pictures

Teri (50) in Utah, dh Tim (51)
Seven homegrown kids John 32, Jessica 28, James 23, Katie 20, Minuet 18,and Matthew 14, Myleigh YiXin 7 years old,and our sweet Nick who passed away far too soon at the tender age of 20 years old.
In China bringing home Huang FuJun/soon to be Holly Jun Nicole, 5 years old.

From 10 to 11, the train is complete and the caboose is attaching nicely.

We had a rough go of it at first.  Holly was told what was going on at the SWI and told them she was excited.  She came with all of her stuff neatly packed in a couple of bags and the backpack we sent her.  She looked nervous and confused, and obviously we didn't look exactly like our pictures, so, she immediately rejected us.  She kept saying no and pulling back from us, and I was not about to push it.  I had Tim come over and when the orphanage director told her this was her baba, she reached out and hugged him.  It was so sweet, and we have it on camera.  She was having nothing to do with me except to show me things, like the pictures she drew and her very special panda.   She also was clutching the build a bear bunny we had sent, fully dressed in the jammies and slippers we had sent it in.  I pulled out a light up necklace that we brought in a new pink backpack, and she pulled out the necklace that was already tucked into her shirt.  It
was the same one that she had on in all the pictures we have of her, and the Nanny said it was a gift from her Foster Grandmother.  How sweet, she treasures it and apparently never is with out it.  Every time the director or the Nanny showed her pictures of us, she looked curiously at us, and it was so clear that we weren't real to her.  She was more taken with Tim and Matthew though, so I went with that and encouraged more interaction.  At one point she actually looked at Tim and said Daddy.  He didn't catch it, so I told him she just said Daddy, and she heard me and smiled.  She enjoyed it when Matthew showed her herself on the video camera.
The director and the Nanny were telling her how she was going home with us, and that we were mamma and daddy.  She said she didn't want to.  The guide, Eric, told her we would take her shopping and buy her snacks, any snacks she wants.  She bold face told him in Chinese, pointing to her backpack, I have cookies.  A very smart little lady.
Then it was time to say good bye to the director and the head nanny, and at that Holly melted down.  She cried hard when they tried to tell her what was going to happen next, and refused the whole idea.  At that she went around and picked up all the things she had showed us, including the photo album we had sent her of our family, and tucked them all furiously into her backpack, and a little pink bag that they had put the extra items in, including her panda bear.  She marched away, and when the registrar came out and told her she had to stay, she flipped out, swung her bunny at her, and yelled no in Chinese over and over.  The director and Nanny had snuck out by then, and when she saw that they were gone she just wept.  She kept calling out what sounded like mama nanny. 
We gathered her stuff and left, Eric holding her hand.  When we got outside, Eric thought we could just walk to the market and she would calm down.  Nope, she wanted to take off, and was pulling away.  I could see a disaster coming, so, I said we needed to just take her back to the hotel room and give her some down time with us.  I told Tim he should just pick her up, when he did, she stiffened buy she actually let him.  She was still crying and Matthew and I climbed in the seat behind Tim and Holly so they could just sit to gether. 
For most of the drive she was crying and saying the same thing over and over.  We asked Eric what it was and he said she was saying she wanted to go to sleep.  I had Tim say OK, and after a time or two, with him stroking her face and talking softly to her, she calmed down and sat watching the world go by as we navigated through the Wuhan traffic.  When we got to the hotel, Tim carried her up to the room, and she just quietly observed.  We got to the room, and Tim felt she might sleep if he stayed there with her while matthew and I went with Eric to a market to get some supplies.  She allowed me to unbutton her coat, and I took Tim's coat off for him so she could see that he was ok with me.  Well, when we got back they weren't sleeping.   Holly had apparently gotten comfortable enough to get into pretty much everything in the suitcases, especially the snacks.  She had proceeded to fill her pockets.    When I peeked at her, and said what did
you find, she chattered at me in Chinese, with a big smile and showed me all her treasures. 
We unloaded things, and Matthew was trying to get her to see the treats he helped pick out, and all she would do is shove them in her pockets.  It was clear to me that she wasn't unpacking, that's for sure.  She kept all her stuff together.  I decided to try to put one of the new doll outfits on her bunny.  she looked unapprovingly at it and promptly took it off and tossed it away.  She was opening up more and more, but, still standoffish where I was concerned.  She couldnt figure out how to drink from the sippy cup straw, so I showed her and she was pretty happy about that.  She even shared her fruit bar with me. 
I decided to just be bold and took off the sweater she had on to help her cool down some, and revealed that she had a pair of pajamas on underneath.  Then it was time to go potty and she let me take her and she handled a western toilet like a pro. 
We ordered noodles for her from room service and we had hamburgers and fries.  She sat on Tim's lap and ate, and shared his fries and he fed her noodles.  So cute, I took pictures and she gave big smiles. 
Now she's happily playing and enjoying Matthew's attempts at speaking to her in Chinese.  Some of it she gets, but, her dialect is very different.
So, now we'll see what the night brings.
Teri (50) in Utah, dh Tim (51)
Seven homegrown kids John 32, Jessica 28, James 23, Katie 20, Minuet 18,and Matthew 14, Myleigh YiXin 7 years old,and our sweet Nick who passed away far too soon at the tender age of 20 years old.
In China bringing home Huang FuJun/soon to be Holly Jun Nicole, 5 years old.

Travel continued, almost time to go meet Holly

i was so tired last night, that I just couldnt keep typing.  I'll add more now, and then again later after we meet Holly. 
Still a little jet laggy, but, we all took some sleep meds last night, and pretty much slept like a rock, which is a good thing, because that's the closest description to the beds here in China.  It's better than Changsha was back  in 2003 when I went there to bring Myleigh home, because the White Rose puts down mattress pads on the beds.  They aren't terribly thick, but, it's better than without them.
The weather isn't as rainy today, mostly just a lot of fog, and I mean, can't see much of the city and the sun just barely able to glint through kind of fog.  There's a breeze, so, maybe it will clean some of it out.  It's not a nice clean fog either.  We met another couple at breakfast this morning who are here adopting a little one.  They're from Arizona.  Tim was talking with the dad at the buffet, and he said they had gone for a walk yesterday, and were only out a couple of hours, and had to wash their clothes when they got back from the dirty air.  yuck.  Don't think we'll be doing much wandering around. 
The food is good.  Tim tried a fruit on the buffet called "poochee"  emphasis on the "chee'.  Im guessing on the spelling.  He really liked it.  Tasted like a cross between a soft apple and coconut. 
Yes girls, Dad is enjoyng the buffet experience just like he did in Cancun.  Only four trips this morning, but, he wasn't very hungry today.
We meet Eric in the lobby in an hour, and will also be meeting the other couple that are adopting today.  There are at least four adopting families in he hotel, possibly more.  The couple we met this morning from Arizona has a little boy looked about a year old.  There was also an older woman with her much older mom, with a little girl about Myleigh's age.  She didn't appear to be too keen on the much older woman who I am thinking is her new grandmother. 
Matthew is homesick, but, I think he'll have less time to think about that when he is busy playing with his new sister.  He just announced what time it was, so, I think he's anxious to get going.  I think we're as prepared as we can be.  I have a backpack all packed for Holly.  It's a toddler size disney princess backpack, and I put a box of raisins, some toddler treats, a water bottle with fresh drinking water, a coloring book and crayons, a necklace that lights up, some bubbles, and a new stuffed animal, patch from 101 dalmations. 
I just want to be prepared but, don't want to overwhelm her with a bunch of stuff right away. 
I can read posts that are sent through both my blog and directly to my yahoo address teresaa40@yahoo.com  but can only reply to the yahoo emails as blogger is blocked in China.  I will save all the posts for blogger til I get back, and then post them.  so, if you don't see your post on my blog, it's because of that.  I'll be putting some pictures on my blog later today.

24 HOURS OF FUN

We left home at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday Jan 29th.  On the way, we nearly were in a terrible accident on the freeway.  Not sure what started it, but, a chain reaction of cars slamming on their brakes, followed by Tim slamming on the brakes on the Subaru, which only served to cause us to lock up our brakes and squeal rubber with really not much for braking, then, when we just about slammed into the car in front of us, Tim swerved into the lane next to us, which was empty, except for a car hauler semi that decided right at that moment that he wanted that lane too, and he had to swerve to miss us.  In the end, there was a lot of rubber left behind, but, we survived, and were able to continue to the airport. 
We were still pretty shook up for a while after that, and just got through security and the check in process fairly distracted.  Once we were settled waiting for our first flight, we had a chance to think about what happened, and what came of it was that there was this lady in a big ole sedan, when we passed the cars that had slammed on their brakes, and she was swerving around in her lane, because she was far too busy screaming and motioning at a pickup truck in the lane two lanes over from her.  We think she was screaming over somthing either he actually did, or she decided he did, and she didn't much care what affect she was having on everyone else's lives.
anyway, we made that flight ok, and went onto LAX for what should have been a smooth connection.  Everything about the terminal for international departures has changed since I passed through it 6 years ago, and it was more of a cattle call than a terminal check point.  Once we finally got through that, we were walking out to board the plane, and were met with a bus instead.  We all, the entire plane load of people, piled into this long bus, and were shuttled to the whole other side of the airport, by a manic driver not seeming to be aware that there were people hanging onto straps and balancing carryon's and children as he went careening around the airport.
We get to the terminal and have to walk up ramp after ramp, and finally, we board the China Southern flight.  Fourteen hours later, and a bit worse for wear, we decided that if we could upgrade from economy we definitely will. 
We then connected much easier, go figure that China has it all together when LAX cannot seem to manage it, and flew easily to Wuhan, and again, smoothly through the exit process.  Our guide, Eric, yes he's Chinese, who studied English at the local University, swept us out to a van, and off we went through the city of Wuhan, crossing the Yangze river on the way.  Our hotel , the White Rose, is very nice, but, the room is smaller than we were anticipating,   We may or may not change rooms tomorrow. 
It's raining here in Wuhan, and you can't see much for the low clouds and humidity fog.  We're all off to sleep now, tomorrow will be a big day.
 Teri (50) in Utah, dh Tim (51)
Seven homegrown kids John 32, Jessica 28, James 23, Katie 20, Minuet 18,and Matthew 14, Myleigh YiXin 7 years old,and our sweet Nick who passed away far too soon at the tender age of 20 years old.
In China bringing home Huang FuJun/soon to be Holly Jun Nicole, 5 years old.

