Bailey Family

2 year olds that are now feeling at home....

2010-07-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Abbey is doing well. She is comfortable in her new home. She has come up with the typical American words that most all 2 year olds say once they get the hang of it. That word is "no". She says it all day no matter whether she really means it or not. She also is swinging at her siblings and her parents when she doesn't get what she wants. She has entered the land of "time out".

The sibling rivalry thing is always lurking just around the corner. It can rear it's ugly head in a split second. It's mostly the girls. But the "it's not fair" line comes out whenever anyone feels the slightest bit of inequity occurring. Abbey just kind of grunts and whines to let us know that she is feeling things aren't fair. I have told the kids that "life is not fair". I know it sounds harsh, but someday they are going to go out into the real world and it's not a fair place. Inequities are everywhere. They are pretty much rampant. Now, don't get me wrong, I try to make things as equal as they can be in things that matter to the kids. Like feeling like each gets their fair share of a certain treat. But the inequity issue runs pretty rampant around here. Each of our kids are always on the lookout for any unfairness going on. I know this is normal, but it sure is annoying. I wish they could be a little less "id" centered (Freudian psychology). They love each other and help each other out too but boy can jealousy take over in a heartbeat.

On a different note, Abbey is understanding and saying lots of American words. Her palate is keeping her from pronouncing words correctly but she is doing a great job trying. The other day Sesame Street was on and they were slowly going through the alphabet. Abbey was watching and saying the alphabet letter by letter. Some letters she was saying them correctly and others were kind of muffled sounding, but she was interested and trying and that's the most important thing. We are going to see the cleft team this fall to begin whatever they suggest to facilitate her speech development and redo her lip so that she can use her upper lip better. She cannot pucker her lips. Well, she can, but not very far. The plastic surgeon wants to make her lip more functional and look better. In China they did a good job but it needs some more work. Her left nostril always looks like it's got colored mucus coming from it. It isn't runny, it's that the scar from her lip repair tore open a bit near the opening of her nose and left a darker scar there. The surgeon says that is just a matter of a touch up while she is doing other work on her lip. I would say Abbey's ability to speak so that other people can understand her is probably going to be the biggest hurdle she will have to master. With her palate being so...short it may be a long road. She is a smart girl and I would be willing to bet she will overcome this obstacle.

Comments on our blog

2010-07-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

We set our comments posting section to moderation. This is so we can choose to publish the comments we want to have others view. We did this because the first comment we got was from a link to a Chinese (for want of a better word) escort service or maybe it's a choose a marriage partner site. Whatever it is it has pictures of pretty Chinese girls posing (clothed)and Chinese writing under each picture. We can't read Chinese so we don't know what it's all about. But it doesn't belong on our blog.

We have gotten several more comments. We would like to list them. They make little to no sense in regard to our blog and they are signed in Chinese. Here they are...

Subtlety is better than force.... (written 2 times)

Of two evils choose the least....

Many a little makes a mickle.....

Necessity is the mother of invention....

There are several other comments written in Chinese. We would appreciate if you leave a comment that you do it in English. We can't read Chinese. We will be getting someone to translate them for us. Make is easier on us and leave your comments in English.

Whoever has been viewing our blog and leaving these comments we would like you to clarify what you mean by them, if anything. This blog was created in the USA and that's one of the many fabulous things about the USA....freedom of speech. God bless the USA!!!!!!

catching up......

2010-06-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we have been home almost a month! The jet lag was a killer for about 2 weeks. We just could not get the girls on Virginia time. Abbey sometimes seems like she would like to slip back to China time. I have to wake her from a nap. She will marathon sleep and we all know what that means.... not going to sleep at night or not sleeping long enough at night.

Abbey has some night terrors a few times a week. But overall is sleeping and adjusting well. She clearly lets us know what she wants and needs without saying a thing. She is so smart. She says and copies many English words. We have to listen carefully to what she is saying but she is saying stuff correctly it's just kind of muffled sounding.

We took Abbey to the pediatrician the week after we got home. She told us that Abbey seems to be developmentally on target. A few days after that we met with the pediatric plastic surgeon. The surgeon said that she would like to redo Abbey's lip. She said that the scar lines are not natural looking and she thinks she can bring them together to look more like the natural lip ridge most people have. She also said that the two muscles on each side of her upper lip were not attached together when they sewed up her lip. She would also attach those muscles to make it so Abbey can use her upper lip muscles. Right now when she kisses us she just presses her lips on us. Due to not having these muscles working. The surgeon also told us that Abbey's palate is extremely short. The shortest she has ever seen. She said only time will tell what effect that will have on her speech development. Abbey seems a bit nasal sounding when she speaks. The surgeon said that we should continue to bond with Abbey for about 3 months and then get an appt with the cleft team and go from there on what to do for her. We will keep this site updated with her medical processes as they unfold.

Things have changed since we first met Abbey. As anyone remembers our report of her not liking me (Kathi) She is all over me all the time now. Abbey and Meigan now get sassy with each other over which half of my lap they are going to get. Meigan has done a bit of regressing here and there, but bounces back and is the great big sister. Abbey likes to sit on me at meal time instead of sitting in her own booster seat. Even though we have the same food (most of the time)mine apparently tastes better than hers. She loves to eat the food on my plate.

We had a couple of firsts today ( June 27). Meigan asked for a straw at lunch to suck up her soup. Abbey has to have whatever Meigan has. So I gave Abbey a straw too. She has not been able to suck through a straw at all up until today. I showed her how it works (again) by sucking the end of her finger. She immediately got it an started sucking up soup like a champ. I was so..... proud of her. Later she got frustrated with her sippy cup. She has to chew the liquid out of it. She handed it to me and indicated that it just wasn't working. I checked it out by sucking on it and showed her again the sucking technique. She tried it and was getting much more liquid out than before. She gave me a pleased smile. The second first happened after her bath. She volunteered (her idea) to sit on the baby potty sitting next to the tub and kept checking to see if she had done anything. She peed just a little bit over several minutes and wiped herself each time she checked to see if she did anything. I think we are on the way to diaper free. I wasn't going to push the issue until at least fall. It being her idea is a great thing. That's the way it was with Josh and Meigan. I waited until they showed interest to start anything and went from there.

Abbey is a sweet child! She is a joy! She has a mellowness about her. She loves to give hugs and receive them. She isn't too timid around new people, unless she is tired or hungry. She is so smart and perceptive about any and everything that is going on around her. She doesn't miss too much. She loves to help me unload the dishwasher and wants to help with laundry. She will throw stuff away for me. She is a great little helper. I don't have to ask she just does it.

When we got Abbey I mentioned in previous posts that she was in the care of Amazing Hands in Beijing from the time she was 10 months old until we adopted her. On Gotcha day David chased down Abbey's foster mother and gave her his business card. We have since then been in contact with the founder of Amazing Hands via emails. I asked her how on earth did Abbey, out of all the orphans in China, get lucky enough to go to Amazing Hands from Luoyang orphanage. Especially since they only have 12 children at a time until they are adopted. Her answer was that Luoyang called them and asked if they had any room for Abbey and they happened to have a bed open at that time. I also asked who funded Abbey surgeries. Amazing Hands said that for Abbey's first surgery they funded part of it and Christian Broadcasting Network paid in part for it (yes, that's Pat Robertson's group). For Abbey's second surgery (to repair her palate) the Smile Train paid for it. It's not written in any of the paperwork we received on referral day for Abbey but in the journal (Amazing Hands gave us on Gotcha day) of Abbey's time with Amazing Hands they state that Abbey had to have her palate repaired a second time, about 7 months after the first surgery. Her palate split open a bit after the first surgery. Christian Broadcasting Network did the second repair on her palate. CBN and Smile Train are just awesome! Amazing Hands is more than awesome. I asked if we could make a donation to Amazing Hands and they said they don't take donations. She never did answer the question as to how they are financed. But apparently they have what they need, including a doctor on staff. How wonderful is that!?

I thanked the people at Amazing Hands for loving and taking such good care of Abbey. We could never thank them enough for all they did for her. You can just tell in her personality that she was loved and given what she needed because she is adjusting so well to being with us. She still freaks out if I have my shoes on and she doesn't (thinks she is going to not get to go). But overall she is a complete joy to us every day. We are so... blessed to have her as our daughter! That 21 months we waited until we got our referral to Abbey was so.... worth it!!!!!!

Time in Hong Kong

2010-06-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Once through the Hong Kong Train Station, we took a taxi to the Island Pacific hotel in Hong Kong. Taxi driver was nice and spoke good English. The hotel is beautiful! We are on the 28th floor overlooking the Victoria Harbor. The view is fabulous! We ate at McDonalds last night. It was good. Abbey had her first American meal. She ate some of it okay. Then we cooked her some instant noodles in a cup back at the room. She is a noodle or rice eating Asian girl. Gotta get her used to something else. In McDonalds we had a conversation with a family from England. When they first walked in the father asked if the food was any good. We told him that it tasted like McDonalds back in the USA. I added that the chicken sandwich that I had had was dark meat instead of white. He didn’t understand my southern American accent and looked at me in concern. Then he said “dog” meat? I had to speak slower and clarify “dark meat”. It was their first time visiting Hong Kong and they didn’t know what to expect any more than we did. McDonalds did have a few things on their menu that isn’t available in the USA, like instead of Apple Pies they offered purple yam pies. We did not eat any of those.

