We were hoping to hear something late last week or early this week in the way of travel, but haven't heard anything yet, so don't think we will. This week is Chinese New Year, so all offices are closed and nothing is being done. So, I think it will still be a couple weeks until we hear something about our travel dates. I'm bummed, but every day is one day closer. I thought the first 34 months of waiting was rough, but the last 4 weeks have been worse. Hopefully we'll hear something in a couple of weeks and then be traveling in early March, so it's really not that far away.
We are mananging to keep ourselves busy on the weekends getting ready for Jetta to arrive. I have been doing my spring cleaning, getting everything baby proof and ready for her to come home. We also began painting her room this past weekend and it is looking great. We still have some finishing touches to put on and then will post pictures of her room. It will be nice to have it done and to finally have a baby to put in there.
So for now, we wait (again) and keep ourselves busy and hope that February passes by quickly and that we're on a plane soon to bring Jetta home.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Quiet on the China front
Saturday, January 10, 2009
An update of where we are.....
It has almost been two weeks since we received our call and amazingly the time has flown by. Now we just wait....AGAIN! Seems to be the story of our lives. However, I think this wait will be much more tolerable and should go by much faster than the last. What we've been told, our acceptance letter will arrive in China on Monday, January 12th. Once it is in China, the next step is for them to invite us to China and for the Chinese LifeLink staff to arrange for appointments at the American Consulate. Once this is done, we will receive our letter of invitation and will then begin to plan for travel. We are hoping we get this letter in the next 2 or so weeks. Then I believe we'll have about 2 to 3 weeks before we'll travel, but then we'll finally be on our way. Hopefully the next 4 or so weeks go by as fast as the last 2 and I'll be okay. When we do travel, we plan to fly in Hong Kong, spend a couple of days and visit Hong Kong Disneyland, which all of you know I'm a huge Mickey fan and can not pass up a chance to visit a Disney park. Plus, this will give us time to rest and try, try being the optimal word, to overcome our jet lag and get ready to get Jetta. After our visit to Disney, we will meet the Chinese staff and will travel to Guangdong province, Guangzhou and finally meet Jetta. We are lucky and get to stay in Guangzhou the entire trip and will only have to travel between there and Hong Kong. Most people have to travel to other parts of China and then to Guangzhou. Staying in one place the entire trip will be very nice. We will be there for about 10 days, will have lots of appointments and hopefully time to shop and sightsee. After we finalize the adoption, we will travel back to Hong Kong and will be able to head home. A little anxious about a 24 hour plane ride with a child, but won't be able to wait and get her home and introduce her to everyone. So, for now, we wait, but thought would share with everyone where we are and will post again once we have more details about travel.
A little about where Jetta's from
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Day 2 and we FINALLY have a baby!
It was finally Tuesday morning and I could not believe that I was waking up for the first time as a mommy! Wow, that has a great ring to it. I managed to get myself ready and head to work. When I got there, all my co-workers were asking if I heard anything and I said, I had a few details, but would know more later that day. Around 10:00 my my social worker called and said she didn't have anything more, but that we could meet in Shiloh at the Bread Co. at 4:00 p.m., to go over all the details and to finally see her face. She called me back a little bit later and asked if I minded if she sent me her pics since we couldn't meet until later that day....my response was "I think that is the silliest question I have heard today" and she laughed and said "they are on the way". I patiently (yeah right) waited for the email to come in. And there it was....the email that had our first pictures of our daughter....I was shaking so bad and opened them immediately and began to cry....the first time, cuz now it was finally real. I could barely stand it and had to go and gather my co-workers, interrupting them and all. They came over and all crowded around my computer and we all looked together. They couldn't say enough about her and how cute she is. I immediately emailed them to Shannon and he wasn't at work yet....he called as soon as he saw her face and I could tell was in love. I could hardly wait for the day to end and to be able to tell the world.
So, it's with great pleasure that I announce to our daughter Jia Jia Xu born on March 25, 2008 in Guangdong province. As most of you already know we have chosen to name her Jetta Nicole, which depending on which book you look at, it's an Asian decent name and means Precious Gem and that is exactly what she is to us. We are absolutely in love and can't wait to go and meet her.
The Long Wait
On Friday December 26th, we saw on RQ (Rumor Queen) that a rumor was out there that was saying the 28th of February was going to be the cut-off. Although, we already knew we would be next, since the last cut-off was the 23rd of February and we were the 24th. However, finally seeing it in writing was very exciting.
However, it got more exciting on Monday the 29th of December. When I got into work, I checked RQ as always and to my sheer surprise she was posting that Europe was starting to receive calls for referrals! I could barely believe it. However, one of my good friends called me at 9:00 that morning and asked if I was ready because the 29th or 30th would be the day that we would finally see our daughter. I could hardly believe it. Needless to say, I was not very productive at work either day.
By the end of the day Monday, several of my travel mates had already gotten the call, but I was still waiting. Finally, as I was leaving work, I received that call from my social worker telling me that in fact we had a referral. I could hardly stop shaking. I headed for the bus and could not wait to tell them my news. It was great to finally be able to say "We have a baby".
At that point I didn't have any details, but by the time I got back to my car and started home, I called my social worker and she said she had the details. I was trying to drive and write all at the same time. But finally, I knew her name, her birthday and where she was born.
When I got home, I could barely wait to tell Shannon and couldn't believe it was finally happening. Our social worker sent us a small picture and some brief medical information. It was great to see even a small picture. I don't think I could wipe the smile off my face. But, now we had to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very big day!
