we are 'on the board'

I know that pic is hard to see-if you click on it you can view a larger version. Even though our flights to China are confirmed, it was very exciting to log in to CCAI's website and go to the Travel Page and see OUR GROUP...complete with our travel dates. It just makes it that much more real when it is up on CCAI's website. Hooray!
Tuesday will be a big day-not only will we receive our Final Travel Packet from CCAI, we should also be receiving Updates. And, JC Travel should be sending us our Beijing Tour specifics.

G'pa Kessie is visiting this weekend-a lovely diversion to keep all of our minds off the wait. The boys took all of 2 minutes to warm up to him...he is a kid magnet! Tomorrow we hope to go to the Boulder Farmer's Market and hopefully to the park on Sunday if the beautiful, warm weather holds.

Updates are on their way

From a post on my DTC board this morning:

Judy said today that updates started coming
in yesterday and that they are hoping to
have them all finished to mail out on Monday!!

While I am really excited to see and read more information, I am also
hoping she hasn't grown up toooo much, you know?

Finding Ad

Today we received Mae's finding ad, published in the Hunan Daily on September 6, 2005. It is the earliest picture we have of her...and it looks just like her! Besides details of her finding, the paper describes her this way: "She has an apple face, little hair, and was wrapped in a light blue cloth diaper." Brian Stuey of research-china.org is the person who travels to China to locate the newspapers. He has 3 daughters from China himself. The finding ad is placed in the provincial newspaper of the child's hometown after being admitted to the orphanage. Mae's ad was placed one month after she was taken in by the Huaihua SWI. Three months later, she was getting her picture taken and going to the doctor so that she would be 'paper-ready' for adoption. We are so glad to have this sliver of information...another piece of her history. Thank you Brian!!

more fun with the Travel Dept.

Today everyone in our Travel Group received a brief phone call from Emily in the Travel Dept. at CCAI. She was checking up on us to see how we were doing with all of our paperwork and making sure we had emailed our itineraries to her. We will be receiving our FINAL TRAVEL PACKET next Tuesday. Besides the very exciting IN-CHINA DETAILS, it will also contain the time and phone number for our GROUP CONFERENCE CALL on Thursday, April 13. (I apologize for all the caps...it was either caps or exclamation points..which is more annoying?) The conference call is 30 minutes long or so, and my SIL will also call in to the 1-800 number that we will be given to be included. Finally, Emily requested that as soon as we receive our Beijing Tour information from JC Travel, to be sure to forward it on to CCAI so they can send it to the Hong Kong reps, who will then know where to contact us, if they need to. WOO HOO! I am so excited to be doing these last few steps that will get us ON THE PLANE to China. Bring it on!!

Mama's boy

On June 4, 2005, Paul and I took a 4-hour class at CCAI called "Developmental Aspects of Attachment." The class focused on ways to initiate the bonding process with the adopted child and made us aware of signs and signals that needed to be dealt with. One that struck us both was that an un-attached child will do everything in his power to turn away from comfort. If he is angry, he will not let you hold him to comfort him, for example. If he is hungry, he will not look you in the eye when you feed him a bottle. Things like this, our instructor warned, can be important ways to forge the bonding with your child. HOLD YOUR CHILD...even if she tries to hit you, or is screaming at the top of her lungs. Feed your baby in such a position that she MUST look you in the eye. Even better, when feeding solid food, wait for eye contact before giving a bite. Eventually, the child will learn to trust you; she will let her guard down, and bonding will timidly begin.
Well. Much of what this instructor talked about applied exactly to Sam. A difficult, fussy baby, I often resorted to putting him in his crib, setting the timer for 15minutes, and then returning to him (he was always still screaming)...refreshed enough to try again. I could seldom comfort him if he was angry or hurt...he preferred to comfort himself. Nothing dramatic...he was obviously aware that I was his mama and everything...but he still preferred, even as a baby, to take matters into his own hands. That class shook me up. Badly. I went home that afternoon and began parenting him differently. When he threw things across the room and screamed and screamed in a rage, I didn't put him in his crib and shut the door. I held him. I talked to him. The most successful was filling his sippy cup with milk and letting him gulp it down while holding him. S-l-o-w-l-y, he began to mellow. He became amazingly attached to me. Ted has never shown a real preference for Paul or me...he's happy to accept either of us. This is unusual but handy. Sam is a true Mama's boy now. When he hurts himself he wants me. When Ted hurts his feelings, he wants me. It is wonderful! I am SO SO glad we took that particular class. It has made a real difference in Sam's personality. He is happier, more mellow, more confident, and much less angry. I have been too guilty to post about this. But for some reason, today I got over it and instead decided to post it. Perhaps some of my other blogger friends have a child who is this way. Perhaps Mae will be this way, especially in the beginning. Why should she trust me, anyway? It will take time. And thanks to Sam, I know that I can do it. I can bring this child in...it just takes time and patience. Thank you, CCAI, for requiring these courses. I'm sure they will help me parent Mae. I didn't realize they would also save my relationship with my beautiful son.

