Waiting for Dumpling #3

New Pictures of Happy Girls!

2008-09-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday America and 5 Years Ago Today!

2008-07-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

Fu Hui Ying Today at Preschool Graduation

Referral Picture of Fu Hui Ying

Five years ago today, I attended a wonderful July the 4th celebration with some very good friends. We sat around and oohed and aahed over the most wonderful things, our referral pictures that had come the day before! We shared the tiny snippet of information that we had gotten the afternoon before when we had gotten the CALL. Oh, it was such a wonderful day! And isn't amazing how she changed our lives!

Happy Birthday America! This day will always be a day of double happiness in my mind.

Bad Blogger!

2008-06-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well... I am terrible about posting now that I have gone back to work. I am hoping that I will get better at this. Everyone is doing great! Little Miss Annie Fanghua has settled right in and we could not imagine life without her. One of the girls' favorite activities is to have a sword fight with foam swords.

We have joined a community garden and today we spent the morning putting in our first plants. It was really nice. We have some friends from China who are sharing our plot with us. The girls had blast playing with their friends and running around in the dirt and water. We had to cover the car seats in plastic before letting them get in to come home.

A few more pictures from our homecoming

2008-04-28T10:42:00.001-07:00

Continental Coach ClassFirst Meeting with Mimi and Mikie

Mimi holding Annie Fanghua

I am not getting into that carseat!

Hong Kong Disney

2008-04-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

On the train to Hong Kong from GuangzhouKorean Dried Squid Snacks on Main Street, USA

Can we ride the space ship again Baba?

Tea Party Anyone?

Once and Future Ying???

We have had a lot of people ask about our trip to Hong Kong Disney. My only comment is "Do it!" if you get the chance. The girls all had a great time. We met all the princesses so Meimei was thrilled. Ying got a chance to try to remove Excaliber (the ultimate sword in her opinion) and ride in space ship and tea cup, and Annie Fanghua ooohed and aaahed over the beautiful fireworks at the end of the day. It was worth every penny of our money to go. It was definitely smaller than the one in Anaheim but there were some similarities and some big differences. We also enjoyed sitting down to a dinner where we could eat the food and drink drinks with ice and not have to worry about a thing. They also made these wonderful fruit juice drinks that were great to have after a long day of riding the rides and walking the park.

How Annie is adjusting... and First Day of School

2008-04-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

First Trip to the Zoo in TXThe Tiny Hiney Club!

First Day of SchoolGardening with my teacher on the first day of school

We are all so happy to have this vibrant, beautiful little girl in our family. She is a total joy to be around. She loves her sisters and is having so much fun being part of our family. For the last couple of weeks, she would wait by the front door waiting for her sisters to come home from school. If they were later than 5:45, she would start asking for them. Sometimes she greeted them fully clothed and other days it was in the buff. But, no matter what she was wearing or not wearing, there were always squeals of delight. She is also starting to cuddle more with Patrick and will let him do things with her. When she is tired or hurting or just being crabby, it is only Mama who will do. But, now she is starting to hang with Mr P more often.

She had her first week of school last week and it went surprisingly well. We were concerned after the first day when we dropped her off and she had a total melt down as we walked out the door. Apparently, it only lasted for about 20 minutes. The next day, the fit was for 10 minutes and by Wednesday, we had complete turn around. Wednesday morning, Miss Tiffany her teacher called to her in Chinese to come over. Annie Fanghua ran over, motioned to be picked up, and then turned to us and said, "byebye Mama, byebye Baba." We are so blessed to have had a child who had been in preschool in China and to have a teacher here who took the time to learn a few phrases to make the transition easier. She finished the week off by an early dismissal on Friday and a picnic in Herman Park with the girls, including Mama and Mimi. She thought she was in heaven to eat fried chicken and get to run around and chase birds! We ended Friday by a trip to my dad's community garden plot where Miss Annie Fanghua got to pick veggies including her beloved green beans.

We have learned that this child is full of life and in excellent health. The only big transition issue has been that no one has ever told her "No". And if you tell her no or she does not get her way, she pitches a rip roaring temper tantrum that can last up to an hour. Hopefully, these will end soon.

HOME!!!