We are in China!!!

Will post more later, but, wanted to let everyone know that we arrived ok, and are safely and snugly inhabiting the White Rose hotel in Wuhan.
We are set to go to the civil affairs office tomorrow morning to meet Holly.
Yes, I;m getting nervous.
 Teri (50) in Utah, dh Tim (51)
Seven homegrown kids John 32, Jessica 28, James 23, Katie 20, Minuet 18,and Matthew 14, Myleigh YiXin 7 years old,and our sweet Nick who passed away far too soon at the tender age of 20 years old.
In China bringing home Huang FuJun/soon to be Holly Jun Nicole, 5 years old.

We leave in two and a half hours!!

Our bags are all packed, weights are all double checked to be under the luggage weight limit, everything we'll need during the trip is strategically packed for easy access. Our passports and out and ready. Flights were re-confirmed.

We will be heading out at about 3:30pm, right after Myleigh gets home from school so we can say goodbye to her. I wish James was here last night or even this morning to say goodbye.

Our flight leaves Salt Lake City at 7:47 pm, and then it's onto Los Angeles for an 11:50 flight on China Southern airlines to Guangzhou, China. We'll arrive there at 5:50 am China time on Sunday, but it will be more like early afternoon Saturday for us. Yawn.

Holly here we come!!!

weather

Well, the weather will be fabulous for our travel days, right up until we get to Wuhan. It's going to be rainy and in the upper 40's lower 50's all week long. sigh

Ah well, there's a great indoor pool, and fitness center we can use. Maybe we'll get wet, maybe not. Maybe we'll bring some umbrellas.

Once we get to Guangzhou, it's going to be in the 70's and a little rainy here and there, but, the rest of the week is looking very nice. That's good, cause we'll be there for a week.

Details, details

Today is all about confirmations and tieing up loose ends. We have confirmed with our credit card companies that we will be using the cards in China for two weeks, so they don't block our accounts for unusual usage.

I contacted China Southern airlines and confirmed our flights, and asked that we have all seats together. She said that seat assignments are made at 7:30 the night of our flight, but, we don't get into LAX until 9pm, so, she put a note on our reservations to have all seats together. I hope that at least Matthew and I sit together. I'll go into mother bear mode if they try to seperate us.

I'm having my hair trimmed so it is healthy for such a long trip in poor air conditions, both on our flights and in China. Plus, Tim and I need two more passport photos for our in-province paperwork. We'll get those done while we're out looking for a substitute wedding ring for me to wear in China. The diamond in my wedding set is in need of retipping on the setting, so, to avoid possibly losing it on the trip, I will be dropping it off at the jeweler and wearing the fake for the trip.

Im nearly packed, just have to finish up tomorrow. I still have some things to get for Mindy for her ballroom competition, since I won't be here to pick them up. She and Katie both compete this weekend and next, and while I am disappointed that I will be missing those comps, I would gladly miss anything to bring Holly home.

The weather looks good for our trip over to China. I just hope we don't have any last minute storms to deal with. There's one going through today that is supposed to be long gone by then.

Tonight I speak at a friends Relief Society meeting about how we (there's going to be a panel of women) define ourselves as women in our various lives.

Paperwork snafus continue

Even now, at this last minute, there are paperwork snafu's to deal with.

Yesterday, when going thoroughly through our travel paperwork packet sent by the agency, I noticed there were two very important sections not included. A full copy of our dossier, and 5 copies of our passport visa pages. Need those for the very first appointment in China.

So, I contacted the agency and the rep confirmed, " I screwed up." Hmmm.

Anywho, I took care of it all myself, as per usual.

Back on track, and all systems go.

Last day at work before FMLA

Today is my last day at work until after I come off FMLA. Eight glorious weeks just being with my new little girl and helping her adjust to a new language, a new home, a new life. We know she has been learning some words in English from the TV in the orphanage, and Huangshi is pretty good at preparing the little ones for the transition, but, she is still only five years old, and will likely have a tough time not being able to freely communicate with us, or anyone else for that matter.

We'll have the picture book I made for her, so she can continue to point to pictures and learn the words for those pictures over time, but, at least she can tell us when she is hungry, or sleepy, or needs to use the bathroom, or feels sad, or angry.

Tomorrow morning I will lay all the partially packed suitcases on the bed, and on the bedroom floor, and organize them, get them completely packed, except for last minute items, and check their final weight. Anything that causes us to go over the 45 lb limit for in-China will be jetisoned.

I'm starting to feel more and more nervous as the trip looms closer. With a baby, the transition would be so much easier, because they really don't have a solid concept yet of what it all means. Myleigh adapted pretty quickly and after a day of being somewhat shut down, she just opened up and relaxed. With Holly being 5 years old, she will clearly understand that we are strangers and she is being taken away from everything and everyone she has ever known. I wonder how much preparation you can even expect to sink in when they are that age. How much reality does she grasp, and has she built up a fantasy in her mind of how things are going to be, and what we will be like?

I've seen some children her age that were adopted by American's adjust fairly smoothly, just a few tears, but, they really knew what was happening and while they were timid and nervous, they expected to be going far away with these new people. Then I've seen children that rejected one parent or the other, and sometimes both. They reacted violently to the reality that their nannies were leaving and they were not going with them. Holly's reaction could run the gammot and I just hope we're able to help her feel safe and secure, and to know that we aren't scary. I hope Matthew being there will help her know that. Often, having someone else, who is still a child, even if they are American, and a teenager, has a calming effect on them. They get that this is a child, not too unlike them, and they are used to being around older children in the orphanage. They look to them to get a guage for whether this is a good thing or not, and they kind of see them as a safe spot in this new family, where they can be a kid, and play, and just relax.

This time next week, we will have the answers to all of these questions, because we will have her with us, and however it's going to unfold will have already happened.

Details details

I have to remember to have our credit cards cleared for China, get some new cash, have our doctor prescribe a powdered antibiotic for Holly, and one for us, get some modeling clay, set the travel alarm clock for China time, set a watch for US time to have for quick reference, get some M&Ms, cup a soup, cup a noodles, and the other supplies still left on the list.

I need to give our camera , Holly's DS, Matt's DS,and our camcorder a fresh charge. Pack a nice outfit for Holly to wear on adoption day, if she will even allow us to change her clothes that soon.

I need one more BYU mug, and two more nicer gifts for the notary and adoption officials.

While Im at it, I need to get our doctor's email address so we can contact him if we have a problem. Contact our health insurance company to have Holly added to our policy.

Then I just have to finish packing, clean the house, put fresh bedding on our bed for whichever of our grown kids is going to be sleeping in our room, and test all the smoke alarms batteries.

Weather forecast for our trip

Well, it's really getting to be real now. I just checked the weather forecast in Wuhan, and plugged in the 10 day forecast, and there it was, our first day in China, 43' and partly cloudy.

Right now it's averaging between 43 and 56 degrees for daytime highs, which is springlike for us Utahn's. It's averaging 68 to 74 in GZ, so, it's going to be like we left winter and walked right into springtime. Ahhh.

In just eight days we will be on a plane bound for Wuhan. So much to do, so little time.

Travel conference

Had our travel conference with Josh yesterday. He went over what we can expect during our trip. We will be the only family from SWA in Wuhan, and will have the guide pretty much to ourselves, unless they are working with another agency's family at the same time. He hasn't confirmed our hotel reservation yet, but, expects it will be the White Rose in Wuhan. He is also waiting to hear back from the guide about our request to visit the SWI. Apparently the requests have been getting more and more difficult to have granted, and if we are not given permission from about three or four different bureaucrats we may not be able to visit. That would be sad for Holly, as we hope to be able to take her shopping for a gift to bring on her visit, and believe this will give her some closure that she might not otherwise have. We should hear about this too over the next week.

He also said that we might end up having Holly brought to us on Sunday the 31st, instead of Feb 1st. Apparently, once the SWI finds out the family is going to be in town on a certain day, they just decide to bring the child to their new family on that day. So, we will try to be ready just in case.

We'll have 14 other families between our agency and another agency that is using the same facilitators in GZ. Plus, a third agency has confirmed their families are staying at the Garden hotel with our two agency's families, and it sounds like others are possibly doing the same thing. It will be a very active place to be for that week.

I found out another family is bringing their 15 year old son with them, so, Matthew may have someone his own age to spend some of the time with.

It is shaping up to be a fun trip with so many families, and so many kids of all ages. One family is adopting a 12 year old girl and I imagine other older kids will be part of such a large group of families, so, by the time we get to GZ, Matthew may end up making a lot of new friends.

