tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-206185852012-02-16T16:43:01.493-06:00Welcome. Follow us through our wait and eventually on our journey back to China to meet the newest member of our small family.KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.comBlogger421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-6401146258578300732009-12-16T09:37:00.004-06:002009-12-16T09:54:36.987-06:00

Well, it's been quite some time since I posted. Motherhood of two has kept me on my toes for sure. Both girls are doing great and enjoying the snow (lots of it to enjoy). They are also enjoying our new puppy Bella - a 2nd generation golden doodle and she is quite the cutie. We went to Great Harvest last Saturday for wheat rolls and came home with a new puppy from the pet place across the street.

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-62241285781213406012008-02-16T19:21:00.014-06:002008-12-09T00:10:29.309-06:00

It's been way, way too long since I've posted but I wanted to finish the journey so that when I transfer this all to DVD for the girls memory books, it is complete.Hong Kong was absolutely wonderful - something about that place that really struck a chord in me and I can't quite explain it. We stayed at the Empire hotel at 62 Kimberly Road, Tsimshatsui Kowloon - just literally 10 minutes by cab

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-44405417339131436752007-12-18T07:31:00.001-06:002007-12-18T08:31:55.172-06:00

Here are some videos taken gotcha day - not the actual "gotcha" (as our group hired some people to do that) but that day and after. They appear black but click twice on the play button and they should start. One hour after gotcha at the hotel A little later at the hotel in Guangzhou at the Victory

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-49995853216327524342007-12-12T07:50:00.002-06:002008-12-09T00:10:29.521-06:00

Notice the little one snoring away on the far left? Guess who? :-) I am adding to my last post because I don't feel likeI've given a proper farewell.I wanted to give a proper farewell to all of my travelcompanions as I feel like they have all been such abig part of this whole experience and I will miss themall so much. It is almost like having someone in thedelivery room with you -

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1626284537267148312007-12-12T06:55:00.001-06:002007-12-12T06:55:10.541-06:00

It is Wednesday night - our last night in Guangzhou. It is very bittersweet. The swearing in ceremony atthe US consulate was today - it brought tears to myeyes again - not sure why as the whole thing is a"raise your hand, swear that everything you said andwrote is true and then we are officially a family"kind of thing. It is such a simple, quick littlething after all of this long hard waiting -

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-43651536359916070772007-12-10T12:43:00.000-06:002007-12-10T12:44:02.627-06:00

It has been a pretty easy few days in Guangzhou. Alot has changed since 2002 but this is still myfavorite little area here on Shaiman Island. Thingsdo seem more expensive than I remember but I wouldimagine that it is due to their ever progressingeconomy.Monday we visited the 6 Banyan Buddhist temple and wewere able to get blessings for the girls from theBuddhist monk. It touched my soul.It was

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-51983248744242835472007-12-09T08:35:00.001-06:002007-12-09T08:35:01.875-06:00

Funny enough I have absolutely no idea what the dateis today - I had to really think about it to figureout it is Sunday. What a whirlwind. On my last postI had mentioned that we were going to take the LiRiver cruise from Guilin part of the way to Yangshoubut that our guide had been notified by governmentofficials that our group was some sort of specialgroup because, as it turns out we are teh

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-52379379804394029672007-12-07T07:57:00.001-06:002008-12-09T00:10:31.623-06:00

Our wonderful guides! elephant hill park street fruit vendor Chloe and new friend Bao-bao Water color artist in gallery 7 Star Park guilin Monsters Inc in 7 Star park - guilin 7 Star Park in Guilin 7 star park Elephant Hill (?) parkBright and early tomorrow we are heading for Yuangshouvia the Li River Cruise. The water is very low rightnow so I guess we cruise only for about 2 hours andthen get

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-2774836380749631222007-12-06T11:28:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:10:31.896-06:00

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-38624988002702233452007-12-05T06:30:00.001-06:002007-12-05T06:30:31.613-06:00

Busy day today. We had paperwork for about 1.5 hoursthis morning - completing what we could and confirmingthe US side of the paperwork in prep of guangzhou. Then lunch. Gige went down for a nap and Chloe and Iwalked around the neighborhood - get a lot of staresin this town - our guide told us we would because itis not a tourist town and caucasians aren't usuallyroaming around the streets,

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-78858884340683585932007-12-04T00:30:00.001-06:002008-12-09T00:10:32.698-06:00