2008-03-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

We made it home! We made it home! We made it home! We are so happy to have made it home. Late Saturday night we arrived home after literally 24 hours in the air! Mimi and Mikie were waiting for us in baggage claim and it was so nice to see them. We had a some what eventful time getting Annie into the car seat. Yep, her first ride in a car seat was dramatic to say the least. But, we made it home without our eardrums being shattered. Everyone took a bath and boy, was it nice to be in non-stinky water. We are all still trying to adjust our clocks but so far, everything is going well. Little Annie is having a ball. She had a great time at her Mimi's house yesterday and even got brave enough to ride her trike down the sidewalk without Mama. Today, she found the Nerf swords and all three girls had a sword fight. Miss Annie can hold her own!

I will post a little bit about our trip to Hong Kong Disney tomorrow but I wanted to let everyone know that we are home and doing well.

A few more pictures

2008-03-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

Hefei Girls on the Red Couch
Sisters
I love hair things!
Our Special Friend Ann from Red Thread China
Ying, QunQun, and Meimei
The Group at Dinner
Ying and QunQun
Sleeping Beauties

The Anhui, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Jiangxi Girls on the Red Couch

Only two more wakeups!

2008-03-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Meimei's look sums it all up!
Getting out of the rain instead of trying to slog through Yun Tai Gardens.
Watching the cooks!
Baba and Annie
Some special Chongqing friends we met at the International Toy Market

We are ready to go home. Actually we have been ready for over a week. We have had a wonderful time making new friends like the Gerbers, Qun Qun and her family, the Maitlands, and our special friend Ann from Red Thread China. Anne helped us send care packages to Annie and we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon with her in Guangzhou. Qun Qun is a beautiful little girl who we met in Hefei who has found her forever family in the US. Ying adores Qun Qun and it was nice to spend some time with her and her special family in Guangzhou. Our travel group has made this trip bearable. We could not have done this without our friends the Gerbers and Maitlands. Having friends to share the joys and some times trials of this trip have really helped us. For some reason, this trip has been our hardest. The past two trips were sort of bitter sweet towards the end. This trip, it has been more like, we are done with this and send us home! In the last shop we were in tonight, I told Patrick that we should just go. We really did not need any of the stuff there and we could do just fine without it. We will be forever grateful to China for our beautiful daughters. We love this country but we are ready to head to our own country and our own home.

Tomorrow, we board a train in the morning for Hong Kong. We hope to spend the day in Hong Kong at Disney, go to sleep in one more hotel, and then head home the next morning. I don't know if we will have internet access tomorrow night so this might be our last post from China.

Easter Chinese Style!

2008-03-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Christ Church Shamian Island
Easter Dresses
Happy Girl!
Ice cream in the park
I love Ice Cream!

Sunday was Easter. We slept late, had a big breakfast, and went to church. We went to the longest Easter service I have ever been to, about 2 hours. It was a combined Chinese and English service at the Christ Church Shamian Island. We probably understood about 1/4 of it but it was nice to be there on such a special day. After church, we went and walked the Island. Overall it was just a nice day to relax. For some reason, this time, getting to Guangzhou has been a relief. I think because there was not much to do in Hefei. And, it is much warmer here, so no big heavy coats to carry and drag with us. I also came to realization. I love Sichuanese food and Cantonese food. I am not so sure about Hefei style cuisine. I have no trouble the last two times in Chongqing finding Chinese food to eat. In Hefei, I struggled. I just did not care for it. Last night we went to a nice Cantonese food. All the dishes were familiar to me from all of the banquets, etc... that we had been to in the States. I ate something more than just rice and soup.

How Annie is adjusting...

2008-03-22T17:15:00.001-07:00

Annie loves Mama. Annie loves Jiejie Ying. Annie loves Jiejie Meimei. Annie loves Grandma Judie. Annie likes Grumps. Annie sort of likes Baba. Annie is slowly warming up to Patrick and Grumps. Grumps was able to hold her for about 2 minutes without any screaming. Patrick has been able to hold her a little bit if Mama is right there. Patrick can be with Annie while Mama goes potty right now but if Mama goes somewhere like a store and Annie can't see Mama, she screams. She has got some lungs on her. Hopefully the ice with thaw with Patrick and soon.

