Gong Xi Fa Cai from Lia in Washington State

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Happy Year of the Metal Rabbit! 

I thought you would enjoy seeing some photos we took of Lia (Sophia) to celebrate Chinese New Year. She likes to get dressed up, and she was very happy to wear her new Jade necklace, which we bought for her while we were in China. Of course she would not smile when we tried to take photos! She was too excited and wanting to look at the birds in our front yard and play with her toys.

We saw her cleft surgeon for a follow-up appointment last week, and unfortunately her cleft palate repair did not hold the way he had hoped. She has a small hole in the very top of her palate, which will require further surgery in April. However, her hearing has improved greatly and she is starting to speak more and more. She also uses sign language to communicate many things. She will start speech therapy on Feb. 14.

For awhile she was waking up every night crying from night terrors, but she has finally started sleeping through the whole night and wakes up a happy girl. We show her pictures from Starfish, and pictures with you Ting Ting, and she kisses the photos and show us the sign language word for "friend".

She enjoys playing with her dolls and pretending to "cook" in her play kitchen. She pretends to "clean" everything, wiping down tables and windows, and using her play vacuum to clean up messes. She also enjoys singing and dancing. Almost every morning we wake up and hear her on the baby monitor, singing to her dolls in her bedroom. It is the sweetest sound!

Wishing you a happy and blessed New Year,

Julie, Steve & Lia

 

Life, love and laughter,
Amanda

At Starfish, we have taken care of 124 children to date, arranged more than 130 surgeries and had 53 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and in China.  Our latest adoption was Kansas in the middle of January.  We currently have 41 babies under the age of 3.  WE MOVED on January 14, 2010 and now live in our "castle".

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number:  20-4682916
Xian China

www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
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Email: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847