Hard to Stay Focused

We have 17 days before we leave for China.  We are super excited and really wondering where the beginning of this month went.  Work is slow at the moment and its hard to stay focused on work.  I spend lots of time staring at pictures of Saiya and checking my e-mail to see if the agency has e-mailed me about our travel arrangements.  We still have not had our travel meeting and we do not know the exact amount of travel costs for in-china yet.  We have a tentative itinerary, but that’s it.

Working the weekends helps the time go by faster.  I re-packed my bag again and added some things in there for Saiya.  Right now my bag weighs exactly 40 pounds, so nothing else can go in there.  Chris is on his own!  Haha!  I also managed to pack an extra set of pj’s and a comfortable outfit for the plane ride to Guangzhou and then home in Chris’s carry-on.  I also have an extra outfit in there just in case she spills something on her clothes.  I would hate for her to have to sit there for 20+ hours with juice all over her.

Not long now!!

A Busy Month for Sure!

I can’t believe we are four days into August already!  This leaves us about three weeks before take-off!  The days fly by, but the nights are slow.  This month, there is a lot going on.  My dad is leaving for Asia next Friday, my mother is coming home from a 3 ½ week vacation in New Hampshire, my niece and nephew fly home from Louisiana today, and of course, we leave for China on the 26^th.  We are still making a list of things we want to buy for the trip to China.  Last weekend I took some Tylenol PM to see how well it would put me to sleep.  I was shocked at how sleepy it made me.  I guess we wont have any problems sleeping on the plane.  I got Chris some more Xanax from the pharmacy, so he should be set with his “happy pills”.  Other than that, we are trying to get/keep the house clean before we leave.  My bag is packed, although I have to stuff some jeans I bought for Saiya in there in case it is a little cool in Ningxia.   Sometime in the next few days or so, we should get a finalized price list and itinerary from the agency as well as have our Travel Meeting.

One of the families who went to China on July 29^th was kind enough to take pictures of our girl for us.  She is a cutie!  In almost all of the pictures she is all scrunchy-faced and pouty!  I can’t help but think about how much she looks like me when I was little.  I used to scrunch up my face and pout like that too!!  If you didnt know my husband (and thought that I married an Asian person), she could very easily pass for my biological daughter.  Sorry, Chris, nothing we can do to make her look like you!

3 ½ weeks to go!

We are communicating back and forth with our agency about travel plans while in China.  I think we have solidified plans for our flight from Hong Kong to Yinchuan and back again, as well as the hotel plans for while we are in Hong Kong at the beginning and end of our trip.  I really wish we have more time to spend touring Hong Kong, but we only have one day at the beginning of our trip and one day at the end of our trip.  I wanted to see Victoria Peak, but Chris is very unsure about the mountain.  He’s a chicken!  I think we are planning on seeing the big statue of Buddha and a few Taoist temples.  I love touring temples.  I’m sure Chris will like it too.  After we pick up Saiya, we will probably be wandering around the many parks Hong Kong has.  The weather should be very nice in the middle of September.

US Consulate Confirmation!

We received confirmation of our Visa appointment date from the US Consulate in China today!!  We will be traveling for SURE on August 26 and returning home September 11.  We are so excited!  I will be booking our flights today and then the rest of the travel arrangements will be made by CAWLI...  I'm off to pack Saiya's things and book flights!!

Weather in Ningxia in September

I was browsing through some of the Ningxia information sites and came across the climate section for Yinchuan City.  Below are the average temperatures for the latter half of the year.  As you can see, I will have to re-pack (yes AGAIN) Saiya's bag with some warmer clothes.  Lows in the near 50's is going to be a little chilly for our girl.... and me!!  HAHA!


Average Data        July        Aug        Sep        Oct        Nov       Dec
Average High (F)   84/87     80/84     72/75     60/64     43/47     30/34
Average Low (F)    62/66     60/63     49/52     36/39     23/27     10/13

Planning Travel

We have opted to travel in late August.  Our travel dates are August 26 through September 12.  We are very excited and are working hard to get everything in order before we leave.  There are moments of panic, of course, as we realize that we are going to be bringing home our daughter at last!  Those moments of sheer terror are brief, but we worry like all new parents I guess.  Haha!

I have placed our plane tickets on hold.  I am hoping that by Friday we will know a final decision on the consulate appointment for Saiya so we can book the tickets.  Delta will hold our tickets until Friday.  My dad said that because he has enough airline miles, we can use them to get Saiya’s ticket as well.  That saves us almost $1000!!  We really appreciate my dad letting us use his airline miles to get tickets.  It really helps not to have to pay for that portion of the travel costs.

Once we have confirmation from the consulate about the visa appointment (which is tentatively scheduled for September 7), we can put in for leave from work.  Chris is planning on taking 5 weeks and I am taking four.  The last week we are home, before Chris goes back to work, we are planning on putting Saiya in daycare for half-days so that she gets used to the teachers and the idea of her spending time some place that is not home.  I will drop her off when I go to work and Chris will pick her up around noon.  When he goes back to work, he will be picking her up after he gets off.  I’m happy that I will be able to drop her off in the morning.  At least this way I know her clothes will match!  HAHA!!

Travel Approval!!!!!!

We received our travel approval today!!!  Now we have a decision to make.  We must decide if we want to try and travel July 29 with a couple of families or travel August 26 with a travel group and a doctor.  We are leaning towards the August 26 dates for several reasons.

1.  CAWLI is sending a doctor with the travel group.
2.  We will have more time to notify work of us taking leave.
3.  It will also give me some more time to stock up on vacation time so that I can spend a little more time at home with my little girl.
4.  There are more seats available on the plane and we can sit together on the way over and on the way back (whereas, there are so few for the July dates and the odds of us being together on the plane are slim)
5.  Save one whole month of Day Care

If we leave on July 29, we will get to China sooner and we will have our daughter sooner.  Even though that is a wonderful incentive, there are too many practical reasons to wait until August.


We have waited this long, one more month will fly by very fast, I'm sure!!
(see below for a timeline of our process thus far)



7/1/09 Application to CAWLI

7/7/09 Intake Meeting with CAWLI

8/29/09 First Home Study Visit

9/3/09 Trip to meet CAWLI staff

9/17/09 Second Home Study Visit

9/21/09 Completed Heart of the Matters Parenting Training

10/15/09 Final Home Study Visit

10/28/09 Approved Home Study Report

11/20/09 Submitted paperwork to USCIS

12/8/09 REFERRAL DAY

12/23/09 Preapproval from China

1/6/10 Fingerprinting for USCIS and First Care Package Sent

1/28/10 USCIS I-800A Approval

2/1/10 Dossier to China (DTC)

2/10/10 Log In Date (LID)

3/24/10 Second Care Package Sent

4/20/10 Letter of Acceptance (LOA)

5/7/10 Third Care Package Sent

6/7/10 USCIS I-800 Approval

6/11/10 National Visa Center (NVC) Notification

6/18/10 Paperwork to US Consulate in China

7/13/10 NVC Approval (Article 5)

7/19/10 Travel Approval