A few more pictures

2008-03-22T17:07:00.001-07:00

Come on Folks, we have to go upstairs!
Sisters eating Haw together.
Look Mom, here is my bed. I am going to eat some more Haw now...

A little bit more about our visit to the Hefei CWI

2008-03-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit. Hefei CWI is an amazing place. Annie was very comfortable with us going and she took my hand and led me around. She walked right into one of the other children's home like she owned the place so clearly all the girls interacted with each other during school hours and then afterwards. We met her foster mother who was just amazing. It was clear this little girl was loved and cared for. Annie took my hand and led me to her bedroom to show me her bed. We spent about 10 minutes at the foster parents' apartment and then we went to the play ground. All the staff including the nannies on the baby floor recognized her and the two other little girls in our travel group as we were walking to the play ground. The preschool classes were coming out to recess. We had a great time meeting all the little kiddos there. So many precious children. Here are some photos of our visit.

Pictures from the Hefei Zoo

2008-03-22T16:22:00.003-07:00

I tried to post these in Hefei but the internet connection was too slow to upload them.

We made it to Guangzhou!

2008-03-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

We made it to Guangzhou last night. This has been our third trip to Guangzhou and our third stay at the White Swan. And the third time they have messed up our reservations. After about 2 hours which included 45 minutes of check-in time, we finally got our rooms. And our room and Denny and Judie's room is on the same floor. I won't go into the details but if you stay here, don't back down and go to the second floor reservation desk. The first floor group check in people will always tell you that they are booked solid and they can't do anything. We met up with our group from Beijing and all went to dinner at Lucy's. It was nice to see all the families looking happy and well. Today we are going to church on the Island for Easter.

Goodbye Hefei, Hello Guangzhou

2008-03-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful visit yesterday to the Hefei CWI. I will post more about it from Guangzhou. Tonight, we are packing for our trip to Guangzhou in the morning. Finally, a flight that is not at the crack of dawn.

A little more about Annie

2008-03-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

We had our third day together as a family. Little Miss Annie is fitting right in. She even let Patrick carry her in the zoo. The first time he had to go up hill with her in his arms, he shot me a look and said, how have you been doing this??? She is one solid little girl. She is very bright and she knew most of the animals by sight at the zoo. We got belly laughs and lots of smiles. She even let Grumps hold her for a few minutes and then played with Grandma Judie. The zebras were amazing to her. Ying and Meimei loved the zoo too. They both rode in the strollers with Grumps and Grandma Judie pushing them. We saw an amazing sea lion show. They have two trainers who direct a sea lion to do all kinds of neat things including standing on one flipper and balancing a ball on its nose. It is choregraphed to very cheesy music. The kids loved it. We happened to arrive at the zoo at the same time two preschool classes arrived. The children were all 3-6 years old. They were darling. We filmed them singing a traditional children's song, Yi Fen Qian. This was the first song Ying ever sang and she joined right in. For those who are about to visit Hefei, the zoo is very nice. The first two sections of it have peacocks and deer who wander freely. The whole setting seems more of a park and the animals are in nice enclosures.

After the zoo, we went to Carrefours and McDonalds. This was the first time for Ying and Meimei to eat at the Golden Arches. They loved their food of course and Meimei was enamored of the banana fried pies. She ate the filling out of three of them. Annie seemed to enjoy her meal. The chicken nuggets were new to her but french fries were not. She also enjoyed shopping at Carrefours.

