Here she is! On Tuesday July 17th we received an email from our adoption agency with the translated medical file and a picture of a baby girl attached. She was on their new list of Waiting Children in China. She was just about to have her first birthday. Her name is Qing Zu Guo and she is in the Qingyuan Social Welfare Institute or SWI (orphanage) in Guangdong province. She has been diagnosed with bilateral cleft lip (which has been repaired) and bilateral cleft palate (unrepaired). Here is the most recent picture we have of her. How could anyone resist this precious little girl? We know that she has been shaved bald in this picture (which is common practice in the SWIs), because we have another picture in which she is younger and has a nice covering of fuzzy black hair.
I immediately began researching everything I could find on cleft lip and palate and joined a chat group for parents who have adopted children who are cleft-affected. It is amazing how many parents are in this group (over 700) and how many are actually in the DC-metro area! I posted an inquiry regarding experience with doctors performing palate repairs in our area and got 
several immediate responses. These parents are a great resource and a wonderful support system for each other. I contacted one of the recommended surgeons by email late Wednesday night. His name is Dr. Ananth Murthy and he is a plastic & reconstructive surgeon on the craniofacial team at National Children's Medical Center in Washington DC. Less than 12 hours later, I received a response from Dr. Murthy. He had already reviewed ZuGuo's file in detail (which I had attached via email) and was very kind and compassionate. He is awesome! He is only 30 years old and is a top surgeon in his field. This is his picture and here is link to an article about him from a special kids' career section in the Washington Post - http://www.dcchildrens.com/dcchildrens/findadoctor/pdf/dr_murthy_kidspost.pdf
On Wednesday July 25th we celebrated Qing ZuGuo's 1st birthday for her. We know that this isn't her real birthday - it was an estimated that she was about one month old when she was found abandoned and July 25th was a best guess. We also know that birthdays aren't celebrated in China the same way as in the U.S. (birthdays are celebrated as part of the Chinese New Year holiday - by the way, she is Year of the Dog)...we just couldn't help ourselves! Ben, our budding artist and graphic designer/computer animator, helped me design the cake on paper and then helped me shop for the ingredients. We did a panda bear design and I think it came out great (if I do say so myself)! A nice added bonus for ZuGuo's birthday was that my renewed passport and Ben's first passport arrived in the mail that same afternoon. That night after dinner we had a little private celebration with the panda cake. Here are some pictures.
On Thursday July 26th, a DHL package arrived with ZuGuo's original documents and medical file and the Letter of Intent form. We wrote our letter and emailed it to our agency for any edits before printing it on the original Chinese form. Unfortunately, I didn't get the OK until after my FedEx drop-off location was closed (our agency is on Pacific time), so I had to wait until Friday to send it off. Our agency should get our package tomorrow, Monday July 30th, and we will be officially on our way to adopting Zu Guo!
Now, the great paper chase begins!
