Jade Factory

A Full Day!

Today was definitely a full day! We started out by meeting our guide at 10:00am in the hotel lobby. We headed out for the Great Wall, but stopped by the jade factory on the way there. The work the jade carvers do is quite unbelievable...and from one piece of jade! We looked around a bit and admired all of the goods and then headed on out to the Great Wall.

Let me just say that pictures do not do it justice. It is so massive that you only catch pieces of it in any one photograph. We climbed up to the first watch tower, but that was as far as our tired legs could take us. Thankfully, it as sunny, but the wind made it quite cold.

From the Great Wall we made our way to the Summer Palace. It was built by Emporor Qianlong for his mother's 60th birthday. There is a massive lake on the property that was peppered with paddle boats. Along the lake is a long corridor which holds the Guiness Book of World Recofrds longest corridor award. Each beam and cross beam is beautifully painted. It was a beautiful day for having a leisurely walk along the lake.

Lastly, we attended the Chinese Acrobat show which was great. The acrobats are amazingly flexible and strong!

I am so tired I can't think straight right now, so I'm going to close. I will try to post more later as my brain becomes less foggy.

And to update you all on what happens next...
We will check out of the hotel tomorrow morning and visit Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. From there we travel to the airport. Our flight for Guangzhou leaves around 3:15 tomorrow afternoon. We get Sophie on Monday!

Thanks for all of the comments you all are leaving. We have loved reading each one!

We Made It!

After a couple of LONG days, we made it safely!  It's late here and no pictures to post.  Look for a post of our visit to the Great Wall, Summer Palace, and the acrobat show tomorrow!!

 

 

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Our bags are packed, and I think we have everything ready to go! We leave bright and early Thursday morning from Mobile and land in Beijing Friday night around 10:40pm, which is 9:40am here! It will be a long day, but we are so ready to go, to take this step into the next chapter of our lives.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support during these past 4 years. I'm sure there are more of you than I know, but we do appreciate them so much. We would have never made it to this point without each of you, but please don't stop praying now! Pray us all the way there and all the way home. Pray for Sophie, as she has just been moved from her foster home to the orphanage. Pray for peace for her and for us as we meet each other for the very first time. Pray for safety for all of us.

Everyone keeps telling us how much our lives are about to change. I'm ready for it!

Flights Are Booked And Itinerary Is Set!

Everything is set! I booked the flights today, and we have our itinerary for while we are in China.

March 25 and 26 - Fly to China
March 27 - Sightseeing in Beijing (Great Wall, Summer Palace, Acrobat Show)
March 28 - Sightseeing in Beijing (Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, Temple of Heaven)
March 28 - Fly to Guangzhou
March 29 - Meet Sophie
March 30 - Finish China Adoption Process and Passport Photos
March 31 - Apply for Passport
April 1 - Sightseeing
April 2 - Sightseeing
April 3 - Sightseeing (travel to Shantou to visit orphanage on one of the sightseeing days)
April 4 - Sightseeing
April 5 - Free Day
April 6 - Physical Exam, Receive Passport
April 7 - Apply for Visa
April 8 - Swearing in Ceremony
April 9 - Receive Visa and Take Train to Hong Kong
April 10 - Fly Home - Arrive back in Mobile at 9:06pm

We are so excited!! In 10 days we will hold our baby for the first time!

We Have Our Consulate Appointment!

Our consulate appointment has been confirmed. It is April 7, which means we are leaving in 8 days!

Here is the schedule so far:
March 25, 2010 - Fly to Beijing
March 28, 201o - Travel to Guangzhou
March 29, 2010 - Gotcha Day!!! This is the day we meet Sophie!
April 7, 2010 - Consulate Appointment
April 10, 2010 - Fly Home!

Our TA is here!!

This is the plan, although it still has to be confirmed.

 

Leave on March 25 - fly to Beijing

March 28 - fly to Guangzhou

March 29 - meet Sophie!!

April 6 - Consulate Apptmt

April  8- Get Visa

Fly home either evening of April 8 or morning of April 9.

 

Woohoo!! 

 

TA Is On Its Way!

I love the Chin* coordinator, Xioaqing, at our agency!  She is awesome!!  Would you like to know why?  Because she stays up late, late at night to talk to the workers at the C*C*A*A to find out the latest on all of our files.  This morning at 2:30am, she emailed me to let me know that our TA was mailed yesterday!!  This means we will be going to China VERY soon!  WOOHOOO!! 