GOTCHA!Sorry everyone - I had typed an email last night thatliterally took me an hour and the computer juststopped - I lost everything - this was about 10:30 pmand right after Gige woke up. They just now fixed thething so I am able to update.Yesterday was gotcha day and what a great day! Irecognized gige immediately as she hasn't changed atall since her referral pictures. They had her dressedin a

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-28987398579526179542007-12-02T15:21:00.001-06:002008-12-09T00:10:33.491-06:00

downtown nanningDowntown NanningChloe in our hotel lobby (the Majestic)Chloe and new friend SarahNanning grocery storeNi Hao:It is 4:30 am on 12/3 in Nanning;I can not believe Iactually slept until 4:30 (2:30am wakeup yesterday) soit does appear that the Jet Lag is slowly resolvingitself. 5 of us families got in last night around4:30pm and were greeted at the airport by XiXi(she-she)-and her

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-12886970899375144312007-12-01T05:17:00.001-06:002008-12-09T00:10:34.762-06:00

Updating on 12/20 to add some picturesNi Hao. Hope all are well. This is day 2 in Beijing - just aswonderful as day 1! One more family joined us atdinner last night as they had been delayed by a nightin Tokyo - so we are 5 families strong now with Ithink 3 more to be added in Nanning tomorrow. We areleaving for the airport at 10:30 am and I believe ourflight leaves at 1:00 pm. When we get to

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-55319832878582581962007-11-30T09:22:00.000-06:002007-11-30T09:24:37.251-06:00

Hi Guys:Sorry I haven't updated before now -we were either way too busy or way too tired! So thought I should send a quick note instead to let all know that we made it here - yesterday actually. We are all very, very tired. We were all up by 3am this morning - neither mom or I slept on the plane (Chlo slept about 2 hours on the plane) - so we've all been going on adrenaline today.We did

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-66642635419685145212007-11-26T13:01:00.001-06:002008-12-09T00:10:35.245-06:00

Well, we have one foot out the door so to speak. All bags are packed and weighed except one that is missing only the cosmetics. Even though I have weighed the bags and each weigh in at 44.2 or lower, I really have no idea of actual weight since everytime I put them on the scale, the weight kept going up (and nothing was changing) so I guess we will need to wait until we get to the airport to find

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-10516650613076102592007-11-07T21:14:00.000-06:002007-11-09T08:32:08.294-06:00

Update: I am adding a few links that one of my travel mates was kind enough to forward to me (Thanks May!). Check out these pictures - they are all breathtakingly beautiful. I believe that all pics were taken in Guangxi province (where we will be spending about 7 days) and in the cities of Guilin and Yangshuo. We will be traveling to Guilin and then taking the Li River Cruise which stops in

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-57434756972963397902007-11-05T12:32:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:10:36.068-06:00

The official TA was received today. These official Chinese documents are so cool to me. They are almost beautiful with all of the characters and the red stamps and such.We do not yet have confirmation on the U.S. Consulate appointment. The agency requests 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice dates (in our case 12/11, 12/12, 12/13) and the U.S.C. decides which date works best for them. Once that is confirmed,

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-66226131149735497562007-10-29T20:46:00.001-05:002007-10-30T15:08:12.422-05:00

Update: This just in: TAs are on their way - according to my agency we should see these tomorrow. That is great news - now we just need the confirmation of CA and we can start making travel plans. I am hoping since we received TA so quickly that we will actually be able to travel the week of 11/25 - fingers crossed anyway.Well I was hoping I would have some pics to post of the HM concert but I

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-51270042101806008712007-10-12T08:23:00.001-05:002008-12-09T00:10:36.826-06:00

All of the acceptances from our group of 8 families were sent back to the CCAA yesterday! Now we wait for the CCAA to send back Travel Approval (TA) - it could take up to 4 weeks for this. Once TA is received, our agency makes an appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou for the final bit of governmental documentation that needs to be done when we are in country. This consulate Appt (CA),

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-63782116050675840622007-10-02T17:02:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:10:37.333-06:00

Introducing:Jin Yu Ni Aka: Gianna Yu NIAka: Gia, Gi-Gi, Gige (thanks Vick for the last one!)Born 10/10/06 - Residing in Guangxi Province (directly West of Guangdong -where Chloe is from).Are those cheeks squeezable or what?Hoping to travel in mid-november.Scroll all the way down to see Chloe's reaction (Ahem, I think big sister will be teaching little sister how to scream, ya think?)Cheers10/09/

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-35481471590375178952007-09-27T13:09:00.000-05:002007-09-27T13:10:59.174-05:00