Here in Hong Kong there are many more American brands we recognize. It feels better to recognize and buy stuff that we know. China has much more variety of junk food this trip and we tried some stuff, it was good. They also had some American brands that we tried like Green Tea Oreos and roast Chicken flavored Lay’s potato chips. Pretty good stuff.

May 30 is cloudy again here in Hong Kong. Looks like a dreary day. We ate cereal in our hotel room in the morning and ate at the hotel restaurant for lunch. Excellent lunch buffet with a good mix of western and Asian foods (some strange choices but all very good). We played with our shrimp. Meigan was fascinated with the fact they cooked an served the shrimp with the head and antennas still attached. We played with it. Meigan wanted to see where the brains were when I tore the head off of one. I pretended that the shrimp was walking around before I took his head off. I know, sick, huh? May as well make fun out of eating something looking back at me.

Shane Lo (Deputy Fire Chief of the Hong Kong Fire Dept.) picked us up, at the hotel entrance after we finished lunch. He took us to a Hong Kong fire station and his office for a tour and discussion of fire issues in Hong Kong. He took us to his see a huge Fire Boat for a tour - very cool, although all of the boats in Victoria Bay can stir up good size waves. That boat was rocking the whole time we were on it. I was amazed that some of the items on the boat were shipped over from the USA, like the life boat and one of the toe cranks. Don’t they make everything in China? Apparently not. Shane then took us to Stanley Market and served as our personal shopper. He was great at talking with the shopkeepers and getting a good deal. He then took us to a nice Chinese restaurant and bought our dinner for us. He did the ordering for us. The food was served on a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table. The wait staff kept bringing in plate after plate of food. First off was shrimp with heads still attached. Fortunately we were already used to that from lunch. Meigan was asleep in my lap and Shane peeled some shrimp for me. That was very nice of him. We also ate fish soup. Very good! For an appetizer we were served crunchy salty fish. They were tiny little fish dehydrated in salt. Yes, with little eyes looking back at us. I was very hesitant to try them at first but I did. They were really good! Sort of like overcooked potato chip sticks. At that point I had started eating stuff I would have never dreamed of eating so why not keep going. They served fried oysters. I swore I would never eat what I have always referred to as “snot on the half shell”. I ate one, then two. They were really good! I had to try and forget what I was eating. Then they served fish with the head still on. Was steamed, a little mushy, but great tasting. I also ate goose. At least that’s what they said it was. It looked and tasted more like roast beef. Made we wonder if it was really something else, but it was really good. I trusted them that it really was goose. Who was I to argue, never saw the inside of a goose. Would have guessed it to be more like poultry, but it wasn’t. The whole meal was wonderful. Definitely different. It was a meal I won’t forget. It was so nice of Shane to take his time to show us a Hong Kong fire station, be our personal bargain shopper guide and then take us for a wonderful memorable dinner. He also gave the kids a bunch of Hong Kong fire station promotional kid toys. Meigan was fascinated with all the stuff he gave her. It was a fabulous day in Hong Kong.

We left Hong Kong at 12:00 noon on May 31st and plans were to arrive the same day at Dulles Airport at 9:00 pm if all our flights are on time. We flew from Hong Kong to Chicago (14 hours) and arrived in Chicago O’Hare airport around 2:00 pm (in time it was only two hours difference from when we left Hong Kong 14 hours earlier on the same day, still blows my mind). It took forever for us to get through all the checking lines and get to our next flight to Dulles. The flight from Chicago to Dulles was delayed by over 2 hours. There were so many people in the airport we sat on the floor waiting for our flight. Finally we got on the airplane and took off about 8:30 and arrived in Dulles about two hours later. The flight was good and smooth. David and Abbey sat behind Meigan and me. Meigan and I sat next to a nice guy from India. We had a good talk about life in India and his life in D.C. We talked about adoption and China and the differences in laws and rules for families in India versus China. He spoke pretty good English but occasionally would not understand some of my southern slang, ie. Getting Josh to do his homework I would practically have to “hog tie” him to get him to do it. He was entertained and somewhat confused about my use of words. Also when we talked about where we live and I described our 2 acres that we live on. He asked if we had 2 acres for farming. He thought that was interesting that we had 2 acres and didn’t farm it. His father farms the 120 acres they have in India and he sells sweet lemons (an item that is a luxury to buy in India). It was a very nice conversation. I offered him some gum to help keep his ears clear. He told me that if you lift your chin up and stretch your neck until it is tight and then swallow it will clear your ears. I tried it when the plane was landing and it worked. I told him that I would always remember him.
Our plane landed and the airport was pretty empty. It was fairly late on Memorial Day. By the time we got our luggage and got the shuttle to the Hyatt Hotel (where we had left our car at the beginning of our trip) it was almost 11:30 pm. When David and Abbey went to the garage to get our car the battery was dead. The good thing about being at the Hyatt with good customer service is they got us a guy to charge the battery within minutes. The car started and we put Abbey in her car seat. At first we were wondering how she might react to a car seat, assuming she had never been in one (they are not typically used in China). She was fussy as David got the car seat ready. Once she was in the seat she was okay. We think she was worried about what was going on. Whenever we would have a transition during our trip, Abbey would get a worried look on her face and she would start to pout and want David to hold her (remember I was chopped liver to her for most of our trip). I enjoyed telling David how much I was going to enjoy the movies and reading on the way home from China since he was going to have to take care of Abbey. By the time we left she was a bit more comfortable with me. When we took off from Hong Kong I sat between Abbey and Meigan and David sat across the isle. After a bit Abbey went and sat in the empty seat next to David. She stayed there the entire rest of the trip. With Abbey next to David and Meigan next to me, we had plenty of room. Next to Abbey was another empty seat. Both of the girls could stretch out when they slept. It was wonderful (for them) . Our seats were in the economy plus section. It gave us extra leg room. It was worth it! Made the trip much better. On this particular airplane the armrest between the seats raised up too to make for extra room. The first airplane (on the way to Beijing) the armrests didn’t raise up so it wasn’t as comfortable for Meigan to sleep. I think it depends on the size and style of the airplane maybe how old the plane is too. Don’t know.
Anyway we left Dulles for Powhatan at 11:30 pm and got home about 2:00 am. We were both tired but the girls slept the whole way home. We stopped and got cokes and then snacks and then coffee to stay awake to get home. We contemplated finding a place to park and sleep for awhile but never did. We played music and I kept tabs on David’s driving to make sure we made it home. We laughed and had a good time It was the most risk taking either of us had done in years. We were looking forward to getting home and going to sleep. Finally home at 2 am on Tuesday June 1, 2010.

Almost a soon as we pulled into the driveway the girls woke up. They were raring to go. How nice. They had slept on the plane and in the car and according to China time it was 2:00 in the afternoon and they had just woken up from an afternoon nap. How nice (did I say that already?) We tried to get them to go back to sleep and it didn’t work (needless to say). At 3:30 am I was fixing breakfast for Meigan and at about 4:30 am Abbey ate breakfast. We haven’t gotten over jet lag yet. I guess we haven’t tried hard enough. We have worked up to about 5 to 6 hours at night for the girls to sleep and then they are ready to go. We have tried to cut their naps short to fix them but we sleep when they do or take turns napping and we apparently need to work harder at trying to resolve this jet lag thing. It is getting better but it’s not much fun going through it.

First trip in USA (they missed most of it)

2010-06-05T11:26:00.002-07:00

Shopping at Stanley Market

2010-06-05T11:26:00.001-07:00

Shopping Kathi is a Happy Kathi

2010-06-05T11:25:00.001-07:00

Fire boat command center

2010-06-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Fire boat decompression chamber

2010-06-05T11:23:00.001-07:00

Fire Boat bridge level

2010-06-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Super station both medics out on calls

2010-06-05T11:20:00.001-07:00

Shane & family (except Josh)

2010-06-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Shrimp Attack at lunch

2010-06-05T11:16:00.001-07:00

Panoramic view from Hong Kong hotel room

2010-06-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last Days in Guangzhou

2010-06-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2010 Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. We saw many animals. Most were the typical zoo animals. Meigan got to feed the giraffes. They give you big bunches of small branches with many leaves to give the giraffes. She loved it! We (the whole group) were somewhat of an attraction. Many of the Chinese people visiting the zoo looked at us wondering why we had Chinese babies with us. After a few hours at the zoo with a bunch of our group, we had our Consulate appt. We went and took the oath. All we said was that we promise that all the stuff in our paperwork was true. Seems a bit silly, but that’s the rule. We saw our guide from last time, Grace, and got a great picture of her. We ran into her and Maggie (guide from last time) a few times. I don’t believe we ever got a pic of Maggie. We ate at the Cow and Bridge restaurant again that night with some of the people in our group that had not left yet. We were one of 5 families that our consulate appt was a day later. So we had to stay longer in Guangzhou than the other people in our group..

May 28, 2010 Last day in Guangzhou. Feels surreal. Want to leave, but want to stay. Want to soak up more of China. There will never be enough time to get enough China without moving here. Definitely not gonna do that. The food is not as good as home. Even though there are many things that are good. We miss good American cuisine. I could bore you with the things I plan on eating when we get home. I miss the taste.

