Xiao Nu Hair (Little Girl) - 小女孩

More pics!

2008-03-18T18:57:00.004-05:00

I can't help it. Here are a few more pics. H

A year later!

2008-03-18T18:47:00.002-05:00

Okay fans! Wow...on the 16th it was a year since Nina joined our family. We had a lovely "family day." We enjoyed a nice Chinese meal and Bart made a cake. We watched videos of our trip and went to bed much to late for a school night.

This last year has been so amazing -----and so BIG! Does that make sense? Nina is now 22 months old. She is as much a member of the family as Bart of myself. She loves having big sisters to love and adore her as well as meet her every need. She has a very strong personality, but is just as loving as can be. She has taught me so many things in the last year. As a mother of three other girls, I thought I was pretty prepared. I have the loving and nurturing part down no problem....it is the patience peace that at times I am challenged. She still has that strong voice. Doesn't strong sound so much better then loud? She has learned to not use it as often and that is nice. She has frequent ear infections and that seems to increase her volume. She loves to read, play with babies, sleep with her parents, have breakfast with Chloe, be sung "rock a bye baby" by Emelia and play "orphanage" with Ella.

I wonder if anyone will see this post. Let me know if you do. I will upload more pics. Love hannah

Back by Popular Demand

2007-04-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

Our fans have spoken and we have listened, so we are back with an update.
We made it home in one piece. It was a grueling 30 hour trip, but we made it through unscathed. Nina did very well on the planes, with minimal screaming and annoying only one Japanese businessman. The 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Detroit was the biggest challenge, but we were lucky to have three seats to ourselves and could move around as much as we needed - which was a lot! We showed up at home (our new 900 square foot apt in Brunswick) at midnight to be greeted by 3 very sleepy yet very excited little girls. It was so wonderful to hold them and kiss them and squeeze them tight again. 3 weeks without them was so hard for Hannah and I - maybe harder than it was for the 3 of them. Aunt Lori and Grammy Sue were so loving and attentive and kept them so active while were gone. We thank you both so much for all that you did and for everyone else who helped out as well - epecially Lesbo & Donny, the rest of SLAMM, Lizzy & Joel, Sue L, the girls' teachers at Williams-Cone and Little Acorns, and everyone at Providence for covering for me in my absence. The trip would have been an impossibility without you and your support.
We have been home for 3 weeks now - the time has flown! These weeks have been a time of transition and adjustment for us all, but we are all doing very well and are adjusting well. The first week or so, Hannah, Nina and I struggled with sleep - thinking day was night and night was day - especially Nina. Nina has been sleeping in our bed with Hannah and I alternating nights with her and nights with the older three in their beds. This way, every other night one of us gets some solid sleep. Nina is sleeping fairly well most nights. She likes to to use the bottle as a pacifier and wakes up fairly often in the night looking for it - so do we. She either gags on or refuses the 5 different types of pacifiers we have tried, so we keep on with the bottle. She is eating well and has been healthy thus far. We have determined that the formula she was on in China must have been soy-based as the transition to milk-based formula resulted in blow-out diarreah. Needless to say, she's back to soy-based! She gets giddy when we feed her rice or fish (evidence of her early days on the South China Sea!) and has been a good sport about trying lots of other things. Emotionally, she is doing very well. She is forming a healthy attachment with Hannah and I and her sisters. She's developing some stranger anxiety and has decided she no longer needs to smile at everyone, because she knows she'll get whatever attention she needs from us. This is all very good stuff for attachment. She can still be quite demanding and is sure to get our attention when she wants it.
Her sisters are adjusting wonderfully as well. They are the most amazing little people! Each has had their much deserved break-downs and are excited about being big sisters (again for Emelia and Chloe and for the first time in Ella's case). All 3 of them have wanted Nina to star in show-and-tells at school, but we've compromised with brief guest appearances. They have been big helpers with Nina which as allowed Hannah and I to keep up regular hygene and trips to the bathroom and the occasional moment of having our hands child-free. Hannah and I look at each other every now and again and comment on how much we have forgotten the amount of work having a baby is. We are quickly remembering and relearning and can now get out of the house in about 15 minutes with only 2 trips back inside to grab diapers or a bottle or sometimes a forgotten child! But despite all the work, lack of sleep, no time for ourselves, and sharing a bed with our children instead of each other, we are all incredibly happy and feeling complete.
From here, it's back to work for me, the end of April vacation for the girls, and back to home alone mom duty for Hannah. And then there is the small matter of building a new house . . .