Im still trying to get clarification on how many checked bags are free on an international flight, and if that includes the domestic leg of the flight. I believe we will be permitted two bags per passenger, and really only want to know so we can bring one extra bag to help out with the overall weight distribution. We may not need it, but, if we do, it will be nice to have.

We're in the homestretch.

Itinerary

Here it is:

We leave for Salt Lake airport at about 4pm Jan 29th for our China Southern airlines flight leaving for LAX at 7:47 pm

We have a few hours layover to get checked into our China Southern international flight and maybe grab a bite to eat before we leave at 11:50 pm for Guangzhou. We arrive in Guangzhou (GZ) at 6:50 am China time, Sunday Jan 31st, losing Saturday entirely. We have another couple of hours to make our domestic connection, also on China Southern, at 9:00 am for Wuhan. We arrive there at 10:30 am and check into our hotel.

Monday, Feb 1st we meet Holly and bring her back to our hotel

Tuesday, Feb 2nd we return to the civil affairs office and complete the adoption paperwork.

Wed and Thursday are free days.

Friday, Feb 5th we fly from Wuhan to GZ.

Saturday, Feb 6th will be full of details for Holly's US Visa, including having her picture taken and a medical exam which will involve her having to get all her immunizations all over again and having a TB test.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are free days, except for a trip to have her TB test looked at and if there is any indication of exposure, she will have to have a chest x-ray to rule out TB.

Wednesday, Feb 10th is the day our facilitator goes to the US consulate to complete our request for a Visa for Holly.

Thursday, Feb 11th we bring Holly to the consulate and swear that this is the child we requested. She will be granted a Visa.

Friday, Feb 12th, Holly's Visa will be issued, and we leave GZ at 9pm for LAX on our last China Southern flight.

Friday, Feb 12th- yep, it's still Friday, we arrive at LAX at 5:50 pm, essentially 3 hours before we left China. That day we lost on the way to China we get back in the form of living Friday night all over again. For us, it will be mid to late morning Saturday, but, in the US, it will be evening Friday. We will check into a hotel for some freshening up, some US food, and naps.

Saturday, Feb 13th, we head back to the airport at about 4am, to catch our 6:15 Delta flight to Salt Lake. We will be home by 9:15am.

We have our consulate appointment and our flights are booked.

We are scheduled for a consulate appointment on February 10th. We have our flights leaving Salt Lake on January 29th, and getting back home on February 13th.

I will post our intinerary later, when my wrists recover from all the typing to get our flights booked. But, just 10 days and we are on our way.

TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh emailed and then called to let us know our Travel Approval letter has arrived. He forwarded us a form to fill out, and he already has it back, so, as soon as the other three families get their's sent to him, he is sending them all to China. Im not freaking about the fact that three other families have to respond before ours can go to China, since I have already heard from two others, and it's only been an hour, plus, it's night time in China, so, we have all day before they even open for business.

Josh is trying for the earliest available consulate appointment (CA), so, I guess we'll find out by Wednesday what that date will be and then we can make our flight arrangements.

TA's being reported

We haven't heard anything yet, and Tim is not home, so, if Josh calls, there will be no one home. A family that also had their article 5 picked up on Dec 30th was notified by their agency that the CCAA has signed their TA and it's on it's way, expected on Monday. All I can do is hope that ours is also on it's way, and Josh will at least find that out and leave a message on our answering machine.

3:59 pm
Three agencies so far have reported that their Dec 30th families are getting TA's on Monday.

4:50 PM, no news for us. There is no way for us to even know if TA's are coming or not. Josh never responded to any of the posts on the SWA site, and while I understand that if he has no information he has nothing to confirm, at least we would know not to keep refreshing the page to see if he does or not. Guess we'll be waiting til Monday, and maybe then we will know something. Then again, it's Martin Luther King day, which I still think needs to be renamed to Human Rights day, just as we created Presidents day to honor all our Presidents, we need to honor all humanitarians and remember to respect all humans rights, not just one group of people and one man. Anyway, that day is not going to stop DHL from delivering the TA's but our agency might well have the day off and not be there to notify us. A single day's difference could cost us a consulate spot before CNY.

It's Friday in China.

It's 3am Friday morning in China. In six short hours the offices at the CCAA will be open for business. I am praying they will email or call my agency and say our TA is on it's way. I really don't expect to get a consulate appointment before CNY at this point. I'm already hearing that the available appointments are filling up, and no word that any new dates have been added. So, Im getting busy checking flights for after February 18th.

Josh at SWA contacted the CCAA about our TA, and they said it wasn't ready yet. sigh. That was on Monday. no news since then.

0434 pm same day

It's still not business hours in China. Our agency is closed here in the US, so, no news today. Maybe tomorrow.

07:25 am Friday morning

It is Friday night in China, 10:30 pm. The business week is over, once again, and if our TA is done, it could be on it's way to our agency right now. Once the agency office is open today, we might get notification that TA is on it's way. Oh, I hope we do.

test

testing the access

It's now Monday morning in China

It's 8:45 am in China, Monday morning. This could be a big week. Perhaps our TA will be mailed out, or maybe it is already on it's way. It's just as likely that it hasn't even been signed yet. I wish there was some way to know, but, we won't have any idea until it arrives in the mail to our agency and they contact us to let us know.

Im done with another long weekend at work, and plan to spend time cleaning, sorting, packing away the remaining Christmas decorations that are still standing in the front yard, and just trying to keep busy while the days tick by.

It's Sunday morning in China.

Good morning little cricket. Its Sunday morning in China, 9am, and you are probably finished with your breakfast, and playing with your friends. I wonder if you are thinking of me. I wonder if you have looked at your pictures of your new family today.

This time tomorrow will be the beginning of another work week in China, and maybe, just maybe, we will get our TA. Oh, I hope so. If we do, we will be meeting you in China on January 31st, just three weeks from now. If we don't, we may have to wait until after Chinese New Year, which means possibly February 21st, about six weeks from now. Either way, two months from now you will be living in your new home, with your new family, and everything about your life will have changed. Everything except one thing. We already love you.

Travel preps contd.....

I checked today and found out all the big changes the government was going to implement for security in airports will not go into affect after all. What this means for us is that we can still bring a carryon and a personal bag per person, and we won't have to have everyone sit with nothing to do and no bathroom trips for the last hour of our long trip from China, or for the hour or so trip from LAX to SLC. That is such a relief. Grown ups have a hard enough time doing nothing for an hour, let alone five year olds.

I have preliminarily packed all of our large suitcases, at least with the stuff we are taking other than our clothes and personal items, and so far nothing is over 15 pounds. With a limit of 45 pounds (really its about 50 but who wants to push it) we should be well under and not have to worry about an overweight charge on our bags.

Still no word about our TA. Not really expecting it til next week at the earliest.

Hubei province

I found out today that Hubei province is known for mining Turquoise, so, I expect we will be bringing some home. I have always loved Turquoise, and, depending on the source you check, it is supposed to be my birthstone.

Great deal on Air China

I found a great deal on an Air China flight from LAX to Wuhan and then from Guangzhou to LAX. $581 each for a total of $1800 for the three of us roundtrip. Add the $552 roundtrip from Salt lake to LAX, and you have #2352

Oh I hope we can still get this kind of deal when the time comes to book the flights.

A new year and a new week.

It's 2010! The year Holly comes home. As this is Sunday daytime in the US, it is the middle of the night in China, so, by the time the sun goes down on us, it will be Monday morning there and another business day. That means that it will be another day when they could be working on our TA. Perhaps they have already worked on it and will send it out this week. Who knows. It's just as likely that they won't send it out for two more weeks. Either way, we will get TA this month as long as all goes well, but, when it gets here will determine if we bring Holly home this month or next month.

Tonight I will begin the onerous process of packing away all the Christmas decorations, and starting the big clean up in preparation for being gone for two weeks and then jet lagged for at least another week. Oh, I remember those days after bringing Myleigh home. It's like having the flu. You're groggy all the time, achey and sore. Just want to sleep, but, we'll have so much to do when we get back, not the least of which will be to help Holly adjust to her new home.

I can't decide which would be better, to drive ourselves to the airport, and then drive home on our own when we get back, or have Katie and James bring us up and then back. I'm thinking, based on the fact that it will be winter time and weather could be dicey, it may be best if we drive ourselves in the outback. I know the kids want to do a homecoming of sorts at the airport, but, I just don't want to risk there being a storm on the day we get home. I guess they'll have to figure something out to do at the house. It's going to be tough to drive home being jet lagged, but, if we do a layover in California at a hotel, we can nap through the night, get cleaned up, and then head out a bit fresher in the morning the next day.

It's starting to feel real. We could be in China in just a few weeks. After all this waiting and pushing paper we are at the end of the tunnel. From the first time we heard Holly's story back in May to now it has been such a rough road. Funny, it will be nine months at the end of this month since we first saw her face. Just like a pregnancy. How odd is that?

thinking about flights

Ive done some preliminary checking, and this is what I have today at least. Most flights go up and down based on the day of the week, time of day, and may book out the cheaper flights before we even get TA, so, it is very preliminary to say the least.

All fares were searched based on three adults traveling economy class roundtrip.

