New Travel Date

Our adoption agency called today and asked us if we could leave on April 29Th, and of course we can leave a week earlier than expected. We are totally on board with leaving earlier. It seems that the other couple that we are traveling with has something else going on during the 3rd weed of May so we might get to travel earlier. We haven't finalized our travel so it's in the works. If we leave a week earlier then the expected return date is May 13th. Paul and I have been looking at the flights to China, and we think we will be in route for 20 plus hours. So who knows what exact day we will get back but we will let you know as soon as we do. I think our travel will be finialized by Tuesday of next week. I'm so excited!!!!!!

Travel Arrangements!!!!!

I have to say that I'm surprised that they have come so quickly. Some have waited awhile before they received them. But here they are.

Travel Dates: 5/6-5/20
Gotcha Day: 5/10 or 5/11
Consulate Appointment Date: 5/18

Gotcha day is the day that we get to meet and hold Lily for the first time. And I guess everyone can see that it might be Mother's Day, or the day after. How sweet it will be to finally get to meet her on that special day that has been one of the hardest days for me. God sure has a way of working things out in his own time. Even if we don't meet her until that Monday, it will be before my birthday. So it's final we are getting to go to China. I'm sure that everyone but me has believed that, I guess that until I see her face in my eyes it will be just a dream.

So we will take our notebook computer with us to keep everyone updated. Just to let everyone know, we won't be taking our phones because of the long distance charges to it if anyone calls them. We will do everything by Internet. It seems that some of the couples that have traveled have had a hard time with the translation at the hotels in Province, so if you don't here from us for awhile we will update as soon as we can. But we do need to focus on Lily and making her first hours and days with us as peaceful and calm as we can so she will start her attachment process. There are different things that may help or hurt that process, so we need to address it as soon as we get her. Different people have told me how she will feel the love and warmth that we are going to give her, but that is not always the case. Most of the people that are reading this have children and can imagine that at 14 months old leaving their baby with a perfect stranger. That is how she will feel. So even with all of the love that we already have for her, she is still going to be mourning her Foster Mother, and care givers. So as I'm writing in China, please remember that she is going to be sad, scared and heartbroken. I'm probably not going to write on that much. I think that some of that is going to be painful, and hard reading for people that don't understand what is going on with this little girl, but please keep Lily in your prayers as we travel.

The Nursery

After much deliberation and plenty of tears, Paul and I decided to go with lavender and cream in the baby's room. So I finally bought and painted her room today. And I can't wait to put a picture of it on this blog for everyone to see it. I have to say I picked a beautiful color for the room. It is darker than I expected but it looks beautiful. I hope that lily loves it. She will only know when she reads this and not before, that it has been one of the hardest decisions that I have made in awhile. I just want it to be perfect for her. Lily has had a hard year even if she doesn't know it, but I do. I want her to have a room, that she has all to her self and doesn't have to share with anyone else, to be a place that will change the way she wakes up every morning. I want the first thing she sees to be something that is calming and warm. I can only hope that she feels this way now, but who knows. Lily should get to sleep in a room that makes her feel like she's at home with Mommy and Daddy. Someplace that she never wants to leave. I think after she gets home it's our job as parents to make her feel loved, secure and safe, but who doesn't love to wake up in a beautiful room? So the next step is to get some furniture. To be continued.

One week later!