Ella, meet Nina. Nina, Meet Ella.

You'll notice that Ella likes to be where Nina is.

What is this big hairy thing and why does its breath smell like cat litter?

If I wasn't so excited about having a new little sister, I'd be a bit peeved that I'm riding my scooter in the snow in April!

Me too!

Snow?! Nobody said anything to me about snow!

Our new house plan!

Last Day!

2007-03-30T03:17:00.000-05:00

Well, it's hard to believe, but our journey here is almost at its end. Today is our last day here in China. We spent our last day cruzing through an antique market and, to prepare ourselves for America, had lunch at McDonalds. Now we are packing our suitcases and preparing to leave. We start our 30 hour trip home at 5:45am China time and get home around 11pm Maine time. I'm still trying to figure out how it takes 30 hours for only 17 hours to tick by on the clock!
We have had a great trip but are very ready to be home. We miss our girls terribly and are looking forward to a small degree of normalcy. I admit that I will likely have some pretty severe french toast withdrawls for a while, but I won't have to worry about any fish soup inflictions! Here are some of our latest pictures. We'll keep updating once we get home, but I would expect there to be bit of a delay.

Nina's first McDonalds experience - and hopefully her last!

Nina and one of her friends from her orphanage.

Nina's not a big fan of baths yet, but she sure looks cute in a towel!

If you look closely, you'll see that there is a famly of 4 on this motorcycle. We are thinking of trading our van in for a couple of these bikes. (This photo was taken by our friend of ours on our trip to the orphanage.)

A man hanging 12 storeys up by a single rope cleaning our hotel window.

And, the grand finale - my morning french toast!

One more day

2007-03-29T09:04:00.000-05:00

We have been busy packing and preparing for our journey home. Can't seem to get good seats on the plane, but hope that more will be availabe tomorrow. Here are some pictures that a friend of ours took of Nina. We plan to update again before we return, but our girls were hoping for some quick pics. Hannah

Just Some Quick Pics

2007-03-27T08:46:00.000-05:00

Just a few quick pictures before I go to bed. You are spared my commentary this time . . .

A quick peak at our 3 little lovies back home with their cousin Maddy. Looks like Aunt Lori is keeping everyone busy!

And a random shot of dangling chicken.

Sleeping Baby

2007-03-27T07:37:00.000-05:00

Bart is walking the halls trying to help Nina fall asleep. He has a nice little path he follows each night. I wonder what we will do when we return home and it is to cold to journey outside. Nina had an off night sleeping last night. I thought I had the better end of the deal with Bart putting her to sleep and then I wake in the night with her. Last night she decided to play for an hour before returning to sleep. Once you all meet her you will understand why this was hard for the two of us trying to sleep. She tends to be loud and strong with her expressions. She is also in the bed with us, which she thinks is grand. I agree on most nights.

We had our "red couch" photo taken today. It is a tradition in the adoption community that before you leave China with your daughter you take the babies pictures on the red couch in the lobby of the White Swan. This didn't go very well for our group. Of ten babies....I think they were all crying. We have decided to try again tomorrow with our personal cameras. Again...I think Nina was crying to loudest. She quickly recovered and shared her bright smile with us.

Bart will update later about his adventures today. Nina and I spent the afternoon relaxing and playing at the hotel and Bart did some exploring the area. It amazes me the places he finds.

We wanted to do a quick update for everyone today...and promise to share more tomorrow. We plan to go off just the three of us to an area that is known for the art work. Again...sounds wonderful to me. In the afternoon we go to the American consulate and complete the last step in our adoption process.

