3 Weeks to China

Today we received our final itinerary for the two weeks we will be in China.  The first 5 days will be in Guizhou, our daughters province.  We will meet her on day 2, and she will be with us for the remainder of the trip.  During that time, we will be finalizing the adoption and doing some sightseeing with a guide.

On day 6, we fly to the city of Guangzhou, where the US Consulate is.  We will spend 8 days there and during that time we will be taking care of Yu Pings passport, visa, and medical exam, and she will be sworn in as a US citizen on March 1 (exactly one year to the day we first saw her picture).  We will also have some time to sightsee there.

We are frequently asked if we will be changing her name to an American one, and the answer is "maybe".  We will leave that decision up to her.  At the very least, we will keep "Yu Ping" as her middle name (like we did with Evan's Korean name), but neither Don nor I feel comfortable walking into the life of this 7 year old child and telling her that her name isn't good enough for us.  We first saw her picture and claimed her as our own 11 months ago.  During this wait, we have thought of her as "Yu Ping" or "Ping Ping" (Chinese kids are often called by the 2nd name twice), and it seems very comfortable to us.  If she wants to have an American name, we have a list of some we like, or if she has heard of an American name that she likes, then thats ok too.  Regardless, the decision will be hers.

Travel Approval!

Here we go!  Leaving Spokane on February 19, arriving in Guizhou on February 20, meeting our daughter for the first time on February 21, celebrating Jolene's 44th birthday on February 24, swearing in little Yu Ping as an American citizen on March 1, and returning home on March 5. (Happy birthday to Kellen on February 23 ~ we promise to celebrate the big #12 when we get home!)

She Knows!

Every two months we get to request an update on our waiting child from the orphanage.  Usually we get a brief description of how they are doing, their updated height and weight, an answer to a question or two that we ask, and a photo.  Today we got an eagerly awaited update (no photo unfortunately).  The orphanage has received the package we sent (which included a letter I wrote to Yu Ping, photos of us, and two disposable cameras) and Yu Ping now finally knows that a family has been found for her and she is "eager for her new parents to come meet her"!!  That one little sentence update was a wonderful gift for us!

Happy New Year!

We rang in 2011 with the good news that our immigration paperwork is complete and our "Article 5" was sent to China on Dec 26.  This means we should receive approval to travel to China in late January and will most likely leave in mid February, after the Chinese New Year holiday ends.  Now that the Christmas tree is out the door and most of the decorations put away (we left the lights up for Yu Ping ~ call us rednecks if you must), we can focus on all of the last minute details involved in this journey.  In addition to packing for the 3 of us, Don and I have to get several vaccines,  purchase about a dozen gifts for various Chinese officials who will be assisting us while there, make multitudes of copies of multitudes of documents, arrange for childcare for the boys, and then actually make the travel plans themselves (we can't make them until we get "Travel Approval" and then we are expected to be in China within the next two weeks!).  Its all very exciting, but also a bit nerve-racking!  I know I will be a basket case ~ thank goodness my husband is very laid back!  We know two other North Idaho families who brought home their daughters from China on Christmas Eve (one is 6, the other is 3) and have shared happy information with us about their experiences.  Welcome to Allee and Anya!