Almost there

2 more days and we're off to China!  Brian had a very frustrating day as his computer crashed and put him behind at work to complete a number of tasks before he leaves.  Still working on efficient packing.

Packing and Prayer

Have you ever tried to pack for an international trip that lasts for 15 days, includes 3 people and fits in 2 carry-on bags?  Not an easy task.  Also remember that we must pack all common medicines for all possible scenarios of illness, snacks, and all items needed for a baby!  Whew!  It looks like we are going to make it though.  I also worked on packing stuff for the girls.

Now on to the important part:  prayer requests.  This is obviously a big trip and we covet your prayers.  Please pray that:
We will have a safe trip

Megan will attach to us quickly
We will all sleep well
Everyone will be healthy - Richel’s hip and back having been bothering her and Brian's back has also been troublesome at times.
Miranda and Mikayla will do well without us

Thanks for praying for us.

Final Travel Plans and 1st day of school

We received our final travel plans today.  Gotcha Day will be Sept. 5, the same day as we get to Nanchang!  That's a week from Sunday!  Wow!  I also got our money figured out.  Now I'm trying to finalize all the paperwork we need and the info. that my sister and friend will need for the girls. 

Today was the girls' first day of school.  They were ready to go 20 min. after they got up.  That never happens!

Travel Dates!

We bought our tickets today.  We will be going to China Sept. 2-17.  We decided to spent an extra day in Hong Kong on the way home because otherwise the connections are crazy.  Now we are trying to determine who is going to have the girls when and get packing and activities figured out. 

5 years

It just occurred to me tonight that we will likely be leaving for China 5 yrs. to the day that we started this adoption process (Sept. 1, 2005).  I am excited that we are finally so close, but sad that it has taken this long.

Travel Approval!

We received news today that our agency received our travel approval today!  Yeah!  The bummer is that there are no US consulate appts. available until after Sept. 8.  So they predict that we will leave for China Sept. 1 or 2.  It will be nice that we are home for the 1st week of school to get the girls all settled in and hopefully have activities figured out.  We should have firm travel dates next week.

P.S.  We had another person say Megan looks like Brian!

New Pictures

As you can see, we received some new pictures today.  They were taken about 7/25/10, so she was almost 6 months old.  She is obviously much happier inside than outside. :)  We also found out that she is sitting up and is sleeping by herself in a crib.  She is stilll in foster care and everything else is normal.  We are getting so anxious to go and get her to bring her home!

Brian thinks she looks like a Weiss.  One of our friends who is also an adoptive parent said, "Well........that's part of the attachment process."  :)

Actually we have had about 4 families tell us she looks like Brian.  I don't know if they were just teasing or what. :)

Adoption Quiz

A fellow adoptive mom put some of these things on her blog and I thought it would be helpful for those of you who are reading our blog and are not adoptive parents.
What do the following abbrevations stand for?
DTC
LID
DOR
TA
CCAA
CCAI
DH
DD
RQ
What is a dossier?
What is gotcha day?
Why do all Chinese adoptions have to end in Guangzhou?

Before I give the answers, I will let you know that RQ is saying that some TAs have started to arrive for people whose DOR was 7/15/10.  I would think that we should hear something by Monday or Tuesday.

OK, back to the abbrevations.
DTC (4/20/06) = date to China.  This used to be what was used to determine your "number in line"
LID (4/24/06) = log in date.  This is the date our dossier was logged in with the CCAA.  It is our "number in line" and signalled the official beginning of our wait.
DOR (7/15/10) = date of referral.  This is the date that the agency called and told us the info. about the baby we will be adopting.
TA (???) = travel approval.  This is when the CCAA gives us the approval to come to China to bring Megan home.  This is what we are waiting for right now.
CCAA = Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs.  This is the government body in China that takes in all the dossiers and the info. on all the babies.  They match the babies with the families and send that info. to the adoption agencies on a monthly basis (usually).
CCAI = Chinese Children Adoption International.  This is our adoption agency.
DH = Dear husband        DD = Dear daughter
RQ = Rumor Queen.  She is an anonomous blogger who meticulously tracks everything related to Chinese adoptions.  She is a life line for many people and is the easiest way to know when referrals are coming.  She also makes predictions for how many days will be referred based on statistics.  See http://www.chinaadopttalk.com/.
Dossier - This is the large bundle of paperwork that get sent to China.  It includes such things as our home study, birth/marriage certificates, passport copies, immigration paperwork, background checks, and much more.  All of this info. needs to be notorized, certified, and authenicated.  When we sent our dossier to CCAI, we insured it for $1000.
Gotcha Day - This is the day that we will receive Megan and she will be with her forever family.  This is often celebrated yearly.
Guangzhou - Every Chinese adoptive family must go to this city after receiving their child because this is where the US Consulate in located.  This is where all the paperwork for the US must be done so that Megan will be a US citizen when she enters the US.

Hope that it helpful.

Just waiting...again

We got our passports/Chinese visas back today. Nice to know where they are and that they are in a safe place again. We are still in the holding pattern again as we look forward to hearing info. on our travel approval.  The earliest I would expect to hear anything would be next week.

I also basically packed everything for Megan. We are trying to limit our luggage to 2 carry-on size suitcases. Megan's stuff fills about 80% of one of them and I haven't even started packing for us at all.