We are in Nanning

It is about 1:45 in Nanning. We are about an hour away from leaving the hotel to go to Maddie. We just returned from the store and purchased some snacks and a stroller. It was a fun experience for all of us. We are having fun with our group and are so excited about today. I will post photos as soon as I can. I still don't have blogger up, so you will have to put up with email updates.

Hong Kong

We spent this morning on a tour of Hong Kong. The weather was perfect for sightseeing. We visited Stanley market and purchased a set of chops for Maddie and a few decorative items for our home. We then went on a tour of a jewelry factory, a boat ride to see the house boats, and a scenic tour of Victoria Peak. We were able to get some great photos of HK, unfortunately the smog was very heavy today. This limited our visibility. We have done okay with the air quality until today. We all have sore throats from being out in it all day. In the photo of HK with the trees down at the bottom you can see the smog. From our vantage point there were buildings as far as you could see, in the photo you can see only the buildings closest to us.

We then went to a Dim Sum lunch with our guide. They served several types of dumplings and noodles. It was one of the best meals we have had since we have been here. We finished off our tour with a walk through downtown HK. It is an amazing city with very unique sights and sounds. As we were walking down Nathan Road today, every 2-3 feet someone was trying to sell you a fake watch or a tailored suit. It is interesting to see the contrast of the very wealthy and the working poor existing so closely together.

The girls finished off the day with a swim in the pool. We are all enjoying the warm weather after our frigid winter. It was about 70 here today, we were in short sleeves most of the day.

We are really enjoying our travel group. They are all very nice and it's nice to connect with some of the people we have visited with since the beginning. McKenna and my friend M.'s(guangximom - RQ)daughter L have hit it off beautifully. They are having a great time together. I was so glad that M and I hit it off as well in person as we have online. Nice to have a close person to go through this journey with. We are now less that 48 hours from meeting Maddie. It feels surreal to be this close. John and I both find ourselves looking at the little children we meet on the street wondering if that is what Maddie will look like at that age or is she that size. Answers we will soon have.

Disney day two...

Our second day at Disney was great fun. We started out the morning with a fabulous breakfast. We were all starving after sleeping thru dinner! John has been very adventurous with our meals. He even tried sushi this morning! The girls and I stayed with waffles and scrambled eggs! We visited all of the characters we could find and then rode space mountain a few more times. Lexi was still an object of attraction as well.

In the afternoon we headed to our hotel to meet with the rest of our group. We are staying in the beautiful Hyatt Sha Tin. It is several paygrades above what we usually stay in. It has the most amazing shower, I would stay in for hours if I could. I finally can post photos so I will post a few from Thurs. and Friday at Disney.

3 Day Recap

I finally have Internet access!!!

We were so proud of our girls, they endured the flight beautifully. We did not hear one complaint, have one tear, or anything. They could not have been better travelers.

 

It is about 55 right now, after a long frigid winter John & I are in heaven. John, however, is the only one in shorts.

 

We arrived in Hong Kong at about 6:30 Thursday morning, we collected our bags and proceeded to go thru customs and immigration. We then braved a taxi ride to the Disney resort and checked in early. We were so excited to have a shower, its the little things that make life wonderful!

 

We then proceeded to the park and enjoyed the rides and people watching. We however were the object of the watching. Lexi is having to adjust to staring and pointing. She caught one group of girls taking a photo of her hair, she is handling it with grace. We rode Space Mountain, Dumbo, and Buzz light year along with a few shows. At about 2:30 the time change started to really affect us, so we headed back to the hotel for a nap. We were planning on going back to the park for  the fireworks and more rides, except we ended up sleeping until early morning! We must have been really tired!!! I guess that is what happens when you miss Wednesday completely!

 

It is starting to sink in that we are really here. I find that about every 5-6 hours my eyes start welling up and I have to fight back the tears. I guess I really must not have believed this was really going to happen. John & I were talking about how hard it is to be this close to her and yet we still have a bit more waiting. We are just really focusing on spending this time enjoying our trip and our girls.

 

I will post photos later, still working out the bugs...

testing email

Just a quick post to check my settings for clogging via email.3 more sleeps and we are off to China!

We leave Tuesday!!