Believe it or not there are very few referral rumors floating around as of today. One rumor is that the CCAA is working over the weekend in order to get a batch out before their national holiday next week. Another rumor is that the batch will be mailed at some point over the weekend. No rumors at all on how many lids/how far they will get with this batch. Reminder: the cut off for the last

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-26899733310734051992007-09-24T00:22:00.001-05:002007-09-24T00:22:04.462-05:00

I thought I would give this video uploading a try and as it turns out it is not as easy as I thought it might be so am not at all sure at this point if I will be able to do this while on the road. Of course, Chloe was more than happy to oblige her moms technical endeavors as a guinea pig as she was already dressed in her princess dress and was dancing around mimicking Barbies Princess and

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-25970790503484918052007-09-18T08:59:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:10:37.923-06:00

I thought I would practice uploading some more pics before I actually get to China as I suspect there will be a learning curve here. Good news though - I heard from a buddy that I traveled with last time that the Victory suites do have computers in each room - a definite plus over using at the business center, paying, waiting, etc. My blog service has just notified me that they now allow videos

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-37569345684004542822007-09-10T09:46:00.000-05:002007-09-10T10:51:14.937-05:00

Even though I've been (slightly) preparing Chloe for her babysis for quite some time now (though I did back off a bit when I realized how long the wait was getting), since we are now so close to referral, I thought I had better hit it hard as far as prep goes - so off to the bookstore!A few books were recommended to me from the famous RQ (rumor queen) so I snagged those right away - A Pocket Full

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-86797386182921883512007-09-05T15:15:00.000-05:002007-09-05T15:20:56.034-05:00

Well it was touch and go for a few days last week when the rumor mill was a'churnin' with statements like "ccaa is likely to get into December" for the next referral batch - this from an agency in Spain I think. Rated a 3 on the rumor scale so it had a little weight but it was not to come to pass. Probably a good thing as I was freakin a bit (even after all of this time, I still have freakin

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-71693307419311343002007-08-24T16:13:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:10:38.149-06:00

We are trudging along through the hot but stormy month of August. I think August has become NEs new rainy season - could that be possible? The storms passing through in the last few weeks have been very bizarre and strong and in multitude for lack of a better word! My backyard always a warzone (due to the monsters; rabbit eater and whiner) has become more so with all of the branches literally

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-82190049581651031272007-08-08T15:15:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:10:38.622-06:00

The most current batch of referrals were received on Thursday August 2 and covered LIDs through November 21. So we are getting there slowly but surely. The next batch should come around the 1st or 2nd wk of September and I suspect may only contain a few days worth. Still crossing fingers and toes that we hear something in during the first week of October but it could very well stretch out

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-28623882868958923012007-07-26T14:00:00.001-05:002007-08-10T23:04:26.013-05:00

The wait continues.... There should be another batch of referrals coming by the end of next week or the first part of the week after (of course, this timing is just an estimate based on history). Everyone (meaning all the adoptive parents waiting in the wings) is hoping that the CCAA at least gets up to 11/21/05 (11/22/05 is a huge day and there are a lot of dossiers logged in on that day so it

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-38764045516327567612007-07-03T12:04:00.000-05:002007-08-10T23:04:00.370-05:00

It's been awhile so I thought I would post a quick update. The adoption community is expecting another batch of referrals any minute - this batch is rumored to go through November 14, 2005 (reminder I am Nov 30). So they are averaging about 2 - 7 days worth of referrals each month. 2 being the extreme low and hopefully we won't see that number again. I suspect I will get our referral the First

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-76537919439941227432007-05-24T09:37:00.000-05:002007-08-10T23:03:45.616-05:00

Well, rumor has it, the CCAA has "started matching" again - which means the next batch of referrals should arrive within the next week or two. These rumors come in from various agencies across various different countries and there is a whole website devoted to receiving and "rating" these rumors and posting them to a global site so all of the anal retentive people like myself can access and try

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-15468465822555374412007-05-02T08:27:00.000-05:002007-05-02T08:49:59.227-05:00

We are still very slowly creeping towards referral. LIDs through 11/1/05 were receiving referrals yesterday. Everyone is glad that China actually got into November - after the last batch of referrals that was a total of two days (through 10/26), there was a lot of concern that this batch would be the same. So basically, this was a 6 day batch which included a weekend. Not great but better

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-13410774433308956922007-04-16T10:13:00.000-05:002007-04-16T10:16:54.764-05:00

