Waiting for TA

Our signed letters were hand delivered to the Ministry on Friday by Eric and the girls.  The Ministry called me in the afternoon to let me know they were couriered out that day.  So, they should be at CCAA and now we wait for TA, travel approval.  Once we have TA, we can make travel plans. 

Jia turned 8mo. this past Sat. 

Shopping and packing have begun.  Fei is a tremendous help, she just loves the details.  The girls are making cards right now for Jia and Lili called to find out how to spell her name and Fei was quite indignant that Lili wouldn't believe her. 

It's raining today, Eric and the girls are heading out camping for the traditional group camping trip before school starts.  I'll join them later, I have to work.  Of course a couple evenings on my own won't be much of a hardship! 

We've all put some work into Jia's room and we're close, very, very close to being done in there. Just need a crib skirt.  Mom is on the hunt for one today.

Signed

We made it to Sunrise and signed the proposal of Du Xiao Yu :)  The girls have enjoyed the day.  I could have done without the one car waits on both sides!  The island is really beautiful but this part leaves a lot to be desired.  We had hoped to meet our travel/group mate but she had come and gone before we got there.  It was nice to see Marg again, it's been a few years.  She thought we might be able to adopt Jia on Oct. 11.  The 18th at the latest. 

On the ferry

On the ferry headed to our agency to meet Inge and sign our acceptance of Jia.  Mad rush at the end to get those LOA's and hand deliver them to the Victoria ministry office tomorrow.  Trying to get them to CCAA sooner rather than later.  Hoping we can get our TA before the Govt. offices close down for three weeks in China.  Kids are thrilled to be having a spur of the moment adventure day. 

Almost an official name

After much debate, we're leaning heavily to Jia Yu Xin Nelson.
Jia (gee-ah) Yu (juh) Xin (she-in) 
I wanted to put Jia's picture at the top of the blog, so that it stayed on the front page, but it came out huge,  I've played a bit to make it smaller and have just given up for now. 

Jia - beautiful

Yu - jade

Xin - happy

Names

We got 'baby no names' file from Sunrise this afternoon.  Her name Yu means jade.  So we're now searching out jade names with yu in them.  So far we really just have Yuyan (beautiful jade) or Daiyu (black jade).  Lili and Fei were so easy to name.  You really would think after four years we'd have some idea of what to name the baby!  She is healthy and big.  She weighs 20lbs at 7mo.  Lili and Fei didn't reach that until they were 2.  The referral pictures were taken at 5 months.  I've joined a Duchang group and have managed to get some information on the SWI.  It's all good.  We're pleased.

Pictures!!!

Seriously the cutest little baby ever!  Just got the photos from Marg at 9:30 and Nicole kindly pulled them out of the pdf collage for us and here they are.  Enjoy. 

Oh, we still don't have the details of those minor things like her name and birthdate.  We do know she is 7 1/2 months old.  Birthdate late Dec. 2009.  From the SWI Duchang County Jiangxi county. 

Update:  Her name is Du Xiao Yu and her birthdate is Dec. 28/2009.  We're not sure yet what we'll name her, Yusan (happy 3rd child) has been on my short list for over four years, we'll post later when we've decided.  Other frontrunners right now are Jia, Anlin, Anli, Su, Aili, Ailin, Ami, and Daiyu.

Happy, happy, happy.  So thankful we don't have to wait for the photos anymore!  Now to just gaze and gaze into those lovely little eyes.  Isn't she just so sweet?!

It's a GIRL!!

Just arrived to work this morning to an e-mail from Marg letting us know that she contacted China last night and confirmed that our referrals were sent on Aug. 12.  It's a girl from Jiangxi!!  So exciting.  So, the Ministry has them and hopefully they arrive at Sunrise today or tomorrow.  Another cutie from Jiangxi, I'm so so so happy, relieved, excited.  Hard to explain the feelings and emotions after four years, three months and one week. 

