Sept 19 2011 We have Lei!!

We have Lei, who is very sweet. We started the day by eating breakfast at the hotel. This is not a great hotel and the breakfast was really very okay. We did get to meet the third family at breakfast. A man and his thirteen year old son were there to get their seven year old boy. We all met downstairs in the lobby at 8:30 am. Ray and I were excited, but mainly we were worried for Zhao Lei. I kept going over what she must be going through all morning. The drive from the orphanage is an hour, so we knew she would be getting up early to travel to meet us. We drove to the building we would be meeting the children. We arrived there at 9:15. There was another couple there from Spain who were adopting a two year old girl. I am not sure how long we waited, not really knowing whether the children were there already or not. We all sat down around a huge table and waited. Suddenly a man and woman walked in with a little girl. Now, I knew that the other couples were waiting for two year old girls or a seven year old boy. And I had seen several pictures of Zhao Lei, but for some reason it didn't look like her. I just sat there looking at her before I realized it was her and went to her. Looking back, I think she just looked really young and little in person. And actually seeing the person you have been thinking about for months and looking at in pictures is very different than seeing them in person. So I walked over and gave her a hug. She had two bags and a small purse with her, the messenger bag we had sent her in a care package as well as a large plastic bag. She and I sat down and she showed me each thing that she had inside of them. Inside the messenger bag was the journal we sent her that she had made several entries into, a book her classmates had given her with their addresses and email addresses, the photo album we had sent in the care package with photos of us, a photo album with pictures of her (in a few of them she was about three or four), a few books in Mandarin, a framed picture of her, and one of the two disposable cameras we had sent. The big plastic bag held a big, soft pink bear that her classmates had given her. There were also some clothes wrapped in plastic wrap. I asked who had given her the purse and was told that a twenty three year old girl who worked at the orphanage (or used to live there) gave it to her. She didn't seem upset while she showed them to me and it was a good way to start talking with eachother. It was pretty much just her showing thngs to me since our guide was busy with other things. I asked him to translate every now and then. The director from her orphanage and the woman who came with him did not speak English. I gave her the jewelry making kit and drawing kit I had brought for her. After what seemed like a long time, I saw them bringing in another child. At this point, only Zhao Lei had been brought in. And then they brought in a cute little boy. And then later another cute little girl. Suddenly the room was full of people. It was a big room, so we all had plenty of space. It was great to see each family getting their child. Our guide had each of us fill out paperwork and sign a lot of forms. They asked us what we wanted to name Zhao Lei. We had thought that they were going to ask us that at the end of next week at the consulate appointment (I don't know why I thought that), so we hadn't made our final decision. We had kind of thought of having her have some say in it. We were told that if we did it in the US it would be a major ordeal. So we made the decision. We named her Jordyn Brianne Zhao Lei and our last name. Jordyn after my cousin Joey (we want Joey to be her nickname), Brianne after my brother, who's middle name was Brian, and Zhao Lei because we didn't want to take any part of her name from her.
About an hour and a half after we got there, the two people from her orphanage started to get ready to leave. She looked up and waved at them and they waved at her. I gestured to her to go up to them because it kind of looked like that would be their goodbyes and I wanted her to have more than that. So she went up to them and the woman hugged her goodbye. She started crying a little so I went up and put my arm around her. She wasn't thrilled with that, but she didn't move away. She was okay after a couple of minutes and started playing with the ipad again. We left the building a little while after that and she seemed fine.