 

Stay tuned for more details!!

 

 

Still Waiting on TA

This is how I feel right now while we wait for TA. We had hoped it would be here on Monday, but no such luck. Our agency is now hoping for Friday or next Monday. I guess it has to come eventually, right? It's just so hard watching our daughter grow right before our eyes as we wait. I know it will be worth it in the end, but it sure is difficult right now.

The Big Snow of 2010

On Friday, we received an unusual phenomena.....Snow! "Snow?", you may ask. Yes, snow. Five inches of snow! In south Alabama, snow is a huge deal. Everything stops here when it snows. People storm the grocery stores to buy up all of the bread and milk. Schools close. Banks close. You name it, it closes.

The snow was gorgeous, and the flakes were huge, but what a mess when it all started melting. It was somewhat of a bummer, though, because I was home alone during the snow. There's something not so fun about making a snowman by yourself. Anyhoo, I did get out and make some pictures. Hopefully it won't be another 13 years before it snows again. I will be too old to make snow angels, if that's the case!

Enjoy the pictures!

Snow on Saturday morning

Happy New Year!

Today, February 14, 2010, is Chinese New Year! We celebrated a little early by going to the Chinese New Year parade in Fairhope last weekend. It was a family affair this year. My parents and sister went with us, as did Tim, Michele, Nick, Anna Kay, Michael, Jessica, and Merrill. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time!

Next year we will participate in the parade. It will be the year of the rabbit, so if anyone has any ideas for decorating a float, please don't hesitate to offer them!

Update on Sophie!

Sophie is 1 year 5 months old

Since we are now waiting on our Travel Invitation, we decided it would be a good time to get an update on Sophie, so we put together a list of questions and sent them to our agency coordinator. She's wonderful about translating questions for us and staying up all hours of the night to talk to someone at the orphanage. Remember China is 12 hours ahead of us, so while we are sleeping, they are in the middle of their work day. This morning we woke to an email back from our agency with answers to our many questions from Sophie's foster mother. And as an added bonus, we have a picture of Sophie holding a picture of us! How great is that?!

Current Measurements:

Height: 75cm (29.5 inches), weight: 10.5kg (a little over 23 lbs, gained about a pound) , head size: 48cm (~19 inches), chest size: 50cm(~20 inches), length of her feet: 12cm(~5 inches - Her feet have grown a good bit!), number of teeth: 6 (She has cut two teeth!)

Sleep Schedule:

She goes to sleep at 9:00 p.m and gets up at 7:00 a.m. (Sounds like she's a good sleeper!) She takes one nap a day, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. She goes to sleep easily. When it is time for her to go to sleep, she only needs to have a cloth in her hand and she falls asleep on her own without having to be rocked or drinking a bottle (I may have to rock a little anyway after we get home!).

Eating habits and schedule:

She is not a picky eater and likes all foods. (Yea! I was worried I was going to have to learn to make rice and fish congee!) She likes rice, noodles, rice porridge(congee) with minced meat in it, fruit, corn, crackers, candy. She doesn't like vegetable very much. (What kid does though, right?) She takes a bottle after she wakes up in the morning and one at night before bed.

She has started walking on her own. She calls "Wa Wa" for father. She babbles a lot.

We also hear that Sophie did receive the care package we sent her a few months ago. We are so relieved and hopeful that we will seem somewhat familiar to her since she's seen our pictures.

Praying for TA!

So Blessed

On Wednesday, our co-workers had a shower for us. Everyone was so sweet, and we received so many nice things. Sophie received clothes (she's going to be one dressed up little girl), toys, books, and all of the many things that little girls, and Mommies and Daddies, need! The cake and decorations were beautiful, and the food was delicious!

We are so blessed to have so many friends who care about us and have been so good to us throughout this process. We are so grateful to each and every one of you who has given us a shower, brought food for a shower, given us gifts, and prayed for us as we waited to bring our daughter home. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Enjoy the pictures!

Beautiful and delicious cake!

There was so much food!

Look at all of the gifts! I'm digging that jogging stroller!

How sweet

Bo, me, and my mom

Lots of great gifts!

LOA Day!

Today we received our LOA from Fedex! In stead of waiting on the package to be delivered to our home, I called Fedex and tracked down the truck carrying it and met them in town. I have been patient for over 3 years, so today was a well-deserved day of impatience!