Inge, Congratulations on your daughter!!  Can't wait to hear more about her.

Still nothing

Well, Marg called the Ministry, they're short staffed, swamped, the girl that normally handles the files is on holidays and Marg was told 'if it's supposed to be here, it probably is'.  So, there could be a file there but we don't know about it yet.  This is so hard.  So frustrating.  Maybe we'll hear something tomorrow.  Do I sound like Pollyanna yet? 

Do we all agree that this is likely just a small taste of the patience this child is going to require me to have?! 

Celebrating the good stuff, Eric's sister moved all of her belongings out of our garage today and I can park in there again,  Lili and Fei called me to settle a fight and then they worked it out on their own,  Eric is making me comfort food for dinner and it's a bright sunny day and all is basically good in our world. 

Sigh

Arg.  I really thought we would at least have confirmation that the file arrived in Victoria by now.  Sadly, we've heard nothing.  Sorry, I know you all keep checking in.  I really WISH there was something more interesting to post.  Sigh.  Groan.

Time for calls again

Calls are happening around the world.  Yipee!!  I sure hope we're in this time.  Eric told me this morning not to come home if there is more bad news :)  Too funny. 

Ok Marg, we're ready for news...any little bit.  I'll keep ya'll posted of course.

Family of four

This photo was taken by Mom a couple weeks ago, a family of four, soon to be a family of five!  We've heard from another source that files have been sent and should arrive early next week!

Mia

Nothing heals the pain in the heart of losing a furry friend like a new baby :)  This is Lili's new baby rattykins named Mia.  She is a hooded rat just like Dixie.  So sweet. 

On The Way Again!!

Just heard this morning that a family in the May group was told that referrals for their agency's May 15th files are on the way.  Wahoo!!  RQ has the rumor at an R3.  Here we go again.  I sure hope we're actually in this batch!  It's hard to have complete faith.  No ETA yet.

Lili's little pet rat Tina passed on yestereday after her battle with cancer which was quite short and shockingly fast.  It was a pretty rough day yesterday and lots of tears were shed.  Now I'm trying to find a new baby rat for her.  We're all sure going to miss that sweet little soul.

Did anyone stay up and watch the meteors last night?  We did, Fei was at Grammas, but the rest of us watched from our upper deck.  Awesome.  Tonight is supposed to be the peak, between 12:00am and dawn.  I think we'll watch again but this time with more blankets :)

Baby Proofed Toy Room

The new play room!  It took Fei and I ten hours to sort and reconfigure the room.  She worked those whole 10 hours and was a fantastic help.  Lili visited us now and then and gave opinions but mostly she played with Isabel which was also a great help.  All of the big girl things have been removed and although the girls are pretty excited about the new room for their baby sister/brother, they are feeling a bit displaced.  I had to remind them a few times, that the whole basement was redone for them with all of the bigger kid stuff where the baby wouldn't be able to play without adult supervision.  So, the closet at the far end was a mess, literally held everything we didn't know what to do with since we moved in.  Now it's full of Christmas, Chinese, Easter and Halloween decorations, crafts and some toys for the baby to grow into.  Thank you Eric for the shelves!  We also caved at the girls request and put carpet in there.  I prefer no carpets anywhere because of allergies and animals.  It did save us having to refinish the old wood floor though.  As much as I hated the old laminate in there I sure was regretting taking it out.  The project has been waiting a long time and it feels really good to have it done. 

The baby's room is getting close too.  The crib went up on the weekend.  It's starting to feel real again.  The girls and I spent a couple hours shopping on the weekend for medical supplies for China.  Expensive, but great for peace of mind.

The first rumor is out this morning.  Spanish Rumor Queen says we should see something soon and she predicts the cut off will be May 15 - 17.   Cut off doesn't really matter to us, because we're the 12th and we only need this one to be a two day batch, but it sure would be great for everyone behind us to see those calendar days crossed off.