Saiya's Quilt

So, I know I have been slacking lately, but here it is.  It is made with mostly left over fabric from other quilting projects from over the years.  There is fabric from a quilt I made for my sister, one that is currently on my bed in my room, and tons of fabric that has been left over from an assortment of crafting projects throughout the years.  One of the best parts about this quilt is all the memories and warmth you get from just looking at it and the mish-mosh of fabrics and colors.  The top and bottom both have a strip of sewn together "scrap" fabric that were left over pieces.  It came out so beautiful!

This year, I also made a similar quilt for the CAWLI chinese new year party  Auction as a donation to the Rainbow Fund (which helps provide education and job training programs for children who are in the orphanages in China).  I used some of the same fabrics (like the pandas and some of the strips of blue) to make that quilt too.  I love how things like this can create connections between people and places without them ever having the opportunity to meet.

It has been done for some time now, but I have finally managed to remember to take pictures of it.  Here they are!!  Enjoy!

Log-In-Date: 2/10/2010

I was notified by Meg on Friday that we officially have our Log-In-Date from China! Our log in date is 2/10/2010. So now we are waiting on our Letter of Acceptance before we can start making travel plans. We have up to 90 days from the date our dossier went to china (so about another two months) before we receive the Letter of Acceptance. At least we know the process is moving forward!

We are currently finalizing ideas where we want to go while we are in Hong Kong and figuring out what we will need while we are in China. I’m so excited I want to start packing! I’ve checked the weather in Ningxia and the climate seems to be fairly harsh and dry. I’m thinking we are going to need to pack plenty of jeans and lotion to keep our skin from drying out too badly.

My dad keeps telling me that the area where Saiya is coming from is mostly goat herders and farmers, I’m beginning to think that he’s right. I’ve spent a little bit of time doing research on the area and the main city (Yinchuan) is not that large and surrounded by farms and chicken factories. On the upside, the western end of the Great Wall borders the north eastern part of the city, so even though we will not get to see the great wall in Beijing, we will probably be able to see it while we are in Ningxia. That part of the Wall is probably very pretty because of the open countryside.

Now all we need is the Letter of Acceptance… One month and counting!

What's in a name: Part 2

Well, last night Chris and I sat on the couch and brainstormed for middle names. We each made a list and then crossed off names on each other’s list that we didn’t like. The names that were left all went into a big bucket and got mixed up.

Some of the names in the bucket were:
Elise
Adlae
Kiori
Zeva
Erin
Jordan
Wrenn
Kai

We each drew a card from the bucket blindly and then we decided between those two. So the two names we ultimately ended up choosing between were Erin and Jordan…

We both voted on Jordan! So finally, we have a name and can complete more paperwork that required her new American name.

Saiya Jordan Bonnett

I think it has a nice flow to it! Comments?

Xie Xie!!

A great big Xie Xie to everyone for such a wonderful party! We played games and had a wonderful meal that included Chinese food of all types and flavors! A special thank you to my sister and the grand-mothers-to-be as they worked hard to plan and coordinate the whole thing. We are so happy that everyone is just as excited as we are! I’m sure there is going to be a surplus of love and attention for our little girl. We are very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.

With all our hearts, XIE XIE!

We have our second care package all boxed up and ready to be shipped to China. We have clothes, shoes, blankets, and all sorts of other things in there for little Saiya. At the party, we also created a very cute card with a Chinese dragon made out of hand prints from each family member. We attached pictures for her to look at with a translated tag labeling each picture. I’m so excited about this care package and can’t wait to send it! I should have it in the mail sometime this week, most likely on Friday.

What’s in a Name?

So I think we have narrowed down the middle name choices. So far we have three in the running that we keep going back and forth on. We still have a few months before we have to fill out the rest of the paperwork, so it is still anyone’s guess which name we will ultimately end up picking.

If you are interested, the names we are currently contemplating are as follows:
Kiori
Naomi
Jane

Of course, her first name is still going to be Saiya. Go ahead and leave us a comment with your vote! At my work, the tally is:
0 Kiori
3 Naomi
1 Jane

We hope to hear from CAWLI about our Log-In-Date very soon! It doesn’t really mean much, other than our paperwork is now in the works in China, but at least its something. And it means we are moving forward in the process. The next step after the LID is the Letter of Acceptance which means that we have been approved by the Chinese government and are ready to apply for our Visa.

Until Later!

One week Post DTC....

I know its horrible of me to be counting already, but it has been one week since we DTC. If we are basing our schedule on the average time frame, then we have 7 more before we hear anything from the Chinese government on the LID and 2 months and 3 weeks on the LOA.

On Thursday, we had my sister’s children and that whole overnight stay was awesome! It gave us a little practice and a dose of what to expect when we have our own little girl. I made lunches for the kids to take to school and we dropped them off at school for the day, it was so sad to see them get out of the car and head to class. I can only imagine what its going to be like with little Saiya.

We went to a birthday party over the weekend. My sister was paintballing with her oldest, so we had her little girl for the day. OMG did we have a blast with her! We took her kayaking and she had so much fun! It is definitely going to be a long wait!

I’m ready for warmer weather and our trip to CHINA!

We are Officially DTC!!

Our dossier went to China yesterday! We now have up to 8 weeks before we get a log in date (LID) and up to 90 days before we get our Letter of Acceptance!

In the mean time, we are filling out paperwork needed for the US government after we receive our LOA and trying to come up with a middle name for our daughter.

At the same time, we are working on travel plans and I think we have narrowed it down to us traveling directly to Hong Kong and then to Ningxia to pick up our daughter and then after the American Consolate in Guangzhou, we travel by boat back to Hong Kong and leave from there. It makes things much easier for us and we cut out a plane trip entirely, which I'm very sure Chris is thrilled about!

YAY!!! We are so excited!!