On All Nippon airlines- from Sanfrancisco to Guangzhou and back $3300 does not include the Wuhan leg of the trip

On China Southern- from Losangeles to Wuhan, then Guangzhou to Losangeles $3800

Through Lotus Travel also on China Southern without the Wuhan leg but including three nights stay with two buffet breakfasts per day in Guangzhou $2580

On Asiana airlines from Seattle to Guangzhou and back, no Wuhan leg, $2950

On Expedia on Air China from San Francisco to Wuhan and Guangzhou to San Francisco $2542

On Orbitz flying Cathay Pacific San Francisco to Wuhan and Guangzhou to Sanfrancisco connecting in Hong Kong $3128

Delight travel has a package that leaves from either Los Angeles or San Francisco and goes to Beijing, with a return trip from Guangzhou to either of the two port cities that starts at $1500 for three and goes up to $2400 for 3, does not include the Wuhan leg.

Since SWA takes care of our flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou, and all our hotel reservations, we only have to find flight information for the home to Wuhan and Guangzhou to home legs.

Trip preparations.

So, trying to get the last few things tied up for the trip, and since China may not have high speed wireless internet reliably everywhere we go, I picked up an ethernet cord for the laptop. I also got two headphone splitters so we can watch movies together on the flights without disturbing the other passengers.

All I have left to get is bubbles, pretty much. I think we're fairly well covered otherwise. I do want to get some of the larger ziploc storage bags for our clothes to keep them dry, especially since we will be traveling in winter weather, hopefully not bad weather, but, still, the chances of there being even one day when the weather is bad and our luggage ends up getting wet is greater than if we were traveling in the dry season. China is a very wet climate, especially in the southern provinces, and even in summer it's best to pack luggage for potential wet weather, monsoons and typhoons and all, but, more for the humidity. Hubei is known as China's furnace, and I am so hoping that means it will feel like Springtime. I'm packing for cold weather just in case, but, allowing for layering.

Im back at work for a four day stretch, with the holiday. Since China doesn't celebrate our New Year, and our paperwork is in their hands by now, I can kind of relax and know that this holiday isn't going to slow anything down. Work will keep me busy, and to some degree be a distraction to make the time pass. School starts again on Monday, and I have plans to get the whole house clean, organized, and the holiday decorations neatly stored before we get our TA, so, that should help, too.

I still don't know what we're doing for airlines for the trip. So much depends on the timing, but, I have settled more and more into Asiana. They seem to be comfortable and roomy compared to other economy aircraft. There is a connection in Seoul Korea, but, most flights that we can afford will have some kind of connection.

Article 5 baby!!!

Josh at Small World emailed me this morning with the news that our DS230 was signed off on and the paperwork was picked up and is on it's way to the CCAA as of today. He said it usually takes about three weeks from this point before we see our travel approval (TA) which puts it the week of Jan 20th. If we get it then we could be traveling the weekend of Jan 29th, which gets us there and back before CNY. That is if all goes well in Beijing and there are no further delays or slow downs in our TA. It could even come sooner, which would mean possibly travel the weekend of Jan 22nd, which would be great, but, I really don't expect it. A lot also depends on the available consulate appointment dates. The day we leave has to be about a week before our consulate appointment, so, we will just have to wait and see when that will end up being.

Correction... our cable has been sent!!!

We received a letter today from the NVC stating that our cable was sent to the consulate in Guangzhou on December 22nd. Finally, some news I can get excited about. Now we just have to wait for Small World to confirm that they picked up our paperwork at the consulate and have forwarded it to Beijing for that final TA. We might actually make it before CNY.

No news is,... well,.. no news.

Christmas was yesterday. I was glad I worked, no time to really dwell on the fact that Holly's presents are sitting in a bag, unwrapped, in my bedroom. I know the Chinese don't really honor Christmas as we do, it's kind of a fun new holiday for them, but, not focused on the Savior at all. They play non religious Christmas music, and decorate, and give gifts to some degree, but, I seriously doubt that the orphanages participate much if at all.

Im going to spend time this week, while waiting for news of our cable arriving at the consulate, putting together the talking photo album and get it sent, work on making sure our skype accounts are working and that everyone knows how to use them, and start planning for the trip ie preparing food ahead for the kids to just heat and eat, getting our bags sorted out and some pre-packing done, etc.

More travel prep

Amidst all the holiday hubub, I can't stop thinking about the trip, and just want to get packed and go. My mind is completely distracted from everything else. When I see children's clothes I think Holly and want to buy something for her, but, I have already shopped a ton, and have so much waiting for her, and really can't bring more weight in our suitcases, so, I have to tell myself to just wait, and take her shopping when we get her. Time is going slowly, our paperwork process at this point is out of our hands completely, and we are unlikely to be updated on the next step, which is the cable to the consulate. The USCIS National Visa Center (NVC) sends a cable to the consulate telling them we are approved, and that they can issue a Visa to Holly to enter the US as a citizen. When that cable arrives at the consulate, they prepare what is known as an article 5 document.

Lily, our in China adoption coordinator, will be told that the cable has been sent, so she will know that our paperwork needs to be picked up. At that point, she will bring our signed LOA to the consulate, along with our DS230 form, which will be processed and handed back to her with the article 5. This is my understanding of the steps, I could be wrong, but that is how I have gathered the process so far. Once Lily receives all the paperwork from the consulate, she will forward it onto the CCAA in Beijing. They then process it and issue a travel approval (TA) letter which tells us we are free to come to China to complete the adoption.

At that point, Small World will contact the consulate to make our official appointment which will occur at the end of our trip once the adoption is complete. When we have that date, we can make our travel reservations for one week before in order to have time to complete the Chinese side of the paperwork, receive her adoption certificate and Chinese passport allowing her to leave the province and the country.

Since we are looking at travel in January or February, hopefully, we need to consider the possibility of bad weather. I will be packing our clothes in ziploc bags to protect them from getting wet if the luggage sits on a tarmac in inclement weather, which happens fairly often. Holly will be dressed appropriately, Im sure of that because she comes from a very good orphanage, and they will know how to make her comfortable. Once we get her, and after a settling in period, we will take her shopping for more clothes. We did send her a warm jacket and a couple of springlike jackets, but, you just never know what they will let her keep and what ends up in the main laundry pile and shared by all the children, which is fine with us, but, it does make preparing for what to bring a bit more difficult.

In looking at the options, and following other families recommendations, plus my previous experience in China, I am planning on staying at the Shangrila in Wuhan and the Victory in Guangzhou. Both are very nice, comfortable, clean, and have free internet, so we can skype to and from home for free.

Once everything is packed I will start weighing the luggage and redistributing to make sure we don't go over the weight limits.

This is the info I gathered from the most likely domestic carriers, and since at least one leg each way will be in the US, to avoid overweight or extra luggage charges, we will stay with these limits.

For Delta, Northwest, and United

$15 for the first bag, per person, per flight
weight limit 50lbs per checked bag
1 carryon allowed and 1 personal bag dimensions must fit in an airport screening device 22x14x9
most will waive or reduce the checked baggage surcharge if checked online rather than at the airport

Southwest

two checked bags per passenger, free
50lb weight limit, carryon rules same as above

liquids, areosols and gels in carryons must be in 1 quart size zip loc bag per passenger, in 3 oz or smaller size containers

Holly will be given a luggage allowance and we plan to purchase a suitcase and carryon for her in Guangzhou where they are pretty cheap. We can use her luggage for any treasures we bring home to keep us from going over the weight limit. We sent her a cute backpack from the disney store, but, plan to get another one for the trip that is bigger than that one, and will check the disney one if she still has it with her when they bring her to us.

Travel plans

Now that we are approaching the end of this paperchase, and need to start thinking about when we will be traveling, I checked a few things to help us in advance.

First, the all important Chinese holidays which will affect our official appointments.

Chinese New Year is February 13th thru the 17th. Both the US consulate and the Chinese government offices will be closed, so there is no point in traveling in conflict with these dates.

Martin Luther King Jr birthday in February 15th, the US consulate will be closed on this day as well.

With that said, we really need to either be finished and back home by February 11th, which is a Thursday and completely doable, or wait until the 18th or 19th of February to travel. I really don't want to wait that long, but, if we are affected by a worst case scenario, and our travel approval doesn't arrive until the last week in January, there is no way we will be able to do that. We have to have our travel approval by January 22nd.

The new director at CCAA is purported to be speeding things along, and if that's true, we might just make it to China and back in time. If our government could get their butts in gear and push our paperwork through to the consulate, I know Lily is waiting to pick up our papers and take them to Beijing, so, we just need to get them there and out the door before the Christmas holiday starts to slow things down.

I800!!!!

We received our I800 approval from the USCIS!!

They actually approved it yesterday, and it's on it's way to us as I write this. Our immigration officer answered my email today, on my birthday of all days. I guess the Lord knows that turning 50 is a big pill to swallow, and having great news like this eases the sting and gives me something else to think about.

Now the NVC at USCIS sends a cable to our consulate in Guangzhou saying we are approved, and the consulate will give Lily in China proof of that receipt, and then all the paperwork goes to Beijing for the CCAA to issue us our travel approval letter. This could take anywhere from two weeks to a month after the cable arrives.

Here we go!

Homestudy addendum is done

The homestudy addendum addressing Mindy turning 18 arrived via Fedex this afternoon, and I turned it right around and sent it to immigration in Texas via overnight Fedex. I am really hoping that this means our paperwork will be checked over, forwarded to the Chicago office, and then, logged into their system by next week some time. After that, the immigration officer assigned to our case will go through it, approve it, and then let us know that it was approved, which I am praying will be by the end of next week. Then he will send a cable to the consulate in Guangzhou letting them know we are approved for a Visa for Holly.