Itinerary

Here it is! We will travel Business Class to and from Hong Kong. I will have a fun overnight in LA alone with Mae...hmmm...thanks alot!

United Airlines 551-Sunday, April 30, 2006
From: Denver (DEN) 5:11pm
To: Los Angeles (LAX) 6:32pm

China Southern 328-Sunday, April 30, 2006
From: Los Angeles (LAX) 11:50pm
To: Guangzhou (CAN) 6:20am (Tuesday)

China Southern 345-Tuesday, May 2, 2006
From: Guangzhou (CAN) 9:20am
To: Beijing (PEK) 11:55am

(2 day, 3 night Beijing Tour)

China Southern 3092-Friday, May 5, 2005
From: Beijing (PEK) 4:40pm
To: Hong Kong (HKG) 8:10pm

(Domestic Flights arranged by CCAI)

China Southern 327-Wednesday, May 17, 2006
From: Guangzhou (CAN) 9:00pm
To: Los Angeles (LAX) 6:50pm

United Airlines 710-Thursday, May 18, 2006
From: Los Angeles (LAX) 8:00am
To: Denver (DEN) 11:30am

One month ago...

Tomorrow is March 28th...we have had the joy of looking at little Mae's face for one whole month now. It's a beautiful face! Referrals are rumored to be arriving at agencies today, but our agency doesn't have any more referrals in May, and this batch is rumored to include only up through May 31. This leaves my fellow CCAI friends with a 6/2 and 6/3 LID very, very sad. It is only a rumor though, and I am hopeful that their referrals will also be included. In another month, April 28, I will be 2 days away from leaving for China! Itineraries aren't finalized, but it looks like we will depart the evening of April 30, arriving in Beijing on May 2. I'm glad May 1 isn't my birthday or something! I have been really impressed with JC Travel's service. Janet, who is Chinese and our travel group's advisor, was on the phone with me twice yesterday, Sunday, to make sure she was doing everything the way we want it done. We and another family would like to visit Hope Foster Care (where the babies are that we raised money for a few months ago) and we aren't sure yet that we will be able to...but I really appreciate Janet's attempt at making that fit into our tour itinerary if at all possible.

I have pictures from Huaihua SWI, but I am not sure that I should post them publicly. I am not sure where the line is...what is too much information? The one picture I feel comfortable posting is the one of the gate, the entrance to the SWI. This is where Mae is reported to have been left (a very good sign...this means someone actually went to the trouble to leave her RIGHT AT THE GATE of the local orphanage...very risky and a guarantee that she would be taken in right away.) The SWI looks poor and run down, as was reported. But all the love and care that these babies have obviously been given speaks louder than a fancy building. We are so grateful to the caretakers who have cared for our babies. One more month...
And only 5 more Mondays without Mae.

heads...or blankets?

Ted is into flipping a coin.
He says "Heads or...or...or... blankets, Mama?"
I always choose blankets. Wouldn't you?