Anyway, we ate too much breakfast again at the White Swan this morning. Chocolate cake and croissants in the morning is not getting old. Although I might need to lose a few pounds when I get home. We spent the rest of the day shopping and packing. We met up with the rest of our group at Lucy’s for one last dinner together. Before David could start to eat his dinner Abbey started to fuss. We think she is teething. She chewed off a bit of her bottle nipple today. We had bought the bottle because nothing I had brought with me was working. We had bought some cups with straws while in Zhengzhou (that had valves in them) and gave them to our guide, Yisha,. Abbey cannot suck. We have to take the valve out of the sippy cups we brought then she turns them over because she is two and you get the idea on the mess, Can’t wait to find a cup that works. Lara in our group had a great Nuby cup. David took Abbey back to the room to give her some Motrin (generic) and Lucy’s packed up his dinner, including the large beer (which I knew he would be wanting) and we took it to him. Abbey was feeling better and ate her dinner and David got his.

May 29, 2010 We left the White Swan about ten this morning. Jocelyn got us a shuttle to the train station. We had a porter carry our luggage and a White Swan guide at the train station to show us the way. The train ride was very nice, hardly anyone on the train. Abbey was full of herself until she fell asleep. She was giggly and happy most of the trip until she and Meigan fell asleep. Meigan had had a fever two nights before but seemed OK for the last day and a half with no fever. We think she has another sinus infection. But she is OK under the effects of Motrin (generic). We got off the train and as we worked through security, Health Dept. personnel stopped us. Meigan had a high fever. They masked her and we filled out paperwork to promise we would see a doctor when we got home. They were nice but we didn’t know what was going to happen to us. Lesson learned, Motrin before heading through temperature checks.

View from HK Island to Kowloon & 1st trip to Mikey Ds HK

2010-05-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Train to Hong Kong & Hong Kong Meigan

2010-05-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

small quarters and jade boats

2010-05-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Meigan&Brenna & Chicken on a stick

2010-05-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

red couch day

2010-05-27T05:41:00.001-07:00

May 24, 2010 In the morning we went back to the medical clinic to get Abbey's TB test read. She is fine. In the afternoon we went to the pearl market. We got a few things. I waited to hear from GG to see if she had changed her mind about us getting her some pearls. Still can't believe we were in a whole mall devoted to just jewelry. It was several stories tall. We took a bus with the group to go to the pearl market. We were supposed to get a cab back to the White Swan when we were done. Some of us got taxis back and some of us had to walk. Guess what we did. Walk. It wasn't that far but Meigan was tired. I carried her most of the way. She may be heavier than Abbey but at least she hangs on. Abbey will not hang on so it's actually harder to carry her a long distance. I wanted to go back and do some more shopping in the area that we were in but David didn't want to fight the crowds. Crowds was what was there. I don't remember it being quite so congested with people last time we shopped there. They were wall to wall, well it felt wall to wall. We have yet to eat at McDonald's or KFC. Don't think we will at this point, unless we get delivery. Both KFC and McDonald's will deliver to the White Swan. I took some pics of the delivery bikes for McDonald's and Papa Johns. Don't think we loaded them on the blog, maybe later. We tried to find a KFC in Beijing after we saw a sign out front of a mall for it. We wanted to eat there, but we never did find it. The joke between us whenever we see a KFC sign is we wonder where there really is one near wherever we see a sign.

There weather has been really good here. It was really really hot and humid the first night we were here then got better and the humidity has been building. But it has been tolerable. For those of you reading this and are coming to China soon to get your little ones, the pollution is not as bad. Particularly in Guangzhou. We have seen the blue sky most days. Something we only saw one day last time we were here. The Chinese government is cleaning up the air and it is much better. It's for the upcoming Asian Games. Shamian Island is, as everyone has been saying, all torn up. But it is okay. Lucy's restaurant is going strong. They have a Subway sandwich shop and it is good. Those coming later this year to pick up their little ones will see a beautiful Shamian Island. We ate a few times for lunch at Starbucks. Not bad, I got an iced coffee with ice and am still alive to tell about it. LOL

May 25. 2010 We had a free day. Except for the famous red couch pictures in the afternoon. All the families had separate pictures taken on the sofa, then all the babies and children that were adopted this trip got their pictures taken on the sofa with their traditional silk Chinese outfits on. They all looked so….cute ! Ours was one of the first to start crying when all the kids were set side by side on the sofa. After that we all got a group picture taken in front of the waterfall in the lobby of the White Swan. Our free time has been spent shopping around the island. There are plenty of things to buy. Some of the shops you can bargain and some don't. If you visit Jordan's store on the island he is a very nice man and he will write your child's name in Chinese for free. If you want extra names he will do them for cheap. His prices are very reasonable. I found out the hard way that he had some of the same things in his store for better price than some other stores. You don't need to really bargain with him. His prices are fair. We have also enjoyed taking some pictures of the gorgeous brides all decked out in their wedding attire. Shamian Island is the perfect setting for pictures. The landscaping along the center of the island is beautiful.

May 26^th 2010 We had to wait in our room until Kathy or Jocelyn called us to tell us whether our consulate paperwork went through without any problems. About 11:30 Kathy called and advised that all paperwork sailed through. We then walked to Starbucks and ate lunch with a few other families. Dave and the girls went back to the room for a nap while I cruised a few shops and spent 100s of renmin yinhang. Ate supper at Lucy's again with Laura & Scott and their girls. A quick stop at the 7-11 for ice cream bars (the Chinese junk food is better than 3 years ago), and off to the room for a good night's sleep.

Meigan Li & our Guangzhou Guides

2010-05-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Red Couch Kids & our Group

2010-05-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

Family in hotel pics

2010-05-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

Starbucks & Wedding pics

2010-05-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

White Swan Playroom

2010-05-26T01:47:00.000-07:00

dinner time & play time

2010-05-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

pearl market & balanced life

2010-05-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

strong girl & hairdo

2010-05-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Abbey Xs 2

2010-05-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

New friends at Lucy's & Done

2010-05-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

room view & park

2010-05-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

clinic visit w/ bug killer

2010-05-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Abbey & Meigan eating

2010-05-24T06:22:00.001-07:00

Posting From Guangzhou 5-23-10

2010-05-23T07:49:00.001-07:00

Thursday, May 20, This is our last full day here in Zhengzhou. We are kind of tired of eating the same noodles and rice dishes all the time. There is not much variety in the foods we are willing to try at the restaurants in Zhengzhou. Although one night we did room service and got a pretty good tuna salad sandwich and some good noodles. The breakfast buffet has a wonderful variety of food in the morning.

We have tried some rather unique things for breakfast. Some good, some not so good, some awful foods. Meigan likes white rice in the morning with watermelon. She has tried a few things, but keeps going back to the rice and watermelon. On the way downstairs this morning to breakfast we passed one of our travel companions room. Our guide Yisha was consulting with them. They needed to take their new son to the hospital. He had a high fever during the night and had a seizure. We offered to take care of their two daughters while they went to the hospital. Meigan and the girls get along great. So they had a wonderful time together. Their son is fine now. He is of those kids that are sensitive to high fevers.

Friday, May 21 About 6:30 pm we left Zhengzhou for Guangzhou. We flew China Southern. Abbey still doesn't like me too much at this point. David sat between the girls on one row and played momma and I sat in a row all by myself and watched a movie. Meigan fell asleep shortly into the flight so David only had Abbey to contend with. Abbey was not very happy to have a seatbelt on. She was only unhappy when she realized she was being pinned in. A few other people played with her during the flight. She even played with me a bit, as long as I didn't get too close. It was a pretty good flight, a bit of turbulence, but overall okay.

When we arrived at Guangzhou airport and went outside the air was so humid we sweated just standing there. Our new guides Jocelyn and Kathy met us. They are very sweet and helpful. CCAI rocks. They take such good care of us. Anything we need they do whatever they can. The other people in our group are really great. Everyone helps everyone else out with whatever they need. We took a bus to the White Swan. It was good to be at the White Swan. We are on the 18^th floor facing the Shamian Island and the city of Guangzhou. It is a wonderful view. We were hoping to have a room overlooking the Pearl river but being this high up gives a spectacular view of the city. We think that in the distance we can see Banyan Mountain that we climbed last time we were here (remember the smog factor makes it hard to see). It was late by the time we got here. It took a long time for them to get our luggage to the room. It was midnight before we got all our stuff. Me (Kathi) and the girls crashed in our clothes. It was too long of a wait for the luggage to worry with pajamas.

Saturday, May 22. We got up early and had the breakfast bar at the White Swan. Talk about good food and choices. It was more food than we ever need to eat a breakfast. Abbey is a great breakfast eater. Well, she is a good eater in general. But she will let you know (without words) when she doesn't want something or when she has had enough. He food utensil of choice: chopsticks. I keep telling her that the spoon is a much better utensil in its design,, but she doesn't believe me. She can manipulate a pair of chopsticks and a bowl and get the job done. It's rather amazing. She also likes to mix up any and all the different food that you give her in the same bowl for shoveling in her mouth. In her unvoiced opinion she likes her food mixed. Watermelon with rice, noodles, meat, cereal, etc.

This morning after breakfast we walked to the medical clinic on Shamian Island to get the children's medical examinations to get their visas. The people whose immigration documents were from before the new immigration Hague rules didn't have to get shots for their kids but us immigration Hague (new rules) had to get shots. Abbey had to get three shots. One of the other kids in our group had to get 7 shots! They broke them up into 2 days 48 hours apart. Still not good. We tried to talk them out of the Chicken Pox shot for Abbey because her foster mother told us that she already had the Chicken Pox but they looked her over and didn't see any pox marks so they said she had to have the shot. We tried. Abbey also had to have a TB test. They will read the results in 2 days. These new immigrations rules are rough on the kids. Especially those that are already ill, like Abbey. She is doing better with her bronchitis, but she is still congested. I sure hope they go back to just letting parents get their kids immunizations when they get back to the USA.