Well, I'm still here unfortunately. The last batch of referrals contained only 2 days wor th through 10/26/07. This was quite a hit to all those waiting - especially those with 10/31 - 11/4 lIDs that were completely expecting their referrals this month. No one seems to know what's going on - there are a lot of assumptions - not enough babies to refer, CCAA staff has been out sick, some mix up

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1170778034227549792007-02-06T09:51:00.000-06:002007-02-06T10:07:14.236-06:00

Well, it seems we are getting closer to baby sis. As of my check on the CCAA website yesterday it looks like they are done matching through 10/13 LIDs (if I am remembering the date correctly. Remember I am an 11/30 LID so I'm thinking I have approx 90 days left. Definitely getting closer, definitely gettting nervous. I read the date and thought "I'M NOT READY!!!!" Which is unbelievable

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1166453336538464612006-12-18T08:42:00.000-06:002006-12-18T08:48:56.556-06:00

Yep - Mom sold her house last week. We are all so relieved we can't even tell you! She sold it to a guy that was born and raised in Omaha before moving to California - he has 3 kids still living in CA and is moving into the house by himself. Mom is closing on Jan 8th so all need to really get going on the packing. This buyer has truly been a blessing in disguise because he has also agreed to

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1166121559410738412006-12-14T11:48:00.000-06:002006-12-14T12:39:19.496-06:00

Hi all: It's been awhile since my last post and there are some updates (not good but updates, none the less). I just received notification from my Adoption agency yesterday that CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) has made some major changes in policy regarding foreign adoptions. They state that the supply and demand is not in balance and that they have far less children that are ready for

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1149864996274767452006-06-09T09:38:00.000-05:002006-06-09T09:56:38.326-05:00

Well it certainly is getting hot here in the big "O" but you won't hear me complaining about it. It looks like it will be another hectic summer though as the calendar is filling up very quickly - no wonder our summers go so fast!The CCAA (china center of adoption affairs) has finished reviewing all dossiers that were logged in in September (mine was the end of November). Unfortunately,

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1147099511659500372006-05-08T09:28:00.000-05:002006-05-08T09:45:11.680-05:00

No matter how hard I try to debate it, I simply can't convince my daughter that the current Blues Clues guy is not Steve but Steve's brother (can't remember his name). She will have none of it and keeps saying "UH-HUH Mommy, that's Steve!".I believe that Chlo has finally decided on a sport and (drum roll please) - it's basketball. She has not shown any interest in anything particular until last

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1142950660669649102006-03-21T08:08:00.000-06:002006-03-21T08:17:40.680-06:00

Well, there is no news on the adoption but I thought I should go ahead and babble post so that I don't forget how to actually work this blog!"Happy Spring" said from Omaha, Nebraska where the schools have been closed for two days due to the dumping of snow since Sunday morning! Chloe built her first snowman yesterday and had a blast. It was a nice wet, perfect snowman snow so it was ideal.

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1137164819374692812006-01-13T08:18:00.000-06:002006-01-16T10:21:08.150-06:00

I was laying in bed last night at 2:47 am after just waking up for some unknown odd reason and I started thinking about this adoption, this blog thing I have going and dad. He was very concerned about me adopting again (both mom and dad were against me doing this the first time but came around wonderfully and completely embraced their new grand daughter with open arms). When dad was concerned

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1136927118527177512006-01-10T14:43:00.000-06:002006-01-10T15:05:18.560-06:00

Did you know that you can actually make money doing blogging? It is quite interesting and involves a legal contract. It pays by the blog and you must post a minimum number of blogs per week I think. You could potentially make $300 a week or maybe more depending on the topic. There was one on adoption that I was considering but didn't think I could be creative on the spot to meet the minimum

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1136843380949684412006-01-09T15:37:00.000-06:002006-01-09T16:08:35.663-06:00

Chloe received the above as a Birthday card this year from her Great Aunt Mickey - I love it so am posting it here and calling it Asian FlairIt is time to finally shake off the holidays, sadly enough. All the tree trimmings are down and packed away, the house seems to be back to normal, at least temporarily. I have been checking out the CCAA's website occasionally. Things sure are different now

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20618585.post-1136557947790077522006-01-06T08:31:00.000-06:002006-01-09T16:07:48.723-06:00

Freshly Blooming jasmine (now deceased) has the most intoxicating aroma!Well, this is my first blog so bear with me as I will be doing some flashbacks to catch myself up while using this as a journal for baby #2 (hence the need for the history prior to this posting). This post is just a test to see if I've set this darn thing up correctly and then we will go from there. The ride has just begun:-

KAJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05136288503231734523noreply@blogger.com1