Keith's experience at the MLK Federal Building

Keith made an appointment to speak to an immigrations agent. We were told they might be able to help us with our fingerprints.

He made an appointment online to go to the MLK Federal Building at 12:00 for his appointment. We he arrived he found out he had to draw a number even though he had made an appointment. He drew number 98 and they were calling number 70.

Two hours later when he was finally called in he was told the lady he needed to talk to wasn't in so he needed to just slip a note under her door.

If we don't end up needing new fingerprints, the good thing is that this fingerprinting mess has kept me preoccupied so I don't have time to worry about much else!

T

Updated measurements of Fu Bao He

We received an email last night with the updated measurements of Anslee.

We've been told that Fuling is where the tall people in China come from! For some reason I had a strong feeling that we were going to have a tall daughter...
I hope Andrew hits a growth spurt at some point!!!

Here are the updated measurements on Fu Baohe at 10 months:
Weight: 9.5kg
Height: 70.5cm
Head: 42cm
Chest: 43.5cmFeet: 12cm
# of teeth: 5

I have to say that I am a little sad to have missed all five of those teeth coming in. When we got her referral, she only had two teeth.

If anyone can find the measurements of your daughter at 10 months, I would love to have a comparison!

Terri

The company in Chicago we are using to get our visas emailed today to say they received my visa request. They said they sent it off to the consulate yesterday and they will receive it back on Dec. 5th and will same day it back to us. I can't wait to see our Fed Ex bill after all these same day/overnight mailings we've done!

Keith is going to talk with an immigration agent today at the Martin Luther King Federal building. We are hoping he/she can get us in for a fingerprint appointment!

No word yet on our travel date.... I looked over the last posts and I think I've said I hope we leave by December 10th on every single one. So I might as well say it again. I am praying we leave by December 10th!! :-)

T

Bringing gifts to the orphanage

I found a list of things to bring as gifts for the nannies and the babies. It is suggested not to bring anything that was made in China. It is really hard to find items that AREN'T made in China!

For the nannies they suggest:
Coffee mugs with English writing on them
herbal tea bags (especially lemon or raspberry)
candies or chocolates
colorful knit gloves
heavy cotton or wool socks
lipstick, cosmetics or lotions
Disney items

For the babies at the orphanage:
crib sheets, blankets or quilts
walkers
small plastic toys (especially ones that make noise without batteries)
12 month clothing

Each child has three nannies during a 24 hour time frame. There are about 8-10 children per nanny. It will be fun picking out gifts for the three women who took care of our little one!

T

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Asheville to have Thanksgiving with my parents and two of my siblings and their families.

Andrew loves going to Asheville! His favorite thing is being able to spend time with his cousins. He had 8 of them at the house between the ages of 15 and 4. A close second is being able to go to my parents Christmas store on Friday morning to "work". He dresses up and goes with Granddaddy. By the time I get there usually a couple of hours later, he has eaten a ton of fudge and has a bag full of Christmas ornaments for his Christmas tree at home. His Christmas tree has so many ornaments that it kind of bends over.

I sent the visa information on Friday ~ it was a little stressful to send out our passports! We haven't heard any news on our travel approval. Hopefully we will hear something early this week. We really want to leave by the 10th. If you have any extra prayers, we would appreciate some!

T

A sweet poem...

Once there were two women who never knew each other.

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make you one.

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.

One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.

The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,

the age-old question unanswered through the years.

Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?

Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.
© Author Unknown

Fingerprinting!

We are having the hardest time getting refingerprinted with the department of homeland security! We need to have it done relatively quickly but the DHS is not making it very easy.

We had our fingerprints done Sept. 2004. They expire (again, not sure why...)
on Jan. 8, 2006. So I tried making an appointment online which other states have you do. Well, Georgia doesn't let you. You would think this would be the same state to state but it isn't. So I finally after 5 tries was able to talk to someone at CIS (Custom and Immigration Services) and she kept saying that if I'm an immigrant I need to talk to an immigration agent. I explained several times that I wasn't but she never really got it. They don't have phone number for someone in the fingerprint dept at DHS so she said I need to write a letter for an appointment. Even though I explained the urgency of the situation, it didn't matter.

So today I am writing a letter and sending it by fed ex to DHS. Hopefully they respond quickly so we can get this done.

I am really praying that we get the December 10th travel date so none of this matters!!

T

EAC

My least favorite part of this adoption process (besides the waiting) has been the paperwork.

The great thing is that our agency (European Adoption Consultants) has been incredible about walking us through every single piece of paper that has crossed our hands. The entire dossier had to be notarized and then state certified which was a pain.

Our adoption consultant scheduled a phone conference with us tonight to walk us through more paperwork. We have to get our visas so we need to send out everything for those by Friday. Also our fingerprints expire January 8th. We need to hurry and get refingerprinted in case we leave after Christmas. If we leave before Christmas we won't have to do it. Since I'm pretty sure my fingerprints are the same as when I was fingerprinted last time, I'm not exactly sure why fingerprints expire.

We need to get a couple of things notarized but luckily nothing needs to be state certified. Some of the papers need to go to China with us and some we need to send to our agency. I'm really hoping I don't get anything mixed up!