When that cable arrives, Lily with Small World will go to the consulate and pick up a form known as the article 5, and take it, along with our signed LOA, to Beijing to the CCAA. They will then go through whatever process they go through to issue us our travel approval letter (TA).

It is currently taking anywhere from two to four weeks for TA's to come in, so, we are looking at after Christmas before we hear anything from them. Probably more like January.

Once we have TA, our agency will make our appointment with the US consulate in Guangzhou China. Our travel is planned backwards from that appointment, so, when we know what day that will be, we will plan travel for about a week before. We will travel probably on a Friday from Salt Lake to Wuhan, arriving, based on time changes, on Sunday, and probably receive Holly that evening. She will come back to our hotel with us, and in the morning on Monday we will complete the adoption paperwork for the China side of the process. They will then prepare her passport which will take til thursday or friday before it is done. In the meantime, while we wait for her passport, we will spend time seeing her province, and getting to know each other. On Friday or Saturday we will travel to Guangzhou, which is a warm, tropical place much like Florida, to complete the US side of the process.

Holly will have a medical checkup, a TB test, and have all of her immunizations, yes I said all, that she would have had to age 5. She will have a picture taken for her Visa documents. Our guide will take all of these documents along with a stack of paperwork we will complete there, to the consulate on that Monday or Tuesday, and we will wait in our hotel room until she calls to tell us all is well, or that we have to take care of something for all to be well. Normally there isn't a problem.

Then, the next day, we go to the consulate with Holly to have her declared a citizen, basically, and then we are free to travel to the US. We will either leave that evening or the next day for home.

Pictures and an update!

We have all new pictures of our Holly Jun, with her first ever birthday cake. You can see some of the other children in her orphanage, mostly little ones from what I can tell. Im sure, when we bring her home, she will point out to us who each child is and tell us their name and which one is her best friend.

I asked some questions and here they are with the answers.


1. Does she know it's her birthday?

She knows it's her birthday but doesn't know it's on Dec 5 and she doesn't quite understand what birthday means.

2. Does she know what her American name will be?

She didn't know her new name but we have told her. She might not be able to used to her new name very quick.

3. Does Jun have a favorite toy or kind of toy?

She likes dolls.

4. What is Jun's shoe size or length of her feet?

Height 109cm, Weight 17.7 kg, Head 50 cm, Chest 53 cm, Foot 11 cm.

that translates to 42.9 inches or 3 ft tall give or take, 39 lbs, with a size 4 shoe ( way smaller than what I believe it is, perhaps a typo in the translation, should be closer to a size 9 or 10 based on her height and weight, should be more like 15 or 16 cm)

5. Did she like the stuffed rabbit we sent her?

She likes all the toys you have sent her.

6. Has Jun learned any words in English?

Jun has learned a few simple English words. She learned it from TV. Such as you, like, etc.

7. Is Jun allergic to anything?

We haven't found she is allergic to anything.

8. How much has Jun been told about the adoption?

We have told her she will have new mommy and daddy.

9. Does she ever talk about her new family?

She talks about you will take her home.

10. Does Jun get carsick?

No

Homestudy addendum

Well, I sent the paperwork and another check to Wasatch International to cover the fees for the addendum on our homestudy to the tune of $200, via Fedex to Ogden to Wasatch on Wednesday. I called yesterday morning to confirm they got it, and they had. They faxed the information to Tom Baxter and then left a message to make sure he got it. He had not returned that call as of this afternoon, so, I am starting to stress again. Major headaches and precious little sleep add up to Senora Cranky Pants.

To top it off, Tom is going out of town next week, so, we only have til then for him to get it done and sent back to me, or to whereever it's going. I am sending an email to him, just to try to move things along, but, who knows how long this is going to end up taking. Every day that goes by is another day Holly is waiting in an orphanage on the other side of the planet, probably wondering why we haven't come for her yet.

I haven't heard back about the phone call I requested from Red Thread, but, I am hopeful they will get back to me in a few days. A little retail therapy this weekend is just what the doctor ordered, since I haven't been Christmas shopping yet. Tim and I want to go together, but, it's looking doubtful with all we have on our plates.

time difference

I just calculated the time difference between salt lake and wuhan. It is 15 hours, and China is ahead of us. According to an online calculator, when it is 8am on Wednesday in China, it is 5pm on Tuesday in Utah. So, we could call home anywhere between 8am and noon, and we should be able to talk to all the kids, including Myleigh, as it will be before her bedtime. It will be the next day in China, but, that's how it works.

Sent another package

Well, this Saturday is Holly's birthday. She turns 5 years old. I really hate that we are not going to be there with her, but, I guess I should have expected that there would be further delays. The USCIS has requested a homestudy addendum to address the fact that Mindy turned 18. That is going to slow us down for a bit, but, once that is done, things should start moving again, and be back in the hands of the Chinese government.

Anyway, since we won't make it in time for her birthday, I have sent Holly a birthday care package thru a service called Red Thread China. They have promised that she will get her cake, and presents on her birthday, and are going to translate a letter for us to the orphanage director. They will also call the orphanage and ask ten questions, just like the last service I used. I would have used the ladybugsinlove service again, but, they are closed from tomorrow thru January, due to the owner being busy helping a friend with her adoption trip, so, I went with Red Thread.

I can't wait to hear the answers to the questions and see pictures of Holly celebrating her birthday for the first time.

28 days waiting for I800 approval

Great big sigh.

Another waiting family, who's I800 paperwork was logged into the USCIS system the same day as ours was, has received word that they were approved. I am hoping we get the same word. I think I will call later today when I wake up.

If it's true, we are now waiting for the US Consulate in Guangzhou to receive an official cable from USCIS and issue the article 5 paperwork. That will be picked up by Lily in China, and taken to Beijing to be dropped off at the CCAA. Then, we just wait for TA from them to make our consulate appointment and travel arrangements.

Just a little progress

Our passports arrived yesterday from the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC with our Visa's stamped in them. Our DS230 is on it's way to the consulate in Guangzhou, China. My packing is moving along, more like nesting really. I'm putting Holly's clothes into zip loc bags, and dividing them among the three suitcases for the trip. I'm trying not to overpack, but, at the same time, since we are traveling in winter, I want to make sure she has a few outfits and pj's in case we get stuck in the hotel due to bad weather and she only has what we bring to wear until we can get out and shop.

I've organized the toys, and the medicines into the three suitcases, and those are also in zip loc bags. The reason for the zip locs is two fold. If there is bad weather at any of the airports, and our suitcases end up out in that weather, which does happen, at least what's inside will have a degree of waterproof protection, especially our clothes and electronics. Also, when traveling, I find it so much nicer to have things seperated into ziplocs to make it easier to find what I'm looking for, and to allow any security searches to not cause a huge mess in our suitcases.

So, now we are waiting for word that our I800 is logged into the NVC (National Visa Center) system. After that, we wait for the I800 approval and then the Article 5 cable. That will mark the end of the US side of the process, and we will have to wait again for TA from China.

11 Days and counting from LOA

We are on our 11th day since LOA, 8 days since sending our I800, and 7 days since it was received at the Texas lockbox office. Next week is the BYU ballroom competition, so, hopefully with that and the upcoming holidays my mind will be busy and not think too much about the wait this time.

Shopping and packing continues

I have basically completed the medicine kit, just a few more things and its done, plus I need to compile a first aid kit.

I have all of Holly's clothing for the trip, and a bunch of toys. All I have left to get for the trip is some food items for us and an ID badge for Holly. I can actually start packing what I have based on the distribution lists. It will be nice to see how it pans out and how I will need to rethink my list, if at all.

All documents were delivered safely

I love Fedex. All three packages of documents were delivered safely by noon today, less than 24 hours from when I sent them out.

Now the I800 packet that went to USCIS in Texas will be reviewed, takes about 10 days. After that, they send it to the National Visa Center, which is an office in the Dept of Homeland Security. They complete it's processing, which also takes 10 days, and cables the consulate in Guangzhou , China that we are approved. By then Lily will have our DS230 and our LOA and have delivered them to the consulate to meet up with the cable. It takes about another 5 days for the consulate to sort it out, and finish their part of the approval process, and then Lily will overnight the whole thing to the CCAA for them to process our Travel Approval letter (TA).

Worst case scenario right now is 50 to 80 days for this entire process from LOA to TA. I am really hoping for more like 40, but, would be thrilled if we can get the whole process done in much less than that.

LOA headed back to China

I got the LOA via Fedex today, quickly signed it, made the necessary copies, and sent the original back to SWA along with the DS230 consulate approval form. They will send that onto Lily in China.

Also sent the I800 and accompanying documents to USCIS. They will do their thing with them, and then tell the consulate that we are okay to bring the child to the US.

I also sent our visa applications and passports to the Assistant Stork to be walked into the Chinese Embassy so we can enter China when the time finally comes to travel.

Now we wait for the last piece of paper, a Travel Approval letter. Really praying we get that quickly, I want her home for Christmas. Now its time to finish the shopping list for the trip, and think about packing.

LOA LOA LOA

It's here it's here. Josh from SWA emailed me today to tell me our LOA arrived!!! I think he was as surprised as anyone. It should arrive here at the house on Monday and the next step in the process begins, the wait for Travel Approval (TA).

We still have a shot at getting her home before Christmas, and we could even arrive in China in time for her birthday. It's not likely, since timeframes are longer than that lately, but, anything's possible.

Update!!

Josh from Small World contacted me today to say that the CCAA told their in China coordinator that our LOA would be coming soon. Josh said that usually means it will arrive in a week or so.

