Bought Our Tickets Today!

We woke up this morning to an email saying that our consulate appt. had been confirmed! Danny was a very busy guy today going back and forth with the travel agency that our adoption agency uses. We will be leaving LAX on September 12th arriving in Guangzhou on September 14th (think huge time difference). We take a connecting flight to Beijing, arriving at 12:45 p.m. China time. We fly home from Guangzhou to LAX September 29th. The flight home has no connecting flights, thank goodness! In a day or two, our agency will then make arrangements for our intra-China travel. We figure we will have Landree on September 16th! Wow!!!

We Got Travel Approval Today!

Yay! A BIG Yay! So, our agency is trying to schedule consulate appointments for everyone sometime the week of the 24th. This means we will probably leave between the 11th and the 13th. Landree will be ours in about twenty days. I can't believe it. Once we get confirmation of the consulate appointment, then we can book our travel. Man, there is so much to do between now and then!

On another note, today was my first day with my new students. What a bunch of cutie pies. It was an exhausting, but totally fun day.

For Once My Gut Was Right

I've learned to not trust my instincts-it seems over the last two years I'm usually wrong. But, this time, I said I really felt like we would be traveling in September and not November. I was right this time! We got an email yesterday saying we will have Travel Approval on Monday! Yay! So this is what happens now: Once our agency has the TA is their hot little hands, then they make Consulate Appointments for us. This can take a few days. Once they get the appointments confirmed, then they can give us an itinerary and we can make flight arrangements, etc. They told us we should be able to buy plane tickets by the end of next week! In three weeks or less, we will have Landree in our arms. Wow.

A Lot on Our Minds

Palm Desert was nice. I didn't bring my camera, so sorry, no pics. It was one of those times when I wanted to focus on having fun and not worrying about taking the right picture. It was a great time. We ate at a nice restaurant, layed by the pool and just plain caught up with eachother! It was nice to hang out with old friends.

I am officially back to work starting tomorrow morning! The kids start on Monday, but we have a bunch of meetings and inservices first. Fun. I spent Monday at work in my classroom for most of the day, then went and visited with Landree's future pediatrician. It was a weird experience for me. It was like I was frozen. I didn't know what questions to ask (even though they have been in my head forever), I didn't write anything down, and all I wanted to do was get out of there! Finally, they charged me a huge chunk of money just for the doctor to look over her paperwork with very limited information in it and to write me some prescriptions for China that ended up costing eighty bucks. It sucks that because Landree isn't physically here in the states, my insurance covers nothing. Had I been pregnant, it would have been a different story. I'm sorry, but it's not fair. Yeah, yeah, life isn't fair-believe me-when it comes to this, I've learned my lesson. All I want to do is go get her and bring her home. This way, I can say, "See? She does exist! Now will you treat me like a real future Mother?" Ok, I'll step down now from the ol' soapbox. Back to work. Trying to get ready for a new school year is CARAYZEE when you are trying to plan a trip to China at the same time. Speaking of China...

we are waiting for Travel Approval from the CCAA. If we don't hear anything by the end of this week or early next week, chances are we may have to wait until November. National holidays and trade fairs in October make airfare and hotel fees skyrocket apparently, and our agency won't send us during this month. Right now though, I'm feeling pretty positive that we will travel sometime around mid-September.

I'm also still working on Landree's room! Since my last shower, it looks like Babies R Us exploded in there! (It's actually quite awesome). Also, I was washing some of Landree's smaller clothes and getting them ready. I still have to put most of everything away!

So, with work starting tomorrow, my posts will be less frequent, but keep checking in! As soon as we hear about travel approvals, we will let you know!

My Last Hurrah!

So, in about an hour, I'm off to Palm Desert for a girl's weekend. Going with some of my high school friends. Looking forward to hanging out by the pool, reading a good book, eating some good meals and drinking some tasty margaritas!

I'm going to try to enjoy myself as much as possible, because when I get back it's all about work! I officially go back on Wednesday, but you know how it is. I'll be setting up my classroom all week first. The kids start back next Monday already. Where did the summer go anyway? Oh, yeah, obsessing over Landree of course. Wow. I can't believe I have a picture of her to look at whenever I want.

Oh! I almost forgot! Danny found some software that we can use to get to our shower pictures. We were able to look at them (they turned out great too)but we have to pay to download them. We will happily do that of course, but we want to see if there is something my very smart bro-in-law can do first. Just haven't had the time to get over there. So, as soon as we can get to those pics, I will post a few!

Toys, Diapers and Outfits, Oh My!