Hangzhou

We went to bed pretty early after all of our touring. We got back to the hotel and I think all five famlies had pizza delievered to our rooms. I stayed awake until the pizza arrived and then barely ate one before I fell asleep. I woke up to Ray working on his computer. He thought it was 4:30 am and we had to be downstairs at 5:30 am to catch the flight to Hangzhou. It took us a while to figure out that we had our time wrong, but by then we were wide awake. We did manage to sk#pe home and spoke to Brayden and Colton. Brayden was more interested in watching himself on the computer screen than talking with us. We did get to talk to the girls who were at my mom's house. We headed down to the lobby at 5:30 am and then all of us drove to the airport. Our flight to Hangzhou was about an hour and a half. I can't believe how much traveling we have done this last week! Our guide met us after our flight and brought us to the hotel. It's not as nice as the last one we stayed at, but we found rooms that work for us, so we are happy. We headed out to lunch with Diane and Todd at a food court in a local mall. Sounds like it would be easy to eat there, but it wasn't.. No one spoke English, so it was again a matter of guessing. The waitress actually brought over a phone and had us tell our order to someone who knew English. We all got close to what we ordered and were happy. I had tofu, vegetables and rice and LOVED it.
We all headed back to the hotel so everyone could take a nap. I tried, but I just couldn't sleep, so I tried t upload some pictures for this. I tried for a few hours and just couldn't get it to load. We all got together and went on a walk and then out to dinner. We wound up at Kentucky Fr*ed Chicken out of default. I don't think any of us were up to all the work of ordering a meal. It 's pretty easy there since they have pictures of the food. After dinner we walked around some more. We found a children's store and we bought a jewelry making kit. I brought a couple of things to keep Lei busy, but had planned on bringing more. I accidentally left most of them at home. I thought that she would like to do little crafty type things during all the long hours we are busy with paperwork or traveling in the next couple of weeks. We hope we can go o a local store to pick up some more things (like coloring books) after we get her.
Better go. We have to meet downstairs at 8:30 am to go get or girls!

Pictures

Beijing

We ahd a great day touring Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. How amazing to be at the places I have read and heard so much about. I loved it. The weather was great: cool, but not cold. It was a Saturday, but not at all crowded, though it seems like it is in the pictures I took.

We are in Beijing!!!

Friday, September 16, 2011We are here!!!
We had a long flight from LAX to Hong Kong. No leg room. Unfortunatly, as we boarded the plane we went through first class and saw the huge sitting areas the chosen few had, and then went through business class, which was very nice. And then we passed through the curtains and saw where the rest of us would sit. VERY CLOSE QUARTERS. It actually wasn't that bad. We flew Cathay Pacific, which we flew before when we went to Vietnam four years ago. Each seat had a tv screen so we basically watched movies and tv shows for hours. I think each of us got about two hours of sleep. I stole the window seat and Ray sat in the middle. We switched in the end so he could get a little sleep. It was a little painful, but we made it.
We arrived at Hong Kong and hung out for three hours before boarding our flight to Beijing. We spent most of the time trying to get the internet working so we could check and send out emails. Once we arrived at Beijing we met our guides and the other couple who is also adoption from Hangzhou. Very nice couple. They are adopting a little girl who is about to turn two. Once we arrived at the hotel we met our guide, Veronica. She helped us check in, told us about the next days itenerary and then brought us to a little store to buy snacks. After she left we had dinner at the hotel with Diane and Todd. You would think four intelligent adults could order a meal at a hotel resteraunt. It was actually quite a struggle. Our waitress didn't know English and neither did several of the other waitresses. I am not very daring when it comes to my food. I like to know what it is. And, honestly, I don't like to look my food has ever been alive. A manager was brought over to help and did manage to help us order something we could handle eating. Before he arrived Ray did his own version of Mandarin, which was by explaining what we wanted with a slight Italian/Spanish accent. Really. I personally did not think it helped. When the food arrived, the chicken was all dark meat, which I don't like particularly. I had forgotten that they like dark meat better here. The food was good, the service was good, it was a pretty cute little area we ate in and we really enjoyed spending time with Diane and Todd. I knew before coming here that food was going to be tricky for me since I am a pain and since I definitely have stomach issues with a lot of food. I will be eating lot of rice and vegetables, which is great. I also brought a lot of breakfast and protien bars from home to carry around. Better safe than sorry.
After dinner we headed back upstairs. Ray fell asleep three seconds after we got back to the room. We had made a plan to stay up until 8 pm to try to get on the right schedule here. I stayed up until 8:30, which felt like the middle of the night. Unfortunately Ray decided to get up at 3 am to check his email, eat Oreos (which are in a loud, crinkly bag), use the bathroom and reorganze his suitcase. So I am awake. I just figured out how to set up this blog while in China and so it begins....
No pictures from today. We meet Veronica tomorrow downstairs at 8:30 am to go to the Great Wall, Tin An Men (I'll spell it right later) Square, and the Forbidden City.

Almost Time To Go!