According to what I have been reading on other blog sites, the person who signs the LOA's has been out of the office, and everyone is expecting a batch of them to come in next week. Maybe ours really will be in that batch.

75 Days.

I was sure we would know something by now, but, not even a whisper of a rumor. Everyone else that is waiting for news from China is wondering why it is taking so long. A lot of speculation going around, but, nothing concrete. I just want a hint of what to expect. Is that too much to ask?

For now, I am content to send the third box, it went on it's way yesterday, and in it is a stuffed bunny I made at Build A Bear that has a voice recorder in it. I included a letter to the orphanage workers with instructions for Holly to be shown to press the paw and she will hear my voice telling her I love her in both Chinese and English. As always, I tossed in a bag of candy for her to share with the other children and some new clothes for her. I also put in a warmer coat as the weather will begin to turn chilly, at least as chilly as it gets in Hubei, which is about 55 at the coldest in January. Still, for someone who lives there, I'm sure that feels pretty cold.

Her pictures are on our fridge, and it helps some to see how happy she appears to be. At least I can believe someone cares about her and shows her enough affection and attention that she can have such a ready and sparkly smile.

We have an update!!! And pictures!!

We heard back already from Lady bugs in love. They were able to get two new pictures of Holly Jun. She looks so beautiful and healthy. What a sweet smile and such bright eyes. In the first picture she is wearing the hat I got her and the dress Tim got her. In the second picture she is playing with one of the toys we sent. I also noticed that she is still wearing, in both pictures, the same necklace she was wearing in the first pictures we got of her four months ago. It must be very special to her.

We also got answers to the questions we asked. I'll just copy and paste it here.

Does she know about us?
Yes. We have shown her your pictures.

Has she gotten the gifts we sent?
Yes. She has the clothes on, looks at the pictures and plays with the toys every day.

What is her favorite color?
Red.

What is her favorite food?
Sweet food.

How is she doing in school?
Our teacher teaches her sing some children songs, recite poems.

Does she have a favorite friend?
Yes. Huang Fu Yi.

Is she happy about being adopted?
She doesn’t understand it yet. But she knows she will have new daddy and mommy.

Does she like to dance?
Yes.

Is there anything she wants to tell us?
She hopes she can meet daddy and mommy soon.

Has she been using the coloring book we sent to learn about what her adoption trip will be like?We have told her about what it says in the book. She’s been coloring/reading the coloring book.

Her updated measurements:
Height: 106cm; Weight: 32kg; Head: 49cm; Chest: 51cm.

We are even more anxious to bring her home that we were before, but, we are so grateful for the new pictures.

A sad day in the law enforcement community

We lost one of our own yesterday. She was a friend. We'll miss you Shauna.

ladybugs in love

I contacted a service called ladybugs in love. They offer a service where they contact the orphanage in China and request updated information and pictures of the child, and also allow you to send them ten questions that you may want to ask the workers there about your child. It all cost 40 dollars, and they often get information in as little as one week. Im thinking more like two weeks. It would be so exciting to see a new picture of Holly. The most recent ones we have are from June. I am also hoping to have the questions answered. I asked the basics about her favorites, and likes and dislikes, but, specifically asked if she has gotten the boxes we sent, does she know about us, what does she feel about being adopted, and has she been using the coloring book I sent to prepare her for the adoption. I also asked if she had anything she wanted to say to us. How precious these answers would be if we actually got them. Ladybugs in love warns you that not all orphanages will give you information, some will answer questions but not send pictures, and some give you more than you ask for. So far, the experiences of other parents has been very positive, so, I guess we'll see.

66 Days.....

Referrals came in today for Non Special Needs adoptions. They are for people who sent their request to China on either March 27th or 28th of 2006. Yes, I said 2006. That is how long it is currently taking for China to process the paperwork for families who are requesting a healthy infant. To make it worse, they are continuing to slow the process. Each day that China recieves paperwork for NSN adoptions is called a log in date, similar to the special needs process. This month they sent out two days worth of requests, and next month they will likely do the same, sending out the next two days worth, and only finishing with March 2006 after having started on it months ago. At the rate of only two days per month being processed, it will take years just to finish all of 2006. I guess if I look at it that way, waiting more than 66 days for our LOA doesn't sound so bad.

Then again, they don't have a four year old child looking back at them from a picture taken months ago. Their babies won't be born until about a year before they get their referral. My baby girl is waiting right now, and every day that passes is another she will wait, and another day I don't get to hold her and be her mom.

60 Days

We are at 60 days waiting for LOA. I'm getting a little stir crazy. My emotions go up and down all day long. I toss and turn when I really need to be sleeping. Now that it is the Harvest Moon Festival in China, no one is working and no one will be back in the CCAA offices until Thursday. That means at least another week with no word.

We spent the official Moon Festival day, Saturday Oct 3rd, sitting around a bon fire in the back yard, eating moon pies instead of moon cakes, and I told the story of Chang Er. It is a bit of Chinese folklore, and the kids expect that I will tell her story as we all sit around looking at the moon. It had been cloudy all day, and I was sure there was no way we would see the moon, except perhaps a bit of a glow behind the thick layer of clouds. It was such a nice surprise to see the clouds had parted, the rain had stopped, and it was actually a warm night.

Next year, on the Harvest Moon night, we will again gather together around a bon fire in the back yard. Holly will be there, and our family will be complete. Now if we can just get that LOA in the next batch, my prayers will be answered.

54 Days

Still waiting. The CCAA has sent out packages to the adoption agencies around the world. No one knows, not even the agencies, what is in the packages. All we know is that they are due to arrive sometime in the next few days. If our LOA is in there, we hopefully will get a phone call from our agency. So far, they have only communicated through email, so, maybe that is how we will get the news.

This weekend, on Oct 3rd, is the Harvest Moon Festival in China. We will be celebrating with a bonfire in our fire pit in the backyard, and homemade moon cakes, which are our version of the moon cakes made in China, except ours are sweet pastries, and theirs are often made of bean paste, or cheese, more savory and my kids just aren't into them. When I was in China on the adoption trip to bring Myleigh home, I bought some authentic moon cakes. On that first Harvest festival at home, we tried them. Not as yummy as they looked. They were very artistic looking though as they are made in special presses, that shape them and imprint designs on them. So, I found a moon cake press on ebay and use it to make our own cakes. I use cookie dough and fill them with different fillings, jams, preserves, that kind of thing. Even chocolate could be used. Then, before baking, you fold a note inside each cake, a message to the person who gets that cake, usually wishing them good luck or something or it can be a special message meant just for them. We sit around the fire and open our mooncakes and look at the huge moon. In China, the harvest festival is a time of family reunion. Families travel from all over China back to their family home. It lasts for the weekend.

Since we are now approaching this year's harvest festival weekend, the CCAA is planning to be closed for the next week due to families traveling to and from their reunions. This may have an affect on our wait. There are rumors that the CCAA is planning to clear their desks and send out a large amount of LOA's and TA's this week, and then have a fresh start when they come back to the office. Another rumor says they are not planning to send out anything until after the holiday.

All I know is, I want my LOA this week. I will be sleeping most of the day tomorrow, since I am working all night tonight, so, if it comes in and our agency calls or emails in the morning, I won't know it til I wake up. Maybe that's for the best. Nothing like waiting around for news, especially if it never comes.

46 days

Still waiting. Trying to get shopping done a little at a time for the trip. Pulling together the last few items for the final paperwork we will need to complete our travel arrangements, including our Visas.

39 days and counting

we are at 39 days since our LID, and tomorrow marks the day when we enter the timeframe where LOA's have been known to come in. We still have no idea when to expect ours, and could be waiting for two more months, but, I am so hopeful that ours will come in this week or next. Preferably this week.

More paperwork done....

I finished the I800, the I864W, and the DS230 forms . I read through the instructions Josh sent, and will have to send him an email to clarify some things he said. I believe I finished it all, but, I'm not certain, so I guess I will have that answer tomorrow. Now we just wait for the LOA. Then, the process looks like this...

SWA receives the LOA and Consulate Acceptance Letter (CLA).

SWA sends the original LOA, a photocopy of the CLA, a copy of our referral, and something he referred to as "the three letters" to us.

We sign the original LOA, keep a photocopy, and send the original back to SWA along with our completed DS230.

We send the photocopy of the signed LOA, the photocopy of the CLA, the referral, the completed I800, a photocopy of the i797C approval, and "the three letters" to USCIS

SWA sends our signed original LOA, the CLA, and our original DS230 to Lily in China

Once the USCIS approves our paperwork, they notify the consulate in Guangzhou China by cable. SWA is also notified by email or phone. Lily will delver the CLA, and the DS230 to the consulate.

After they consulate approves everything, Lily then takes the signed LOA to the CCAA who will then send our TA to SWA.

That is when we can make our consulate appointment, which all our travel dates revolve around. As soon as we have that confirmed, we can leave for China.

It's all a bit involved, but, as long as I keep my head and take it one step at a time, I can handle it.

32 days and counting

We are at 32 days waiting for our LOA. Josh at SWA emailed me that our dossier is through translation, and in review. He said the CCAA told him that dossiers are usually processed in six weeks from LID unless there are problems, and, that he also got LOA's today for three other families that came in at around 40 days, which would be next week for us, and an incredible miracle. Sept 18th if it is truly at six weeks.

I really don't expect it that soon, but, pray that whatever happens, we can have her home before her birthday. That's the main thing.