Then things took a turn for the worse. We came back to the hotel and the girls played like maniacs. Annie joined right in. We went to the 6th floor playground which is a nice playground on a roof top garden. They have a slide, some rocking things, a little table and chairs, a kids tunnel and something else that I can't remember. You can play and see Hefei . The girls had a blast. Annie is dare devil and would laugh hysterically when she went down the slide. When she grins and laughs, she holds her chin down and you can see all of her chins (she has at least 2). The girls decided to have races around the outdoor pathway. Annie, of course, joined right in. After the first turn around the circle, she slipped, fell, and bit her lip. Oh, my goodness, this child has lungs. She screamed and cried for over 45 minutes. She was so pitiful. She would not look at anyone other than me and she cried "Mama, hurt". Someone taught her the word hurt. We know she knows it because after the fall about three hours later, she held her hand out to Patrick and said "shou hurt" which was hand hurt. She cried so hard that she wore herself out and took an hour nap on me. After that, she would not interact with anyone other than me. Patrick tried to feed her at dinner and she threw food at him. She threw her spoons on the floor and demanded that Patrick pick them up. Of course, he did not so she upended her juice on herself and the floor after getting his attention. After this incident, I was the one who said enough and took everything away from her. She was fine with me discipling her but if Patrick tried, she just set her mouth and shot him dirty looks, and kept right at what she was doing. We left and got her back to the room. She took the dreaded bath (she hates them) and she let Patrick help her. Once she was asleep, I went downstairs for a foot massage. If you ever stay at the Holiday Inn Hefei, definitely get a foot massage. For 68 RMB, you get a very nice foot and leg massage that does not involve any sharp implements or hot water like they do in Beijing!

Today we are leaving for the orphanage. We will see how that goes. We will post more photos tonight.

Some thoughts on China the third time around

2008-03-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have now traveled to China 3 times. The first time in Sept. 2003, then Nov. 2005, and now March 2008. So it is roughly every two years. While things changed between 2003 and 2005, the differences between 2005 and 2008 are amazing. There is definitely an economic boom here. We see it in the number of expensive cars on the street and in the shopping areas. Beijing while getting ready for the Olympics has under gone a huge building boom. It was amazing to see the amount of new apartment buildings going in. To live within the first two ring roads of Beijing, you will pay over 500,00 USD for approximately a 3000 sq meter apartment. And, people are buying apartments without a mortage system like the US. According to the two guides we have had, most young people are saving towards buying an apartment and they try to go within the first 4 ring roads. This is sort of amazing to us since some of the people we have met here have a monthly income of 500 RMB.

There are also the very rural areas that have not been touched by the economic growth. Hefei seems to be in the middle of this. It is definitely not the economic power that Chongqing is and it is not terribly poor either. But it is clearly more agricultural and has not reached the level of other large cities (a little under 5 million people). But, the number of very expensive cars like BMWs are amazing. But things here are not cheap especially compared to things two years ago. We went shopping last night and while some things were an amazing deal like 6 pairs of kids shoes for around 33 USD, other things were not so cheap. Clothes at local stores not department stores were around 100 RMB or 14 USD an outfit for Annie. Two years ago, we would have paid maybe 50 RMB. And the US dollar has definitely gone down. We notice that daily when we go to change money. So with the booming economy, there is definitely an increase in the cost of living. Groceries are still fairly inexpensive but when you only make 500 RMB a month, 100 RMB at the grocery store is pretty costly. It has been interesting to watch the changes here.

Our second day together

2008-03-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures from yesterday and then more about our second day together.

The streets of Hefei are interesting to say the least and they have road construction just like home!

It is again 5 am China time and I am up. We go to bed so early that my internal clock has me up early which is good since I get time to update everyone at home without little Miss Annie asking to bang on the computer keyboard.

We had a very good day yesterday. In the morning, we had to go to the Civil Affairs Office to finalize the adoption and to the bank to change our adoption donation into RMB. Ying and Meimei spent most of the day with Grumps and Grandma Judie which was perfect. Meimei is having a little visit from the green eyed monster and Grandma Judie is giving her undivided attention which is what she is craving. Ying is tickled pink by little Miss Annie. And Annie seems to like Ying quite a bit. Meimei and Annie are still sort of circling each other like two dogs who are not sure yet who is the Alpha Dog. It will be a close tie between the two. I'll explain more in a bit about this.