In case any of you are ever considering taking a trip without your children. My advice is NOT TO! I truly feel like a part of me is missing. Love them, kiss them tell them I love them. They are so precious to us. Love, Hannah

More Randomness

2007-03-25T05:42:00.000-05:00

It is Sunday evening here in China. Hannah, Nina and I and another family we are traveling with just got back from looking at millions (if not billions) of beads in the an underground maze of bead shops in central Guangzhou. Hannah was in her glory and will return home with lots of new jewelry projects. We then walked back to the hotel via Qing Ping market, the first open market (economically speaking) in China - one of Deng Xiao Ping's market experiments. It used to be known for all it's exotic products and animals. Now, the most of what we see are live turtles and scorpians (for soup) and dried sea horses, star fish and other "herbs and spices."

Yesterday, we laid low here on the island and enjoyed one the American comforts here - Starbucks. It like walking into any other Starbucks in the U.S., but a little nicer! It's a nice way to spoil ourselves now and then.

This morning (after being reunited with my french toast!) we went to the Six Banyan Tree Temple here in Guangzhou. It is the oldest buddhist temple in the city. There all the babies in our travel group received a blessing from one of the monks. I also climbed to the top of the 17 storey pagoda - it was a bit freaky up at the top, but gave unqique view of the sprawling city.

Also today, we made one last attempt to get an earlier flight out of here to try to get back to our girls a day or two early, but, alas, all the flights are full. This is apparently a busy time to be here. We're still on target for a late arrival in Portland on Saturday! We miss all of you back home and will fill you in on more randomness tomorrow!

Victims of Fish Skin Soup!

2007-03-23T21:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in updating you all. As the title of this post suggests, the 3 of us have fell victim to the fish skin soup we so politely partook with the orphanage director. It has each hit us slightly differently - I hugged the toilet, Hannah was achy and had Major stomach cramps and Nina screamed all night. The degrees of our reactions directly correlate to the amount of fish skin soup we each ate. Needless to say, we are not very rested at the moment but we are on the mend. The hardest part for me has been foregoing the french toast and bacon for the last 2 days. Today we go for Nina's official physical exam and then we plan to lay low and try to recuperate. We are a little out of the loop as to what we are doing the next couple of days, but we know we'll have everything wrapped up by Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately, we can't get a flight until next Saturday (the 31st) morning. We were both aching for our 3 girls back home last night and just wanted to pack up and go home. This morning, we are feeling a little more positive. We'll try to update more a bit later.

Shaimian Island

2007-03-22T00:51:00.000-05:00

Shaimian Island is the small island that our hotel is on. It is on the Pearl River and is separated from the rest of Guangzhou by a small canal. Most of the buildings were built by the French and the English following the opium wars - the island was a concession made by the Chinese as part of a treaty. Shaimian Island is where a lot of the foreigners to Guangzhou stay, especially those adopting as the whole island is set up for us. Therefore, it is essential to get off the island and into the city to experience the real China. Just over the canal is the famous Qing Ping market with winding alleys where you can buy anything from dried sea horses to turtle shells to antique trinkets. Shaimian Island is beautiful and covered with 250 year old trees and the parks that are full of locals doing tai chi and playing badminton. At night, all the buildings along the river are lit up with dancing neon lights and there is a perpetual laser show in the sky above the river. We have a great view of this spectacle from our 12th floor hotel window.
This morning we went out to drop off our laundry at one of the small shops and take a walk in the park. We were lucky enough to run into a huge group of uniformed school children (literally hundreds) who were demonstrating some sort of dance/martial arts routine. We also saw a group of preschool or kindergarten aged children who practiced their "hellos" on us. They are always a bit shocked when we can speak a little Chinese to them. One of their teachers asked about Nina who was sleeping strapped to my chest. As always, we showed her a picture of her 3 sisters back home to which exclaimed to the other teacher "zhen piaoliang!" - they are so beautiful. Yes they are. And we miss them terribly!

Photos of Dianbai

2007-03-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of Dianbai - Nina's home town. It is also called Shuidong (city by the water) since it is located right on the South China Sea. Dianbai is known for its seafood which we sampled when we had lunch with the orphanage director. We were told that it is custom to eat your soup before any of the other dishes. Fortunately for us, it was fish skin soup - my personal favorite - much better than snake skin soup! It was actually pretty good and would have been better if I hadn't know what I was eating.

