we are home

we couldn't access the blog from China, so sorry never updated anything.  We got home last night and the kids were so excited to be together! what a journey, we are so thankful and so tired!

Only 1 person missing!!! 15 days until we meet

kids are excited to meet their mei mei and jie jie

getting ready!

We actually leave March 4, not 3rd.  Spent the afternoon talking with friends about China and their very different experiences with the adoptions of their 2 children from China.  So nice to be able to get helpful travel tips and ideas, oh and to vent about what a roller coaster this whole thing is.  Thank you Chaputs! and thanks Harris' family for the massive roller/duffle bag suitcase. You will never get it back in working condition, but thanks!

travel dates

We have our tickets!!!! We leave on March 3 and fly into Shanghai and have our consulate appointment in Guangzhou on March 15.  We fly home out of Hong Kong on March 18.

finally

Tomorrow we will hear if our appt. at the consulate is scheduled, but everything else is ready.  It looks like we will travel to China from Mar. 4-18, fingers crossed and we'll keep you posted.  Looking forward to booking our tickets, meeting our daughter, and bringing her home to her family.

Travel Approval Arrived

We got our travel approval today, no consulate appointment date until next week because Chinese New Year begins tomorrow and government offices closed, but most likely leaving end of February!

travel update

Looks like the earliest we will travel will be March now.  The families that received their Travel Approval Notices this month have their appointments with the Chinese Consulate the last week of February and the first week of March.  The trip is planned around these appointments, so even if we receive our Travel Approval in February, the actual date of our appointment will be further out.

At least in the most recent pictures, Jia looks so happy and healthy.  I can't imagine how hard it would be for a parent of a child with special needs,  who needs surgery, or is in an orphanage that isn't so great.

We are getting Jia's bed this weekend and setting up the girls' room (with Jia's matching bedding-thanks Harris Family!!!).  Molly has all sorts of ideas how to arrange it-we'll see if we can make them work!

Pictures to Jia

We have been told that the care package we sent last month still has not arrived at Jia's orphanage.  So she has not seen the photo album with her new family and home, however, we were able to email some pictures to a contact over there who will share them with her orphanage director and hopefully Jia can start getting used to seeing our faces.
I don't know what kind of technology is at her orphanage, but email seems like a much more efficient way to send information rather than depending on US postal service to get it to China and then some dude delivers it on his bicycle, or NOT!

update on Jia

just got some news and pictures on Jia.  It's all pretty limited, but it's crazy how much she has grown/changed since we last had photos and video of her.  We are more anxious than ever to bring her home and are scrutinizing every detail in the pictures.  I am having trouble uploading the pictures but will work on it.
The update says she is happy and healthy and certainly looks so in the photos. She is a fan of meat, eggs, and soup so she will fit right in with the family!
will try to import the pictures asap!UNKNOWN_PARAMETER_VALUEfile:///Users/e504223/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Modified/2010/Nov%2010,%202010/Jia2011

China Timelines

Below is the timeline for us to go by.  Our process has been true to it, if not a bit faster, so far. We are now at the highlighted section.  So overall it should be 6 weeks until we receive our travel notice.  We are getting pretty anxious and nervous.  I'm sure Jia is getting nervous too.

 Breakdown of Wait to Travel:
           LID to LOA:
               2-4 months
           I-800 Submission to Prov. App.:
               Approx. 1 month
           I-800 Prov. App. to NVC letter:
               Approx. 2 weeks
           DS-230 submission* to A5:
            Approx. 2 weeks
           A5 to CCAA's TA:
                Approx. 1 month

visas

miraculously, our visas/passports were returned to us via a "bookstore" on Snelling/University Ave. in St. Paul. How I wish I had videotaped that transaction.