I JUST GOT MY REFERRAL!!!
... now what?

Translate Your Child's Name
Here's a pretty good link to help translate your child's name. Go to the section called "Tools for Using Chinese" and click on "Character Dictionary." Then, just type in the pinyin and a list of characters will come up. Look at your child's paperwork and then compare the character of your child's name with the list and find out the translation!!!
Mandarin Tools

Guess What Size Clothes to Bring!
You have your child's age. You have her/his weight and height measured, in all likelyhood, several months ago. You wonder, what size clothes is this cutie-pie wearing? Time for some guessing games!!! (because we've all gotten so good at guessing over the past few months). Check out the chart below and try to figure out what you should pack!
Growth Charts for Chinese Children

Locate You Child's Orphanage Group!
You child's orphanage group can be a great source of information such as, what to expect in terms of your child's development, what the orphanage might need that you can bring, what is the area like (what to see, visit, eat, etc.), and whether or not you might consider sending a care package ahead of time. Here is the link to Ron's big list of orphanage groups:
Raising Children China Orphanage Group List

Check Out the Weather on the Day Your Child Was Born!
This is a neat thing to include in your child's lifebook if you are making one. Or, just a neat thing to be able to tell your child someday, "on they day you were born, the sky was clear and the moon was full..."
Weather on the Day Your Child Was Born
* To find weather on an exact date - click on the city you are interested in, and you will get more detailed info. Look for the blue bar titled, "Historical Information," and put in the date you are looking for.

Here's another cool site - you can order a poster of the nighttime sky the day your child was born. You can even add text to the bottom of the poster!
Indigo Night

Order Your Child's Finding Ad
When a child is brought to an Orphanage or SWI, they place an ad in the local paper searching for the child's parents. The ad usually contains a photo of the child shortly after s/he was found. This could be the earliest photo of your child that might exist. Interesting to look into anyway.
Finding Ads - China Finding Girls
Finding Ads - Research Child