This is our Fedex delivery person, Kathy, who delivered our LOA today!

After receiving the package from her, I headed to the mill so that Bo and I could sign the LOA, makes copies of it, and get it back to Fedex for delivery to our agency in California.

This what the actual LOA looks like. It basically tells us that we have been matched with our daughter and that they need confirmation from us that we want to move ahead with adoption. It only took a split second to check that box!

Bo signing in the place for the Adoptive Father's Signature.


Me signing in the place for the Adoptive Mother's Signature.


All is done! You couldn't wipe that grin off of our faces!

Now the wait for our travel invitation(TA) begins. Do you see a pattern here? Hurry up. Wait. Hurry up. Wait. This has been the story of our lives the past 4 years! Anyway, China will receive our LOA on Monday, and the countdown begins for TA. I hear the norm is 3 weeks from LOA to TA, but there have been some instances where TA was received in 2 weeks. We are hoping and praying for the latter, but with Chinese New Year just around the corner, we are more than likely looking at the end of February for TA. We are so thankful that things are moving along now. We have lots to do between now and travel!

L - O - A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just received a message from our agency that our LOA arrived today!!!!

 

We will receive it via Fedex tomorrow.  We must sign it and send it back via Fedex overnight so that it can be in China by Monday.  We are praying that we receive our travel invitation before China closes for Chinese New Year.

 

Hang on Sophie, your Ma Ma and Ba Ba are coming to get you!

 

Another Great Shower!

On Sunday, January 17, some friends from church had us a great shower! It was a wet, dreary day, but so many people came out to celebrate Sophie. It was so sweet of everyone. Sophie received so many beautiful things, all of which we really needed! Thanks again to Beth, Rachel, Lynn, and Paula for having the shower for us. It was so sweet of you!

LOA Should Be Here Next Week!

The agency rep called me today to tell me that she expects to have our LOA next week!  Yea!!!! 

 

I asked her how long it was taking to get the travel invitation once our LOA goes back to China.  She said the least amount of time that she's seen is 2 weeks, and the norm is 3 weeks.  She says she expects us to travel after Chinese New Year, which is February 14.  Everything in China closes down for a week during Chinese New Year, so the CCAA will be closed from Feb. 13 - 20.  If our travel invitation comes before they close for New Year, then we should travel the end of Feb. or early March.

 

 

 

LOA Update

There is no new news, but I wanted to explain the process in a little more detail.

We've been waiting for 69 days for our Letter of Acceptance(LOA) to come. We know we are in the Matching Room, where our file and Sophie's file are put together and the LOA is written. Our agency says they expect it "any day now". From what I have seen on other's blogs, it appears that the magic number of days that are passing before receiving LOA is 75. If that holds true for us, which we hope it surely does, we should receive our LOA sometime next week. Day 75 for us is next Tuesday, January 19th. Once we receive the LOA, we sign it and send it to the US Consulate in China, who then forwards it on to the China Adoption people, or CCAA. We can then apply for our visas. The next step then is for the CCAA to issue our travel invitation, or TA. Once we receive TA, our agency can make our appointment with the US Consulate in China, and then we can begin booking flights.

I know you aren't supposed to wish your life away, but I really wish tomorrow, or today for that matter, were January 19th!

Happy Thursday!

We have a new picture of Sophie! I share it with mixed emotions; happiness to see her sweet face and to see that she is doing well and growing, but sadness that we are missing all of this time with her. Praying our LOA and TA come very soon!

Christmas '09 - Our Last without Sophie

Our Christmas celebration came in 4 parts this year! It began at Tim and Michele's on Monday, where they hosted me, Bo, Michael, Jessica, and Merrill for dinner. We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed opening gifts with the kids and grandkids. Nicholas, Anna Kay, and Merrill had a great time, as did we watching them.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. We had a late lunch of soups, sandwiches, and baked potatoes along with a smorgasboard of desserts. After eating and visiting for a while, we all went to church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service. This is always such a special service and having the opportunity to take part in the Lord's Supper on the night before Jesus's birthday makes it even more special.

On Christmas Day, we began with Christmas with my parents, sisters, brother-in-law and nieces. We opened our gifts, had breakfast, and had a leisurely morning. We then went to my grandmother's house and had lunch and spent time with my Mother's side of the family. We all ate lunch and just enjoyed being together. That evening we went back to my parents' house for dinner and watched my nieces open their gifts.