We received our consulate appointment this morning and were instructed to be in Hong Kong on March 11th. We will receive Madelynn on Monday March 14th and then fly home on the 26th. We are in awe that we are traveling so quickly. Tommorow is 1 month since referral and February was a short month. Only God!

I will post our full itnerary once it is availble to me! I have tickets and am ready to travel!

TA and an update!!

We were notified yesterday morning that we have received travel approval. This means China has officially invited us to come to China and pick up Maddie. We are now waiting on an appointment from the US Consulate. Once we have this appointment we can book our flight and go to China. They have requested dates that correspond with us leaving the 9th or 11th and the 16th or 18th. Bet you can't guess which one I am hoping for!!!!

We received an update for Maddie, with photos. She looks so good! She has grown so much, she is now 18lbs and has 2 teeth. I was stressing over whether her clothes would be too big or not, turns out they will be perfect. That is unless she has a major growth spurt!!! The have moved her to foster care, I hope that will be a good transition for her. I hurt for her for all the changes she has endured in her short little life. One thing is for sure, this will be her last family change. We are keeping her FOREVER!!!!

I am so thankful to have more photos of her, but now I really want to get on that plane! NOW!!!!

Referral Day reflections

It has taken me 2 1/2 weeks to fully process all of the events of February 3rd, when we saw Maddie's face for the first time. I still find myself in shock that we finally have been matched with this sweet little girl.

We were able to take the call with our girls, A was with us by speaker phone, as she was in school that day. My parents and John's mom were also able to join us. We had requested our call for 12:10, so John could be home for this very special phone call. The girls and I got up early that morning and finished school in record time. I then spent the rest of the morning cleaning and pacing the floors. Finally, at 12:00 John and our parents arrived. I then spent the next 12 minute wringing my hands worrying that they might not call or that we had been skipped.

Finally at 12:12 the phone rang. It was Beth from CCAI and she asked if it was a good time to call. I told her it was a perfect time to call! The next 7 minutes and 46 seconds were a blur, we were shocked at how young she was, we had been expecting a 14-18 month old. After we finished with the call we all gathered around the computer and watched Miss Maddie's face appear on the screen. To say it was love at first sight is an understatement! I felt bad for A, as when we saw the photo we were all screaming. We kind of forgot about her on speaker phone. We quickly hung up with her and sent her photos.

We spent the rest of the day just staring at her photo and sharing our wonderful news with family and friends.

Then on Friday the 4th we received our Letter of Approval and translated documents from CCAI. We also received 2 more photos of Maddie. We have had so much support from our family and friends. We can't wait to share our journey to Madelynn LiRu with all of you.

Now we are waiting for our Travel Approval, after that comes from China we will request a Consulate Appointment. After these two A's are obtained we will then book our tickets. We can't wait to get on that plane!

Where in the world is Maddie?

I thought it would be helpful for our friends and family to see where Maddie is living. She is in the Xingbin Social Welfare Institute in Laibin City in Guangxi Province in Southern China. She is not in foster care, but all reports of the orphanage are very positive. This has made waiting to travel so much easier to endure.

We are still hoping to travel in Mid-March, we are getting more anxious as time is passing. We just can't wait to have her in our arms and learn everything about her. If I could get on a plane today, I would.

More photos...

We received our Fed Ex package today with 2 more photos, her medical information and all of our official paperwork. We quickly checked the yes box and signed the necessary forms. The package is all ready for Fed Ex to pick-up on Monday.

It was so fun to see a little smile on her face. I have spent most of the day just staring at these three photos and scrutinizing each detail. We have noticed that her left eye lid is a little droopy, just like mine. She has rosebud lips just like our three girls. It is so fun to wonder what features they looked at when they matched her to us. Whatever they used it was perfect.

Here she is....

We are delighted to announce the referral of Madelynn Li Rue. She is residing in Guangxi Province. She was born on May 23, 2010. We are over the moon in love. Can't beleive this day finally came. More pictures to come tomorrow. Sigh... I'm in love...

It's a girl!!!

She was born on May 23, 2010. She is in Guangxi Province, in orphanage care. Will post more later!!! She is soo stinkin' cute!!!

Matches Received!!!

Our agency is reporting that they have received referrals for May 30th, 2006! That is us!!!!! We will get our call tomorrow around noon!!!!

Referral Broadcasting Systemt

This is a special alert from the Referral Broadcasting System.