A Trip to Hunan's Huaihua City

I found the following article here:
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/english/english-2/huaihua.htm

"In terms of area, Huaihua is the biggest city in Hunan Province. Here, Han Chinese live harmoniously with 31 ethnic groups, including the Dong, Miao, Yao and Tujia. According to historical records, the history of Huaihua dates back 300,000 years to the Paleolithic age.

Hibiscus Tower is at the confluence of the Yuanjiang and Wushui rivers in Qiancheng Town. This was where the famous Tang-dynasty (618-907) poet, Wang Changling, held banquets for his guests and farewell parties for his friends, and has, over the past dynasties, been the ideal setting for scholars to compose poems and artists to create masterpieces."

CHEN XIAOTIAN is a freelance writer.
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/english/english-2/huaihua.htm

completed translations

So, when we received our information at referral, it was a summary of different points (growth stats, personality etc.) Today we received the complete translation of Huai Xiang's Growth and Development Report, as well as her Immunization Record. Much of this information is personal to Huai Xiang so I won't post it publicly, but I will post the sweet insights into her personality. She sounds like a very sweet little baby who is being taken care of by people who truly care about her. It's heartwarming.

Huai Xiang is gentle and quiet and she is afraid of strangers. She is very quiet and doesn't like to show herself off. She loves to eat the rice cereal made by our orphanage. Huai Xiang loves to have adults talk with her. Although she doesn't have much ability to express herself, she will listen to your talk carefully. She doesn't like to be cold and we are careful to keep her warm. Before she falls asleep, she will cry for a while. Huai Xiang's four limbs' development is normal and she can coordinate them. Now she can move around freely by sitting in the baby walker to enjoy things that she is interested in. Huai Xiang is a very active, healthy, and lovely little baby.

Isn't that sweet? That is dated December 15, 2005, so she was only 4.5 months old. I can hardly wait for an update which will hopefully have more pictures and another development report.

Beijing is a go

After a nice talk with my SIL, we are going to go ahead and do the Beijing tour. So that is exciting! This means sending our visas back to get the double entry visa...oh well. I spoke with our travel agent, Janet from JC Travel, and she is on top of it. It should be a really busy but fun tour and hopefully we will all be well-adjusted to Beijing Time well in advance of getting Mae. Our itinerary will be ready on Tuesday afternoon and our travel conference will be on Wednesday at 11am our time. Bring it on!

my projected itinerary

We won't get an official "Sample Itinerary" until March 28, but based on other samples we've gotten from CCAI, here is my best guess. It puts "Mae Day" on May 8. The dates in italics are an optional 3-night, 2 day Beijing Tour that our Travel Group may choose to do.

May 1 -Depart Denver for San Fran, to Beijing
May 2 -Arrive Beijing
May 3 -Great Wall & Ming Tomb Tours
May 4 -Tian-An-Men square, Forbidden City & Summer Palace Tours
May 5 -1/2 day rickshaw tour; Depart for/Arrive Hong Kong
May 6 -Hong Kong Tour
May 7 -to Changsa, Hunan Province
May 8 -Mae Day!
May 9 -Civil Affairs Appt
May 10 -free day
May 11 -1/2 day tour
May 12 -1/2 day tour
May 13 -to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
May 14 -free day
May 15 -Mae's physical and passport photo
May 16 -Consulate Appointment
May 17 -Depart for HOME

DHL just dropped off my package from JC Travel-my Chinese Visa is nicely glued into my passport! Hooray!

CA: 5/16

CCAI TRAVEL UPDATE 3/23/2006

Great news! Today we received Consulate appointment confirmations for G950!

Your group’s Consulate appointment is confirmed for: 5/16/2006.

Based on this Consulate appointment date, CCAI requires that you arrive in Hong Kong on, or before, 5/5/2006. CCAI will provide an airport pick-up for anyone arriving in Hong Kong on 5/5. You can depart Hong Kong after 11:30am on 5/18/2006 (or depart directly from Guangzhou to the U.S. after 9:00pm on 5/17/2006).

