So sorry we're so slack with the posts!

We're ALL sick! We all started to get sneezy and drippy just before leaving Nanchang for Guangzhou, and have been getting progressively worse as the week has worn on. Between coughs and wiping noses, diaper changes, meals, naps, and shopping (yes, we've still managed to do that!), we just haven't had much time to get online. We keep thinking we'll get on in the evenings when the kids are asleep, and then we fall asleep ourselves! :) On top of that, internet service is not free at the White Swan, so we opted to just get it in Suzanne's room since she was the only one of us who could stay up long enough to make use of it. Again, sorry for no news!

The big news is, of course, that we've completed all of our U.S. Consulate stuff now, which means that we have Ellie's visa and we've been through the oath-taking ceremony that they require, which was done as a group (43 families) and basically said that we promise to care for her as if she were our biological child. It was somewhat emotional, even in a huge room of mostly strangers.

Other than the above mentioned necessary appointments and daily stuff, we've done a considerable amount of shopping. The prices here are beyond amazing. Ellie now has an incredible squeaky shoe collection, and we've cleaned up on jade, porcelain, and cloisonne! I've even bought several bigger outfits for her to wear next year or the year after. I just wish there was little boy stuff so available here for Liam! The best we've been able to do for him is a couple of tee shirts.

Liam and Ellie are getting along very, very well. He has regressed a bit, but it's hard to tell if the crankiness is more due to her presence, his illness, or just being tired of being away from home. All in all, he's done fairly well, but this week we've been unable to eat out because he has no appetite and won't sit quietly for the rest of us to eat. We've had some wonderful Catonese and Thai food here, and Lucy's Bar, which is about a block away, has good American and Chinese food and great cold Tsingtao beer!

This will be our last post from China, since we leave tonight at 6. I'm going to try to add the rest of our photos to our Fotki album now, and I'll add captions to them either in Los Angeles (spending the night there before heading home) or once we get home.

-Dianne

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for:

Greetings, all! The big news is, our whole family is together! Well, those of us in China, anyway. :)

After an amazing and exhausting Saturday touring Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Great Wall (blog entry coming soon), we got up on Sunday and flew to Nanchang. Liam was pretty much wiped out by the time we got to the hotel, so he stayed with Britt and Aunt Suzi while Dianne and I went to meet Ellie. And because I know you're really not checking out this blog for my brilliant prose, no more waiting -- here she is!



She is such a sweetie! Poor baby cried and cried at first, like all of the others, but before long she had latched on tight to me and I was able to sing her to sleep. A real Daddy's girl, huh? :) She slept all the way back to the hotel, and for quite a while after. Had to get her up for a diaper change and some dinner, and some playtime with big sister Britt, but she's slept through since then.



More appointments this morning, but nothing on the schedule for this afternoon other than naptime, and maybe another blog entry. Tune in again . . .

We're in Beijing!!!

Hey, everybody! Brooks here. Well, it's been quite the journey so far. Four airplanes through five airports, and 35 hours later we have arrived in the first city on our list. Part of what makes it even weirder than just the time change was crossing the date line -- left home just after noon on Wednesday, landed here just before noon on Friday. Settled into the room early afternoon and started crashing hard soon thereafter. I managed to stay awake long enough to go on the group field trip to a nearby grocery store, but by the time I returned, of our family I was the last man standing. Okay, technically I would be the only man, but you know what I mean.

It's now just after 3 in the morning and Liam, Dianne, and I are wide awake again. They got up before me. I awoke to see Dianne holding Liam up to the window to see all of the nighttime traffic. Serious flashback -- took me back to London, 1976, my first overseas trip, and my Dad and I did the same thing. :)

Obviously not a whole lot to share yet, but Dianne snapped a couple of photos on the China Southern flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou. Assuming I can get them uploaded to Our Fotki Photo Album, you can find them in the Beijing album.

[A special thanks to JoAnne K. for the Huggies bath mitts! Without those we would never have gotten our sleepy Liam cleaned up last night when he was far too cranky to endure a bath in the tub! -Dianne]

With any luck, we'll have pics of Liam celebrating his 3rd birthday atop the Great Wall later today! Tune in again . . .

