Thursday, July 21, 2011

What Ethan has to say

My nephew Ethan was over last night and wanted to see Eliza's room. Ethan is 10 years old and we call him "E". I said to him at one point, "Ethan, we're going to have another "E" in the family!" and he grinned. He also said that he would be Eliza's favorite cousin because he always wanted a little sister and he'd play with her a lot (and make her dolls fall off of a pretend cliff, etc....great). Later he asked what kind of nickname she would have "What can I cal her?" ..."Maybe 'Little E'?" His mom and I thought that was pretty cute. :) Ethan is very proud of the fact that he helped pick out the new drawer pulls for Eliza's dresser. He likes to show them off to people and say how he picked them out in part because he felt they fit nicely between the fingers as you pulled the drawer open.

He's a punk and we love him! He'll be a good cousin!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Our travel approval is here!


I got a call from our agency a little after 2:00. Our travel approval arrived! I ran around the office showing everyone the document ... I was high! Our agency will plan to work with the US Consulate in China to get our appointment for August 22 meaning we can plan to leave by August 10th!! We were told earlier (sometime around the time of the referral) that after 3 days in Beijing we'd get to Eliza's province on a Saturday or Sunday and get her either that Sunday or Monday. That means our "gotcha day!" will be either August 14 or 15th. Wow. We are so crazy happy! Walt and I opened a bottle of champagne when we met at home after work. We can't stop smiling.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Good morning, baby girl...

Dear Eliza, I have found myself each morning passing your room and stopping in to say, "Good morning, baby girl". Your room is beautiful now that it's complete, but it is empty. I can't wait for you to come and make a mess of the gorgeous pillows on the window seat, to see toys strewn across the perfectly polished floors, to come in to find the expensive curtains pulled off the rods and onto the floor. (Someone will have to remind of this oath once it actually happens ... ha!). Because until we see your sweet face in that room it will always feel incomplete.

Today is Monday. It was back to work after a beautiful and lazy weekend. Saturday we spent the day in the lake with your Auntie Alison and Uncle Michael. We laid about in floats all day and got too much sun. It was relaxing and just what we needed. Yesterday I went to brunch with Maggie and Max (I'm Max's godmother). Max is 4 and has a sister just a month older than you, Maggie and I expect the two of you to become close friends once you meet! We had our brunch at the very restaurant where your father and I made our monumental decision to begin an adoption almost 5 years ago. All we knew of you in that moment is that you hadn't yet been born but would be born in China.

During brunch with Maggie and Max I noticed at the table next to us a dad and mom with their Chinese daughter who was about 8 or 9 years old. I tried not to stare but I couldn't help watching them as I thought about how many times I've imagined taking you to that very restaurant and sitting in the very booth where we made our decision to come and find you.

As always I said goodnight to you as I passed your room.

Disappointing news about our travel approval



We were expecting to receive our travel approval somewhere between June 9-23rd. As the 23rd approached we were getting anxious. And then the 23rd came and went. I tried to control myself and not write and bug my agency about it but that lasted two days. They said that they weren't worried since it was only a couple of days outside of the window but that they would contact their liaison at the CCAA. Soon after they said the liaison said the paperwork had all arrived but she would check to be sure it was in order. Our agency suggested we hold tight as there didn't seem to be any problems. When we didn't hear anything back about problems with the paperwork we assumed that it would come any day.

Fast forward another 2 weeks. We have now been waiting a total of 8 weeks for our TA! Last Wednesday I contacted our agency again and again they said they'd contact their liaison. On Friday I made the image shown here of the DHL trucks and Eliza as my screensaver, trying to will the TA to arrive. I posted the fortune cookie image also shown here, on my Facebook page, trying to will the TA to come. Then I received a call from our agency. They had reached the liaison and it turns out that the procedure that our agency followed for sending paperwork for finalizing the match, had been changed by the CCAA but they'd never been notified. So the CCAA had all the correct paperwork but since it didn't arrive as their new process dictated, they simply sat on it.

What does this mean? It means that we should be in China RIGHT NOW but instead are delayed by another 5 weeks (if not more). I couldn't help crying as the agency delivered this latest news. Five more weeks! Five more weeks for that baby to sit in an institution. Five more weeks of development and growth and milestones we will miss seeing. Five more weeks of an empty crib in the nursery. I realize that in the scheme of things five weeks is not the end of the world but it is devastating none-the-less. We are so close!

Hang on baby girl, we'll be there as soon as we can.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Finally, a completed room for Eliza










After the referral the next few weeks were a mad rush to finish Eliza's room which we had started over two years ago. It was frustrating to have to move our bedroom furniture into her room in order for Walt to finish refinishing the upstairs floors which included our bedroom. All I wanted to do was put her room together. While Walt hammered away at the floors I was having curtains and pillows made for the windows and window seat. Once we were able to move back into our own room, I was finally able to start putting Eliza's room together. Walt went to Canada around that same time and by the time he came back, the room was pretty much complete. My two year obsession with collecting bird art for her wall collage paid off, I was very happy with the end results. Let's hope she likes birds. :)

New photos of Eliza!








In May I posted about sending Eliza a care package. That was on a Sunday night. The following Friday we were wrapping up the evening and I decided to check email one more time before bed. It was about 10 p.m. and low-and-behold, there in my inbox were photos from Ann at Red Thread China! My reaction was ridiculous! I was so excited (having had a few glasses of wine earlier made my reaction all the more animated). I screamed at Walter to come and look and together we viewed photos of our daughter, taken in the days before, enjoying the cake we sent to her and the other children at the orphanage. I couldn't believe it. She had so much hair and was still so perfectly chubby and sweet. She was wearing one of the outfits from the care package. Baby girl, there YOU ARE!!

We were also thrilled to see how clean and bright the orphanage seemed to be and that the caretakers had logos on their shirts from the "Half the Sky Foundation", a wonderful organization that provides nurture and developmental care for children in orphanages. This is a great sign.

I'm a terrible blogger

A lot has happened since we sent off the care package to Eliza, and received our confirmation letter (more on that later) but I haven't stopped to write about it. Every time I come to the blog, I realize how nice it is to look back and remember the details so starting today I'm going to try to get better at this. :)