Ellen here. Well, there it is. I can't say I'm not terribly disappointed. This puts us at a 9 week wait from Referral to Travel. Some groups leave as early as next Tuesday. I will also miss all of Ted's violin recitals which is a real bummer. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, waiting a few more weeks won't really matter. It just really smarts right now. At least we KNOW now. That has been the hardest part. Now we know...and now we wait...again.

torture

The CCAA & the consulate must enjoy torturing us. Yesterday 2 groups got their CA, for 4-14. Today 3 more groups did, for 5-4. Still no word on ours, which probably means we will be one of the last groups out, leaving in early May. This isn't too bad, except that 2 groups are leaving NEXT WEEK. As happy as I am for them, I am green with envy that they will see their babies a whole month earlier than I will...just...because! Argh. Oh well. I shouldn't complain...at least our group got our TN...there are still 2 groups that haven't get received that. What is the CCAA doing...why not just match everyone up with TNs at once and be done with it?! Geesh.

weird

My blog has been down all day today, March 21. Wonder what's up.

TNs have arrived!!!!!!

CCAI TRAVEL WEB UPDATE 3/20/2006

Shocking and wonderful news! Today we received Travel Notices for Group 950!

We have faxed the U.S. Consulate - Guangzhou requesting appointments today. Our first request for your group was May 4th. There is only a small chance that we could get an appointment on May 4th, but if we do you could be leaving home as early as April 19th. If we do not get an appointment on May 4th, you would probably be departing for China in early May.

The Consulate can take 1-5 business days to reply to our requests. We will email your group when the Consulate appointment confirmations arrive. Please keep in mind that we must have a confirmed Consulate appointment for your group BEFORE we can estimate travel dates, begin planning your travel, finalize arrangements with our China staff, or a networking travel agency can answer specific questions about your trip.

Ellen here, yippee!!! It has been exactly 3 weeks tomorrow since our referral. TNs usually come in 2-5 weeks, so tomorrow I was going to be officially sad that ours was taking so long. Next step: Consulate Appointments! We're coming, Huai Xiang! Hang in there!!

word cloud

Isn't this neat? This is called a word cloud. You can get one for your blog here.

improv

I wish I had brought my video camera to violin group tonight. At the end, anyone who wants to play a solo comes to the front of the room, says their name and announces their piece (not like they have that much rep...it's more like choosing a rhythm.) Well, Ted got up there and mumbled something, then, with a flourish, set his violin up and played. At first, he was playing Rhythm 2 (officially Run Pony, Run Pony although he thinks he has created something new by calling it Run Lion, Run Lion) but then switched to Rhythm 4 (Peanut Butter Alligator) and ended with a furious accelerando! It was so funny! He was very proud of his 'composition.' This is a bit frowned upon in the Suzuki method, but I loved it!

sick again

Doesn't really seem fair, somehow. Last Thursday, I was just starting to feel the ache in my throat...it all went downhill from there...a minor cold but still an inconvienence. Well, lo and behold, last night my throat started up and I woke up this morning totally congested and stuffed up. Blah! The boys were complete angels today and I was able to get a little rest in during their rest times. Paul totally took over at 5:30pm and I took a hot bath and lay down for a while. I should go to bed, but it's so peaceful when the kids are sleeping...Sam has had eye goop for a few days now (he's got eyedrops 4x/day-THAT is fun) and Ted just started really coughing again today. Geesh. I'm ready for Spring.

8 more

Only 8 more Wednesdays without Mae...

Mama hao

This is a lullabye all Chinese children know. Get out the tissues...(make sure you enable pop-ups to hear the song being sung.)
Click here for Mama Hao.

laptop = personal item

Phew!!! From the JC Travel homepage:

5. Is a handbag or camera bag considered carry-on luggage?

You may carry on one bag and one personal item such as a purse,
briefcase, camera bag or laptop computer.
---
So, my carry on + laptop backpack will be ok for all flights. Yippee!

Typical Adoption Travel Itinerary Outline

This was in Travel Packet II. It looks very exciting! Our Provincial Capital is Changsa, in Hunan Province.

Typical Adoption Travel Itinerary Outline

Day 1 Leave the U.S. for Hong Kong. (Other possible entrance airports include Beijing or Guangzhou, depending on ticket availability)

Day 2 Arrive in Hong Kong.
Welcomed by CCAI Hong Kong Representatives.
Go to your hotel (4- or 5-star).
Free time.