-Brooks

Our Itinerary

8/29 - Depart RDU for LAX on AA, then take CS from LAX to Guangzhou to Beijing, arriving on Friday, August 31, Beijing time.

9/1 - Beijing Cultural Tour: The Great Wall, Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City . . . and celebrate Liam's 3rd birthday!!!

9/2 - Travel to Nanchang in Jiangxi Province. Get Ellie at 3:30 p.m.!!!

9/3 - Paperwork and free time.

9/4 - Shopping!!!

9/5 - Sightseeing to XiangHu Park

9/6 - Sightseeing to Teng Weng Ge

9/7 - Go to Civil Affairs Office to get Ellie's passport. Depart for Guangzhou in the evening.

9/8 - Ellie’s visa medical exam and visa photo.

9/9 - Sightseeing to Chen Family Temple.

9/10 - American Consulate Appointment (Guide takes our paperwork to the Consulate for review.)

9/11 or 12 – Go to American Consulate for interview and to pick up Ellie’s visa.

9/12 - Depart Guangzhou for Los Angeles. Stay overnight in L.A.

9/13 - Depart Los Angeles for home!!!

In the home stretch!

Well, our international plane tickets are purchased and will arrive via FedEx on Monday, our suitcases have been chosen and are partially packed, and GWCA should have our intra-China flights and hotels booked and bill sent to us by Friday. Whew, what a whirlwind week! And it's probably going to be hectic like this right up until the last minute. We have a few family visits coming up this weekend, a little bit more shopping to do, a very sick furbaby (Niki, our lab), Little Gym to work in on Saturday morning and haircuts that afternoon, speech therapy for Liam the day before we leave, appointments to make for Ellie at UNC Hospital, and poor Britt won't get home until very late Tuesday night.

Bring it on! Let's get to China . . . and our little girl!

-Dianne

Consulate Appointment Confirmed!

Nicole at GWCA emailed this morning to let us know that our CA has been confirmed for 9/10! I have just gotten off the phone with Wyman at Delight Travel, who has booked our international travel. Our friend Tony, who just happens to work for American Airlines, has used the miles generously donated by Nancy and David to get us to LAX. And soon Nicole should contact us again to let us know that our intra-China travel and hotels have been booked!

We are leaving to go get our Ellie on Wednesday, August 29th!!!!! Let the packing begin!

-Dianne

Travel Approval Received!

We just got an email from Nicole at GWCA - our TA arrived! This means that Nicole can now request a Consulate Appointment for us (American Consulate in Guangzhou to get a visa for Ellie), and we should get appointment confirmation by Wednesday! Once we receive a confirmed CA, we can finally arrange our international travel, and Nicole will arrange our intra-China travel and hotels! We're on our way!!!!!

-Dianne

TAs are on their way!

Nicole, our GWCA travel coordinator, notified us yesterday via email that Travel Approvals (TAs) are on their way! She expected to receive them either yesterday or today, so now I'm sitting here at home, chewing my nails off, waiting for either an email or phone call letting us know our TA has arrived!

Once Nicole has our TA, she will contact the American Consulate in Guangzhou to schedule an appointment for us. When they confirm this appointment, we'll finally have the last confirmation we need before purchasing plane tickets and booking hotel rooms! Looks like we'll be leaving for Beijing on August 30th!

Bring on that TA!

-Dianne

Done!

Our LOA arrived yesterday, bright and early! I got a wonderful photo of our FedEx guy delivering it! :)

After Speech Therapy, Liam and I went to Brooks' office, and the three of us hit Kinkos to photocopy, etc., and then overnighted our signed LOA back to Heather at Great Wall.

FedEx confirmed delivery early this morning, and then Kim at GW emailed to let us know that it's on it's way to China!

We're ready for our TA now, thank you!

-Dianne

LOA!!!!!!!