When our adoption consultant was about to hang up the phone she said she would talk to us early next week about the rest of the paperwork! :-0 She also said there is a chance we could leave as early as the 8th. I'm not going to get my hopes up. Even though I am packing and trying to get ready I am going to assume we are leaving after Christmas.

So I guess all this should give me something to think about when I'm not able to sleep....

Last minute projects...

Anslee's room is a disaster!

I was happy with her room until we received the referral. Then all of the sudden I decided I didn't like it as much. Some friends of mine have helped me decide what to do. One friend helped me to decide what colors to add. Another friend picked out some great new pillows for the window seat. Then the window seat cushions didn't match so a third friend picked out the fabric for those and thought it would be a great idea to recover the glider's cushions and ottoman.

So even though we moved into this house at the end of July we are just now redoing the room.

Keith decided to tile Andrew and Anslee's bathroom last weekend and this past weekend added beadboard and painted the walls "orange pushup" color. Now he is going to paint the beadboard a creamy white and then we're done!

Keith is also patching the walls in the guest room where we had a huge mirror removed and he'll be painting that this week also.

Nothing like waiting till the last minute to get some projects done!!

I am so hoping our travel approval comes in early this week.

T

Family Portrait

Andrew's class drew a picture of their houses and families yesterday. For the first time ever, Andrew drew 4 people in our family and wrote our names (including Anslee's) above our heads. He was so excited when he showed it to us!

When Andrew was born I started posting on a website where moms to babies born in April 99 all posted. We have moved to a private board now but 6 1/2 years later we are still all together. It has been quite an experience and we have all become good friends.

One of my 4/1999 friends has decided to start a "Where's Waldo?" type of game but instead it is called "Where's Anslee?". They have found her little face in several of the pictures on the fuling kids website. I hadn't even noticed her in many of the photos!

We are still waiting for our travel approval from China....

T

Sending a Care Package

Many adoptive parents I've talked to suggested sending a care package to the orphanage.

I put an outfit, lots of socks, a Carebear that my friend Diann got for Anslee, a picture Andrew painted for her and a disposable camera into a big padded envelope.

Another parent who has adopted from China emailed me a letter written in Chinese. It asks the caregivers to take pictures of Fu Bao He and anything else they think will be important for her to see. I asked them to return the camera to me on "Gotcha Day" (when we pick her up).

I also am asking that they let her have the carebear there and then return it with her so she has something familiar to play with when she is with us.

They can keep the socks and outfit. I know they need socks.

We'll bring gifts for the caregivers and gifts for the orphanage when we go.

I found the address written in Chinese and English so I printed it from the website. I also taped her picture on the camera so they will remember who they are taking pictures of.

Some people said they get the things they ask for back, and some don't.
I hope we do!!

T

Anslee Sighting ??

One of our favorite sites is http://fulingkids.org/ . This site is connected to the orphanage were we will go to get our daughter. It's great because you can find out all kinds of information. One of the best things is that they are constantly adding pictures. We go there frequently to see if we might catch a glimpse of Anslee. We are pretty sure this is a picture of her. It also shows, as far as orphanages go, how great this one is. They spend lots of time with the babies. It sure helps us sleep a little better at night knowing that she is getting attention and playing. We have been told that this is one of the best orphanages in China, and it sure looks that way from everything we have seen or been told. I can't wait to go!! Don't worry baby, daddy's coming!!!!

KC

Anslee Baohe

Zhou (who will travel to China with our group) emailed and said he needs our daughter's American name. We had decided on her first name but it took us a little while to figure out her middle name. We know keeping a connection to her culture is going to be very important so we decided to keep her Chinese name for her middle name.

We already love her!! When we look at her pictures we are amazed that this little baby will be coming home to live with us.

Some of the links Keith added to the side of this page are really neat. There are some pictures of Anslee's orphanage in Fuling. After seeing some pictures of other Chinese orphanages, I was surprised at how nice this one is. I think I've spotted her in a couple of pictures from September 2005.

I started packing today. One of the suggested packing lists is 5 pages long! I am trying to figure out how many diapers I will need for two weeks....

T

Translated report of Fu Baohe

Fu Baohe, female, was found on Feb. 5, 2005 at the front gate of Yihe Town Elementary School and sent to this orphanage. She was wrapped up in a blanket, with some baby clothing by her side. There was nothing else beside that. According to her development, we estimated her date of birth was on Jan 25, 2005. We named her Fu Baohe. Fu indicates the welfare institute, Bao means treasure. He is a nice name for a girl. She was a normal, healthy baby after medical checkup and observation.

We also received other information about her stay there and found out that she sits unassisted and has two teeth!

This orphanage has very healthy babies and take wonderful care of them! Size wise these babies are right on target with their age.

We are going to be busy getting ready until we leave!!

I found this Bible verse that I love:

Do not be afraid for I am with you, I will bring you children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

T

We are so excited!!!!!

I keep thinking once "____" happens, I'll be able to sleep! That's not working out so great for me... Now that we know what our little one looks like, it is hard not to think about her all the time!!

When we showed her picture to Andrew he said "she is soooo cuuuute!" .