Day 3 Guided full-day Hong Kong city tour (optional).

Day 4 Fly From Hong Kong to the capital city of your child’s province.
Welcomed by CCAI Representatives.
Go to your hotel (4- or 5-star).

Day 5 Receive your child at the Provincial Registration Office or hotel. Congratulations!
Sign the Guardianship Paperwork.
CCAI’s contracted medical consultant, if available, will visit your child.

Day 6 Adoption Registration and Notarization appointment at the Provincial Civil Affairs Office.

Day 7 Wait for adoption paperwork to be completed for the next few days.
Optional shopping trips to the local department store for baby supplies.

Day 8 Optional half-day city tour of local point of interest.

Day 9 Optional half-day city tour of local point of interest.

Day 10 Receive registration certificate, notarized paperwork, and child’s passport.
Fly from the provincial capital to Guangzhou where the U.S. Consulate is located
Welcomed by CCAI Guangzhou Representatives.
Go to your hotel (4- or 5-star).

Day 11 Sunday. Rest, shopping, and tour.

Day 12 Visa physical exam and visa photo for your child.

Day 13 CCAI Representative delivers visa packets to the U.S. Consulate Adoption Unit.

Day 14 Group goes to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath at 4pm and receive your child’s visa.

Day 15 Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong, then leave Hong Kong for the U.S.

☺ !!!WELCOME HOME!!! ☺

Note: When the time comes for your adoption trip, your itinerary may vary depending on which province your child comes from, what time of year you travel, and what airline you take. You will receive a plan with many MORE details in your Final Travel Packet. ☺

busy busy!

Travel Packet II is exhausting!! There are tons of forms to fill out and most of them need to be notorized (thank goodness for our neighbor who is a notary! He came over at 8am this morning to do all of them for us.) Half of the paperwork goes to CCAI and the other half to JC Travel for the Visa application. My SIL also has paperwork to return to both CCAI & JC. We have until next Monday to get all of this in to the right places.
Whew!

weight restrictions

A family on my Yahoo! board leaves for China in 4 days! She gave us some important information about our luggage weight restrictions. I'm worried about in-China flights. I guess I just check my rolling one?

Although your flight from the U.S. allows you
each 2 bags with a maximum 70 lbs each, any in china flights will
probably be on china southern you are allowed 1 bag each, your child
is allowed NO bags, and the pound limitation is 40lbs.

COO packing list

I plan to travel Carry On Only for the flight over and purchase a suitcase while in China for all the things I will buy while there. Many people think this is crazy. It may be, but since Paul isn't going to be around to lift and carry for me, I think I need to be able to handle everything easily by myself. Plus, why bring BabyGap to China? There's plenty of time for that in our future.

2-3 outfits for me
2 outfits for Mae
2 jammies for Mae
our medicines/prescriptions
toothpaste/toothbrush for me
facial soap for me
Lubriderm lotion for me/Mae
gifts for nannies etc
laptop (in its own backpack that will double as diaper bag)
camera/video (this is small)
duplicate toys from our care package
dossier & other paperwork

I plan to purchase more clothing for Mae, diapers, wipes, formula,
bottles, & anything else that comes up as essential while there. I
think I feel so 'mellow' about it because I know I will be traveling
with someone who is removed from the situation, unlike a spouse would be. I plan
to function as the single parent with my SIL as my sherpa!
(yes, she is aware!) I plan to do laundry while there every 2-3 days
and buy 2-3 outfits (if not more for Mae!) while there.

papers, papers, papers

Because I am itching for something 'to do' while we wait, I thought I would see what paperwork we will need to complete to formally make Mae a US citizen (because Paul is not traveling with me, she will only receive a green card when we land in San Fran.) Lots more paperwork! Oh well.