This is the gate to the orphanage where Nina spent her first 10 months of life. As Hannah mentioned below, we were asked by the director to not post photos of the inside of the orphanage. It is located down an old winding back street. It was clear that neighbors don't see white people all that often as word spread fast and people all poked their heads out their doors and children sped down the street on their bikes to catch a peak of us.

This is us with the orphanage director and his assistant director. They were very nice. The assistant director appeared to be very fond of Nina as did all of the nannies. When we were eating lunch she taught us how to feed Nina a gigantic spoonful of rice in one bite!

This is a very nice old woman who was interested to see that we were carrying Nina on the front of us instead where we are supposed to be carrying her - on our back of course! She thought we were pretty silly!

Here are Hannah and Nina by the South China Sea. I went down to the water while Hannah tried to get Nina to sleep and collected a bag of shells and sand. The water was actually quite warm. I only has a moment to take in the beauty of the ocean until I was accosted by a swarm of cart pulling vendors trying to sell me giant conch shells. It was pretty cool to be looking out at a body of water that stretches all the way to where my girls are back in Maine!

And lastly, a truck load of live piglets. After all, it is the year of the pig.

No words!

2007-03-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

This is my first entry since being in China. Bart is feeding Nina right now and after reading the email and blog comments I don't think we could wait any longer. First I want to share a picture or two of the three amazing little people that are waiting for us at home. We love and miss them so much. Lots of people keep asking us if Nina is our only child and when we respond with a no and tell them of our girls at home their eyes get big. I quickly pull out their picture that I carry with me everywhere and everyone is amazed by them. I never imagined myself the mother of four children...would never question it. Having all my girls is a blessing to me. I marvel at each of them and their unique qualities and gifts. They are each so different and special in their own way. I see each of them in their new sister.

We passed school children today and took a lot of pictures. A few boys got in trouble for showing off in front of us. It was fun to communicate with them with facial expressions and body language. My favorite was the preschool class marching around the court yard. The two teachers were admiring Nina and asked how old she was and if she was our only. I of course pulled out my pictures and their eyes got big, as did their smiles. I think they approved.

We were away yesterday visiting the orphanage. It was a good trip - long and emotional draining. I like to beleive that it is a good orphanage. It is hard for me due to my desire for all children to have the love and tenderness of a parent. THey have many special needs children there that will never be adopted. Bart reminded me over and over that we cannot help everyone. I can't help but have lots of ideas and dreams as to how to give back to the little ones left behind. We got some pictures of the inside the baby room, but were asked not to put them on the internet. If you have a daughter at Dianbai please email me and I will look to see if I have pictures of her. We enjoyed lunch with the director and his assistant. Have any of you tried fish skin soup lately? Bart ate it. I tried very hard to be respectful. Happy to report that we have not had any reactions to the new foods we tried. The ocean was amazing and Bart collected some shells to bring home. We took pictures of the spot that Nina was found and learned more about her beginning. They reported that she hated to go to sleep so much that they would put her on their backs and have to leave the room so that she would not wake the other babies. I am glad that she was able to ask for what she needed. Time to go. Off to a fabric market today. Anyone that knows me will understand why Bart asked me to stay on a budget. And I thought I hit the jack pot when we found street after street of beads. Love to you all, Hannah

It's Official!

2007-03-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

Our adoption of Nina was legalized in China today, so it is official now, she is our daughter. We still have some bureaucratic processes to do over the course of the next week and a half before we head home, but the big ones are over! Now we are mainly dealing with the U.S. Government. By popular demand, here are some new pictures. The girls requested more pictures of Hannah and I, so here they are. Also, don't miss our premier podcast from China below - The Fine Feathered Chicken.

A podcast for your listening pleasure!

2007-03-19T04:04:00.000-05:00

Click here to get your own player.

