Care Package Letter

Dear Emma,

The first time you learn of us will be via a care package we send you at your orphanage. This must be an odd way to learn you are part of our family. I have been wondering what you will feet like and what you will think when the package comes for you and you are able to open it.

We wrote a letter to you in that package. It was one of the hardest letters to write! We wanted to pour our hearts out in love and welcome to you. In 400 words. :) As you will quickly learn, I'm not short-winded. And as you also know, you are ony five years old.

We love you, Emma Kate. You are a blessing - a gift and a treasure to us. And what a joy it is to welcome you home, call you ours and name you as the Lords. You are awaited. You are longed for. You are wanted and needed. We treasure YOU. And we cannot wait to lavish our love on you, our dear and beloved daughter.

This is what the letter says:

Hello, YuXiao,

We are your new parents! We have received preliminary approval from China to be your Mom and Dad. We are so very happy, and we promise to love you and take the very best care of you, our beloved daughter.

We have many pictures of you, and every time we look at you we are filled with joy! Your smile is so beautiful and your eyes sparkle. We can tell that you are well-loved by your caregivers, and are thankful for the many ways they are helping you to grow and learn.

You will grow up in our family with three older brothers and an older sister! That is four older siblings! They cannot wait to have you home to play with and love. They are all very kind and nice, and are so glad you are joining our family as their treasured youngest sister. Your brothers are 14, 12 and 9 years old, and your sister is 7 years old. She is also adopted from China, and is so excited to have a sister to love!

With much love and joy we chose the items in this package for you.

You turned five this month on January 3rd, and we hope you have a happy, happy belated birthday celebration with your friends as you eat this beautiful birthday cake!

The candy and nuts are for your nannies and teachers. We are so grateful for the care and nurture they give to you. We will forever hold them in our hearts, too.

We hope to have pictures of you with the camera so that we can see more photos of you, and also so we have them for you to remember your early life in China.

The photo album shows you pictures of us, so that you know what we look like. We look at your photos every day and pray for you, too!

The blanket is for you to snuggle with. We hope as you hug it you feel our love hugging you back from afar. We will picture you playing with your pretty doll, knowing soon we can play with her together.

We think of you every day, and cannot wait for the day we meet! We are so grateful for you, YuXiao. We promise to be a wonderful family to you- forever and for always.

With Much Love,
Mom and Dad
(Sara and Jim Silburn)