Live From Beijing!

Everyone!

It's been quite the trip! Everything went very smoothly with our travel-- no bad weather- no delays. Just a really long flight from Chicago to Beijing-- 13 1/2 hours. We flew over Siberia and was able to see some of the landscape-- pretty cool.

Our agency guide was waiting for us in Beijing and everthing went very smoothly and amazingly quickly getting through the Visa checks and customs. The pictures posted are random pictures I took on the bus ride from the airport to the hotel. One each of Wim and I on the bus too excited about being in Beijing to feel how tired we truly are. We are pretty wiped! I didn't sleep Tuesday-night and only slept a couple hours today on the plane. Wim slept Tueday-night, but not enough.

We are all checked into our hotel, the Poly Plaza, in Beijing. Our guide took us and the other families who checked in today to a grocery store that is within walking distance to buy some bottled water etc., as it is much cheaper at the grocery store than in our hotel.After we unpacked from the grocery excursion, Wim and I decided to break off on our own and get dinner.

We ducked into a little restraunt down a couple blocks down from our hotel. It was pretty busy so we figured the food must be good-- and it was much better than good. Ordering the food was interesting because the folks there didn't speak English and our Mandarin isn't great-- but we managed to order some pretty yummy food.Although, we are not entirely sure what we ate.

One dish was made with some kind of small chicken pieces-- almost like left over chicken peices that we cut from larger pieces (bones and all). It wa spicy --- but not too much and very tasty. The second dish was fried very small shrimp (shells and eyes and all) with cilantro and celery (we think). This was also very good.

We forgot to take the camera with us when we went out this evening-- we also forgot our Mandarin dictionary etc. Like I said, dinner was an interesting experience.

Ok, folks, that's it for tonight. It is 8:00 pm Beijing time which is 7:00 am EST and I've basically been up since 5:00 am Tuesday, March 18th. It is time for a shower and then our beddy-bye-basket!

We'll post more tomorrow and I'll remember the camera for the Hutong Tour.

Travel Date!

Hi Everyone!

It has been one crazy week! The good news is we finally have our travel date-- we leave for China on March 19th!

Here is the quick rundown:

Monday received an email from our agency around 6:00 pm that said:

1. Our Consulate Appointment is set for April 7th,

2. We are to leaving for China no later than March 20th,

3. Delight Travel will be emailing you flight schedules and need to book you by tomorrow,
4 PM Pacific time.

4. The US Consulate in Guangzhou does not have a record that our fingerprints were updated and we need to contact our local immigration office to get this resolved.

Response to #1 YIPPEEE!!

Response to #2 Holy Crap! That means we are in China for 3 weeks!

Response to #3- OK

Response to #4-- WTH?! That is as clean as I can keep it-- sorry.

We received our paperwork that our fingerprints were all set and documented (for the second/third time around) on February 4th!

Needless to say, I spent some time Tuesday morning calling the National Visa Center, emailing USCIS, and then I discovered I could make an appointment with USCIS in Providence. So I did, and was able to talk to someone in person. We are pretty sure that everything is worked out now.

The three week trip-- Wim and I felt this was too long for him to be away-- between the kids and his job, we have decided that he will fly home after two weeks and Josie and I will return on the 9th as scheduled.

Wim will have been with Josie long enough so that the adoption will still be treated as both parents attending (basically-- less paperwork stuff to do when we return home).

Next Drama--Tuesday night-- our dog sitter decided that she wanted to charge us 25% more than we had originally agreed to--- months ago! After everything else we had to deal with, I am sure that those of you who know me well have a pretty good idea how I responded.

Never fear-- we found someone else for our pet sitting needs and the new dog sitter will be an even better fit for Phoebe. So, all is well that ends well.

We've booked our flights, secured our travel arrangements with our agency, and now all we have to do is pack. Flights in China are limited to one checked bag per person, 44 lbs max. I've started working on this and I think it is going well. I also think there are a few things that will get pulled from the pile.

This will likely be my last post from the US. We are taking my very old lap top with us and have discovered a few kinks-- but thanks to Uncle Earl it appears that the kinks are worked out.

I am using the laptop to post this blog, download the photos below from the camera and upload them to here. So, if you are reading this-- all has gone well. If you are not reading this, I am likely on my way to the liquor store to get a shot of whiskey! Just a little stress!!!!


