Bill and Christine Turnbull'e new Daughter Julianne Hope

Below is a letter to Bill and Christine Turnbull that I sent them yesterday about the their new daughter from Qingyuan Orpahange. Hope is seven and will be eight on September 1. I was waiting for permission from the Turnbull's before I posted it. Everyone have a wonderful day, I am heading back to Beijing today to meet up with Jeff and then we will both head home tomorrow afternoon.

Well, were do I begin? What a great day. David picked me up at 9:00 am this
morning and we headed to Quingyuan Orphanage. When we got there the director
and the co-director were at a meeting but he had left instructions with the
Office Director that we were coming to se Julianne. They brought her down to
see us and she was very shy. She has grown a lot since December, looks very
healthy. She came in wearing a Playboy t-shirt and I thought to myself, that
has to go! I had asked David on the way up to make sure to ask her if she
wanted to be adopted and what she thought about it. I told him I thought it
might be a touch subject and to just address it slowly. He did after brief
introductions. By the way, I am Uncle Chris. Let it be known that she will
know me as her uncle, how about that Brother Bill! I also told David to tell
her that her new dad was a big freak and he was very funny, just kidding.
David did tell her that Bill was funny and she laughed.

I gave her the dress I picked up here and she seemed to like it, they changed
her right away for pictures. She was beautiful, I was ready to put her in my
suit case and bring her home. I took some pictures of her in her new dress and
David asked her about being adopted. She said that she was happy about it and
the only thing she was nervous about was her English. David told her not to
worry that she would learn it without any problems. We got out my pictures of
Ellie first and showed her Ellie and she remembered Fei Fei, she smiled big and
pointed and said something in Chinese (Cantonese). We went through all of my
pictures to warm her up a little and then got out the pictures of you all her
new family. David explained to her who each person was and she immediately
knew Jayden (Sou Sou). She was excited to have a sister (Jenna I told her you
were excited about having a new sister). David went through all of the
pictures and she thought the one with Jayden and Bill with the hats was funny.
I gave her the bag I brought with the candy, sweatshirt, t-shirt, note pad,
bear and necklace and bracelet. They put her necklace on and I later put her
bracelet on her. She opened the gummy lifesavers and began to share with
everyone. All this time David translated your letter to her and I asked if she
would like to write you a note back and the office manager asked her and she
did, so I have a personal note to you both, David translated it for you. It
was very sweet! The nanny from before was there (pregnant now) and she got her
school records out for us. I had her make a copy for you so I can send to you
as well. She will be going into third grade this year and had a little English
last year, but will start more this year. Her Grades looked good and David
commented that she was smart (and she is b/c she got us to McDonalds on her own
later). Her birthday is September 1 and she will be 8 years old. I had David
tell her several times that you both were very excited about her joining your
family and that you loved her. I took 30 minutes of video for you. I will put
it on a DVD when I get home and send it to you. Did I mention how sweet she
is? I wanted to grab her and just squeeze her and I did before we left I even
gave her a kiss on the cheek from you both. I asked David if we could take her
to McDonalds and they agreed that it would be OK and she wanted to go. We
went upstairs to see the babies and to take the gifts to the other little girl,
who has had surgery now. She was thrilled about the gifts. I did not take her
to McDonald’s b/c they were eating lunch when we were down stairs with
Julianne. Julianne changed into her super cool low cut canvas tennis shoes, as
you will see on the pictures.

Once we were in the car, I had David tell her what you would be calling her
(English Name) and he did and she immediately repeated it with a smile on her
face, Julianne, she said. We went to McDonalds and all ate and then we headed
back tot the orphanage to drop her off again. When we got there out she went,
I gave her a hug and a kiss, she said bye and we left.

The orphanage was clean and organized this time. When we went upstairs to see
the babies, I went to her room and she had her school books out (which I got
pictures of) and all of her stuff was there.

Did I mention how beautiful she looked in her new dress!!!!!!!. And so sweet,
you could tell she liked her new clothes. She really is looking forward to
coming home with you, I could tell in her tone when she answered, it was not
rehearsed or she was not told to say that, she genuinely lit up.

One suggestion to you is to start learning some Cantonese, specifically phrases
that will help you get things done and to express your feelings, she responded
to that when David told her about you and how you could not wait to have her in
your family. Another thought that David and I had was that we might want to
email the director and have her get extra English lessons before you come.
David said that it could be arranged with her teacher this year since she is
starting to learn it. David said it would only take a little extra money for
the director to arrange.

One other request that I made was for the orphanage to not cut her hair. It
was short like it was in December, but I thought you might like to have a
little more to work with when you get here. They agreed, but you might have to
have it trimmed once you get her. Bill and Christina, I can't tell you how
wonderful she is. She is so shy and very clean, she wanted a napkin at
McDonalds and once she was done she asked if she could go to the bathroom to
wash her hands. What a great thing God has done here. I can't wait to see her
with your family. OK enough, let’s get to the pictures.