We leave for China in TWO WEEKS!!!

Lots of things happening around here in the past several weeks!  I thought I'd post a timeline of sorts, in photos.  I'm going to back up a bit since I haven't really posted much through all of January and February.

December:

In December we sent a cake care package to our daughter to enjoy with some of her friends at the orphange.  This is not a photo of the actual cake that was delivered, just a photo of one like what they may have received.  We got to send a letter to her and her caregivers that the care package company translated into Chinese.  Included with the cake and letter was a disposable camera that we hope they took pictures on and that we hope to receive back when we pick her up.  Sometimes orphanages will take photos of the cake party and email them to the care package company, who will then email them to the family.  But the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute doesn't seem willing to send photos to the care package companies, so we will likely have to wait until we pick her up to get any more photos.  The cake was delivered on December 24. Here's the letter we sent with that package...

January:

January 21, 2011 - Our LOA arrived at our agency.  The formal name for this document is the "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter".  Basically, it is a document that formally confirms that we wish to be matched with Ren Qian Ting, and that we do in fact wish to move forward with her adoption.  Our agency recieved the document, Fed Exed it to us, we signed it, and Fed Exed it back.  Then our agency returned it to the China Center of Adoption Affairs.  This step formalizes the process that we did back in November when we were matched with Qian Ting's file and we decided to move forward.  At that time our agency submitted a Letter of Intent electronically on our behalf which stated that we wished to adopt this specific little girl.  The LOA is a formal paper version that confirms that the CCAA has our paperwork matched up with this child, and we confrim that this is what we wish to do.  In the adoption world, it is part 1 of the Holy Grail of the adoption process!  Part 2 comes next, which is travel approval. 

This picture is me - after stalking the Fed Ex man - holding the delivered LOA!

This is what an LOA looks like.  Basically, we sign it and put a check mark in the correct box:
1) We accept the adoptee mentioned above
or
2)We cannot accept the adoptee mentioned above


Hmmm...after 4 years.....which to choose......

January - week of the 24th - we received our Chinese travel Visas.  One more thing to check off of the "to do before travel" list




On a separate note, in January we also got things really moving on our bedroom shuffle.  In order to keep a guest room, we are doubling up Grace and Mary Emma and planning for Lydia to have a room of her own.  (Who knows if she'll want to be there by herself, but that's what we're planning).  So this is a very brief nutshell of the process of squeezing Grace and Mary Emma into what was just Mary Emma's room.  Here is how it started - Mary Emma's very pink and purple sea creatures room....

And here's some of our fun process of covering up the pink with a more neutral color in order to suit the blend of two VERY different personalities!  Thank you Mom for your faithful painting help!

And just like on TV cooking shows when they magiacally pull a finished recipe out of the oven, here is the final result of all of our hard work.  Of course here in blog-land it seems to have easily and quickly come together without any effort at all!  What the pictures don't show is that the first steps on shuffling the rooms began on January 11, and the final product photos in this room are on February 23!  Yikes!  In that time we shuffled mattresses several times in more ways that I can count, we painted two rooms, set up a guest room, sifted through 5 years worth of kid stuff in 2 rooms, ordered and received a loft bed and dresser, ordered received and installed a closet organizer, and moved everything in that belongs in this room!

February:

February 22 - We received our TA which stands for Travel Approval!  As mentioned above, this is Part 2 of the Holy Grail of the adoption process.  This one gives us permission to travel and pick up our daughter!  We were notified by our coordinator at about 7:30 pm on February 22 that they had received our travel approval.  That night we needed to decide which date we wanted to meet our daughter!  And also get a rough idea of when we would like our CA which is the consolate appointment at the US Consolate in Guangzhou China.  So we had a late night that night as we looked at airfare, looked at the calendar, and decided our tentative travel dates.  We got back with our corrdinator about our general timeline that we had in mind, and we actually booked our plane tickets that night.  Normally it seems that everyone waits to get that CA confirmed before booking flights, but Jim found out that Delta has adoption fares which make the tickets refundable and changeable to allow for date changes, with even cheaper fares for the child's one-way ticket.

The Travel Approval we actually take with us to China and it looks like this...

February 24 - We were notified that our Consulate Appointment was confirmed for April 4 at 8:30 am.  This is when we have our interview of some sort at the US Consulate.  I have yet to become an expert on this appointment as to what we do when and for what purpose, but overall it is so that we can get Qian Ting's US Visa and so that she can be a US citizen when she arrives home with us!

February 28 - We received the following photos of the second care package that we sent to Lydia.  The package should be delivered in the next couple of days!  We used a care package service named Red Thread China and it looks like they've done a beautiful job!

This package again included a camera for them to take pictures of her with.  We would LOVE to receive some by email before we travel, but we know that's rare from this orphanage, so at least we hope they use the camera and give it to us when we pick her up. 

The package also included this sweet sweater.  We also hope they send this with her when we pick her up...

Here is everything in the care package that is being sent.  The sweater, the camera, a cuddly blanket, a doll, a bag of candies to share with the children there, a letter from us, and my favorite part - a soft photo album with 5 photos of us and even one of her.  All of the photos are labeled in Chinese so they can tell her who we are!  I've heard pretty consistently that the orphanages do give the kids these albums and that they do have them when they meet their parents.  The other items I'm not as sure about, but they are so cute I really hope she gets to keep them when we pick her up!



 And here is the letter we included this time to be translated into Chinese....

That about covers the big milestones of the past couple of months I think!  In closing, here is our timeline for travel:

March 15 - leave for China

9:01 am - 11:13 am - Detroit to San Francisco

1:00 pm - 4:55 pm on March 16 - San Francisco to Tokyo

7:00 pm March 16 - 9:50 pm - Tokyo to Shanghai, China

March 15-21 - Tour Shanghai and Xi'an; end in Beijing

March 22 - Gotcha Day!  We will get Lydia in Beijing on this day!

March 23-March 31 - Stay in Beijing while we wait for Lydia's Chinese passport, and do some sightseeing

April 1 - Get Lydia's Chinese passport; travel to Guangzhou (where the Consulate is located)

April 2 - Medical exam for Lydia required by the US government

April 4 - 8:30 am - Appointment at the US Consulate

April 6 - Get Lydia's US Visa; travel to Shanghai

April 7 - leave for home!

9:35 am - 1:35 pm - Shanghai to Tokyo

3:35 pm - 9:15 am (yes - still April 7!) - Tokyo to San Francisco

1:00 pm - 8:35 pm - San Francisco to Detroit

One final thought from a hymn we sang on Sunday that spoke to me of all that God is doing and all that He is able to do. Just a piece of the full hymn, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, but these lines spoke of all that is in God's care - even a little girl in China who is waiting for her family....

"I sing the mighty power of God, That made the mountains rise;

That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies,

I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day,

The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey.

There's not a plant or flower below, But makes Thy glories known,

And clouds arise, and tempests blow, By order from Thy throne;

While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care,

And everywhere that man can be, Thou, God, art present there."

and