From the Referral Broadcasting Center Wed. Feb. 2nd, 2011, 9:00 A.M..

The existing Referral Watch has officially been upgraded to a Referral Warning for the members of the May 2006 DTC group by the Referral Broadcasting Center.

This Referral Warning is in effect for all of North America for the next 7 days. Disturbances in the Pacific jet stream indicate the departure of the silver stork. Further, several North American agencies have hinted that the silver stork may have already departed Mainland China.

Those whose dossiers are part of the Referral Warning area should take urgent and immediate steps to be sure they can be reached at all times; including such drastic measures as affixing your cordless phone or cell phone to your head with duct tape. It is also strongly recommended that you have ample supply of paper, writing instruments and tissues nearby. If you receive the Referral call while driving, immediately pull over to a safe spot off the roadway to prevent unintended injury to yourself or to others.

Be aware that once an actual referral post appears on RQ from a referral call within North America, conditions on adoption forums will dramatically decline for the remaining waiting families. Take appropriate steps now to prepare your heart and mind for an extended wait. Remember that your Agency Worker might be in an important meeting and unable to call for another 15 minutes; or the traffic Gods may have the DHL driver whose truck contains your referral packet held up in traffic. Rest assured that a swarm of ladybugs will swoop in and remove the roadblocks. These situations are completely out of your hands.

Those who are up next for sharing Referral news on this list should take notes now to be sure you provide your fellow listmates with appropriate information. Do not attempt to remember by heart what you need to post once you are under the influence of Referral Call Brain. Please post your child’s name, birth date, and SWI location; as well as the age of child requested. Use of special characters such as #, $, %, &, @, or ^i^ in your Referral announcement heading is left to your personal discretion and preference.

> - END OF MESSAGE - Referral Broadcasting Network

I copied this off of another adoptive parents blog. (Waiting for Chloe) I thought is sums up our waiting experience and all the emotions involved!!!

Phone Calls in Europe!!!

Here we go!!!

The rollercoaster has begun!

With five years of waiting under our belts, you would think the ups and downs of international adoption would be old hat by now. Wrong! We are still reeling from an email last Friday from our agency telling us there will most likley not be referrals until after Chinese New Year.

Then this morning the Rumor Queen is receiving information about cut-off dates and such. She is giving it an R2 that the cut-off is June 2nd.

Hang on, it might get wild this week!

Preparing to Match!!!!

Yippee!!! The matching process has begun, are agency is reporting that the Ch*na Center of adopt*on affa*rs is preparing to match. This means they are reviewing the prospective parents files and the available children's files. Soon, very soon they will begin matching, where they will decide what child should be forever in our family!!! So very exciting!!

International Adoption Lingo

Since I still have no news to share, I thought I would do an update post with the adoption lingo for all who are not familiar with the related to international adoption terms. My lingo list will be specific to Ch*na.

Dossier: The compilation of official documents about the prospective adoption family. This includes birth & marriage certificates, medical exams, police back ground checks, employment letters, tax returns. All items in the dossier have to be notarized, certified by the secretary of state you live in, certified by the US secretary of state and authenticated by the Ch*nese embassy.

CCAI: Chinese Children Adoption International, this is the agency we used. They are located in Centennial Colorado.

DTC: Dossier to China, this the date that your agency sends your dossier to China. Ours was sent on 5/23/2006

LID: Log In Date, this is the date that the Ch*na Center for Adoption Affairs records the acceptance of your dossier. Ours is 5/30/2006!

NSN: Non Special Need, this is the program that refers children with no known special needs. We are logged in for NSN.

SN: Special Need, this is the program that refers children with a specified special need.

Referral: this is the package of information that contains your child's photo, medical and personal information.

TA: Travel Approval, this is the approval Ch*na issues after you have accepted your referral

CA: Consulate Appointment, this is the swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate in Ch*na

I will add as I think of more, hopefully this will help clarify some of the terms as we progress.

Merry Christmas to us!!!

We received our last 171-H. This gives us immigration approval until August 24 of 2012, heaven help us if we haven't received a referral by then.

Looks like we will be next...

The latest rumor is that they have matched to the 29th, we are the 30th. Stinks to have been so close, but exciting to be next! This will give us something spectacular to look forward to in the New Year! So excited for all my May buddies.