I have to admit that I had a really hard time waiting for the last couple of steps, the Article 5 and Travel Approval. No, I had a very hard time waiting for each and every step of Lei's adoption. Some of it is that I am not a patient person. But, some of it is that it is very hard to wait feeling that if I relaxed a little, or stopped pushing, that it would take longer for Lei to come home. I had many people tell me that I should relax and not get so stressed out about it. I am sure that makes sense to anyone who hasn't ever been in the trenches of an adoption. But for those of us who have lived it, it is not for the weak of heart and it takes a whole lot of stress and work to see an adoption through.
I basically spent my spring reading as much as I could about older child adoptions. I read books as well as any blogs I could find on older child adoptions. I wrote down words of wisdom, packing tips, or anything else I found that would make the transition easier for Lei. I spent the last couple of months reading blogs and checking (and rechecking and rechecking) various websites trying to guesstimate when we would travel. My estimate was that I would get my Article 5 the first week of August, my Travel Approval in the middle of September, and then travel the beginning of October. I had no idea about the big trade shows in China that mess up traveling for adoptions. I learned about that during one of my late night reading sessions. It basically meant, that if I didn't travel by Sept 15th, I would have to wait until the first week of November to travel! That is a really long to me to wait for a little girl who must be very nervous about meeting us and what her new life will be like.
I pretty much HAUNTED the very nice lady at my adoption agency who handles all of the families in the last steps. I KNEW she knew what she was doing and I KNEW she wan't personally responsible for how long things took once our paperwork got to China, but I also couldn't help myself from calling and emailing her. A lot.
My Article 5 Letter was picked up Thursday, August 8th, dropped off at the CCWA on August 15th and we got travel approval August 24th. If that sounds fast, it was. I had read that a lot of people were getting their TA's in about 14 days, which is fast. I was told that if we received our TA by Sept 2nd, we would be able to go to China before the October chaos and if we got it any time after that, we probably would have to wait until November. BIG DIFFERENCE! So every night I would get on my ipad as soon as my kids feel asleep and look for something (anything) that would give me an idea of when we could expect to travel.
THE CALL-
I told my husband that I could help my husband out at his office for a week to help him out. I was leaving to get lunch for my son, Brayden, who was at a soccer camp all week. I had promised myself that I wouldn't call my adoption agency until Friday. I knew that if they heard anything they would call. It was Wednesday around noon when the phone rang. How great to look down and see the name of my agency on my phone! At first they thought they would be able to get us out on September 8th! We actually didn't find out until Aug 30th that we would leave on Sept 15th. It works out better for us since Brayden, Brookelyn and Sasha start school on Sept 12th, so we will be able to be there their first few days.

Saturday, August 6th

The day after our paperwork was sent to China (July 22nd), we received an email from our adoption agency. Since we are now in a new step of the process, we have a new person working with us, Jenny. She is wonderful! She is very positive and nice to talk to. She sent us several emails about the next steps. Our paperwork was submitted for Article 5 on Thursday, July 28. It is scheduled to be picked up on August 11th. Within two business days it will be delivered to the CCAA. At that point we will be waiting for TA-Travel Approval. Jenny said that it can take anywhere from 3-8 weeks to get travel approval. My understanding is that there is no rhyme or reason about why some people get travel approval quickly and others have to wait. A guesstimate would put us at getting TA in September and traveling in October. Unfortunately, I found out (from reading someone's blog) that not many people travel in China for adoptions because of HUGE nation-wide trade shows in the big cities. So big that the cost of air fares and hotels go up and a lot of the tour guides are booked. I have heard that some agencies continue to schedule families to travel and some do not. Jenny said that she was able to have a few families travel last October, and hopes to be able to schedule people to travel this October as well. She said she still has to get information on dates for a few things before she will know for sure.
This news is extremely disappointing for me since I have gone over all the best and worst case scenarios for our travel a MILLION TIMES over the seven months. The way I figured it, a conservative guess would put us at traveling the fist week of October. If I had known about the trade shows, I doubt if I would have sent the last couple of things with Fed Ex.
Jenny gets updates on the paperwork and where it is every Tuesday. Since our paperwork is scheduled to be picked up August 11th, we will not get an update next Tuesday. Bummer. We will get an update the next Tuesday, which should tell us when our paperwork was sent to the CCAA and our wait for TA began. My optimistic guess is that we will get TA the first week of September.