Last Night in Guangzhou

We met Kim & daughter Peyton, her mom Marie, Pam & Steve and their daughter Gracie in the restaurant lounge to get our free drinks. When we arrived at the White Swan, we were given coupon for a complementary free drink and we all decided to save it for the last night. It was relaxing and we all chatted and watched the sunset over the Pearl River.

We decided to take our own red couch photos of our three girls. They didn't know what the heck was going on, but we had fun doing it. It certainly was less confusing than the day we tried to get the red couch photo with all the kids from our travel group!



Katrina is on the right, Gracie is in the middle and Peyton is on the left. Katrina took the cup of Cheerios that Gracie was holding and then Gracie began to wail, which pretty much ended our evening. We all needed to get to be early anyway because of the long excursion home.

We went back to the room and started packing We both had brought along clothing that we planned on leaving behind at the end of the trip. Things like socks and underwear that had seen better days were thrown out so we were able to fit all of the new stuff we bought in China in our bags. Other people we traveled with had to purchase another suitcase to bring home all of their stuff!

We gave Katrina a bath and we all went to bed. We have to get up pretty early tomorrow!

American Consulate Appointment & Farewell Dinner

Today we had an appointment at the American Consulate. Sabrina (our coordinator) took our paperwork over in the morning for our visas. She came back at 3 pm to take al of us over to the building.

We were not allowed to bring in cameras or video recording equipment inside. We had to show our visa paperwork to a clerk and then show her the baby she she could see that the photo matched the child.

A man and a woman came in and introduced themselves as the head of the adoption unit. We all raised our right hands and took an oath on behalf of the child that all of the information we provided on the Visa application was true to the best of our knowledge. That was it. Very anti-climatic, but as soon as Katrina sets foot on U.S. soil, she will be an American citizen.

We all met for a group farewell dinner paid for by our adoption agency. We hopped on a bus and went to a dim sum restaurant. The food was okay, not great. There were a lot more vegetarian dishes than I had expected to find though, so that was a nice change of pace. Everyone was excited because we knew we were all going home soon. Some were leaving tomorrow right after the American Consulate appointment and a few families would be staying an extra day like we were.

Sabrina gave a very emotional speech regarding the orphan babies and adoption. She was in tears telling us what a wonderful thing we were doing for these Chinese babies. She hoped that we would keep in touch and let her know the progress that the children are making. Later that night Sabrina came by to give a gift to Katrina from the adoption agency. The gift was two cds with Chinese music and songs for children. We gave her a shirt and some candy that we brought for her.

Visa Photo, Medical Exam & Shopping

Today was pretty cold for this province. Long sleeves and jackets were needed for everyone. When we arrived at the photo place, there was another adoption group already there so we had to wait. Like everything else in China, this was going to take some time.

Once we were all done getting photos taken, we walked over to the hospital for the medical exam. All babies must pass this exam of they cannot leave China. Even though our daughter was sick, we didn't think it would be a problem, but still I worried about it anyway.

First we waited in line. We saw many doctors walking around. Finally we were called and we had to remove all of Katrina's clothes, even her diaper. They measured her head and chest. Of course she started screaming her head off! They listened to her heart and poked and prodded her a bit. She was weighed and measured for height. 16 pounds and 29 inches long.

Her hearing was tested while she sat on my lap. The doctor rang bells, banged on a small piano to see if she turned when she heard the noise and recorded how long it took her to react. They asked about her cold and we said she was taking cold medicine. It didn't seem to be a problem and her medical exam was approved.

For lunch we had noodle soup. We bought these containers of ramen noodles that come with a fork. You just have to boil water and pour in over the noodles. Since we were all a little sick, we figured soup was a good idea. I had purchased these in a grocery store. A really cheap meal, but it tasted so good!

We went shopping after lunch. I bought many Chinese outfits for Katrina. I picked up a chop with the sheep on it since she was born in the year of the sheep. We put her American and Chinese name on the chop as well along with a dragon and the symbol for happiness. We had her name painted with animals which also had both of her names on it. Her favorite purchase though, was squeaky shoes. As the child walks, the shoes squeak. The squeak can also be removed, but whats the fun in that! Not that Katrina is walking yet, but the shoes still look good on her feet and they still squeak when she is bounded up and down as her feet hit the floor. Fun for all!

Shopping & Eating

As a group, we hired a bus to take us shopping for pearls. I was able to buy a lovely necklace for my daughter. I watched them string the pearls right in front of me. We will give this to her on her 15th birthday I think.

We finished up our shopping quickly and the bus was not going to return for another hour or so. Since it was nearing lunchtime, we decided to get a bite to eat. AR saw a McDonald's on the corner and it was like a beacon pulling us in.