We made it back to the hotel right about lunch time and took Annie to lunch. We have found a very good 24 hr noodle shop in the hotel that is about 4.00 a person versus the 12.00 a person for lunch at the fancy buffet restaurant in the hotel. Annie promptly sat herself down and said "yao" when the lady with the dim sum cart came by. Yao means want and it is Annie's favorite word besides Mama. This girl can eat! Annie ate 5 veggie dumplings and 1 steam bun and probably would have eaten more if we had let her. We went back to the room for nap time (Ying and Meimei wanted to nap with Grandma Judie. We laughed because Grandma Judie has not had the pleasure of nap time with the girls like Mimi. Needless to say, there was no nap!) Patrick and I decided we were still a little hungry so we pulled out some peanuts. Well... Annie eats peanuts. Anything that Mama is eating or for that matter anything that anyone else is eating, Annie has to sample. She stretches out her little hand and says "yao". We looked at each other and said do you think she can eat these? So we broke a peanut into a small piece (no easy feat) and then all we heard was crunch, crunch, crunch. So... she eats peanuts. We also decided to start Annie on the antibiotic because she has fairly nasty upper respiratory infection with a cough that is kind of rattly. I held her and Patrick gave her the medicine. She shot him looks that could melt steel. For those of you that know Meimei, think of her looks. Annie is right up there with Meimei.
We had our first major meltdown after naptime. And, it was because I had to go to the bathroom. Annie did not want to stay with Patrick. In fact, she sobbed "Mama" over and over again while he tried to hold her. After that, she would only give him the cold shoulder. We remarked last night that it is like I have a little duckling. She is always 2 steps right behind me. And it is a funny little duck who who is still a little wobbly like a two year old.

The orphanage visit was postponed until Thursday. Thank goodness, I think we need a few more days for her to be comfortable with us. We also needed to go by her some clothing since she is having to wear her sisters' clothes. (Two of the PJs I brought fit her and a little warm up suit does except that the jacket is a little short and that is it. ) So we went to a local pedestrian shopping area. Yep, we were rock stars again. Ying did great in the crowds and Meimei just shot looks at people. Annie would turn her head into my shoulder. Annie rode in the stroller for the first time. The only way she would ride in it was on Ying's lap and with me walking beside her. And she would only ride for about 5 minutes and then want me to carry her for another 5 min or so and then she would get back in. We found her some clothes to wear and we learned more about her. She is a shoe and hair thingy fiend! We went into a little shop that was like a beauty supply store. She headed straight for the hair things and would grab ones that she liked. We have a little bag of things that she picked out for herself. She also likes shoes. And she has definite opinions on ones that she wants. We went to the department store and she was only drawn to shoes and toys. She had little interest in clothes. After dinner we came back to the room and she played with the girls and Patrick for the first time. Bubbles were a huge hit and the girls all played a game to see who could smack the most bubbles that Patrick was blowing. She finally gave Patrick a kiss last night during the game.

We learned a little bit more about Annie's personality. She has a deep belly laugh that comes out when I tickle her or raise her over my head (no easy feat since she weighs in at 35 lbs). She is very affectionate and will give you kisses without asking for one (this is still only to me). She is very observant and will assess the situation before jumping in. She watched the bubble play time and then jumped in after a minute or two. And she is very opinionated and will let you know her displeasure immediately. She has some of Meimei's iron will and we are waiting to see if she has Meimei's easy going personality.

We have her!

2008-03-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

Wow! Words can not express how today went. Annie Viola Fanghua is absolutely amazing. All of our prayers have been answered. We have had a very easy transition.

We met up with our group early this morning in the lobby and drove through the streets of Hefei. People that think morning traffic in Atlanta in bad have never been to Hefei. We finally arrived at the Civil Affairs Office. We go up to our floor and walk into a room that looks like a classroom with long tables with chairs at them. We immediately spot our travel mate's daughter. Then we turn and look to the side and Annie is sitting quietly on her teacher's lap. She is playing with one of the toys we sent her. Unlike our previous two adoptions, we did not rush in and grab this little one. Instead, we let her stay with her teacher and we talked to her and fed her cookies. After about 10 minutes of this, I could not stand it and tried to pick her up. Big mistake! I promptly put her back down, she quieted down, and was happy again. I pulled out a bottle of juice and when I started helping her drink the juice, she decided to stand up and come closer to me. Her teacher used this time to slip away. Annie had no problem with me then. She ate continuously from about 10:00 am until 1 pm! Then she took a two hour nap, woke up in a good mood, ate a snack , went for a walk, and then went to dinner. She seems to be very healthy except for a little cold and smart as a whip! She played a game tonight where she would point to an object and tell me in Chinese what it was.