Josh also sent me a bunch of paperwork for us to get started on, at my request, so we can be ready when that LOA does come in. It includes the I800 , I864w and DS230 for USCIS. Yes, we still have more paperwork to process through the US government even after all the hoops we already jumped through. When our LOA comes, we will have Visa applications to fill out and send, and some back and forth mailing, but, we will be ready for that. We are praying that the Lord will bless us with our LOA arriving next week, probably closer to the end of the week. That would put us at 6 weeks post LID.

Waiting for LOA

Based on the trends currently, and keeping in mind that nothing is set in stone when it comes to China, I am beginning to worry we won't get to China before the Christmas holiday, and may actually be spending the holiday in China.

The current averages put our wait for LOA at 90 days. That would be November 5th. Then we have about a six week wait for our TA, which puts us at December 17th. Travel is averaging about two to three weeks after TA, which puts us in January. Ugh. That just cannot happen.

Now, based on a happier trend, we could get our LOA as soon as October 22nd, and then our TA December 3rd, and travel by, believe it or not, Christmas Eve. Of course, anything could happen, and we could actually get our LOA much much sooner. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for us to get our LOA in September. That would be fantastic.

A little shopping while we wait

Melissa at work told me about a great recordable photo album. It holds 24 pictures and each picture can have a message recorded for it that is saved in the book's memory. I ordered it from Amazon. We will be boxing it up to send to Holly. Each family member will have a page to put a picture in, and record a message to Holly for that page. I am putting some other things, like pictures of the dogs, of the pond, our car, stuff like that, and recording messages telling her about the things in the picture that will be a part of her new life.

Katie and I went to Build A Bear today and created an adorable bunny, with a button in its paw that I recorded a message on for her to play. It says, Wo Ai Ni Holly Jun, Mama loves you. Wo Ai Ni means I love you in Chinese. I dressed it in a baby sleeper outfit, with bunny slippers and pink bows. I picked up a soft baby blanket and wrapped the bunny in it. I'll toss in some packets of fruit snacks and more clothing items like socks. This will be the third box we send to her, and I will be interested to see if she brings any of these items with her when we pick her up on "gotcha day".

Gotcha day, for those not in the adoption circles, is the name referring to the day we meet her and she becomes ours. Myleigh's gotcha day anniversary is August 3rd.

LOA's came in today, there was one family that only waited 59 days, so, it's encouraging, but, there is absolutely no way to predict when ours will come in. I just keep hoping, keep praying, and keep my fingers crossed.

time goes slowly by

This waiting is the worst part of the entire process. There seems to be no end to the waiting. First it was the paperwork, then it was the LID, now, its LOA. come on, there is a little girl in China that is waiting for her family to bring her home, and she should be such a high priority that we grown ups, both here in the US and in China, would be moving heaven and earth to get her home as fast as possible. It just seems like the whole adoption business is crawling along. I can't imagine that any of the people involved in processing the paperwork have any motivation to get their rears in gear. It's just a job, day after day. To them it's what they do for a living, to us, it's our life.

We sent a box this week to Holly. Tim bought some clothes for her, I put a blanket and some toys and another camera in the box, along with a bag of suckers for the kids in the orphanage.

This week did bring a surprise. A friend from work, Emily, asked if it was ok to buy the DS for Holly that we were planning to pick up to take with us to China. That was such a sweet request, and both Tim and I were so touched that she would want to do that. I know Holly is going to love it.

We got our LID!!!!!

Josh emailed me today with our official log in date. It is August 7th. WOO HOO!!!

Now we just wait for LOA.

I was really expecting a LID on the 14th, so one less week of waiting is fine with me.

With the average wait time for LOA being 70 days, I am projecting a date of October 16th for when we get ours. It could be sooner or later than that, and I am hoping for sooner. It would be incredible if we could get LOA in September.

It's on it's way!!!

Josh from SWA just emailed me that our dossier is on it's way to China right now!!!

It should arrive this week, and be logged in officially sometime this week or next. We won't know for sure, I wouldn't think, until a few weeks from now when CCAA relays that date to SWA and they let us know what it is. Or, perhaps because it is being hand delivered, it will be logged in right away, and we will know that date basically the same day or the day after. I have no idea, but, it will be fun to watch.

We have finally arrived at the point where it is in China's hands.

Long weekend

Wouldn't it just figure that one piece of paper is what our dossier is waiting on before Lily can take it to China. WIAA needs to send SWA a letter of agreement that states they are working together as Hague approved agencies to process this adoption. Since Utah has the odd practice of celebrating it's very own State holiday on the 24th of July, and my dossier did not return to SWA in Tennesee until then, Josh was not able to reach anyone in the WIAA offices to get that letter sent ASAP. Everything shuts down on the 24th of July, to celebrate Pioneer Day honoring the pioneers that settled Utah and recognizing the date that they first entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At least I think it was 1847. Having grown up in Maryland puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to all things pioneer, and leaves me wondering why it needs to be a State holiday, shutting down banks, government offices, etc...

So, when Josh tried to reach someone at the WIAA offices in Ogden, he got an answering machine, which he left a message on, and we will just have to wait until Monday, when the office is open, before we can make things happen.

Still, as long as we can get it done on Monday, we will be ok. I sent Beesh at WIAA an email, which I know she always responds to within hours, and I will be calling her first thing Monday morning, to get that expedited. Hopefully, it can be faxed. We must have this agreement for the dossier, in order for China to know these two agencies are in a working relationship.

Dossier complete

Our dossier is complete, all documents are in. This week, Lily from China (she is the in-china agency rep that found Holly) is in the US and will be taking our dossier with her back home. She will hand deliver it to the CCAA herself. This is very unusual, as dossier's are normally mailed by the agency, but, Lily has taken a personal interest in Holly's case. It makes me feel better to know it won't run the risk of being lost in the mail.

As soon as it is delivered, CCAA will look it over, and log it in officially to be reviewed. That will be our official Log In Date (LID). We start counting from LID to letter of approval (LOA). Once we get that, we finish the process with US immigration by sending the form I800 to have a Visa prepared for Holly. Immigration sends the US consulate in Guangzhou, China notification of our case and that we will be traveling to China to adopt this child. The consulate forwards, through our agency rep, probably Lily again, that notification, and Lily includes our LOA, to the CCAA so they can issue a Travel Approval (TA) letter allowing us to make our consulate appointment and travel arrangements. So, literally, we have just three more steps before we can travel, LOA, I800, and TA.

Moving along

Our application letter is back from the Utah Secretary of State and making it's way, as we speak, to Washington DC to complete the same process our dossier just went through, so, if all goes well, we might see it back next week. Crossing fingers, toes, and eyes. I had thought it could jump over that step, but, it ended up being required that it be Utah State certified, so, another delay, but, a needful one to avoid problems later on during the review in China.

Waiting for LID

Our letter of application had to be sent to Washington to be authenticated. Another detail we were not told about, but, has to be done. It was sent Fedex on Monday, so should already be through the certification and in the middle of the authentication, and on its way back to Small World the first of next week. Then, it all goes to China and we get our official Log In Date(LID), which means that our paperwork was officially received by the CCAA and is being processed in order along with all the other dossiers that have been sent.

Normally, the LID is about two weeks after it was sent, not because it necessarily takes that long to get there, but, that is how long it is typically taking for them to enter it in the log as having been received. We may not know this date for a month though, as China is notoriously slow in sending that or any kind of information. They just don't see the need to rush I guess.

Everyone that is currently waiting for LOA right now (Letter Of Approval which means we can proceed with the final paperwork to prepare to travel) is seeing a long wait, averaging 90 days. Some have gone as long at 117 days, and others, about 55 days, with the shortest wait being 28 days, no one understands how they got LOA so fast, and it was the only one so far to come that soon.

There was a rumor, probably pretty accurate, that the CCAA wasn't sending LOA's because of H1N1. They wanted to slow down the influx of foreigners for a bit, and it has actually helped with the outbreaks in their country. The families currently waiting are going a bit stir crazy though, and have been hearing that LOA's may come in this week for a lot of them. I hope things speed up, maybe getting the average down to about 40 days or so. If it stays as is, we won't see ours until the end of October, and with the remaining wait for a travel approval letter (TA) we won't travel until December, and we might miss her 5th birthday. I really don't want to miss another one, so, am praying for things to really speed up.

Done and done

Finally, after 11 months, and so many delays, snafus, wrong turns, and frustrations, our adoption dossier is on its way to the agency for its final translation into Chinese and then the agency, Small World, will send it to the CCAA for the final review, which can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days.

Whatever happens, I know it will be the Lord's will, because, if any of the aforementioned craziness hadn't happened exactly as it did, we would not have found our Holly. So, if there are more delays, or if things go much faster, it will be because that is how it needs to happen.

Right now, we are looking at traveling in the Fall, and really hope we can have her home before her birthday in December.

27 days since LOI

It has been 27 days since we sent our LOI for Holly, and 21 days since we received PA.

WAAAHOOO!!! Our dossier is complete!!!

It came today via Fedex. The completely certified, and authenticated dossier of all the documents we need to bring Holly home.

Now, we send it, along with our agency fees, to Small World adoptions, they will translate it and send it to China for the final, and I do mean final, review.

In tracking the package we sent to Holly, it arrived in China on Thursday the 25th, so, I am hopeful that she has received it by now, and knows who her new family will be. I wonder what she thinks of us, and if she feels any connection at all. I'm just so excited, and anxious to get to China to bring her home.