One of the doctors that looked in Abbey's mouth said that she still had a small hole in the front of the roof of her mouth. We also got to look at her two front teeth. Oh my, the two top center teeth look horrible. They look rotten. In the pictures we have of her before her lip surgery her two center top teeth are in and they look great. We don't know what happened to these teeth to make them look so bad. At least she has another chance with her permanent teeth, we guess. We already have an appointment with her pediatrician when we get home and a week after that we have an appointment with the pediatric plastic surgeon. We will see what they say. One of the documents for Abbey said she weighs 10 kg. That's 22 pounds. She is very little. She wears about 18 month clothing. Some stuff she can wear 24 month size.

She has an extremely little tushie like Meigan.

After the medical appointment we went to Lucy's for lunch. They have American cuisine. It was great to get a grilled cheese and French fries. We are noodled and riced out! But Abbey likes her Asian food, particularly rice and noodles.

After lunch we came back to the room to collect some laundry to take to one of the Chinese shops for them to do our laundry. David left Abbey and Meigan with me to take the laundry. As soon as he left and closed the door behind him she plastered herself up against the door and started wailing. It was rather pitiful. After a few minutes of that I tried to bribe her with some snacks. She actually took to me. It was quite surprising. We played a little bit. She let me hold her and we laughed and had a good time. The White Swan gives out a blonde Barbie holding an Asian baby in a clear box. Abbey and I were looking at the Barbie and I pointed to Barbie and said "momma" and pointed to the Asian baby and said "Wenwen". Abbey copied me and pointed to the Barbie and the baby and called them momma and Wenwen. I then pointed out that Barbie has blue eyes and momma has blue eyes. Abbey then pointed to my eyes and said her first English word "eye". I was impressed. I guess her real first English word doesn't count since "mama" is the same in English and Chinese. She seems to understand things we say in English but David will also talk to her in Chinese. My guess is that is why she feels more comfortable with him.

Sunday, May 23^rd. We slept in this morning. I woke up a bit before 7 this morning. We could have gone on the tour of the Oldest Buddhist temple, Chen House, Arts and Crafts shopping center, but we did all that last time we were here. After eating way too much breakfast again, we walked around the White Swan. We went and checked out the two pools. One of them is really beautiful. The surrounding shade trees and waterfall is really nice. We met up with another family, Carmen and Dale and their three kids and decided we would meet back there to go swimming. The kids had a great time! The pool water was a little cool, but not too bad. After swimming we dried off, changed and went to Lucy's for lunch. Another good meal and Tsingtao (spelled right?) beer hit the spot. It's not too hot today. The weather is just perfect. After lunch we walked through the beautiful park on the island and then did a bit of shopping at Jordan's little shop. He remembered David from 3 years ago. He said he remembered the moustache. He is very persdonable. He will write your new child's name in Chinese calligraphy and it's meaning for no money (of course in hopes of getting you to buy something from his store). Works for me. He also doesn't hover over you like they do in some of the other stores. It's nice to have help but to have someone following you around the whole time can be somewhat annoying. Meigan and I went to another store (Abbey needed a nap so David and her went back to the hotel) after Jordan's and the lady there was nice but she hovered. But she also gave me a good deal on some merchandise, She discounted it before I could ask her .

Today, I was basically back to being chopped liver. Abbey still doesn't like me all that much. She lets me do stuff for her but doesn't really want me to pick her up. After Meigan and I got back to the room Abbey was asleep. So David took the chance and went to the gym at the hotel and worked out. Abbey woke up

and was not happy to find Daddy not there. She let me hold her for a few minutes, but it didn't make her feel any better. When she really started to wake all the way up she got off my lap and shook her head "no" when I motioned for her to come and sit with me. David went to pick up the laundry and she threw such a fit that he took her with him. But, when he got back with supper she let me pick her up and she sat in my lap to eat. But, she sat there with an extremely forlorn, flat expression on her face. When I changed her diaper later she put up a bit of a fuss that Daddy wasn't doing it. She's getting better, but I'm still chopped liver. David is dreading the 14 hour flight home. I'm not. Movies for me. Baby tending for him. Sounds like a deal to me. Well, I'd better get to bed. Hasta La Vista from China (can't spell Bye in Chinese). Tomorrow we get Abbey's TB test read and we go to the Pearl Market. GG, if you're reading this, email me, I can get you some pearls, just tell me what you want.

GOTTCHA DAY and more

2010-05-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Still playing catch up on our posts. Today we realized that we forgot to post our trip to the Jade Factory. We bought some jade. I got a beautiful blue jade ring, among other things. We forgot that we went to the jade factory before we climbed the Great Wall. It was amazing to see the different types of jade and learn about them.

Our guide in Beijing was George. He was great! We liked him a lot. He's got a great personality.

After the 2 days of sightseeing around Beijing it was time to fly to Zhengzhou to get Abbey. On May 16^th in the morning we went to the airport. We flew Air China (or China Air) to Zhengzhou. It was a cramped ride. Fortunately it was only about 1:45 minutes long. It was a rather smooth flight.

We arrived at the airport and our group was met by our new guides Yisha and Rita. They were very helpful and we got on a bus and went to the Crown Plaza Hotel. The hotel is very beautiful. Our room is twice as big as the one at the Holiday Inn in Beijing and very nice. Although not as many English TV channels as in Beijing. Not that we have had much time to watch television. Nice to have the illusion of being in the US by hearing English on TV.

When we first got to the hotel one person from each family went with our guide, Yisha, to the bank to exchange money for all the business transactions that were upcoming. After that we ate at the Italian restaurant inside the hotel. It was pretty good. We ate with most of the rest of the group. It was fun. Good food and good company. There was excitement in the air. The next day was going to be Gotcha Day.

GOTCHA DAY!

We got on the bus around 9:30 on Monday morning (May 17, 2010). We rode to the provincial registration office. It was a nice day. The weather was perfect. We arrived and unloaded the bus. Went into the building and some of the babies had already arrived. A few families were handed their child as they walked in the door. We had to wait a bit for Abbey. She came about 10 or so minutes after we got there. We had some time first to take pictures and video of some of the other families getting their babies.

When Abbey got there she was delivered by (surprise!) her foster mother. I had thought that maybe she was in foster care, but when I asked they would not tell me. Whenever I saw pictures of children from Luoyang, they all had shaved heads. Abbey has a major head of hair (down to her shoulder blades in the back). We met her foster mother who could not have been sweeter. She had been caring for Abbey since she was 8 months old. Her name is Tina (the lady in the picture we posted with the white shirt on, holding Abbey). Abbey had been under the care of Amazing Hands (a Christian charity) in Beijing since she was 8 months old. She may have lived at the orphanage for awhile. It's hard to tell. Our paperwork shows she was abandoned at 11 months old in Luoyang. What's the real story? Probably will never know. But it's so wonderful that she was in the care of Amazing Hands in Beijing. Sure would have been nice to know that she was living in Beijing when we were in Beijing. Maybe we could have gone to see where she was living. Abbey and her foster mother and another little boy being adopted by a family in our group took a 6 hour train ride to meet us in Zhengzhou.

I was so shocked that she was in foster care that when her foster mother asked me if I had any questions I drew a total blank. Tina told us that Abbey was not potty trained at all, diapers always. That was good to know. Fortunately our guides had given a questionnaire to each caregiver to answer about each child. They asked some good questions. We also had the opportunity to ask more questions if we had them once we reviewed the answers to the questionnaire. When the foster mother came with Abbey we found out that they were calling her "Wen Wen". She came with a bag of stuff for Abbey. The most special thing (other than Abbey) that they gave us was a book she had prepared for Abbey. It was a book with pictures about her life in Beijing. We got pictures of her with a cupcake in front of her celebrating her first birthday and her second birthday! Is that as good as it can get (in this situation) or what?! I'm so shocked and elated that we have pictures of her life there with descriptions of people and little friends. We also got pictures of her at a much younger age before her lip was repaired. It brings tears to my eyes knowing that Abbey has this little piece of her life to look back on in the future. What a wonderful gift!

Now, you are probably wondering how the gotcha thing went. It was interesting to say the least. The foster mother cut it short and took off, knowing that Abbey wasn't going to like it. She was absolutely right. Abbey was not a happy camper when she realized Tina was gone. She started crying. She started heading for the door. The doors were wide open and she walked on out. I tried to hold her back but she kept fighting me. I tried to pick her up and carry her back in but she wriggled so much that I almost dropped her. David was busy doing some paperwork, so he was not there to help me. Finally she walked outside and stood on the stoop and was very sad, crying. An older Chinese man was there with one of the other foster mothers and he picked up Abbey and sat her on his lap. She was perfectly fine with him (she may have known him). She sat in his lap for awhile and he spoke to her and she was calm. Finally he had to leave and David was there by then. David picked her up and she did not fight him. Now she is a Daddy's girl. She doesn't want anything to do with me. Today (Wednesday May 19) David was telling her (in Chinese), after she had let me put up her hair, that Momma was good, that I was a good Momma. Wen Wen shook her head "NO". How's that for putting me in my place. I know she will get over it (she might want to, LOL) but it doesn't make me feel very good about myself right now. On the upside, I'm on vacation, giving childcare tips to David as he takes care of his little girl. She is warming up to me slightly (and I mean slightly). But we have a long ways to go. David walked away from me in the Chinese equivalent of Walmart (Lotus Center) to find something and Abbey started screaming. Fortunately I didn't get arrested for being her mother. LOL May as well laugh, crying won't do me any good. Yisha told us that these children will choose one parent and not want the other one. About half of the kids in this group are daddy's girls.

