戌 娜, aka Xu Na

For the past month or so, I have been trying to contact a group of volunteers that have been working in Kate's orphanage (SWI) for several years. They are largely an expatriate group, Americans, Europeans, Asians, who care for the children of this orphanage and give their time and energy there. Some of them live stateside now, and I have been exchanging emails with them in hopes of finding someone who knows my daughter. So far, no luck. Only a half dozen or so have responded to me, and of them, they all say 1) She is beautiful (which we already knew:). 2) She looks sort of familiar, but they don't remember her for sure. 3) She looks extremely healthy and well-fed, which leads them to believe that she is in foster care, rather than the SWI. Still, they have been very kind and a huge encouragement to me.

This morning I got an email from one of these workers who had gone to the SWI in hopes of seeing my daughter. She talked to a staff member there who confirmed that she is in foster care (YAY!), and asked how to say her name. There have been a variety of spellings, and we weren't sure which one was correct. Apparently, the last part of her name can be pronounced either Nuo, with a rising tone, or Na, with a falling tone. According to this lady, her current name is Xu Na, not Xu Nuo. This will be a shift for us, because we have been saying Xu Nuo for over a month now. (For those of you wondering, Xu is pronounced high, and sounds like Shu.) This is what it looks like in Mandarin: 戌 娜. According to one Chinese-American friend of Tim's, her name means "an elegant and graceful beauty, born in the year of the dog". The year of the dog (Xu) refers to the Chinese Zodiac. (For more on Chinese pronunciation, check out this English-Chinese dictionary which actually pronounces the Mandarin for you if you plug in the characters. Pretty cool.)

Anyway, this volunteer said she would try to visit the foster family and take some photos of her there. How cool would that be? I will keep you updated. I am so thankful for this group and all that they have done to love these kids. Pray for their work there, and for the foster family that is taking care of Kate. We are thankful for them as well.