She is a cutie. And, she will fit right into the family. This girl can eat! At a little over two years of age, we think she is a little over 35 lbs. So much for what her doctors predicted! She will eat almost anything, except for apples. At lunch she ate a bowl of steamed eggs, a bowl of rice with some chicken, some broccoli, some watermelon, two cookies, part of steam bun, and an gelatin dessert. The biggest issue we are facing is that very little that I brought with me will fit her. She is about a 3T.

She is adjusting nicely although this evening, she is definitely a Mama's girl! Mama was finally able to go shower after getting her to sleep in Mama and Baba's bed. She is too long for the baby crib in our room.

Now for what everyone has been waiting for, PICTURES!

On a lighter note... St. Patrick's Day Chinese Style

2008-03-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today is St. Patrick's Day. It is a huge deal for my husband's family. Gee what more could you expect from some one named Patrick Shannon? We thought that St. Patrick's Day probably had not migrated from the Emerald Isle to the shores of China. Patrick's parents, Denny and Judie joined us on this trip like they did on the last trip. So we packed a couple of things for Grandma Judie to celebrate with today. No corned beef and cabbage, but at least we have some shamrocks! The girls gave Grandma Judie our little surprise last night. Poor Annie, she is going to think her new family is crazy with all the green! The girls even picked out a green hair bow for her today that is covered in shamrocks.

On A Personal Note

2008-03-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Very few people outside of my immediate family and some close friends know about my faith. Part of this is probably being Lutheran and part of this is probably being German and part of this is that it is not something that I am comfortable discussing with people I don't know well. Of the two of us, I am probably the more traditionally religious person. Why am I bringing this up? Well it is a little over 5 am here on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. It is also the day that Annie joins our family. And our journey to Annie has been complicated to say the least. Few people outside of family and close friends knew about Annie in the beginning. Why would we want not to scream it from the tree tops? The last 9 months have been a trying time for our family. We have faced new a job, the break in employment when moving from one academic institution to another, selling a house that is still being renovated and finishing it up to put it on the market, selling a house in down market, a spouse working 900 miles away, finding a new job in an economy that stinks, you get the picture. So our journey to Annie has been about FAITH. And I capitalize FAITH because that is all it could be. It is not a small faith. This required that we heed the call from God and follow on FAITH. And the conversation I had with our Pastor and Parish Nurse sums up what we have been doing. This has been one of those times when you hear the call and you know you are being led but you kind ask, ok God, now what??? Well in 5 hours, our now what arrives. Please keep our family and Annie in your thoughts and prayers this morning.

Beijing

2008-03-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous time in Beijing. The first day we went to the silk market and several other stores and then on to the acrobats. The acrobats were amazing! The next day we went to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square was closed for the Peoples Congress Meeting but we did get to walk the length of it. This morning we flew off to Hefei bright and early. The airport was interesting. Yesterday was the first day of the no liquids rule in China. It was mass pandemonium trying to go through security. We made it to our plane with no time to spare. But, because of the security delays, they held the flight and we were actually some of the first people to board. Tomorrow is the big day when Miss Annie arrives. We will post tomorrow evening. Here are some photos of our time in Beijing.

We made it!

2008-03-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

It is now 7:02 am on Thursday 14th in China. We made it! We got in yesterday afternoon after a long plane ride. The girls were troopers. The girls went to bed at 7:30 and we followed at around 8:30. We made it until 4:40 this morning when we all woke up! We will post more this evening.

We leave tomorrow bright and early!

2008-03-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we are going to stay at an airport hotel so that we have an easier time getting to our 6:30 am flight to BEIJING!!!! We get Annie on St. Patrick's Day! WOOHOO! We are on our way!

Packing, packing, packikng...

2008-03-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

It is amazing what you think you need to take with you and then you realize it just won't fit! We are slowly wading through our packing list. And, a word to the wise, don't ask a 5 year old on what they want to take with them...

We're leaving on a jet plane...

2008-03-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

We bought our tickets last night. We are leaving on 3/12/08!!!
Here is our tentative schedule:
3/12/08 leave for Beijing
3/13/08 Arrive in Beijing
3/14/08 Tour Beijing
3/15/08 Tour Beijing
3/16/08 Leave for Hefei and meet Annie (maybe)!
3/17/08 Meet Annie (maybe) and finalize adoption (maybe)
3/18/08 Finalize adoption (maybe)
3/19-20/08 Hanging out in Hefei
3/21/08 fly to Guangzhou
3/26/08 Consulate appointment
3/27/08 pick up passport
3/28/08 train to Hong Kong
3/29/08 Leave Hong Kong for the USA

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!! OUR TA IS HERE!