After we got our kids we met later in the day to go with the group to the Lotus Center (a somewhat Walmart like store) to get things we needed for the children. It was three stories tall and had a moving ramp between floors to carry people to each floor. The grooves on the moving ramps and the grooves on the wheels on the shopping carts caught each other while on these ramps so that the shopping cart was secure going up the ramp. It was some good technology. We were impressed.

On the way to the Lotus Center we passed a bank with an armed guard outside. He was standing there guarding the bank with a big gun that looked like a machine gun. I don't believe anyone will be robbing that bank, unless they are feeling suicidal.

One thing about stores in China. Merchandise of the same type is displayed together like in the USA but other things of the same category might be somewhere else. It was very hard to find many things because there appeared to be little rhyme or reason behind where things were located.

Meigan had to go to the bathroom while we were there at the Lotus Center. She, so far, has refused to use a squatty potty (a basic toilet seat mounted on the floor). We have so far used western toilets (many of which are easily located by finding the handicap sign on the door of such potty). This only western toilet was without a seat and was filthy. There also was about an inch or two of standing water on the floor around the potty (I sure hope it was water, trying not to think about it). I told Meigan to bend like a sitting position and I would just hold her over the potty. She refused to use it. She said it was too gross. I was getting grossed out by whatever I was standing in. Meigan decided to hold it until we got back to the hotel. She held it great. I sprayed our shoes with Lysol when we got back to the hotel.

May 18, 2010

Today is the day we finalize our adoption of Abbey. The last 24 hours have been the "Harmonious Period". It hasn't been that harmonious for me, but David and Abbey are doing great. Today we went to the registration office to get our Adoption certificate and then on to the Notary office to finish up the paperwork. Everything was going well until we got to the Notary office . They informed us on the bus that we had to walk up 6 stories to get to the office (no elevator). I told Meigan that she was going to have to walk at least most of the way. She was tired that morning and was not happy to have to walk. She fussed outside of the building so I carried her up all the steps and set her down. She started to throw a fit. I really don't know what the fit was all about but it was one of her long ones. I asked her to stop and she was too into it so I took her out of the office and put her in timeout on the steps. The whole place echoed so her cries were 10 times worse sounding. We had papers to fill out and no one could hear the directions on how to do it. David tried to fill out the papers on a chair in front of him. Then he tried to move to the table after I was out in the hall with Meigan. Somehow when he went to fold up the chair to get it out of his way it fell and hit Abbey in the lip. She was okay, but not very happy for a few minutes. Meigan was still screaming in the hallway (remember the echo factor). I came back in the room because we needed to do the paperwork and Rita, one of our guides, went to close the door so everyone could hear. The chair I was sitting in was in the way of the door so I moved it. As Rita was trying to close the door and I was trying to move the chair, I got my fingers jammed between the door and the chair. Bruised two of my fingertips. It was just a case of nothing going right. But absolutely at the wrong time. Meigan eventually quieted down and we got the paperwork done. But it was not a pleasant experience.

May 19, 2010

Today is our wedding Anniversary! 20 years of wedded bliss! Okay, maybe not all the time.

Anyway, Abbey hasn't been feeling very good. She had a runny nose when we got her and she started yesterday with a dry cough. Today she is more congested and doesn't feel good. Some of the other kids in our group don't feel well today either, they went to the doctor too. We asked our guide if we could see the doctor at the hotel. The doctor didn't speak English so our guide met us there this morning and translated for us. The doctor checked out Abbey and said she has bronchitis. Ironic, Meigan had bronchitis when we got her. One of the other families in our group had some antibiotics and gave them to us for Abbey. The doctor could have written us a prescription for Chinese antibiotics or something like it but we preferred good 'ol American drugs. That was so nice of Martin and Heather to give those to us!

Today we went shopping for just a little bit to try and find some clothes, shoes, and hair rubber bands to get Abbey's hair out of her face. Her hair grows towards her face and is very fine. She had some stray hairs hanging straight into her face. I trimmed up her bangs and made her more comfortable. Still no brownie points. This gal is a tough sell. Abbey got her first pair of squeaky sandal shoes. She loved them! Squeaking whenever she walked intrigued her.

Abbey's personality hasn't really come out yet. At least not for the most part. She is still rather reserved with us. David knowing some Chinese has helped her to feel more comfortable. One thing Abbey has down is whatever the phrase is in Chinese for "I want" When we have gone shopping she will find something she wants and say "I want" in Chinese. She understands us for the most part and follows commands in English and Chinese. She also feeds herself like a champ. David fed her in his lap for the first few days but last night at supper she took over. She doesn't mind David feeding her, but if he is a little slow she takes over.. She puts whatever she wants in a bowl and shovels it out with two chopsticks. She doesn't like using a spoon. She puts it aside. We have showed her how the spoon works but she takes it from us and sets it aside and goes back to the chopsticks. I just don't understand, if you clearly have a better product (a spoon) why not use it. Why struggle with two sticks to pick up something? I guess I won't get that one, ever. Oh well. Abbey is helpful with things. She will pick something up and give it to us. Or get something out of the way. She seems developmentally on target for her age. She has let us look inside her mouth. Her palate looks pretty good to us. Can't really see her top teeth very well. Her top lip is so tight over them. There are teeth there.

Today was our chance to go to the orphanage. We didn't go. We have three families with children from Luoyang. One family didn't want to go. One child was sick and ours is sick too. Our guide said that we wouldn't be able to go in the orphanage, just take pictures outside. She also said we probably would not be able to take pictures of her finding site because it's in a hospital. With all that against us, we reluctantly decided not to make the 3 hour trip (one way) and the 1,500 RMB to pay for the trip since we wouldn't be dividing the cost. In addition, Abbey probably didn't spend that much time there anyway since she was in foster care. So for all the families that I told I would try and get pictures of their children if we went, I'm sorry.

Tomorrow (May 20^th) we are going to a Museum here in Zhengzhou. Don't really know what is there but we will find out. Also, tomorrow we get Abbey's passport. Friday we fly to Guangzhou and start the process to get Abbey's visa so she can come home! Hope she likes me by the time we get home! I rattled on long enough. I'll post again soon.

Abbey Snoozing & Zhengzhou guides

2010-05-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Girls & Dad & Girls in room

2010-05-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

Intro to Qing Wen & China man helps us

2010-05-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Ready to fly to Zhengzhou & Rita with nametags

2010-05-19T01:08:00.000-07:00

top of wall & Birdsnest

2010-05-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

Kids walking wall & 1/2 way up

2010-05-19T00:59:00.000-07:00

Jade Factory & Great Wall

2010-05-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

Great Wall and more posting 5-15-10

2010-05-17T08:08:00.001-07:00

Been too busy to post. Our schedule has been busy since the 14^th. Then there's that problem with getting completely on China time. We are just worn out at the end of the day. But we are adjusting slowly, it's getting better every day.

We'll play some catch up on our posting:

May 15^th:

We went to the silk factory and saw how they make silk. Very interesting! It's amazing how strong silk is when it is woven together. The silk bedspreads, clothes, scarves, etc we saw were absolutely beautiful. The money they wanted for them was a little high. But way cheaper than after it's been exported. Very cool tour. Of course we had to buy something. It wasn't a duvet cover, didn't need one and silk and cats is not a good mix.

After the silk factory we went to climb The Great Wall of China. Good heavens that thing is tall. Uneven steps the whole way make it treacherous and challenging. It's as tough going up as it is coming down. I (Kathi) only made it about halfway. Halfway was good, still had a fabulous view without dying. On the other hand, David and Meigan went up as far as the high peak. Meigan made it to the top cupola. She climbed all the way herself, no being carried. She kept talking to David about doing it herself and winning. That's our daughter. Loves to win! It was a beautiful day for a kick the butt climb.

Once we were done with our climbing we ate lunch at a factory restaurant. I wish I could spell the name of it but they make cloisonné (couldn't spell it if I had to). We walked through the factory to get to the restaurant but didn't buy anything. We were tempted to. They were so…beautiful! The Chinese lunch was really good. Chinese style eating is that they always put tons of food on a huge lazy susan and the sampling of different types of food is wonderful.

Then after that, (yes, there's more) we went to a acrobat show. It was fabulous! Meigan missed the whole show. She fell asleep on the bus before we got there. She's still not completely on China time. She has been falling asleep most nights about 6 o'clock. Only one night she made it to 7:30.

After the Acrobat show, we went to take pictures of The Bird Nest stadium from the 2008 Olympics in China. It was very beautiful. It was the end of the day and they light it up at night. After that we went back to our hotel. We had been gone almost 12 hours. We then got together with some of the other families and went to Pizza Hut for supper. In China, Pizza Hut also serves Chinese food among other things. Both times we have had pizza so far in China, we have come to the same conclusion, Chinese don't put but a trace of pizza sauce on their pizzas. It's more like fancy cheese toast. Finally after eating we went back to our room and crashed. It was a long, but really fun day. Tomorrow I will post about Gotcha day with pictures from May 15^th and May 17^th (Gotcha Day). May 16 we flew from Beijing to Zhengzhou. So, for now, goodnight from China!

