| Travel |
| Journal October 2002 - January 2003 |
| 11/3/02 - I'm having problems saving my log entries which is why it has been so long since I've posted. I apologize. Let's see if we can get one posted this time..... I've spent the last month taking lots of classes to pass the time. I've continued to take Chinese (Mandarin) at the local community college. I've also taken a 3-night workshop held by my adoption agency, a parenting class for adoptive parents hosted by a nearby hospital, and this weekend I took an infant/child CPR class at Children's Hospital. I think I'm ready. So where is the referral? It is coming soon, really. I am 90% certain that I will have it by Thanksgiving. If I'm right, little Jordan's picture can attend my baby shower with me (it's being held the Friday after Thanksgiving). I'm getting kind of anxious - climbing the walls - not able to put 100% effort into work - just like all my friends who are also in the matching room. At least I know that my dossier and Jordan's dossier are sitting in the same room and at some point soon will become one big dossier. Just a little longer...I think I can hang in there...we'll see. Hopefully I'll be posting exciting news soon! By the way - just passed my 12 month anniversary of my official wait. I guess I'm entering my fifth trimester! If all women had to wait this long - there'd be a lot more of us heading off to the funny farm!! |
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| Starting the Countdown to Referral! |
| 11/8/02 - Well, the most recent batch of referrals arrived on 11/5 and even though CCAI thought that mine would be there - it wasn't. It seems that CCAA chose to release only the referrals for the September families and had not finished matching those of us with log-in dates in October. I can tell you that I was/am absolutely devastated. Especially since I told my parents on 11/4 that Jordan was in the air (ie. referral was in the mail) and that the stork would land any day. The worst thing was having to tell them that I was misinformed (as was my agency) and that we'd have to wait a little longer. I can now joke that I experienced all the stages of grief in fast forward (one a day). Denial, despair, anger, and now acceptance. I know that Jordan just wasn't yet ready for me... but boy do I wish she would come soon!!!! |
| 12/2/02 - It is with great joy and heartfelt thanks to CCAA and CCAI that I announce the referral of my daughter, Guo Yi Qing. I got the call at 2:39 pm EST on 11/26/02 from Christina at CCAI. I guess I was right about Jordan not being ready for me - because she is only 6 months old! Actually, she didn't turn 6 months old until 11/29 so she was only 5 months old at the time of the match. Wow!! I am in shock and in awe and realize that even though I've bought a closet full of clothes - she can't fit into any of them!!! She is adorable with her little fly away hair and pout. I didn't tell my family until the next day because I was going to see them in person for Thanksgiving and thought it might be even more special to be there with them when they got the news. My sister found out in the Chicago airport and my parents a few hours later in Portland. To say they were thrilled is an understatement. Jordan will know a lot of love when she enters this family!! |
| Referral |
| 1/5/03 - Happy Holidays to all! As you can imagine, this Christmas and New Year were wonderful as we looked forward to welcoming the latest addition to the family - Jordan. The only thing that would have made it better is to have her here. Right before Christmas I received some updated photos of Jordan taken around December 2nd that I've posted on the referral page. She still has crazy hair but at least she has a smile on that face! I've spent much of my time since the referral looking for information on her orphanage, ZhuZhou Social Welfare Institute (click on the name to go to a website about it and the children who have been adopted from there). We have also patiently (and then impatiently) been waiting for our travel dates. First, we had to wait for travel approval from China. Normally that comes in about 3 weeks after the referral but it took us longer! We FINALLY got approval from China on 12/31 and then had to request (through my agency) an appointment with the U.S. consulate to finalize the adoption in the eyes of the United States. These appointments finally arrived on 1/3! A big thank you to CCAI for working so diligently on this and begging and pleading with the U.S. consulate to give us an appointment before Chinese New Year, which begins on 2/1. Otherwise, we would not be able to travel until mid-February as all of the Chinese government offices are closed for at least a week for the celebration. Yesterday I was on the phone searching and searching for a plane with 2 seats that could get us to and from China and finally was successful! It seems that the upcoming New Year meant that planes were really booked. at it is, we will have to stay in Shanghai an extra day in order to get a plane. So it looks like we'll be leaving on 1/15 from Pittsburgh and getting back to Pittsburgh on 2/2!! To read more on travel, click on the above travel page link. It should be active sometime tomorrow once I confirm our travel dates and book the tickets! (Also - a BIG thank you to Janey Place, who is the President of Mellon Lab - and my boss. She has graciously used her frequent flier miles to fly my mother and I to and from Los Angeles). |