A hearing is not required in Boulder County in order to validate your Chinese adoption. To validate the adoption please hand deliver or mail the following forms and documents to the clerk of the Boulder County District Court-Probate Division, to be filed. The Judge or Magistrate will then review the information, sign your decree validating foreign adoption and mail you the signed decree. Once the adoption is validated, the clerk will forward the report of adoption and a decree validating foreign adoption to Vital Records, along with your check of $35 to generate a state birth certificate.

Boulder County District Court-Probate Division
1777 6th St.
Boulder, CO 80306
Monday – Friday: 8am-5pm

Below is a checklist of paperwork that you should bring to your county clerk to be filed. Please notarize documents needing to be notarized before you submit them.

___1) Report of Adoption ($35 to Vital Records for CO Birth Certificate) Click here for sample
___2) Petition for Validation of Foreign Decree of Adoption- JDF 527 (completed and notarized) Click here for sample
___3) Verified Statement of Fees- JDF 454 (completed and notarized) Click here for sample
___4) Decree Validating Foreign Adoption- JDF 524 (completed) Click here for sample
___5) Letter from Adoption Alliance (generated after we receive copies of your Child Arrival Files)
___6) Proof of Child’s legal entry into the U.S. (Original Chinese Passport w/ Visa)
___7) Filing Fee $139.00
___8) Original Child Arrival Files, plus one set of photocopies (paperwork you received in China)
___9) Certified copy of Marriage Certificate (if applicable, plus one photocopy)
___10) Certified copy of Parents' Birth Certificates to prove U.S. Citizenship (plus one photocopy)
___11) Consent to Hearing form (If you would like to request a formal hearing, the process will take 6-8 weeks; if you do not, the process will take about 1 week)
___12) Large self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of original documents

limbo

This is a frustrating period of waiting. Monday night we will be downloading Travel Packet 2 which will have Visa paperwork etc. That's exciting anyway. It is comforting that we won't even remember this brief moment in the scheme of things. C'mon, TNs!!

Jumping back on the rumor train

This was posted on my Travel Group's Yahoo! Group today:

So, keeping rumors alive and checking out some of the other boards, I
saw this re: 5/23 LID and traveling soon- hmmm.....

"WOW! I just got off the phone with our miracle worker, Mandalyn at
our agency, and she tells me that she is just waiting for the final
confirmation from CCAA on our TA's. It looks like we will most likely
be leaving on 3/29 to Beijing, and we have to be in Changsha on 4/2,
with our consulate appointment 4/10.
LID 5/23/05
DOR 2/28/06"

Sounds too good to be true...I don't expect us to travel til sometime in May. But I would LOVE to be wrong. Being wrong is great-I was wrong about how quickly referrals would arrive in the US.

Until we know more...only 9 more Thursdays without Mae...

blogging from China

I am a particular person. I like things a particular way and prefer to do them myself. Poor Paul. While in China, Blogger oftentimes will simply not work...nothing gets uploaded. Some people guess that there are firewalls in the hotels blocking all international sites-who knows. Paul has offered to update our moeltini homepage but I really like the journal-aspect of Blogger. Even if I only have one or two pictures to share, describing everything helps put it all in perspective. So, I signed up for a free 4-month subscription to Journey to Me. This simple site, for whatever reason, works in China. So, for the duration of our in-China trip, I will blog from there. I hope to then copy all of that over to Blogger once we are home and settled. I created a Referral Page just to get things moving. The next entry will probably be when we get Travel Approval, and then the updates from China will appear. So, if you come to this site and there hasn't been an update in a while, visit Journey to Me. The username and password are the same:maemoeller. Just enter those in the Sign In boxes on the left to view her page. Hooray!

'the kids' picture

We took Ted's official 4-year Portraits yesterday and I always like to get a pic of 'the kids' together too. Since they are 18 months apart, this means a group shot every 6 months- it's really fun to see the development. Well, on my receipt this session, there was a number to call to do a brief survey of our experience. If you do it, you get a free 11x14 at your next sitting. I called to do it and thought WOW!! My next sitting will probably be in late August...to get Mae's 1 Year Portrait done! I can use that free 11x14 for a group shot of ALL MY CHILDREN. It was a really exciting thought! Someone on my board posted the other day: "Only 9 more Mondays without Emma." That is a nice way to think of our 10-week wait to travel. Only 9 more Wednesdays without Mae. Hooray!!

map of matches

This is the map CCAI has up in the picture room. Each little flag marks an orphanage from which a child was referred in this current batch. So, that is our map...with the 2/28 batch of referrals represented.

