Travel Rumor Dates

We are still waiting to hear what our travel dates will be. Even though we know we are going to China, we still do not know when. We can't make our flight plans yet, obviously, because we do not know when we will be going. I check the airlines and the prices change dramatically from day to day.

Tonight our adoption agency had a meeting in NYC to hear about travel plans. We went to the meeting to hear what they had to say. The travel coordinator from the home office in Saint Louis was there and she was telling us that we had to arrange our own travel to and from China (we knew this) and they handle all of the in-China flights and hotels. We just have to give them our travel info so that when we arrive in China, they will have a CHI rep there to meet us and take us to the hotel.

She said that she would definitely be in China by November 4th, but there was a possibility we could travel by October 28th! I say, the sooner the better. We should know for sure by next week.

The meeting was fun. We brought our referral pictures with us and everyone was oohing and aahing over her. There were people there who didn't have their referrals yet, so they were quite excited to see our pics.

Visa Application

I submitted our Visa application today. Not sure how long it will take to get the visas. They are only good for 3 months. We do not have our travel approval yet either, but I decided that I had to get the visa application into the China's Consulate Office in NYC anyway. I cannot imagine that we won't be to and back from China within the next 90 days!

September 8, 2004 Referral Arrives today

My husband and I both stayed home from work because we wanted to get the referral info and pictures together. Everytime we heard a truck, we ran to the door to see if it was UPS. My dad kept asking too if the pictures came yet, but we were still waiting.

I was certain they would arrive by 2 pm. Other CHI families had received their referral photos already and we were still waiting. I was getting so impatient. I was certain that we now were not going to get our information today. What if it got lost??? By 3:30 pm I called Carrie at CHI to make sure that the package went out and they were still coming. Carrie was in the NYC office, which is the office that we worked with, but the information was shipped from the Saint Louis office. That is why we received a fax of a fax yesterday. St. Louis faxed to NYC and then NYC faxed it to me. Carrie assured me that the info was on its way.

I was talking to my husband when I saw the UPS truck out of the corner of my eye. I jumped up from the couch and ran to the door shouting, "UPS IS HERE." I flung open the door and there was the UPS driver across the street from us. It was not our usual driver. He was just sitting there looking at paperwork. My dad cam out and the three of us were waiting for the driver to come.

When he finally came to the door, I snatched the envelope from his hands. It actually had the wrong address on it! No wonder he was staring at the paperwork! No matter now, we raced to the kitchen to open it. The dogs were barking. I think they knew something good was about to happen.

When we saw her beautiful face in color, we grinned from ear to ear. SHe had chubby cheeks and a lot of hair. She was perfect. My dad said she looked like a Gerber baby. The three of us just stood around starring at the referral photos, three in all.

Photo will appear in the next post!

Referral Pkoto

I just love this one.

After staring at the photos and pouring over the info, we went to Staples and made color copies on photo paper of our daughter. We went to see Gina to give her a copy and to see grandma and uncle vinny too. Everyone was so happy to finally see her. Of course, grandma now wanted to know when she was coming home and we still didn't know that. More waiting, right? Yep. More waiting.

The Call!

Our wonderful adoption agency, CHI http://www.childrenshopeint.org/ , updated all of our contact information last week in anticipation of referrals. They had my work number, my cell number, my husband's work and cell numbers too, but I was the first line of contact since AR doesn't sit at a desk all day like I do.

I knew I would be comepletely useless at work, so I canceled a meeting that was scheduled for 10 am. I just could not deal with work crap right now. Yes, I know I am at work, but jeez! Does anyone actually expect me do get anything done today??

1:30 pm
I sat at my desk, glued to my chair. I received no phone calls except for my dearest fried, Gina. "You seem so blah today. Why?" I explained to her that she has no idea at all what it is like to wait and wait for a phone call that will tell you about your daughter, and I just can't wait anymore! (since this was written, Gina sure can relate as she is waiting right now to get the news that she can adopt her little boy from Guatemala).

2:00 pm
I keep checking the message boards and other people are getting the call! None, however are from my agency http://www.childrenshopeint.org/ . I hope the call comes soon because I am starting the fall semester tonight and have to leave work at 4 pm to get there by 5 pm for my film class. Ring, phone. RING!!!

3:00 pm
Other CHI families are getting the call now. My phone should ring any minute. This wait is excruciating.

3:20 pm
My phone rang. On the display I could see that it was Children's Hope International! Carrie from the NYC office called and said, "Its a girl." She told me that she was faxing the info over to me right now with a picture so that I could see how adorable she was. I ran to the fax machine, but it was jammed! Why do I have this luck??? I ran back to my desk to all http://www.childrenshopeint.org/ to give them another fax number and then ran back to the fax to wait for it.

I waited and the fax started printing:
Lu Ruo Dan
Born January 8, 2007
Nanfeng Social Welfare Institute
Jiangxi Province
Peoples Republic of China

It was so hard to really see her face because the picture was a fax of a fax, so it was sketchy at best. She looked beautiful to me.

I called my husband first and he couldn't believe that the information was actually here. He was so happy. I called my dad, but he wasn't home! I called my uncle and my grandmother and then I called Gina. Everyone was so happy about getting the news of the referral.

I still had to go to school, so I left. Before leaving I showed the referral fax to my boss and co-workers as they have been experiencing the wait with me as well. Since CHI said they were overnighting the photos and medical info for tomorrow delivery, I decided that I would work from home tomorrow. I needed to see those pictures!

I was late for class on the first night, but I did not care. All I could think about was my baby was waiting for me in Nanfeng SWI http://www.gurrad.com/china/nanfeng.htm . If I could fly to China today to bring her home, I would, but there was more waiting in my future.

Rumors May be True!

Okay, there was a posting on the Spanish message boards that referrals came through for those waiting families in Spain. Does that mean that I will get my referral? I can't say 100%, but as long as referrals are being sent for U.S. waiting families I cannot fathom that we will not get our referral this time around. This is going to be one very long day for me.