Day 2 trips in Beijing

2010-05-17T06:06:00.001-07:00

Day 2 of Beijing excursions: Forbidden City / Rickshaw ride in Hutong / Tiananman Square 5-14-10

We got up early today. It has been hard to sleep late (yes, I did say that, and it is me, Kathi, posting this). Today we started our day at 5:45 am. We just couldn't sleep anymore. This China time difference has been sort of difficult to adjust to. We are tired by 6:00 pm and awake at various times during the night.

Meigan fell asleep again tonight right about 6:00. This is day number 3 doing that. Fortunately we had a late lunch again. She has not eaten supper for 3 nights now. Fortunately she eats a good breakfast and lunch, so it's not a big deal.

Today we met our whole travel group. Together in a bus we went to Tiananman Square, Forbidden City, lunch at a Chinese restaurant, Silk Factory, and went on a Hutong tour in a rickshaw. It was all fun, but tiring.

Tiananmen Square was very interesting but kind of eerie. Knowing those Chinese were injured and/or died there in the name of democracy was creepy.

Next was Forbidden City. Forbidden City was the palace of the Ming & Chin Chinese emperors. It was huge. It was like a city. There were tons of Chinese people there. Navigating through the sea of people was challenging. At one point a huge crowd of people descended upon the view to the emperor's throne. We started to try and look but the crowd was so overwhelming we backed off. David did get a picture, but it wasn't taken at the best spot possible. It just wasn't worth the effort. Near the end of our tour an artist singled David out of our group and sketched his picture on a plate. When he was done he then proposed that David buy the plate. He bought it and the guy pulled out a can of shellac and sprayed it before giving it David.

Once we left the Forbidden City. A lady with a baby approached me and asked me for money (in broken English) to feed her baby. I told her no. I didn't have any money on me. Another one approached David just ahead of me and he gave her some money. Next thing you know women with babies starting coming out of the woodwork. After lady with baby #4 David had to say no. Lady with baby #5 was very persistent, invading David's personnal space and almost demanding he give her money. David told her no several times but she persisted. He finally had to say it like he meant it. Then she went away. Of course there are lots of people having hard times in China. But we have also heard of women using babies as ploys to beg for money and not giving the baby what they need. It's all so very sad.

In the last few days, Brinna (the daughter of the other couple we met in our group)and me have been singled out for photos with Chinese people. They have chosen me several times but Brinna has been treated like a super star. I can't even count how many pictures have been taken of her with Chinese strangers. She has strawberry blonde hair and big pretty blue eyes. She is a major fascination with the Chinese. Everywhere we go the Chinese people that see her are just fascinated with her hair and eyes.

Lunch was good at the Chinese restaurant. Our group was divided into a few separate dining rooms to eat. We ate fairly familiar food that was brought to our table and served on a big lazy susan. I didn't count how many plates of various foods but there had to be at least 10 different dishes brought to us. After the food presentation was done, a girl dressed in traditional Chinese clothes and headdress came to our dining room and stated in English that she would dance for us. She danced a dance in slow motion for a few minutes. She appeared uncomfortable the whole time. When she was done she stopped and just stood there. I whispered to David and said that I thought she was waiting for her tip. We gave her some money and she left. The dancing was not very good.

After lunch we went to the Silk Factory. They gave us a tour on how they grow, harvest, and make silk from silk worms. It was very interesting. It was amazing to see how strong something is that is made out of pure silk. The products they make are just gorgeous and not cheap. We bought a couple of things, but not much based on the prices.

Next was a ride in a rickshaw to see a Hutong village. The rickshaw ride was fun. However, Meigan wouldn't know since she fell asleep before we could get on the rickshaw, Each family got their own rickshaw driver. Since we are such a big travel group we had rickshaws everywhere. We got to go inside a Hutong. Which is a compound of several houses. Each house looks into a shared courtyard. They have no bathrooms, they have to share a common toilet and every few days they go to a public bath house to get clean. They have air conditioning (single wall units). Very interesting and makes me appreciate even more living in the good 'ol USA. Finally, back to the hotel. Meigan never did wake up.

Day 2 in Beijing

2010-05-14T08:15:00.001-07:00

Day 2 in Beijing

2010-05-14T08:14:00.001-07:00

CCAI Group 1584

2010-05-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

OK this is George

2010-05-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

George our Beijing guide

2010-05-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

Door ornaments show class status

2010-05-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Rickshaws at ready

2010-05-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Done before Rickshaw

2010-05-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Meigan & Rose in the Beijing Hotel

2010-05-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

more pics at the Beijng zoo

2010-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

Day 1 in Beijing Zoo

2010-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ni Hao from Beijing! Our flight from Dulles to Beijing was good. Good service and pretty smooth. On the landing into the airport David and my ears hurt a bit. But overall a good flight. Meigan was a good as gold. She kept marveling at the fact we were flying. Saying over and over how much she liked the plane. Buying those economy plus seats was so very worth it! It made the flight so much nicer.

This morning at breakfast we met Laura and Scott with their daughter Brinna. They are from Tulsa, OK. We ate breakfast with them and then went to the Beijing Zoo with them. Meigan and Brinna became friends fast. Brinna is 7 years old (almost 8). They held hands much of the time while at the zoo today. It was very sweet!

Our first order of business today was finding the grocery store. Another couple had told us about it. We found it in the basement of a big building that when we walked in on the ground floor looked like a high end deparment store like Neiman-Marcus. In the grocery store basement we walked around and just marveled at all the weird looking things to buy. We did come across some recognizable American brands. But most were different flavors than what we get in the USA. As I type this, I'm eating tomato flavored Pringles. Pretty good. We almost bought the shrimp flavored Pringles potato chips, maybe later. The even had steak flavored Cheetos. Many drinks, even brands like Minute Maid had aloe as one of the top ingredients. The white grape aloe Minute maid was very good.

We went to the Beijing Zoo with Laura, Scott and Brinna. Getting a taxi was easy. Taxis are waiting outside our hotel all the time. We had to get separate taxis because the taxis are so little here in China. Not too hair-raising of a ride with no seatbelts. Laura and Scott were in a separate taxi and they had several incidences that worried them. Most traffic laws in China are just a suggestion. Lane lines don't mean but so much here. We had a great time at the zoo. We saw the giant pandas. They were very cute. They had all the usual animals that many zoos have. Except they had a big building with different kinds of big cats. They were all in separate cages and they were not very happy. They paced and we could just see the look of "if I could get out of here, you would be my lunch".

Getting a taxi to the zoo was a breeze, hailing one back was not so easy. We were in competition with many other Chinese that were apparently better at it than we were. At one point, David and I stood several feet away from each other trying to hail a taxi. A guy in a car by himself (not a taxi) stopped by me and motioned for me to get in. Very creepy feeling. I shook my head "no" and he went on. After that David stood by me. Not long after that a group of girl Chinese teenagers hailed a cab near us and gave us their cab. They even consulted with us and the driver on where we wanted to go. They were so sweet to help us! They seemed to really enjoy what they were doing for us.

We learned very quickly at the zoo to watch out for puddles along the pathway. I'm not talking rain puddles. The Chinese children do their business (pee and poo) where ever they happen to be when they feel the urge to go. It seemed apparent that the poo gets picked up by the parent, but the pee stays (somewhat harder to clean up). We saw several children do their business with their split pants on. It was eye opening to say the least. We didn't see this happen anywhere near as much on our last China trip. The whole thing made me want to at the least Lysol the soles of my shoes or better yet just throw the shoes away. Maybe that's why shoe stores here have many more styles of shoes to choose from. Maybe people throw out their shoes more often or much sooner than we do.

By the time we got back to the hotel, Meigan was asleep. It was 6:00 pm China time. Missing eating her supper again. She did this at 6 the first night we were here. She woke up very late and wanted a snack the first time, my guess is she will do that again tonight. We are still not quite on China time, but we are working on it.

Tomorrow we go to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong tour and maybe an acrobatics show. The Hutong tour is a ride in a rickshaw and visiting an old section of the city and seeing some houses, maybe go inside one. Not sure. For now, good night from China.

test post

2010-05-08T11:34:00.001-07:00

Post as we head to China in 2010

2010-05-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

2010 Pics of Meigan (with one of her favorite foods on each finger), and Josh (in a racecar at Myrtle Beach)

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!

2010-05-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Things have been in a whirl wind since we got our travel approval! We are really going to China and we have so....much left to do to get ready.

It has been a real pain to get our travel arranged. We still haven't booked our hotels in Hong Kong. We are waiting to hear from David's friend in Hong Kong to see where we should stay that is close to his friend. We are going to get to see a Hong Kong fire station. That probably doesn't excite most of you, but we think it will be cool. We also have to leave a day earlier because we couldn't get airline tickets on the day we wanted them. We also have to stay another day due to the same reason.

Here is our itinerary:

May 10 - Leave for Dulles International Airport
spend the night near airport
May 11 - Fly to Beijing

May 12 - Arrive in Beijing

May 13 - Meet the rest of the travel group ( I believe there are 14 other families in our group)

May 14 - May 15 Tour: visit Tiananmen Square, Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour (tour of Chinese houses) possibly go to a acrobatics show.

May 16 - Fly to Zhengzhou, Henan

May 17 - Gotcha Day! Can't wait to meet you Abbey!

May 18 - Go to Adoption Registration building and complete adoption paperwork.
Abbey is ours!