I have been getting some e-mails requesting more posts while we wait. I've had midterms this week so it's been a bunch of studying and not much blogging. So just to update everyone, our acceptance of Lily and all of the other families that are in our group are back in China. We had until last Friday to turn them in, of course ours was received first by our agency. I don't know if it's the competitive side in me but I called to ask if anyone else beat us. My coordinator laughed at me and ask me if I was serious. Of course I was, but I just ask if we were the first to turn our confirmation of acceptance in. She assured me that no one else turned theirs in less than one week of receiving it. So we came in first. We were so fortunate to have Burt's dad look at the medical information so quickly, and we didn't have to wait for his report. So the clock is ticking for our travel arrangements. I have been shopping for furniture, and looking at some clothes, and looking at paint for the nursery, trying to figure out what I want to do with the room. I feel so pressured. It's only been 3 years in the making. One would think that I could have more time to plan. It's really starting to sink in because I don't have to dream anymore. I need to just do the room. But I can't make up my mind on the bed room suite. Do I want to get a bed for us to sleep in, meaning Lily and I? Or should I hold off because it will take up so much floor space with the crib and the bed. Do I want to do her room in Lily's or pink and green. Now Karen suggested yellow, so I started thinking about yellow. Thanks Aunt Karen. I'm not a decorator at all. If you have ever been to my house it looks like a man decorated with suggestions from females. That's what happened, people suggested that I do things, so I did them. Not very feminine when it comes to that. But I would like for Lily's room to be feminine. She is so cute that I want her to have a cute room. So it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I going to try to stay away from brown, although I do like it with pink. So if anyone finds a picture of a nursery that is already decorated and all I have to do is order it, e-mail it to me. Or if you have a suggestion, feel free to e-mail me that. This is really out of my league. Plus, I would like it to be the cutest nursery ever. So we are just waiting for our travel arrangements. Patiently? Not so much, my coordinator is getting calls daily from Lily's Mother wanting to know what is up. As soon as we hear anything I will post it. I'm thinking that we will hear something in about 2 weeks. Until then thanks for all the prayers that are going up for Lily. I've heard that my nephew Carson is praying for her, how sweet. I know that Kaelin, my granddaughter is. She has a picture of Lily in her photo album, points to it and says ilwee. Wonder how she will handle it when she meets her? We can't wait to finally hold that face in our hands and put smiles on it.

Jiangxi Province, Tonggu County

Jiangxi Province is considered to be southeastern China. Tonggu County is north of Yichun City, due west of the capital city of Nanchang, very near the border to Hunan Province. It is a small and rural county of 150,000 people under the jurisdiction of Yichun City. The county encompasses a small urban area, known as Yongning Town, and much rural farmland and mountains. The urban area of Yongning contains several schools, a hospital, a sprawling market, two hotels, the as yet unfinished SWI, the West Lake Square and many apartment buildings within its boundaries. The Ding Jiang (Ding River) runs directly through town. The town is nestled in the mountains and is very picturesque. The rural area includes vegetable farms, expansive rice paddies, bamboo forests and is home to many, many water buffalo. Tonggu consists of 80% minority peoples, with only 20% of the residents from the Han ethnic majority. These minority peoples are primarily of the Hakka descent. The Hakka never bound the feet of their girls and women, so we are highly impressed with their culture!

UPDATED PHOTO'S of LILY

We have new pictures!!!! March 13th 2009
These are the new pictures that we recieved today. As of March 13th, She is now a wopping 5.8 kg, which means she's not even 13 pounds. She is 24 inches tall. She's so tiny. We are so thankful that we recieved this update. Some people don't get them. And so fast. In 2 weeks we have been so blessed with all of these pictures. Six pictures to go in our baby album. I think it's starting to hit me finally, I just might meet her soon. Not soon enough, but soon. She is so precious. I really feel sorry for all the other people adopting from China. The cutest baby there is coming home with us. Just look at those cheeks.

FTIA received our Referral Acceptance of Lily

Today we received an e-mail stating that FTIA received our referral acceptance paperwork for Lily. FTIA will send our forms to the CCAA and then we will get a date to see the the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou,China. It usually takes about six to eight weeks for the families to travel to China after we submit our Referral Acceptances to the CCAA. Typically, it takes about three to five weeks for the CCAA to issue the Final Travel Approval. As soon as we receive it, FTIA will start making appointments with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, the Chinese officials in the province and the orphanage. So we probably won't here anything about when we are leaving for about 3 at the least and 5 at the most weeks. We hope to be leaving at the end of April.
A special thanks for all of the kind gestures and kind words that everyone has posted, said in person, e-mailed to us. We are very excited and are very happy to see that so many of you are too. Maw-maw Joyce and Paw-paw Jim have printed out grand baby's picture and e-mailed it to Joyce's family. And after hearing it and seeing it time and time again, I'm on board with thinking that the matching room used Daddy's picture to match us. How sweet. Thank you for everything you have done to make this journey so special to us, we have an amazing family and friends.