Just one more week

I contacted Steve at the Assistant Stork today, asking what the status is of our dossier. The State Dept had a death of a co-worker, and that delayed processing of our dossier a bit. It is now at the Chinese Consulate, and is expected to be done on Friday. Hopefully, that means it will be on its way back to us on Friday.

Time goes slowly by

Waiting for our dossier to be completed and sent back to us is going slowly. Still, they should be done today and on their way back to us, arriving next week. Once they are here, we will combine our family life photos, and passport photos with the dossier of documents, package them, and send them to our agency along with our next fee installment. Then, they will be translated into Chinese, and sent to the CCAA to be gone over with a fine tooth comb. This is where our notaries, and time stamps are most important.

As long as all is well, the CCAA will send us a LOA. They usually take months to send these out, average being 90 days, but, today I saw posted on another adoption website that someone received their LOA in less than 30 days, so, perhaps things are speeding up. Doesn't matter to us, really. We have planned a late fall trip, so, earlier would be ok, but, we are already settling in for the wait.

We sent Holly a package of gifts. Mailed yesterday. We sent her a backpack with a couple of Disney stuffed animals, hair barrettes, bracelets, and rings, a play sleeping beauty cell phone, a cute sucker shaped like a Daisy. I also put some fruit snacks to share with some of her friends at the orphanage. We put together a photo album with pictures of all of us, our house, some of the things we do, and put subtitles in both english and simple chinese. I made a coloring book for her by typing out the story of our adoption trip. For instance, page one talks about how Tim, Matthew and I will be coming to China on a big airplane. I pasted a picture of an airliner and pasted the dialogue in both english and simple chinese. Each page had a space where I had Myleigh draw a picture of what that page is about, so on that page she drew an airplane with our faces peeking out of the windows. I then laminated the page, and bound them all together as a book. I sent washable markers and an eraser for her to use to color, erase, and color again. I asked, in a note, for the staff at the orphanage to read her the story and let her color the pages. We are hoping this will help Holly to understand at least to some degree what is going to happen when she leaves the orphanage. Maybe she will have less stress, since there won't be so many unknowns, and as each page is fulfilled, she will recognize it, and know what is coming next. Like checking off a calendar.

We will send her another package, unless things move quickly, with a few things, but, this is basically the big package. I have been gathering some things to take with us to China, toys, some clothing items, etc, but, most of what we will get her we will wait until we have her in China and take her shopping for, to make sure we get the right sizes. It will also be a way of passing some of the down time we will have while waiting for her passport before going to Guangzhou.

Packing lists, yes already.

I am trying to keep myself busy while I wait for our dossier to be authenticated, so, I decided I need to start picking up the things we will need for the trip a little at a time. In order to know what to get, I had to know how old she is and what part of the country she is in, and what time of year we might be traveling. Since getting the referral, I know that she is 4 years old and wears about a 4t in clothing. She lives in a sub-tropical climate, which means, even in winter it only gets down into the mid 40's during the day, and we will likely be traveling in the Fall at about mid 60's to 70's during the day. The last few days of the trip will be in Guangzhou, which is even warmer, so, we may not need the warm coats unless they are expecting cold temps, which we will know when we get a bit closer to traveling. I am planning for that contingency by leaving room in our carryons for the coats.

I've divided the packing into several lists. A list for each of us, Tim-myself-Matthew, and a master packing list. I also have a running shopping list that will be updated as we get the things on the list.

When packing for a trip like this, you consider the fact that you won't be far from a Walmart or other store, but, you may have a sick or grieving child that would prevent getting out to the store for at least a few days. Also, it will be a two week long trip, and while we will have the laundry done a few times, we don't want to risk running out of clean clothes, especially if we get stuck in China due to weather or some other unexpected delay.

The last trip to China to bring Myleigh home I took a veritable medicine cabinet, and while I didn't use hardly any of it, I was so glad I had it. This time, I will again bring plenty of American medicines, enough for all of us for two weeks.

I won't need to bring too many clothing items for Holly, since we will be taking her shopping in China, but, again, not knowing what her health or state of mind may be, I will bring several outfits to be on the safe side.

In case of lost luggage, I always distribute clothing evenly among all the luggage so no one gets to China and finds they have no clothes to wear because their suitcase got lost or misdirected.

My packing lists are on the side bar if you're interested.

PA has arrived today!!!!!

After only eight days, we received pre-approval from China to adopt our little Holly Jun. Our agency rep, Carol, was so excited at how fast this arrived that she sent the message in all CAPS. Now we can send Holly a package and start communicating with her. Tim wants to send her something special from her Daddy, possibly a locket with our picture in it. I have a lot of plans of things to send, and that includes the baby doll I bought for her this week. I plan to put together a box that includes a picture book of photographs of each of us holding her baby doll, and just pictures of our house, inside and out. I will have to talk to the Half The Sky program reps to see what they suggest we send and what they think we should not send.

Now, finally, I can post her picture on our blog.

So far so good.

I sent our dossier packet to the Assistant Stork on Monday, and Steve called me today to tell me they arrived this morning. There was one glitch, and it was the I797c. Apparently you don't send the original, you make a photocopy, have it notarized, state certified and then authenticated. Since we didn't do that and no one told us we needed to, I sent the original, and he called right away to let me know about the problem and offered to fix it. He was so wonderful, and is making the photocopy, having it notarized, and then will take it onto the state dept for the final steps. He said this wasn't the first time this happened, and that he was confident in the fix. We'll pay a little extra for the extra trips he will make to Washington DC, and for the notary, but, that's not as big a deal as if we had to do all those steps ourselves. We would have had to wait until Monday to do the state certification, since that was going to be my first day off. Then, wait the week for it to come back, and then send it to him for the remainder of the steps. That would have easily added weeks to the process.

As it stands, with Steve doing this for us, he expected to have the documents to the State Dept on Tuesday, pick them up later that day, drop them off to the Chinese consulate that afternoon, and then it's about 4 days later that he can pick them up. We may just have the whole thing in our hands by the end of the following week, and then can send them onto Small World to be sent to China.

We have finally chosen a name for our little Cricket. After seeing her face, and getting to know a bit about her, we chose Holly Jun Nicole Anderson.

More interesting facts

Ok, so, years ago when we initially planned our adoption, I told Tim that this child was "his". I just felt that she had a strong connection to him, more than just that she would be his daughter, but, that perhaps this adoption was a promise he had made.

Anyway, in reading the interesting facts about her home province Hubei is known as the "Minneosta of China" because of its many lakes. Since Tim was born and raised in Minnesota, this just strikes me as a very interesting coincidence.

Interesting facts

I learned today that the provinces that Myleigh and Jun are from share an interesting link. Myleigh is from the Hunan province and Jun is from the Hubei province. The name Hubei means "north of the lake, and Hunan means "south of the lake". The lake they refer to is East lake. Both girls were brought from the East "China" to the west "US". I found this very interesting. There is a good chance we will be staying at the East Lake hotel in Wuhan, Hubei, so, that would be a fun fact to add to this journey.

Another fun fact, both Myleigh and Jun's Chinese names mean "pretty".

Jun's referral was sent to us on Myleigh's birthday. We didn't open it until June 1st. We sent our paperwork for Myleigh's adoption, to China on June 12 of 2002. Myleigh was found on June 11 2002. Our referral was sent to us for Myleigh in June 2003. It arrived July 3rd, 2003.

The month prior to both girls referrals, there was a pandemic that affected the world, for Myleigh it was SARS, for Jun it was H1N1.

Huang Fu Jun

Our new daughter is Huang Fu Jun. She is 4 years old and lives in the Huangshi social welfare institute in Hubei, China. She was born on December 5th 2004, the year of the monkey. She is a healthy, waiting child.

This is what the remaining process looks like.

We have sent a letter of interest (LOI) to the CCAA. They will then send back to our agency a Pre-Approval letter (PA). Once we have the PA, we send our dossier which is still in the authentications process. When the CCAA recieves our dossier, they will give it an official log in date (LID), and we will then wait for a letter of approval (LOA) which means our adoption is officially approved by China.

At that point, we send our LOA to USCIS along with a new form I800, and they will then send paperwork (DS230) to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, telling them about our adoption. Our agency rep in Guangzhou will pick up a copy of that document, and take it to the CCAA along with other documents. From that paperwork the CCAA issues a travel approval letter (TA) which is sent to our agency.

When we have the TA, our agency makes an appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou to have our adoption paperwork finalized and our daughter declared a US citizen just before we leave China.

The timing of this appointment is very important, as it dictates all of our other official appointments. We cannot enter the US without the consulate approval of her travel Visa. We will need about a week, maybe five days, in her province to have her adoption finalized as far as China is concerned, and a passport issued for her to leave the country. Once we have her passport and her China paperwork is done, we have to take her to the approved clinic in Guangzhou for a quick check of her overall health, confirm she is the child we were expecting, and to have her immunizations done prior to entering the US. She will also need a picture taken for her Visa. That takes a day or so, and then the agency rep meets with the consulate to have all our paperwork looked over for correctness. The next day we bring our daughter with us to the consulate to swear that this is the child we were referred, and we promise to fulfill the obligations we signed off on in our paperwork, financial support etc.

Once all that is done, we are free to leave the country.

So, for right now, we wait for PA and finish the authentication of our dossier. We should be ready to send it to be logged in sometime the end of this month or beginning of next month.

Very close to an announcement

After the last time, we are not going to announce our big news until we have confirmation that the child we have requested has been locked and that nothing else can take her from us. Until then, I am sending our dossier to the dossier courier in Washington DC for the final steps.