Heather at GWCA called today to tell us that our LOA arrived!!! She has overnighted it to us via FedEx, so we'll have it in our hands tomorrow morning!!! :)

Woo hoo!!!!!!

C'mon TA!!!!!!

-Dianne

Aunt Jo's Artwork!

Ellie's Aunt Jo is nearly finished with mural painting in Ellie's room and it is gorgeous! She has painted tiny sprigs of vines in a few places near the letters on Ellie's wall, and a lovely combination of vines and partially-done ladybugs (Brooks is calling them "BNLB = Bare Naked LadyBugs) just over the top of Ellie's bookcase. Next, she'll add some dragonflies to the mix. We'll post photos when it's completed!

Dianne

Understanding Chinese Names

Thanks to a recent APC post, I finally understand how a Chinese name is created! The order is: Family Name, Generation Name, Personal Name. This means that our daughter's Chinese name is as follows:

Family Name = Hong (This last name is given to all children at this SWI)
Generation Name = Xiao (This means that there are likely many other Xiaos at this SWI)
Personal Name = Ying

We have, therefore, named her correctly! We could have gone with either XiaoYing or just Ying. And it's very likely that her nanny has nicknamed her YingYing. :)

Dianne

The CCAA Review Room is a' Rockin'!

We found out yesterday that June '06 LIDs are in the Review Room now! The CCAA has posted that they've finished the review of the May '06 LIDs. They did this in a record 13 days (it took 106 days for them to get through the April '06 LIDs)! What this means for us is that *someone* must have our dossier on their desk!

Bring on that LOA!

Dianne

First Post!

Welcome to our Journey to Ellie blog!

Our adoption story has become a complicated one. We started off in the NSN program with Great Wall China Adoption (GWCA) - a wonderful agency! We had indicated in our home study that we are interested in adopting a SN or NSN child, but were not looking at Waiting Child Lists until one day I received an email from IAAP about their latest WC List. After letting this email sit in my inbox for a few days, I looked at the list - mostly just to see the sweet little faces. As I scanned the long list of names, birth dates, and special needs, I kept returning over and over to one little girl - a little girl whose online information had been viewed over 2,000 times, and who still did not have a home! Further investigation showed that in addition to repaired cleft lip and palate, her medical report showed a positive result to her first Hepatitis B surface antigen test. I figured this must be what was scaring potential parents away.

For a couple of days, I returned over and over to look at her sweet face. I didn't even tell Brooks that I had fallen in love with this child! On Thursday, March 1st, I called Brooks at work and asked, "Can we adopt a Hepatitis B positive child?" His answer: "Yeah, why not?"!!! After seeing her photos, he said, "I want to be this little girl's Daddy." I called Cheryl at IAAP and told her that we knew Hong Xiao Ying was our daughter. Unfortunately, Cheryl had to report to me that the CCAA would no longer allow agencies to work together to bring SN children home, so we'd have to withdraw our dossier, quit GWCA, lose all the money we'd already paid to GWCA, and start all over again with IAAP. It took us all of an hour to decide that we had no choice but to do it! Xiao Ying is definitely our child! GWCA agreed that this was the only way we could do this, so they wrote a letter in support of our decision and forwarded that to the CCAA, along with our letter requesting the withdrawal of our dossier in order to pursue this adoption. At the same time, IAAP translated and submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt Xiao Ying. We received Pre-Approval (PA) through IAAP on 4/9/07 - just days after finding out that the CCAA preferred that instead of withdrawing our dossier, IAAP should release Xiao Ying's file to GWCA, so that we could continue to pursue her adoption through GWCA.

On 6/1, GWCA received our daughter's file. That same day, we re-wrote our Letter of Intent (LOI), and then it was again translated and reached the CCAA on 6/5/07. Two days later, they granted us our second PA!

Now we're waiting for our LOA - Letter of Acceptance - otherwise known as the Letter Seeking Confirmation. This is a letter from the CCAA which we sign to indicate that we do indeed intend to adopt Xiao Ying. A couple of weeks after this, we should receive Travel Approval (TA), and the hectic travel arrangements will begin!

-Dianne