May 19 - Day to rest (other families completing their paperwork)
Happy 20th Anniversary for David and me!

May 20 - Tour (hopefully we can go visit Abbey's orphanage)

May 21 - Receive Abbey's passport in the morning, Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou

May 22 - Abbey gets her physical and some shots. The shots are a requirement of the US Government, Senators are working to change this. I hope they do soon! Poor Abbey. (Meigan didn't have to get shots when we got her). Also, preparing paperwork for our US Consulate appt.

May 23 - Free time

May 24 - Have Abbey's Tuberculosis test checked

May 25 - Free time

May 26 - US Consulate appointment

May 27 - Take oath at the US Consulate (promise to the US government that we will take care of Abbey and never abandon her)

May 28 - Get Abbey's visa to come to the USA

May 29 - Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong on the train

May 30 - Site see in Hong Kong

May 31 - Fly home to the good 'ol USA!
(Hong Kong to Chicago to Dulles, drive home) or be too tired and stay the night at a hotel (the one our car is being parked at) and arrive home on 6/1

We got Travel Approval!

2010-04-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

We got our Travel Approval on Friday, April 23rd! Since starting this process everything has been so slow. Waiting for each step of this process has been just torture especially since seeing Abbey's picture right before Christmas. T0 have received our Travel Approval in 11 days after getting our Article 5 is a record for speed.

After people starting posting on one of the Yahoo groups that we are members of that it was hard to get flights to China in May and that they cost more, I knew we would get our travel approval. Apparently May is a great time of year to visit China and for people who live elsewhere to go back home to China for a visit. The airlines know it. Can't book our flights for sure until our appt with the US Consulate is booked. We hope to know our itinery for our trip by Wednesday of next week.

Yeah, we are finally going to China!!!!!!!! Here we come Abbey!!!!!!!!
(here I go again getting weepy)

We got our Article 5!

2010-04-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

WE GOT OUR ARTICLE 5! Our agency let us know this week that our Article 5 was picked up on Monday (4/12) from the US consulate in Guangzhou, China (who issued the Article 5) by an agency rep and sent to Beijing to another agency rep. The agency rep in Beijing has received it and hand delivered it to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) on Wednesday (4/14). Hopefully it will only be a couple of weeks before the CCAA issues our travel approval. Once we get travel approval (TA) we will go to China and get our sweet Abbey within a month of receiving TA. Our agency will call us when they get word of our TA and we will start making travel arrangements. We're in the homestretch!!!!!!!

For those who don't know what an Article 5 is, neither do I really. But it's the final approval from the USA that we have their okay to adopt Abbey and bring her home to the good 'ol USA. That when we come to China they will issue Abbey a visa to come to the USA (we have already paid them the fees for this). She will automatically become a US citizen as soon as her little feet touch the ground anywhere in the United States. OK, now I'm getting all weepy.

Will update our blog when we get any more news.

They found our $

2010-03-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

Our agency found our money and documents. Said they were sorry. They sent them to China on 3/22. That was a 12 day delay in us getting to China. But at least they found them.

We are now waiting to hear from our agency that the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China has processed our documents (Article 5) and they are on their way to the Chinese government (CCAA) for them to process our documents and issue our Travel Approval. All this will happen probably in the next month. OMG this waiting is so slow!

Oh the drama.......

2010-03-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here's one for the Bailey drama records!
Our agency lost our immigration paperwork and $5,160 worth of checks!
I sent this payment and paperwork to them on 3/10/10. I sent it Express Mail through USPS and requested that they sign for it. Thank heaven I did! They said they got some of the paperwork I sent them by an email sent to us on 3/11/10 (the travel portion part) but they emailed us last night asking us when we were going to submit our immigration paperwork (for Abbey's visa) and payment. The other stuff I sent them on 3/10! Of course, I open the email after business hours. so I have to wait until Monday to deal with them. Needless to say, I was not very happy. It took quite awhile before I calmed down. Still woke up in the middle of the night worrying about it. I just CANNOT BELIEVE THEY LOST IT!!!!!!!

This will most likely delay our travel, depending on how quick we can resolve this problem. I'm not very happy with them right now!

More OK's needed.....

2010-03-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you look at the sidebar of our blog (to the right) I have created a timeline of milestones on our adoption. For this adoption we have to jump through many more hoops to get all the approvals needed for the Chinese government to issue our travel approval. It's the US government that's the hold up in going. We just got our NVC (National Visa Center) letter last week telling us that our I-800A immigration approval was sent to Guangzhou, China to the American Consulate for our next approval. But the American Consulate have yet to receive our 230 document from our agency in the USA. They need this document in order to issue our Article 5 that is then picked up by our agency representative in China and taken to the Chinese government (the CCAA) for them to issue our Travel approval. Have I put you to sleep yet? Could they have made this any more complicated? I think not. Will keep you posted on the status of all this hoop jumping.

FINALLY.... An American name for our daughter!

2010-03-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

It seems as though it has taken forever to come up with an American name for our daughter. Almost every name Dave liked, I didn't, and every name I liked, he didn't. We tossed around more names than I can even believe we tossed around. Nothing seemed to stick, other than "Wennie". For those of you who like the name "Wennie", sorry. The name isn't Wennie. Some people have informed us that the name we chose is pretty, but there are tons of little girls with this name. She will be one of many with the same name in her class at school. Well, so be it. Having a last name that starts with a letter that happens to be close to the beginning of the alphabet she will most likely be #1 of this name. That works. Am I just dragging this out too long? OK, a drumroll please............... scroll down please........

Abigail Wen Bailey

(Abbey)

Waiting for our I-800A preapproval....

2010-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

There are many changes with the way immigration handles international adoption now. We are waiting for our I-800A preapproval to come. Even though we haven't adopted "Wennie", we had to fill out an I-800A form with immigration to classify her as an immediate relative before we go to China. When we got Meigan we didn't fill that form out until we were in China. Then there's another approval we need after that one, called an Article 5. Don't really know what that one is, but we will find out after the I-800A preapproval comes. We are pretty sure we will be traveling to China sometime between April and June. They way time flies, we will be going before we know it!

We got LOA!!!!!!!!

2010-02-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

On Monday evening emails starting coming in. The first one told us that we would be receiving a Fed-x package on Tuesday from our agency's accounting dept. Just the tracking information for the package. Then we got an email congratulating us on our LOA but it was addressed to someone else but sent to us. We emailed our agency back and questioned what was going on. This of course was after they closed for the day. So we waited for a response and figured the story of what was going on would be evident in the Fed-x package. So we get the Fed-x package and it's our Letter of Approval to adopt "Wennie"!

Late Tuesday night (about 10:00 pm)an email comes telling us that the info they sent us from the accounting dept was intended for us. Later (like 11:00 pm) an email finally comes congratulating us and telling us that we would be getting our LOA by Fed-x on Tuesday before 4:30 pm. How weird was all of that?

Here's the cool part to the story. We got our LOA to adopt "Wennie" on the same day that we received our referral for Meigan exactly three years later! What were the chances of that?

Dang Qing Wen pics

2010-01-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

We finally received our Pre-Approval to adopt Wennie (nickname for now - still grapling with her American name). Here are a few pics of her. We are on track to travel this spring (we hope).

Preapproval....maybe this week.

2010-01-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

We sent in our Letter of Intent to adopt on 1/5/10. It takes on the average about 14 to 20 days to get this preapproval from China. This preapproval is what we need to say with complete certainty that our little girl has been put on hold for us at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs).

We have been working on an American name for our daughter. We have had a lot of fun trying to come up with a name. Her middle name will be Wen. The Chinese that speak Mandarin Chinese say that it is pronounced "won". We will pronounce it as it looks. "wen". Anyway, we will let you know when we get our preapproval and when we come up with her complete name. That's when we will post her picture! YAY!

We have been calling her "Wennie" at this point. Some of you will cringe at that one and some will say "that's so cute". Her legal name will not be Wennie.

Hope to have some good news soon!

A little birdie told us something important..........

2010-01-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

As some of you know and most don't, we have gotten "THE CALL" from our agency! I think something happened, maybe someone intervened, that ended our wait, it wasn't our immigration paperwork, it's still out of date. We are scheduled to get refingerprinted next week. All I can say is that our little girl made her appearance to our agency and they referred her to us, in spite of what they had said. They finally matched us with a little girl that has the special need we indicated we were the most open to. I wish I could post some pictures at this point, but our agency has requested that until we receive the official word from the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs that they have preapproved us we can't post any pictures of her. Sorry!

But I will tell you that she is 2 years old. She has a repaired cleft lip and repaired cleft palate. She is reported to be smart, extroverted, easy going and we think she is BEAUTIFUL!

When we are allowed to post pictures we will!

We are so happy and are looking forward to going to China to get our new daughter! (not the plane ride! ) We went to China in economy class last time. About 12 hours into the flight I told David that people in prison get more room than we do and get better service too.

Waiting.....gee that's different.

2009-12-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

Our agency said they would not let us see files of children without having our immigration paperwork current. They told us about a month before our immigration paperwork was to expire that they would not match us with any children's profiles until our immigration extension was approved. When they told us that I was so....mad! I emailed them and asked them why and they never emailed or called me back. They match people up all the time that don't even have immigration approval yet. My personal opinion is this: They are letting us know that they aren't happy that we didn't take that severely handicapped child they presented to us. They wouldn't let us view any files a month before our immigration approval was set to expire. Sounds fishy to me. What do you think?

