Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and safe, if you are traveling. We have so much to be thankful for each and everyday, but at this time we are feeling extremely blessed.

We will be spending the day tomorrow at K's house with lots of family and friends, the perfect way to end a productive week!

I was able to expedite Sophia's passport on Monday, so that will now be arriving on Nov. 3oth. I will then take a day and go into the city to the Chinese Consulate and have our Visa's done, same day.

I air mailed a care package to Alena today and it should get to her within 4-7 days. We sent her a really soft blanket, a bear that Sophia picked out, a teething photo album with pictures of all of us and her nursery that have captions in Chinese telling what each photo is, as well as a disposable camera. I also enclosed three large Cadbury bars for her foster family. I wanted to send them a local treat and they are made in PA, the closest I could find in a hurry!! Our agency supplied us with a letter in Chinese saying who the package is for and asking her foster family to use the camera to capture her in her home life and with them and to return in on "Gotcha Day". We will cherish those photos forever.

Our social worker came and did our home visit today and said that she will have our completed report done on Monday. Just have to get a copy off to Immigration and then that's it!!

We wait for our final documentation to come back to us from them and then we can travel when our agency says it's time to go!!

Everything is falling into to place now, so I should start sleeping again soon!!

Love to all and I'll let you know when we get travel approval (TA)!

Jenni

What a gem!

We received Alena's translated Growth Report (history) the other day and to our surprise, learned that she has been with a foster family since she was a month old. Her foster mother sounds like she loves her very much and has taken excellent care of her. She does look extremely healthy and happy!
She was believed to be two days old when found and she was 6.6 lbs.
Her foster mom says as follows: She's like a cute doll. has a head of curly hair, a sweet little oval face, a pair of beautiful eyes shining under beetle brows, very lovable. She has developed quite on target. If you communicate with her she will give you a smile, she loves bathing and is very neat. When she soils her diaper, she cries seriously!! :0 She has a great interest in colorful paintings and will babble to pictures on the wall. She has strong limbs and jumps with great strength.
She is a sensible girl (well, of course!!), enjoys children's songs and will babble along. She enjoys TV ads and lying on the floor on her stomach.
She is very active and brave, loves music and colorful toys. She confronts injection needles and only moans while receiving a shot instead of crying loudly. (little toughy!!)
She has a bottle of formula three times a day and a bowl of congee (rice porridge) three times a day.
Her foster mom says "I have all my best wishes for her."
I , of course, cried my eyes out the first time I read this and then was instantly thankful for how well our baby girl is being taken care of until she is with us forever.
I have been frantically collecting financial statements for a homestudy update and Fred and I both went this week for physical updates. Sophia's passport is being processed as well as our NYS Childabuse clearance, again!! I hope and pray to have our Homestudy home visit done by sometime next week so that she can compile her report and we can get it off to Immigration. I don't have gray hair yet, but it can't be too far off!!
Mom and I went on a shopping spree to BabiesRus last week and boy did we do some damage! It was great therapy though! : )
Everyone in our group is guessing that we'll be traveling around December 26th, but we won't know anything about travel dates for sure for about another 3 weeks. I'll keep you updated!
Love,
Jenni

HERE SHE IS!!

We are thrilled to introduce Miss Alena!
Name: Xia Gui Mei
D.O.B.: 1/7/06
Province: Guangxi
Orphanage: Nanning SWI
She is a moderate sleeper, laughs out loud, is active & fond of playing with toys!!
We are in love with her little grin! Looks like she's going to keep us on our toes!!
We'll let you know when we have travel info. We are in a frenzy to get all of our paperwork updated now!
Love to all!

The Time Has Come!!

OUR REFERRAL IS COMING TOMORROW!!
Our agency will be e-mailing our baby's photos and info to us tomorrow!! They will call us to answer any questions Friday and then her file will be delivered to us on Monday!!
We are so excited!! Sounds like we may be leaving right after Christmas to bring her home.
I will post her pictures and information here tomorrow night or Friday!!