.....I think Baba made a good point. He also said "You'll have plenty of time to 'doll her up' when she gets here". Ok daddy.....I'll just have to take it with me to China, cuz I can't wait to see what she puts in her little pocket! What kid doesn't love pockets?

Sewing Disclosure: I made the Hello Kitty appliqué out of felt & stitched the eyes & nose ( forgot the whiskers ), and made the pocket & the ruffles then sewed onto a pre-made tshirt, and wala!

& here's the little album we sent her which also included pics of us & of her home & room, & nursery, & little playmates.

One funny thing I'll share though, regarding the pics.....hubby decided to title each photo with Chinese characters ( with the help of google translate ). However......there was a goof up on two of the titles he had put on the photos ( thank goodness he changed right before sending ), after getting advise from our friends of Chinese decent.

Apparently for the word he used for "Nursery" as in baby's room, the translation was actually reading as  "a place where plants are harvested " Lol! & the word "Playmates" in which was used above the photo where all her stuffed animals were, was also reading funny, more along the lines to indicate they were real playmates. We had emailed our friends the night before sending last minute, to look over & they said we gave them a good chuckle, whoops!

This will teach us to check in advance BEFORE PRINTING the photos in a language we don't fully understand.