Randomness

2007-03-18T00:43:00.000-05:00

As I've been walking around in Beijing and Guangzhou, I've come across some Chinese signs with their English translations. I find great amusement in some of them. Here is a small sample from my collection. Enjoy!

A Day of Rest

2007-03-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

We have nothing on our schedule today - except making bottles, searching for congee, coaxing some poop out so we change more diapers and convincing Nina that we are going to meet her every need. So there is a little more time to update you all on the happenings here in China.

Here is a picture of Hannah about 30 minutes after meeting Nina. While meeting with the orphanage director and the nannies Nina was quite fussy - she wasn't so sure about these strange looking pale skinned creatures who thought they had a right to be holding her. The nannies (through translation - Cantonese to Mandarin to English)told us that Nina was best comforted by being held in a baby carrier. They generously gave us the carrier that Nina arrived in and promptly helped Hannah strap it on her back. It helped a little bit, but she still didn't see why she should have anything to do with us. It proved true, however, that she was best comforted by being held upright and walking around. The first 6 hours or so there was no sitting or laying down happening - at least until after we discovered the magic of congee. We had to be holding her upright against our chest and moving around to get her to even slightly settle. I was finally able to get her to sleep by swaying and singing to her (singing might be an over statement!). Now she won't leave our side for even a second - or, I should say, let us leave her side. Sitting and laying down are becoming easier for her but are still not her favorite thing to do. Our theory is that at the orphanage, anytime she was put down she was left alone and not given attention. We're doing a pretty good job of trying to break this notion of hers. She isn't shy about letting us know when she wants us and we are pretty happy to oblige.

Here is a picture of Nina with Dr. Rumberger, the doctor accompanying us for a few days to make sure all the babies are healthy. Nina wasn't so happy about getting naked and being poked and prodded, but passed her exam with flying colors! She is 17 pounds and 28 1/2 inches tall and has a head circumference of 44cm. This puts her just shy of the 50th percentile for weight and height and the 75th for her big head. Her skin looks good, her lungs and ears are clear, all her organs appear to be where they should be and considering her upbringing so far, she is doing well developmentally. In the states, we would expect her to be farther along than she is, but she will catch up quickly - especially with the urging of her 3 sisters. So far it appears that all the other babies are healthy as well.

Here is a picture of Nina and I full from our breakfast - or as we say in Chinese, "chi bao le." An enormous western breakfast buffet is included with our stay here at the White Swan, so we go down every morning and pack on enough food to last us until late afternoon. No one should ever offer all you can eat french toast and bacon to someone like me. This morning Nina enjoyed yogurt and oranges for her first time. We are trying to lay off the congee a little as it appears to be turning her poop into a large plug! I have been lucky enough to have missed yesterday afternoon's unplugging moment.

True to Feng Shui principles, on the main floor of our hotel, there is 20 foot water fall flowing into a huge fish pond stocked with what look like 18 inch gold catfish. It's a pretty cool back drop for photos and Nina enjoys looking at the fish. Well, speaking of Nina, she is waking up from her morning nap of 1 1/2 hours. She's not so happy to see that she is laying down and that Hannah is a full 12 inches away from her - waking from her nap as well. I think it's time to sign off for now. Zai jian!

more pictures for Nina's fans

2007-03-16T22:43:00.000-05:00

We are al still doing very well. Nina loves to be in the baby carrier snuggled up close to us. Her nanny said that this was how she was held a lot at the orphanage - except she was on their back. We lke to have her on our front so we can stare at her more! She took a 2 hr nap this morning and is now ready for lunch. We'll tell more later!

We have her!

2007-03-16T07:55:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Nina. We met her today at about 3:00 at the Civil Affairs Office. Of the 16 babies, she was the only one to cry the entire time. We've decided to take this as a good sign! She continued to be quite sad when we returned to the hotel and could only be consoled by holding her upright and walking or bouncing around. She was not especially interested in bottles so we ordered some congee - a loose porridge with chicken and fish. After about 2 bites, she transformed into one of the happiest babies we've ever seen and allowed us to hold her however we wanted and investigate her feet for a bit. She also had a chance to talk to her big sisters in Maine on the phone - that was especially exciting. We are getting ready to try to figure out how to get her bed for the night, so we'll write more in the morning. Love to you all!

