When are you going to China?

I get asked this question on a daily basis. I wish I had an exact answer but I don't. The only way I can guestimate is by connecting with other China adoptive parents & seeing their stats. I spend alot of time on Rumor Queen which is a forum for adoptive parents where I can see where everyone posts their stats. If you're bored, google Rumor Queen, it's pretty cool!
Where are we at right now? Our dossier is in China in the "matching room" or "review room". What does that mean. Basically, they are looking over all of our documents to make sure all is legit & match it to Harper's adoption paperwork.

This is the matching room & those are a bunch of dossiers! There are thousands of dossiers in China waiting to be matched.

We are patiently waiting for the next "big" step in this process.
LOA= letter of acceptance, which means CCAA has reviewed our dossier & matched it to Harper's file & has given us the approval to move forward. Right now we are on day 37 of waiting for our LOA. The average wait from LID to LOA (according to RQ) is about 50 days. So, we are getting very close. I hope to hear some news in the next week or 2.
After we receive our LOA, the next HUGE step is TA/CA, travel & consulate approval.
There are a few little steps between LOA & TA, but the average is about 2 months from LOA-TA.
Shortly after TA (1-3 days), we'll know be notified of when the CA will be. Our agency will tell us when we can travel. Some people travel anywhere from 1-2 weeks after receiving their TA or 1 month later.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the lingo....are you confused yet?

So, when will we travel? Just waiting on the LOA......I know there a ton of us on RQ anxiously waiting for our LOA. To my fellow RQ friends, I really hope next week we see alot of LOA's!!!

More Photos

What a surprise to open my email Tuesday morning to find updated photos & measurements of Harper. We got these updates from our agency & about 5 new pictures.

I was floored to see her lip had been repaired. We had no idea that China would repair it. It's a relief to know that we don't have to put her through any more trauma when we get home. We can really focus on bonding & establishing a routine.

I'm no expert, but her lip looks very natural, great repair!

As of now, she's 26 lbs & 31 inches tall. Her report said this:

She is very close to people. She can use hand gesture and words to express her needs, the words she says are hard to understand. She can make sounds which are hard to understand to grown-ups. She can say “Dan Dan” and “Jie Jie.” Her words are not very clear when she says Ma Ma. If she wants something, she holds Ma Ma’s hand and walk to the things she wants. She can wave Good-bye, and point to her mouth, nose, eyes etc when asked to do so. Her personality is outgoing & lively.

I'm assuming her cleft palate is affecting her speech, making it difficult to understand her, but, she's only 19 months old.

Notice, in one of the pictures, the one with where she's in front of the building, there's a dog, or something that looks like a dog, in the background. Look at the background in the photos, it's very rural.

We love her so much & can't wait to meet her. Everyday is one day closer to meeting Harper!

New Photos

Finally, some new photos of Harper!

Her lip has been repaired & looks great. I'll post a few, in a big hurry, more to come....

Enjoy

In Memory

My grandpa Frank passed away peacefully yesterday due to natural causes. He was in his 90's & lived a rich, full life.
He'll be joining Grammie, his wife of over 60 years in heaven.
God Bless Him!

I wish I had a digital photo of him to post, if anyone has one, please email it to me.

Happy Birthday Kolton!

Over the weekend, we also celebrated our nephew's 2nd birthday at Chuck E Cheese.

He is the cutest little guy. We babysit him often & have developed quite a bond with him. Harper will be about 5 months younger than Kolton so it's really good practice for us on what to expect for a 2 year old.

He loves his Mamma & Uncle Neil!

Kolton at age 1

Big boy at age 2

Over the weekend, Neil & I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! This will be our last anniversary as a family of 3, very exciting for us.

It's funny, my sister Paula was saying I never do anything without Neil, well, I still like him & love being around him even after being together for 9 years. We have a great marriage that has endured many challenges, but we've become a stronger union.

We celebrated with our dear friends, The Henderson's & The Camp's. We went to Hermann, Missouri, a little german town known for their bed & breakfast's & wineries. Neil & I try to go there every year as an anniversary tradition.

We had a fantastic time as usual, eatting, drinking wine & laughing.

Another Care Package

We sent another care package to Harper about 3 weeks ago.

The first care package we sent, the service we hired bought the items in China & forwarded it to the correct location.

This time we bought the items & wrote a letter with questions & sent the package to the same service who will forward it on. We had to send her Chinese name & info written in Chinese characters.

It took 3 weeks to get to China by standard mail & cost about $12.00. The service emailed me yesterday letting me know she got the package & will send it to Harper in the next few days.

We sent a few outfits from The Children's Place, a couple of photos of us, & Bria's old Barbie cell phone & compact that makes noise. We have no idea if we'll get these things back but hopefully her foster mom, Wang, will take pictures of her in the outfits with the disposable camera we sent a while ago.

Here's a picture that Ann (from Red Thread, service) emailed me.

Hopefully, we'll get more photos of Harper soon. We pray that she is still healthy, loved & being cared for.

Updated Photos

After sending the care package, we were told we might get updated photos. There's never any guarantees.

Thirty-six hours after hiring the service, we got updated photos & the questions were answered.

This was back in early February before we told everyone.

Here are the questions asked/answered: I know some of it may seem so trivial & boring, but here is a baby, we've never met & only seen 3 pictures of her @ 9 months old. So, this is very exciting to us!

Harper is around 15 months old in these photos!

Dang yan yang can walk by herself

She has not reveived her lip operation yet
She does not have nickname
She lives in foster family now ,her foster mom named wang dang xia (王党侠),she sleeps with her foster mom She sleeps in adult bed with her foster mom
She use bottle to drink liquid ,she eats congee,soup,noodle ,cookies ,ect,but noodles are her favorite food . (Mom, remember when noodles were my favorite?)
Height : 77cm
Weight : 11.2kg
Head : 47.5cm
Chest : 51cm
Feet : 13cm
Teeth:5
She can show people where is her nose,eyes ,mouth,ears ,ect.But she still can not say dad and mom. She gets along very well with neighbour children.
Her personality is outgoing ,happy
She loves to play toy cell phone and cars
She loves to play outside and play games (Just like her cousin Kolton!)
Meal time :
7:00 .19:00 for milk
8: 00m ,11:30,17:30: congee,soup,noodle,cookies ,ect ,but she loves to eat noodles . She gets up at 6:30
Nap from:10:00-12:00
Pee:5-6times /day,poo :1time/day

I just love that crooked tooth!