Yesterday, some very good friends of mine threw me a "girlfriends" baby shower! Taunya, Jen and Bethany put their heads together and pulled off the most amazing shower I've ever seen...and it was mine! Yes, I know I'm bragging, but come on, no detail was left untouched. The theme was pink and green with asian touches. There were pink and green lanterns, pink and green tea light candles, asian umbrellas, napkins with cherry blossoms...you name it, it was done. (By the way, we decided to use a camera that we weren't familiar with. Dan must have taken over 100 pictures and to my horror, we cannot get them uploaded. Hopefully, my bro-in-law can help us out, as it is his camera. More pictures to follow, if and when we get them! So, we took the following pictures today).

This first picture is a combination of some of the games we played. It was a great time!

I was blown away and started bawling like a baby when I opened up this blanket that Jen's Mom made for Landree. It's sideways, sorry, can't figure out how to rotate it on the blog. Thanks Emily! It looks beautiful right now draped over her crib.

Oh, and Jen's parents also had these keychains made for Dan and I. We will definately be showing these off!

Finally, as you can see, Danny, Landree and I were completely spoiled once again. Unbelievable.

It is completely mind-blowing to us the support and love we feel from all of our friends. We are so happy to say we have made this journey with you. I believe the sweetest reward will be when we finally see Landree wearing, playing with and using all of these wonderful things. Thanks guys. We are so, so grateful!

Paperwork, Chongqing and a Middle Name!

Ok, time to catch up a bit. On Monday, we did receive Landree's referral packet with a bunch of papers for us to sign. Here is the most important: her acceptance! We signed everything and sent it back overnight to our agency. They received it the next day and now we are told we should have our travel approval in about three weeks.

We have also been researching where Landree is right now. She is in the Yunyang Chengxiang Social Welfare Institute in the Chongqing province. Here is a link if you are interested in reading a bit about Chongqing. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/chongqing.htm Chongqing is a very large city. Many have compared it to a miniature Hong Kong on the rise. However, she is from Yunyang, right on the Yangzte River and much of the population there are farmers. Here's a map to give you a better idea.


Finally, we have chosen a middle name! Danny and I were having a very hard time with this, so I will try to explain. It is very important for us for Landree to have a chinese middle name. We always thought it would be whatever chinese name she was given, but I have always said that if it didn't have a significant meaning, we would probably change it. Well, when we got her translated name from our agency yesterday, they said her name, Yang Fu Xi, was translated as follows:
Yang stands for "Yunyang"
Fu stands for "Orphanage"
Xi means "Game"

Yeah, so that's not really working for us. So after searching far and wide (it feels that way anyhow) Danny and I decided her name will be Landree Mei Li Stewart. Mei means "beautiful" and Li means "gift." We have also seen that "Mei Li" also can mean "Very Beautiful." Dan and I feel that she is a beautiful gift, don't you agree?

Celebration!

This weekend I walked around in a cloud! Danny and I have been pinching ourselves constantly while asking ourselves, "Wow, did this really happen?" What a perfect end to a weekend we had when we celebrated with Matt, Gina and Lily at the China Wokery. Yum! Danny and I had a blast. They really made it special for us with balloons, a Willow Tree statue and an amazing meal. It helps make it all feel so real! Thanks! You guys are great. (Especially when it comes to answering millions of questions)!

Danny and I also want to thank EVERYONE for all of the comments on our blog. All of your kind words and well wishes mean so much to us. We feel so lucky to be surrounded by such great friends and family!

Tomorrow, we receive Landree's referral by Fed Ex. I'm dying to get this package because it should give us a lot more info on her. Stay tuned!

Here She Is!

Oh my goodness, how cute is she? Danny and I are thrilled with the arrival of our daughter! Now we can't wait to get her!

We Have a Daughter!!!!

We just got the call!
Her name is Fu Xi Yang
Pronounced "Foo She Yan"
Fu means "luck"
Birthdate: November 29th, 2006 Barely 8 mo!!!!!
She is in YunYang ChengXiang SWI
Province: Chongqing

She is healthy, loves music and toys and she knows her name!
We will get pictures emailed to us this afternoon. We can't wait to see her!!

SHE'S ON HER WAY!!!!!

Oh my gosh, I'm totally shaking! We JUST GOT the email from our agency saying they have referrals and that we are getting ours today!! Right now, they are scanning pics, etc. So, we are just sitting here waiting for the call!!!!

Ok, I Can Relax for Awhile

Our wonderful agency just let us know we may hear something Friday or Monday. Not today or tomorrow. Have a great rest of the week everyone and keep your fingers crossed that we get to see Landree before the weekend!

Still the Same...

Nothing today either, which isn't surprising. However, the RQ site (www.chinaadopttalk.com) is blowing up right now! People are telling her that the cut-off could possibly be the 22nd and that referrals have been mailed. Could they be here tomorrow? It's possible if that rumor is true. I'm still thinking Friday or Monday though. Anyway, I'm actually really excited about the 22nd cut-off rumor. This would be great, because then I could possibly meet lots of people I've been chatting with from our agency. Lots of them are logged in on the 21st and 22nd. Come on CCAA!