Happy Birthday, Ted!

Today was Ted's 4th Birthday. We had his party 2 weeks ago, so it was almost a surprise to celebrate it again today (much smaller deal-just us and our good friends the Hackels.) Looking back 4 years ago, it is amazing how much all of our lives have changed, and how much Ted has changed too. 3 was a tough age for Ted. About a month or two ago, he started mellowing out again. He tends to think when being warned about his behavoir, resulting in fewer time-outs. He's so good at sharing with Sam, and especially talented at the 'swap' aspect of trading toys (poor Sam!) He is a very happy boy, and I'm relieved we made it through the "cranky 3's" without too much trauma. So far, I'm calling the 4s the "logical 4's." As long as he understands what is going on, he's all for it. Happy Birthday to my big boy!

presents

Today we mailed the care package to Mae's orphanage in Huaihua. I hope it reaches her! We are also sending one through BlessedKids.com, which is an in-China service (the daughter lives in NY and does the translating, then emails it to her father in China who purchases the candy, cameras & gifts and delivers them to the orphanages.) I hope one (or both!) of the packages finds its way to our Huai Xiang!

pictures of Huaihua City

We joined the Yahoo! group for the Huaihua City SWI. Besides sharing information with other families who have/are adopting from Huaihua, there are some wonderful links to pictures and information about the city. Huaihua is a poor city, but (according to other adoptive families) very kind and adoring of the babies. Mae may not be in the fanciest orphanage in China, but it appears that it is a very loving and nurturing place. Hooray! I added two links to "Huaihua Girls" whose parents graciously shared their websites and journeys with me. They both had wonderful trips and received happy, mellow babies. Let's hope for the same!

Here are links to pictures of Huaihua.
Huaihua 1
Huaihua 2
Huaihua 3
Huaihua 4
Huaihua 5

the play-by-play version

Yesterday was such a blur of activity and emotion that I wanted to wait before describing the day. Emotionally, it felt similar to the day (July 3, 2001) that I found out I was pregnant with Ted: amazing joy and overwhelming gratitude...and disbelief too! Here's the story. I'm so glad Rachel (Elyana's mom) told me to videotape The Call. It's pretty funny but also really nice to have.

We all lazed around in bed til about 8 or so...the day had a very surreal mellowness to it. I walked Ole (as fast as I could so as not to miss any calls!) and Paul went to the basement to work til the call came. It was a gorgeous 76 degrees outside so the boys were playing outside. I was checking our Yahoo! group and the first call had come in, from Joanne in Colorado! Less than 5 minutes later ours came. 10:26am. Penny Moeller (!!) was calling from her cell phone because all of the CCAI lines were being used (all 45 employees were making the calls.) She told me our daughter's name and age and orphanage.

Then we loaded the boys into the van and headed to CCAI. Once there, we sat down with Penny and she opened her file...and we were in love! She is just so cute and sweet and adorable! Even Ted said she was cute. Then the boys disappeared under the table with candy bars and we lost them for a while. We went over her file and signed the necessary papers and saw where Huaihua, Hunan is on the map. Paul took the boys to the playground out back while I chatted with other Yahoo! families and we decided on a Chinese buffet for lunch. Lunch was really fun because we were able to see each others' beautiful babies and talk about how crazy we were all feeling. The boys were more than ready for naps, so we left fairly quickly and got them home and down for 'rest time.'

Then I ran her medical report over to Dr. Kierein (not much point really, since we had already signed the paperwork!!) and went to my meeting. We spent ALL evening scanning pics, resizing pics, emailing people and updating the webpage. Whew! An exhausting day...but so wonderful!

Turns out that Mae is actually ON the American growth chart, and is in the 50% on the Chinese Growth Chart. So, we have a little chunk...all 13 pounds of her!