It appears that this is as good as posting the pictures will get without a mouse, which we are not planning to bring. These are pictures of Josie's room and play area in the living room. The final picture, which was suppose to be first is of our stork-- the FedEx Delivery man who brought us our referral.

You should have seen the look on his face when I asked him how many babies had he delivered.

Next Post-- Beijing China!

WOOO-Hooo!

Waiting for Travel Approval

Just when we thought we were done waiting . . . here we are again, waiting for travel approval from China so we can actually fly there to complete the adoption.

In the meantime, we have been and are very busy and have had a very nice surprise this week. We used an organization called Blessed Kids to ship a care package to Josie. Nothing really big, a little panda snuggli that Wim and I have been sleeping with and a baby photo album with pictures of us in it.

This past week I received word from Blessed Kids that the Orphanage had received our care package and that they were able to get four more pictures of Josie! We were so surprised, not to mention thrilled that we were able to get a few more pictures of her. We don't have any more information and we don't know her age in these photos, but we think the first one was taken around the same time as the referral photos we already received and that the last three are more recent (she has slightly longer hair).

Wim and I cannot believe how incredibly lucky we are to be adopting such a beautiful little girl. She really seems to be very inquisitive based on the pictures we have gotten.

We are very anxious to get our travel approval and get the show on the road.

Once our adoption agency receives this, they can make appointments for us with the US Consulate and then we will know our travel dates. Our agency is still shooting for the week of March 16th, but we will see. That is right around the corner!

We've already started packing-- mostly stuff for Josie. China is more restrictive about baggage than the US so we really need to economize on the packing space.

We will keep you posted-- hopefully, we will have more definitive travel dates by the end of this week.

Introducing Our Little Girl

Here she is!

Isn't she lovely?

Isn't she precious?

Isn't she wonderful?

Chinese Name: Shao Fu Dong (last name, First name, middle name)

Soon to be: Josie Orangelee FuDong Chase

Birthdate: November 10, 2006, she is 15 months old.

Province: Guang Dong

Measurements taken on 11/23/2007:

Weight: 19.8 lbs. (this likely includes several layers of clothes to keep warm)

Length: 27.56 in

Head: 17.23 in

Chest: 18.11 in

Other information:

She is starting to teeth, is a moderate sleeper, actively crawls, walks while holding onto something, can pick up small objects with her thumb and index finger, imitates words, responds to people when spoken to, likes toys and loves to play.

We are more than ecstatic to say the least!

We will get the formal adoption package in the mail on Wednesday. Needless to say, I am taking that day off from work (Have I ever mentioned that I have a pretty cool boss?).

We do not know when we will travel yet. There is more paperwork that needs to be completed. It will likely be about 6-weeks from now.

Stay tuned for future updates!

Stork Landing

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update-- our agency received the package and we have received our referral. I am still waiting for them to email us a picture. I will wait until after Wim gets home to post the picture.

Some teasers for now:

She is 15 months old and likes to play.

More info to follow!!!!

Stork Hits Wall!!!

There is our stork . . . . flat on its back at CUSS-TOMBS.

Yes, this is the reality.

While several other waiting families with different adoption agencies are receiving their referral calls today . . . .

our agency emailed us today that the package they are waiting for has been delayed at customs--

or as I have ever so endearingly re-named them,

CUSS-TOMBS!

Now we have to wait until Monday-- hopefully, no longer than that.

Customs, to whom my tax dollars help pay their salaries. My tax dollars are helping to pay for the delay in my own referral.

That is ever so special.

My feelings about this are best expressed in the following picture . . .

Look! In the Sky . . .Do You See It?

Is that the stork flying toward us from China? We think it might be!!!

Rumors are going wild crazy mad this month regarding referrals. We were notified by our agency this afternoon that they are expecting a package from China tomorrow!!! They cannot confirm that the package contains referrals.

However, we really think that this it. Several other waiting families with other agencies who post on some of the list serves were told by thier agencies that the referral cutoff this month is December 27, 2005. This is coming from a couple different agencies in the US, Canada, and Europe. Since we have these reports coming-in, it is a good sign that referrals are in the mail!

If our agency does get referrals tomorrow, they will email us Josie's picture and her basic information. Josie's full packet of information will not arrive until Tuesday. But, at least we will get the best part of the information right away!!!!

We'll keep you posted!