Now in Guangzhou!

2007-03-15T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today we toured more of Beijing and then flew down to Guangzhou where we will be for the rest of our trip. Today, we walked by Tianamen Square (we couldn't go on the square because their governing assembly was in session and thus closing the square) and then toured the Forbidden City where the emporers in the last 2 dynasties lived. The first gate to the Forbidden City is behind Hannah and I in the picture above.
After that we had lunch and then took a tour by rickshaw of a small old traditional neighborhood with narrow winding alleys.

We also got to visit a traditional Chinese home to see how the common Chinese family lives and learn a little about traditional Chinese architecture. This was a really cool experience.

Yesterday we went to a Jade factory where we bought a Jade braclet for Hannah. The picture above was how they squeeze a small braclet over a hand. Also, you can see an example of the meals we have been having for lunch and dinner.

Now, we are in Guangzhou and are settled into the White Swan - our hotel. We have a beautiful view of the Pearl River from our window. Tomorrow morning we will take a quick tour of the island we are on and then get ready to meet Nina! We meet her at 2:30 at the Civil Affairs office here in Guangzhou. We are so excited and a little nervous. We will post a bunch of photos tomorrow once we get settled with her. Until then, take care!

In Beijing!

2007-03-14T04:28:00.000-05:00

We're in Beijing! We got to our hotel at about 1am this morning - a total of about 32 hours of travel! Other than being crammed in the middle of a 747 for over 17 hours with no way out, the trip over was great. After about 4 hours of sleep, we got up this morning to watch the sun burning through the smog and then went to a jade factory and the Great Wall of China. Emelia, Chloe and Ella, do you see Mama holding your Flat Stanleys on the Great Wall? Many of the sights and smells are familiar to both Hannah and I from our previous trips, but it is amazing how much things have changed - definitely since I was last here over 12 years ago. We're now taking a quick rest before dinner as we are hoping to take in a few more of the sights around the hotel this evening. Tomorrow, we tour Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. Then, we hop a flight down to Guangzhou where we will meet Nina the following day. We are pretty excited to be here and are filled with anticipation about meeting Nina. We sure miss our girls though and think about them constantly!

On Our Way!

2007-03-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

Well, we're on our way to China. Hannah and I dropped the girls off at Grammie Sue's last night for a tearful goodbye. (Leaving them was one of the hardest things we have ever done.) We stayed at a hotel near the airport an took the shuttle over at 4am for our 6am flight to Detroit. Now we are in Detroit awaiting our 2:20 flight to Tokyo. From there we are on th Beijing for a 9:25pm arrival on Tuesday! Got to love that international date line! We have met a great family from Bangor who is traveling in our group for their second adoption. They have their very fun 4 1/2 year old girl with them. She makes me miss our girls, but it's nice to have her along. We'll post another update from Beijing.

Heading to China

2007-03-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. We are heading to China! Hannah and I leave on Monday moring at 6 and will be back on 3/31! We can't belive that we will be holding Nina in our arms in less than a week! Our trip has been extended by almost a week due to some odd things going on in China. We are excited to be in China for 3 weeks, but no so excited to be without 3 of our girls who will be left here in Maine. They're not so excited either! We'll be keeping in touch with all of you right here while we are gone. (I'm also trying to figure out how to embed our podcast through podomatic.)Take care while we're gone, and keep in touch!

Happy New Year!

2007-02-20T12:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year! We hosted a great new year party at a local Chinese restaurant on Sunday and had a great time. It was so wonderful to see so many children and families come together to celebrate. Hannah was of course in her glory, being able to reconnect with so many of the families she met through her work in adoption.

The reality that we are going to be traveling to China in the next month to pick up Nina is finally starting to settle in. We're buying bottles and bibs and dusting off our suitcases, planning for how we will arrange a trip to Nina's orphanage, and preparing Hannah's mother and my sister (and ourselves!) for their time with Emelia, Chloe and Ella! Of course, at the same time, we're packing up our entire house to get ready to move.