The McDonald's was a three floor restaurant. We went to the second floor and waited on line like everyone else. A manager came over to us and asked us to sit down. In fact, they asked people who were eating to move over so that we could sit and eat there and they did!

The manager sent an employee over to take our order. Everyone orders the same way. They are given a plastic laminated menu and they point to the picture of what they want (locals too, not just us foreigners), so we did the same. They took our money, brought us our change and then our food.

We were pretty puzzled as to why we were being treated like royalty. Others in our group went to the same McDonald's and they were not treated the same way, so we don't know why we were treated so special. I made a bottle for Katrina and she gulped it down quickly. Then she ate some french fries!

Later at night AR went down to the medical clinic too. He came back with all kinds of medicine, including a similar looking herbal tincture. After he tasted that he said he knew why Katrina was screaming when we squirted the medicine in her mouth. It tasted awful!

Since two of the three of us were sick, we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant this evening. Katrina kept dropping food on the floor and the waiters kept running over to pick up the food. I had to drop off some paperwork in our travel coordinator's room tonight. We were getting Katrina's visa photo and medical exam in the morning.

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.

Referrals?

Okay, now the CCAA is predictable to a point. I know it goes in cycles, but they have been sending referrals every month. We, the waiting, have come to expect this. Well, since we've been waiting, they have been sending referrals every month. We are definitely next. I mean, we missed the cut off date last month by one day so we know that we have to be in the nest set of referrals, which should be this month and yet, it is nearly the end of August and NO REFERRALS. There isn't even a referral rumor.

Why am I being f***** with? WHY? All I want is my baby. Really, is that too much to ask? I don't know how much more of this I can take. Truthfully, I feel as if I am a woman on the brink of insanity. I am on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a-parents-china/ night and day hitting that refresh button. I cannot even pretend that I am getting any work done at work either. I am a complete basketcase.

If my referral doesn't come soon, it won't even matter. I will be in the looney bin. Stop by and visit, will you?

The Baby's Room is Done

Her room needed a lot of work. We had someone come in to repair the cracked ceiling. This took about a week to finish and it was messy! Thankfully we were going to replace the carpeting.

My dad put in the wood trim to go around the window. Amazing how much nicer it looks now with that done.

The color scheme: decided on pale green and pale yellow. Originally I had samples of paint that were electric yellow and super bright green. Anyone that I showed the samples to made a face. I was disappointed with the reactions. I really liked those colors, but because of the revulsion of others, I started to second guess myself. I didn't want the room to shock my baby so I went with the lighter shades. The colors are soothing. The wall and ceiling is green and all of the wood trim is yellow.

We ripped out the old carpeting. That was a filthy mess. Yuck! There is a hardwood floor underneath, but the floor is not in good shape. We picked out a light green carpet and hired someone to install it. The color is not the same as the walls, but it all looks good together. Now all we need is a baby to go in this room!

Not even thinking about referrals

I cannot even discuss referrals now. I can't even think about it. Okay? Lets move on.

I painted a wooden letter K the same color yellow that we painted the trim in the baby's room. I gave it to Aunt Gina roday to finish it off. She is so creative! She came up with all of these words that begin with the letter K and she will paint them onto the wood. I think it is going to look really cute in the baby's room.

Albert and I went to the doctor two weeks ago to get some shots that we needed to get for our upcoming trip to China. The shots we got were Hepatitus A, Hepatitus B, Measles/Mumps/Ruebella, and Tetanus/Diptheria. Boy, did our arms hurt! I woke up this morning covered in spots! I went to the doctor and he said I had a measley response to the measle vaccine. I am itchy too. Thought the vaccine was supposed to prevent me from contracting measles! Argh!!! Well, I'll be ready by the time we go to China, whenever that may be.

Bad News~No referral for us :(

I am crushed. No, even more than that. I am devastated. Referrals came. Yes, they did. All of December, all of January and nearly all of February received their precious referrals. The month of February was split. Referrals were sent up to and including February 26th. We missed the cut off by one day! One freaking day. I cannot believe that the entire month was not included. I mean, there are only 28 days in February for chrissakes! WTF!

I was so sure that we were getting our referral. I mean, SO SURE and now I have nothing. Don't even DARE to tell me that I will get the child I am meant to have, okay? I don't want to hear it. I WANT MY BABY NOW! Do you understand that? Do you? Let me have my pity party. Thank you.

July 22, 2004 Referral Rumor

The rumor is that referrals are coming and will include all LIDs for December, January and February. That means us! Our LID is February 27th! We should have our referral in a few days. Thw wait is nearly over. Woo Hoo!