2008-02-29T11:09:00.001-08:00

We are probably leaving around 3/13/08 with a consulate date of around 3/25, 3/26, or 3/27!!!!! Oh, what a happy day!

No TA News, ARGH!!! Take Two

2008-02-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

Nothing, nada, nyet, bu... We have no TA! It seems like everyone else and their dogs have gotten TAs this week who have LOA dates right before and a few a day or two after us. UGH!!! But, no one else from our agency has theirs either. So, this means we will most likely go with a group (a small We are definitely not traveling on 3/7/08. Now it might be 3/13/08. Oh, let this be the day that we get it!

No TA News, ARGH!!!

2008-02-24T05:52:00.000-08:00

It is now almost 3 weeks after we received TA and nothing, nada, nyet... No news! Part of the problem is that the CCAA was closed for Lunar New Year. For some reason this wait is harder than it was for our previous two adoptions. Those TAs came like clock work and we knew it was going to be roughly 7-8 weeks post referral for travel. ARGH!!! I just want the stork to come soon.

Last night was the end of Lunar New Year, the night of the Lantern Festival. We took the girls on a walk around the lake with their light up lanterns. They were so cute. Right now, they are sitting and watching the Wonder Pets! They love the Wonder Pets.

We sort of have travel dates...

2008-02-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Well our travel advisor gave us date to use when we shop for air fare. We are trying to figure out how to go this time. We will be a family of 4 going and a family of 5 when we return. Hmm... Do we spend the extra $$ for premium economy class.

A little bit more about Hefei CWI..

2008-02-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Annie has been living at the Hefei CWI. About 2 weeks ago, we received a video of a visit to the orphanage and Annie's foster family. This was one of the most amazing things. We got to see what Annie was like about a month before our referral for her. We think she was about 16-17 months old. Boy, she is cute. Also we learned that the orphanage is a great place. Annie has a foster family with several other siblings. She has foster parents who are very affectionate with her and her siblings. The apartment that the family lives in is very large even by US standards. The children have their own beds and the apartment has 3 bedrooms. The school at the orphanage is great. It looks like any US preschool and in fact nicer than some of the ones we looked when we were shopping for the right school here. We are so thankful that Annie has been in such a very great place. Did you notice her hair??? How nice and shiny it is? She has been very well taken care. We are so blessed.

WOW!!! We have LOA/LSC! We are going to China!

2008-02-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

We are still in a state of shock. On 2/5/08 we received our LOA/LSC. That was incredibly fast since we thought we would have a 120 day wait. (Our agency had said a 90-150 day wait so...) Instead, we had a wait of 54 days!!!! We think we will go to China sometime during the last part of March or the first week of April. We had thought we would be traveling in late May or even as late as late June/early July. WOW! We are going to China. WOW! Now all we have to do is wait for our TA. Our agency said that it could be 2-4 weeks for TA or slightly longer. (The CCAA or Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs closed for Lunar New Year on 2/7 and they will not reopen until around the 13th or 14th of February.) And, after TA it could be 2-4 weeks for travel. We are really hoping we leave the week of March 20th because of Spring Break. So any prayers people want to say about our travel would be great.

One thing I have decided to do is try to post more. I have been a very bad blogger. I really need to get into the habit of it since we are going to be posting about our trip in China.

Officially now 32 days of waiting...

2008-01-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well, we are now 32 days into our wait. Life is starting to settle down for us post holidays. We are settled in our new place so now all we need to do is wait. (And I need to find a job in the same city with the rest of my family. UGH!) The girls had a wonderful Christmas with both sets of grandparents and all were very excited about Annie. Annie had a few presents under the tree and we will holding those for her when she comes home this spring.

The wait for Annie has definitely been different than for her jiejies. This is the first time where our child to be had a birthday prior to us arriving. It was sort of bittersweet to wake up that day and know that it was her second birthday and we would not meet her for a couple of more months. We sent her a birthday cake and a small care package for her birthday.