For those of you who recall our Holiday Letter, you'll remember we said that 2007 would be a "year of becoming." For us, it certainly is.

We Just Got Our Referral!

2007-02-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

We got our referral! We have been matched with a beautiful little girl named Bai Xiao Chen. (I'm still working on the translation of the Chen part, but Bai is 100 and Xiao is small.) She is 8 months old and is a peanut. About 2 months ago, she was 24.8 inches tall and 13.75 lbs - about the size of Chloe at birth! We are all in love and can't believe we have finally "met" her! The girls are excited and nervous at the same time. She is living in an orphanage in Dianbai in Guangdong Province, about 4 hours west of Guangzhou for those familiar with Chinese geography. We are going down to Boston tomorrow morning to get more information and start the next volume of paperwork so we can travel to get her. The usual time to travel is 6 to 8 weeks. Since Chinese New Year is staring in a couple of weeks and most of China is on vacation during the 2 week holiday, we will likely be closer to the 8 week mark. We will let you all know any other exciting news as things progress. For now, we are celebrating!

Word on the street

2007-01-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, the rumor is that referrals have been sent from CHina. Now we are waiting to get "the call." I can't stand it........ Hannah

Another Month

2007-01-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it turns out that yesterday wasn't the day after all. This is Hannah now. But the good news is we know we'll be in the next batch which should arrive within a month! Six to eight weeks from then we travel to China! This is the first concrete sense of timing we have had through this process which feels pretty good. It's somewhat equatable to pregnancy now - we're in our last trimester!

Not Long Now!

2007-01-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

So there is about a 50% chance that we will get our referral tomorrow and a 50% chance we'll have to wait another month. This is a picture of what Hannah will look like if we get it tomorrow. We obviously are hoping for tomorrow, but if it doesn't come, we know we will be in the next batch of referrals in about another month. So, either way, we are real close now. With our referral we'll finally get to "meet" our xiao nu hair! We'll have at least one picture and some information about her age, Chinese name, where she was abondoned, and some medical history. We'll be sure to share this with all of you so stay tuned . . .

100 Good Wishes

2006-12-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt (an example by a woman in PA is at the left). It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. Soooooo - I am inviting all of you to contribute to our little Nina's quilt by sending a piece of cloth and a wish for Nina written on a slip of paper. The cloth can be as big as you want, but at least 4 inches square. Your wish and any extra cloth will be put into a scrapbook for her. This is very exciting to me to think that I can have such a special project while we wait for our daughter and such a wonderful gift with which to welcome her. Send any piece of cloth that speaks to you and I'll let the creativity flow to put all your unique wishes together into one quilt. If you do not have our address please email me or leave a comment and I will send it to you. Thank you. Hannah

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

We got our tree this past weekend from our local tree farm. Thought Nina would be joining us this year, but for sure next year. Happy Holidays everyone.

Maybe Next Time

2006-12-04T08:51:00.000-05:00

Families up to 9/8 received their referrals. We are happy for them and hope that we are next. We are filling our time getting ready for the holidays. Ella is now playing make beleive that her mommy is "in China for a million weeks." Let's hope that I am not away that long - though I am sure it will feel that way to all of us. She seems to be having the hardest time waiting (of her sisters). She sang to Nina (our daughter's name) last night before bed...wishing her home soon. Kids are just so amazing.

Another Month?

2006-11-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

The CCAA (China) has still not updated their site, telling us how many referrals they made. Our login date is Sept. 29th, 2005, and they have completed through August, 25, 2005. Agencies are expecting referrals this week or next. Bart and I got our hopes up that this could be our turn. Does not sound like it now. We will keep you posted when there is more news.

Nimen Hao!

2006-11-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

Hi there! We're a family of 5 who have been waiting for 18 months to meet our 6th family member - our xiao nu hair (little girl) from China. We haven't yet been matched with her (we don't think), but believe we could be any day now. This blog will be a chronicle of the final weeks or months before our departure for the Middle Kingdom where we will at last be united with the little girl known by our family as Nina. We hope you'll join us on this journey!