Yesterday he asked me if we were going to call her Fu He Bao. I said probably not. Then after thinking awhile, he said that "I will call her that sometimes but when she tells on me, I'll say I didn't call her that......isn't that what brothers and sisters do?"

We shipped the referral acceptance to Ohio yesterday and they are supposed to receive it this morning. Hopefully everyone in our group who lives out of state did the same thing.

I am so glad that Keith was able to post the pictures so quickly after we received them yesterday. We wanted you all to be able to see her immediately!

We love having all of you on this journey with us!

T ~Keith posted the post before this, so we'll initial our own posts so you will know who misspells more words :-)

Pictures are here!!!

After 14 LONG months of waiting the pictures of our beautiful new little girl are finally here. I'm so excited, that I feel like I'm going to bust, even though I'm not sure it shows. I am one of those people that needs to be able to hold her in my arms. I know that time is right around the corner. I welcome all of our friends, family, and coworkers to visit this site regularly for updated photos and related links. When we travel, we will take a laptop and this is where you will be able to get all of the latest and greatest news and pics.

The next step is that we have to get our acceptance letter overnighted to EAC so they can send all of them for our travel group to China. China will then send us a travel date, which we hope to have in the next two weeks. Pray for us as we are hoping for a 12/10 travel date. Otherwise we will go between Christmas and New Years.

Thanks to everyone for their support!!

KC

Good morning!!

I made a ton of phone calls yesterday telling everyone about our baby. I wondered if Andrew would understand what a big deal this was to get this information and he did! When I told him the information about his sister he was ecstatic!

The Fed Ex guy will bring the referral package today. I will be standing at the front door waiting for it! Then I have to rush it to Keith's office so we can sign that we do want this baby and then rush to have it sent to our agency in Ohio so they receive it tomorrow morning. Everyone in our group is going to hurry so maybe we'll have a quick travel approval from China! We should know our travel dates in a couple of weeks.

Some of our group lives in Ohio and rushed over yesterday afternoon to get their referrals. We've seen a picture of one of the babies already and she is ADORABLE! All our babies will be from Fuling.

Hopefully we'll be able to post her pictures on here today.

We received THE call

Here it is:

Our daughter's Chinese name is Fu He Bao

First Name: He - meaning?
Middle Name: Bao - meaning: all children born in this region in 2005 have this as a middle name
Last Name: Fu - for the region

Birth Place: Fuling, Chong Quin
DOB: 1/25/2005 - 10 months

We are beyond excited!!!

We'll be traveling sometime in December!

T

A call from our Adoption Agency!

I was in my classroom and the children were eating lunch. My cell phone rang and as I grabbed it, I realized it was my adoption agency. Since this is the number they are to call with our referral, I was so excited and nervous at the same time.

I answered it and the lady said something that I couldn't understand. I asked her to repeat it and she said "your travel date is December 3rd". I was shocked because I didn't think we would get our travel information the same time as our referral. I asked her to repeat what she said one more time and she said "You will leave for Russia on December 3rd".

Obviously she had called me by mistake! How dissapointing.

Still crossing my fingers that we get the right phone call this week.

I can't sleep...

The last couple of weeks I have been waking up around 4 or 4:30. I can't go back to sleep after that because I keep thinking about our daughter and wondering how she is. Is she sleeping? playing? crying? laughing? sick? well? There are some good orphanages and foster homes and there are some that aren't as nice. I hope she has bonded with her caretakers and that they love her. I try not to even think that she could have gone through these 9-12 months of her life without feeling loved.

I also think about her birth mother. I can't imagine the sadness she felt when she had to abandon her child. I hope she knows in her heart that her daughter will be so adored and loved. Her grandparents, so many aunts and uncles, 11 first cousins, and tons of family friends are all so excited about her arrival!!!

meimei

This means little sister in Chinese. Andrew cannot wait for his!! He went into his sister's room the other day and said "Mom, is she ever really going to be in here?". I can't imagine how long this seems for him. I've never seen a child who longed for a sibling more than he does.

There are "rumors" going around that our referrals have been sent from China. We've heard that before so I'll believe it when I get the call from our agency. The one group ahead of us leaves tomorrow. We'll be next! It would be incredible if we could be back before Christmas.....

This is my first post!

Here we are waiting for our China referral. We started this adoption process in September 2004. Our dossier was received in China on March 21st (also known as our log in date).

We were supposed to get our referral (which will include our daughter's name, age, all medical information, and three pictures!!) at the end of September. However, China had a holiday and didn't match any children to parents who had a log in date after March 17. Then we were supposed to get our referral at the end of October. We didn't. Our agency said they were sure we'd have it by the end of that first week in November. Well, we are still waiting. It isn't the fault of our agency, they aren't sure why China hasn't sent it yet.

There will be eight other families traveling with us to get their daughters. They all feel the same way we do. ANXIOUS! It is so hard to have zero control over this. If I were pregnant at least I'd know within a couple of weeks when my baby would be here. I would know about how big she would be and we wouldn't need to guess her age!

We continue to tell ourselves that when we have her in our arms this time we've waited won't matter. But right now it is hard.