If I wasn't at their mercy I would tell them what I really think. But I'm going to save that until after this adoption is completed.

On another note, it took forever to get our paperwork ready to request an extension on our immigration paperwork. The forms were sent about 10 days ago and USCIS got them. But they haven't approved us yet. We still have to be refingerprinted. Yeah, you know, fingerprints never change, apparently only when one adopts does that possiblity exist. Our immigration approval expired 12.11.09. We won't have our extension approval until after we get fingerprinted so no Bailey additions for us this year.

Waiting and waiting and waiting......

2009-11-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

Actually we have contributed to our wait. We had been given the opportunity to adopt a baby girl in late October. However, her special needs are way more than we feel equipped to handle. It was very hard to say no. We are very saddened by this. Please pray for her that she will find her forever family.

When? LOL (or cry)!

2009-10-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest scoop. Someone posted that they had gotten their referral on a Yahoo waiting family group for our agency. Nothing unusual there. Except...they have a medical conditions checklist dated the day before ours and this person got her referral 9/23. That was over a month ago! A month is a long time between medical checklist that are only a day apart! I emailed our agency this weekend and they have not responded to my email. I'm going to call them today and see what the world is going on. Will update our blog when I find something out.

Just don't know...........

2009-10-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is October. As of October 20th we will have been waiting a full long 19 months to get our referral. Will it ever come? Yes! But when? Only heaven knows.

A little closer, a smidge....?

2009-09-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Maybe a little closer, but nothing yet. I was excited last time I posted. Now, not so much. What a roller coaster ride. Adoption is not for the faint of heart. So, I hang tough once again. Maybe it will happen next week. Yeah, right.

Matches haven't come this month for the traditional Chinese adoption program yet. Maybe the Chinese Gov't will send out matches and a new list for the special needs program before they take their Autumn moon festival vacation the first week of October. We can only hope. Of course a little prayer doesn't hurt if the desire to do so stirs in you. These children are waiting for their forever families and this long wait isn't helping anyone.

Maybe next week........

Closer?

2009-09-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I called our agency and spoke to Sarah. I had joined a Yahoo group for waiting families (thanks again, Tricia B.) and got some links to other peoples blogs. Reading those blogs made we want to ask our agency where we are in the virtual line of waiting families. So I asked. Sarah was excited to tell me that we are in the ballpark for a referral (FINALLY!!!!!).

GLORY HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD!

So, maybe I shouldn't be quite so excited. But, it feels somewhat like a relief that our referral will probably come this year! Hopefully not too much more waiting.

I ask myself through this long wait, "How do you already love someone you haven't even met yet?" But I love her already. She is in this world, waiting for her family. I just want to go get her! I guess it's sort of like being pregnant (forever, in our case). You haven't met that beautiful little person growing inside. But you know you love them. When you are expecting in adoption the child doesn't grow in your womb, the child grows in your heart. In the adoption world, they call it being "pregnant on paper".

The need to update paperwork and fingerprints...

2009-08-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Our agency has informed us that we need to apply to extend our immigration paperwork. This involves getting a homestudy update and getting refingerprinted. Since immigration is so slow they ask that we start the process now (our fingerprints don't expire until 12/11/09)so that we will not have any lapse in keeping our paperwork current. The good thing about this is immigration made changes and grants a one time extension for no cost. When we got Meigan we had to pay all the fees all over again to get our paperwork extended. So this change is a good thing. However, I continue to wonder why we have to get refingerprinted. Best I remember from biology class is that the fingerprints you are born with stay with you for life. So, why the need to redo them? They are going to be the same every time! What a waste of time. We have to drive over 2 hours to get to the immigration place to get our fingerprints redone on the day and time they tell us. How inconvenient can that be?

Well there is no fighting the system. If we want our daughter home from China we have jump through all of these hoops. So we are starting the jumping process again! Yippee!!!!

Maybe on the horizon......

2009-08-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

From what we hear, from a few sources, the wait is supposed to end at around 18 months to get our referral for our daughter. Well, officially we started month 18 in our wait as of August 20th. Should I get excited? Should I run to answer the phone whenever it rings on a weekday and is business hours for mountain standard time (our agency is in Colorado)? Well, I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. The eternal optimist. That's a good thing right? The thought still crosses my mind when the phone rings. On the bright side, one day the phone is going to ring and its going to be our agency telling us they have a little girl waiting for us. OH I can't wait!

We already talk about our new daughter (sister) all the time. We have planned things around how it will be when she comes home. We have bought things for her. We have saved things for her. Meigan talks all the time about sharing with her (we see how that actually goes when it becomes the real world). Please come on referral!!!!!!!! (eight exclamation points to bring on good luck in Chinese, it's their lucky number. the lucky number 8 is why the Chinese started the olympics last year in China on 08/08/08).

And once again, nothing.......

2009-05-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have asked if we have heard anything about our daughter yet, we say "Thank you for asking.". It means so much to us to have your support and care during this wait. We really thought we would have at least a picture of our daughter by now. It's hard to not think about it. Every time the phone rings the thought crosses my mind that it could be our agency. Here it is May and we just can't believe that it's been almost 14 months since we submitted our Medical Conditions Checklist that started this adoption rolling. Someone needs to get behind that slow rolling and give it a swift kick.

We will update this site when we get any news. In this case, no news it not good news.

2009-03-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here is one our favorite pics of Josh & Meigan (May 08)

Just Nothing!

2009-03-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

"Nothing from nothing leaves nothing, and you gotta have something". Feeling like nothing will "EVER" happen with all the dossier work we have done. Once the dossier is in China there is nothing to do but wait. Waiting is very hard. I found a blog yesterday that has left me feeling blue today. The lady who writes this blog has 4 bio kids and has been to China 4 times since 2005 and adopted children with special needs. She has just identified another child to adopt and is working on the paperwork to go get her too. If I was a betting person I would say she will get this next one before we even get a referral. Apparently, our agency is on the slow boat to China without a sail or oars. I am asking myself today why we went with our agency again. We could have been to China and back by now if we had used some other agency. Yes, I would like some cheese with my wine.

No news

2009-03-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

No news isn't always good news. We have not been contacted by our agency for a referral yet. After all the paperwork is done on the dossier and there is nothing left to do but wait, it is hard. I keep trying to tell myself that it will happen when it's supposed to happen. That doesn't make it any easier.

I got news yesterday that the two twin headboards I ordered for the girl's room will be delivered tomorrow. Sure hope I like them. I ordered them online. We will only put up one of them for now since we have no idea how old Meigan and Josh's new sister will be. We have the crib on stanby in case we need it for awhile.

WE HAVE A LID!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to check out our agency's web site to look at the milestones we have achieved in this adoption process. I went into our Parent Access and scrolled down. They had a date of January 22, 2009 listed as our LID. I was sure it was a mistake. Our dossier was delivered to the CCAA on January 21st. How could they possibly log our dossier in by the next day? So I emailed our agency and they confirmed that is our LID. They also said they had emailed us and told us but we never got that information. The most important thing about this is......

We have a LID!!!!!!!! 01/22/09!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to get a LID so soon! That means that we could get matched with our child at any time now!!!!! No, I'm sure the thought won't cross my mind every time the phone rings.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2009-01-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Today starts the celebration of Chinese New Year! This is the year of the ox. The Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year starting today (Jan 26th) and the partying ends on February 10th. If our USA new year lasted that long it's interesting to think of the trouble some of us could get into.

Originally we thought we would get our LID by the end of this month but we forgot about the CCAA and China being basically closed until Feb 10th. I think we will get a LID by the end of February. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Our dossier has been delivered!

2009-01-23T06:41:00.000-08:00

Our dossier has been delivered to the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs)! With Chinese New Year starting on January 26th we don't expect to receive our LID (Log In Date) until sometime in February after all the New Year celebrating is over. It feels good just knowing that it is there.

Our dossier has left for China!

2009-01-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

Our agency has translated our dossier and has sent it to China today! We are so surprised. We thought it would take at least a few days to get this done. They told us yesterday that our dossier was approved and today it is China bound! We still won't know for awhile when they actually log it in to their system in China. But it feels great knowing it's on it's way!

Dossier Review Complete!

2009-01-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

Our agency emailed us today and told us that our dossier review is done and it is has been moved to translation. This means that they (our agency) have approved our dossier . It is complete and it will soon be sent to China! They will let us know when they mail it off to China! We are still hoping for a Log in Date (LID) by the end of January. For those of you who don't know what this is, this is the date the Chinese government gives us to let us know that they have officially received our dossier.

Our dossier is done!

2009-01-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Finally we finished our dossier and sent it to our agency this past Tuesday, Jan 6th. It took us 9 months to get it done. It took Homeland Security 5 months to process our I800 application. The new system for Homeland Security that started on April 1, 2008 has made this whole international adoption process even more complicated. But the upside is that our dossier is finally being processed to go to China!

We have requested to adopt a special needs child. We haven't been matched with a child yet, but we hope to be matched fairly soon. We will update this blog as the exciting events unfold.

ADOPTING AGAIN FROM CHINA!

2008-04-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

If you don't already know, we are in the process of adopting again from China! We started the paperchase in early March. We have sent in our information to our agency in Colorado to wait for a child in their Waiting Child Program. Our dossier is in the process of being completed. It will be some time before we get matched with a child. We will update our blog when there is any news
We are waiting to matched up with girl in the Waiting Child program between the ages of 1 and 3 years old. We are so....excited to be adding to our family!