Referral Rumors

Adoption sites thrive on referral rumors. When you are waiting, you tend to hang onto whatever scraps of info you can glean from any source. I was an avid reader of a-parents china yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a-parents-china/ Truth be told, it nearly drove me insane. I can say that now in retrospect, but at the time, it was all I had. The waiting is hard, and when you learn of referrals, you can guesstimate when you will get yours based on log in dates etc. Now I wish I had never gotten so wrapped up into the rumors, but alas, it was intoxicating. I spent many sleepless nights reading the boards and hoping and wondering when my referral was going to be next.

The next posts are comprised from my journal writings.

June 14, 2004
Today I heard a great rumor. All of November and most of December LID will get their referrals this week. That would mean that we will get our referral in August! I sure hope this rumor is true!

Albert took a part-time job to earn some extra money. A very dear friend of ours gave him a job working in an office supply store. She is the store manager, so it should work out for both of us, I hope.

Our LID!

I have been waiting to hear news of our official log in date so everyday I anxiously go through the mail looking for a letter from CHI. Last week I was disappointed because there was a letter from CHI about waiting children, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

As I sorted through the mail today, I saw an envelope that looked like a book. It was upside down so I didn't know who it was from, but I set it aside to look at all the letter-type envelopes. There were none from CHI. I flipped over the book envelope and it was from CHI. I opened it and there was a letter with my official log in date of 2-27-04 and a book called "Does Anybody Else Look Like Me?" A parent's guide to raising multiracial children. What a pleasant surprise. Thanks CHI! We are officially DTC for February!!!

DTC & LID

The home office of CHI in Saint Louis had my dossier and were looking it over to make sure everything was there that was supposed to be there. It takes a while to do this, gather up all the dossiers that were going at the same time and then send them to China, DTC (Dossier to China) . However, CHI sends them to their office in China to have all the dossiers translated into Chinese first. Some agencies translate the dossiers in the US an then send them to the CCAA for processing.

Why is this important? Well, once you know when the CCAA has logged in your dossier, then you can estimate when you will be getting your referral. In my case, being DTC wouldn't give be an estimate because DTC just meant it was going to the Chinese office of CHI. What I needed was a LID- log in date. This is the date that the Chinese governemnet logged in my dossier. This is the date that I could use to estimate when I might receive my referral.

Another hitch is that CHI knows when they send the dossiers to the CCAA, but that date doesn't matter either (not that they tell us this date). The dossiers could be sitting on someone's desk in China for weeks before someone actually logs in the date that it was received.

Although we sent the dossier to CHI in January, it still had to go through processing on their end in the U.S. and in China. I was hoping to have a February LID, but would have to wait until I received my official notification from CHI.

in 2004, referrals were coming 5-7 months after LID. If we had a February LID, we could get our referral in July or August and that would mean we'd be in China in September or October! We just need a LID!!!!

I-171H Arrives

Albert, and I were having breakfast when we heard the postal carrier at the door. The dogs go crazy, which is really what alerted us to the postal carrier. Anyway, we have a slot through the door that the mail comes through. I leaned back to yell at the dogs to knock it off (they were really loud) and saw the mail as it was spilling into the hallway. I saw a brown envelope. Now, I have been sending away for all of these free samples lately so I thought it was one of those.

I ran over to get it and when I looked at the envelope, I saw that it was from Homeland Security. Quickly I scooped it up and ran over to AR. "I think we got it," I shrieked. Carefully I opened it up, but there were a few documents in there. I was looking for the I-171H somewhere on the forms...I didn't see it. "

Well, is it the form?" AR asked.

"I can't tell," I replied as I was flipping through the documents and then, I saw it.

There was the tiny I-171H in the corner that I was looking for. Yes, we have the approval!!!!! On 1/24/2004 we received the I-171H. I ran out the door now to make copies, got them notarized and off to the state of NJ for the seal. And, I was doing the happy dance the whole way!

Fingerprint Appointment

I sent the form into Homeland Security on 12/11/2003. On 12/15/03 I received a letter from them with an appointment date of 1/9/2004. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I thought that I might be able to have an appointment before the end of 2003, but that was not to be.

The AR, my dad and I were fingerprinted in Hackensack NJ at the Homeland Security office. My dad walked in first and he told the guard he was there for his fingerprint apppointment. The guard asked my dad why he needed to be fingerprinted and he said "for an adoption," the guard looked at my dad and said, "You're adopting???" We all had a laugh at that, but then he realized that AR and I were adopting.

Fingerprints were done and now I am just waiting for the I-171H to arrive in the mail. How long will it take??? Guess that is the big unknown. More waiting...