New Stats!

2007-12-15T06:55:00.000-08:00

LOI 8/31/07
PA 9/28/07
DTC 11/30/07
LID 12/12/07

We are DTC!!!

2007-12-01T05:08:00.001-08:00

We are now DTC. Now we just need to wait for that LID. Woohoo!!!

Ebay!

2007-11-25T10:41:00.001-08:00

I am cleaning out closets. Check out our Ebay auctions under seller ID 091667.

Dossier

2007-11-06T02:59:00.001-08:00

WE MAILED OUR DOSSIER TODAY! Yippee! One step closer!

2007-11-01T11:03:00.001-07:00

We are still waiting on that one last document to come from the consulate. Hopefully soon it will arrive! Ugh!

Last Document!

2007-10-18T04:50:00.001-07:00

Look at her silly sisters waiting for her!

Annie V. in September! Look how she has grown!

I sent our last document off to the consulate today! Woohoo! We will be DTC soon. But best of all, we got new pictures from a family that just traveled!

Updated Pictures!!!!

2007-10-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

We got updated pictures!!! Oh, my goodness, Annie has grown. She is just beautiful. She is now about 20 months old.

We got PA!

2007-09-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

Our agency called yesterday and guess, what??? We got PA!

Here is our referral info for Annie V.:

Name: Lu FangHua
Location: Hefei, Anhui

She is about 18 months old right now.

And so the wait continues...

2007-09-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well... I spoke to our agency and those families who were not DTC yet and submitted their LOIs the same week we did have not received PAs yet. We are now thinking like this: If the PA comes before 4-6 weeks, we will be pleasantly surprised. But, we are still on pins and needles!

2007-09-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, several of our other parents in our agency waiting child program received their PAs after one week of waiting. Our agency seems to think we might hear something on Monday or Tuesday! Wow! We are still sort of shock since we were thinking 4-6 weeks.

Wow! The beginning of our story...

2007-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

We have two beautiful daughters from China and decided about a year ago to add a third child to our family. So we thought we would start the process again, be logged in and wait and wait and wait. We had decided that we were for sure going to go the special needs route but we would either ask China to match us with a little one or wait for another 6 months or so before we ask our agency to match us with a little one.

Well... you know how plans change, right? On Friday, August 24th, our lives were going to change forever. We had gotten a call and an email from our agency earlier in the week that sounded like they wanted to just confirm some things. So, we scheduled a phone conference for 3 days later. While sitting in the Ikea parking lot, we got a call that went something like this:

Agency: So, we have been reviewing your Waiting Child Application and we have a few questions for you.

Husband puts the phone on mute and says what application? I say back, you know the one I told you about about 3 weeks ago that the person at the agency said to just go ahead and fill it out but we will not do anything with it. Oh, that one he says.

Us: Uh, ok.

Agency: So, we see you are hoping for a child around 3 years of age.

Us: Uh, yes. We just finished potty training our youngest child and we have given away all baby items. Woohoo! No more high chairs for us.

Agency: And you have a variety of needs listed here, can we confirm them?

Us: Uh, yes.

Agency: We also see you have a request of where you would like your child to come from based on your other two children.

Us: Uh, yes.

Agency: Well... We know this is the worst possible time with everything going on in your lives, but, we have a child for you. She is younger than you had listed on your application and from a different area. Here are some details. Why don't you think it over and call us back if you would like to see her file.

Us: Uh, uh, OK?

An hour later after both of us saying to each other that we are completely insane to even been thinking about this...

Us: Send us the file please.

Agency: Great. She is beautiful. You have two weeks to review her paperwork and make a decision.

Us: Uh, uh... OK.

Two hours later while sitting in front of the computer after having looked at the medical and developmental reports and NO PICTURES...

Us: Well... she is perfect!

Opened the first head shot of this little one....

Us: said through tears...She is definitely one of us! We have a baby again.

On Friday, August 31, our LOI was sent to China. Now we sit and wait for our Pre-Approval to come from China. So, we are in the first trimester. The time when you know in your heart about this child but you are not quite ready to share her information with friends and family because you are worried that something dreadfully will go wrong...