 

On Sunday after Christmas, we travelled to Lee and Regina's to have Christmas with the two of them, Tyler, Brianne, Wyatt, and Bailey. We all (minus the twins) went out to lunch together and then went back to their house to open presents. On our way back home, we had to make a stop to see Wyatt and Bailey, who are back together in one place, thank the Lord! We were able to spend some time with both of them. They are both growing so much and have changed dramatically since the first time we saw them. They are truly miracles!

 

 

As I said in the title of this post, this is the last Christmas we will celebrate without Sophie. It's been a long journey through this adoption process, but we knew God had His hand in it. It was difficult at times, and still is, but we know we will have Sophie in our arms very soon. It will all be worth it in the end.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year!!

Sophie's First Baby Shower

On Sunday, December 20, 2009, a very good friend of mine, Johnnye Peacock, hosted a baby shower for Sophie. Johnnye is one of the most talented and creative people I know, and she really outdid herself for the shower. Johnnye's home was beautifully decorated for Christmas, with her collection of Christmas villages displayed throughout her home and three beautifully decorated Christmas trees in various rooms of her home. The invitations were just precious, and the food was delicious. Johnnye had beautiful poinsettia cupcakes in a cupcake tree, the cutest Sophie cookies I have ever laid eyes on, fruit and cake with chocolate fondue, spinach dip, nuts, apple cider, coffee, and water. We had a great crowd to attend the shower, and it was fun visiting with everyone and opening up all of the great gifts! Thanks, Johnnye, for all you have done for us and for being such a great friend!

Enjoy the slide show below!

The Care Package Is On Its Way!

For the past month or so, we've been gathering things to put in a care package to send to Sophie. Yesterday it began its journey to China. In the package was a Build-A-Bear panda that plays a recording of our voices, a security blanket, a photo album with our pictures in it, an Alabama onesie for her and one for her foster brother, an Alabama elephant for her foster brother, a disposable camera that we hope her foster family will use to take pictures of Sophie while we wait, Priester's honey-glazed pecans for the foster parents, a letter for the foster parents, and a map of the US that indicates where Sophie will be living when she comes to America in a couple of months. We hope it makes it there quickly so that she can see pictures of us and hear our voices enough that we will seem a little familiar to her on Gotcha Day. We have sleeping with the security blanket for a few weeks and hope that our scent will be familiar to her as well. As a friend told me one day, "Every day that passes is another day closer to Sophie". I hold on to that and remind myself of it daily. The time is certainly going by quickly, and before you know it, we will be boarding a plane to China!

Sophie's goodies

Foster Brother's goodies

Foster Parents' Goodies

Update.....

I emailed our agency rep today to see if she was still thinking we would travel in January or February, since it is already mid-November and we haven't received our Letter of Acceptance(LOA) yet. I thought that our LOA would come quickly since we were logged in back in 2006, and our file had already made it through the review room. She emailed me back and told me that since we changed agencies, things were a tad more complicated than that. It seems that when you switch agencies, someone has to find your file thas was with your original agency's pile and move it to your new agency's pile, and then your file has to go back through the review room again. Well, our file has been located and transferred to the new agency's pile, and it made it to the review room today. Our agency is hoping that we will receive our LOA in December and travel at the end of January. So.....we wait a little while longer, but we know what the prize will be in the end. It will be worth it! But it truly is harder to wait once you see your baby's face, and you know she is half-way around the world waiting for you to come and get her. On the bright side, there is a very good possibility that we will be celebrating Bo's birthday in China! This will definitely be a memorable birthday for him!!

We Have Sophie's Finding Ad!

When children are found abandoned in China, the police are contacted in order to help find the birthparents. As part of that process, finding ads are placed in the local newspapers that include pictures of the children, a description of the place where they were found, and the date on which they were found. This finding ad is usually the earliest information that adoptive parents can find about their child(ren). Brian Stuy, with Research-China.Org, provides a service to adoptive parents where you send him your child's name, birthdate, finding date, and finding place, and he finds your child's finding ad in the local newspaper and sends it to you. Today, we received Sophie's finding ad. We are so pleased to have this information to share with Sophie one day, and we are thrilled to have a picture of her at such a young age. This will be so important to Sophie in helping her to understand her past and the things she experienced as a baby.

She is the one on the left, #1306