9 days left...

It looks like our consulate appointment will happen on February 7. Early next week Henry should get a call that his passport paperwork is ready - then he will drive to London, ON and will have his passport printed right there. The very next day we have to overnight his passport to Washington D.C. where they will complete his Chinese visa. It's tight but it should work. We're confirmed for a flight that leaves the morning of Sunday, January 21, arriving in Beijing on Monday, January 22!!! We'll spend some time in Beijing - a few days with friends we taught with this past summer and a few days touring with some other Bethany families. Then we'll fly to Hangzhou (the capitol city of Meili's province of Zhejiang) where we will meet and get Meili. We'll be there for a few days to complete paperwork. Then we'll fly to Guangzhou to complete paperwork at the American Embassy there. We fly home on February 9. Just think, in less than a month, we'll already be back... with a daughter!!! Praise God!

TRAVELING!!!

Looks like we might be leaving on Sunday, January 21!!! We're waiting to hear confirmation on our consulate appointment and to make sure Henry's passport stuff comes! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

TRAVEL APPOVAL!!!

It's here! At our house! Our Travel Approval has arrived! Our case worker called this morning to say that our paperwork was coming via UPS and would arrive by the end of the day TOMORROW. Well, thanks to a wonderful friend from church (who stopped by a little bit ago) we have our TA one day early. Now we can apply for visas, start planning travel dates, etc. Only thing were waiting on is Henry's passport. His first application was returned in December. Seems like they thought his face was too shiny in the picture AND there were shadows under his ears. Can you believe it??? He got new pictures taken immediately and we sent them overnight. Now we have to wait for the passport to come. PLEASE HURRY PASSPORT!!!

a letter!

First of all, a little bird tells us that information about travel could be coming in the next few days. Hmm... I can't wait!!!

Second, friends have translated the letter from Meili's orphanage for us. Thanks to Jimmy (parent's neighbor) and Lorraine (friend in China). Here are some of the things the letter tells us about our daughter.

1. Who chose her name and why? "The name was given by the staff and it means to have faith(confidence)."

2. What are her favorite foods and activities? "She eats everything and is not picky with food. She likes to watch TV and to be carried outside by adults."

3. How would you describe her personality? "She loves to laugh, smile and listen to music. She is active."

4. What makes her happy? "Hold her, carry her outside. Play games with her."

5. Is she close to a particular nanny? "She is close to several caretakers."

Letter from the orphanage

Well, we didn't hear anything this week. It's possible that nothing was sent to our agency this time around. We'll just keep waiting. An exciting thing this week was receiving a letter from Meili's orphanage on Thursday. In December we sent a letter introducing ourselves and asking the workers at Meili's orphanage to answer some questions about Meili. We had someone translate and mail it with a self-addressed-stamped envelope. They filled the sheet out and mailed it back! Henry and I were so excited to look at it. We sat down together and opened it up. All in Chinese! Oops, duh!!! We didn't even think about that. Right now my parents' neighbor Jimmy is translating it for us. He thinks he will have it done on Monday. Here are the questions they answered for us. We can't wait to know what they answers are!

1. Who chose her name and why?
2. Has she had any health problems or allergies?
3. What medical treatment has she received?
4. What are her favorite foods and activities?
5. How would you describe her personality?
6. Does she have any likes/dislikes/sensitivities?
7. What makes her happy?
8. Is she close to any particular nanny? What is this nanny's name?
9. Was there a note or any other memento found with her?
10. Do you have her finding ad? Can we have a copy?

How long?

We're hearing news that travel approvals are arriving. We don't know if ours will be in this batch or not. We might know something by the end of the week!

Can't WAIT!!!

I can't wait until we can take pictures like this with Meili!!! This is our adorable nephew Jean - taken during Christmas break!

Meili's name...

We're doing a little bit of research into Meili's name.
A new friend we made in China this summer, Lorraine,
is helping us out.

MEILI
We chose this part of Meili's name. It means beautiful or
pretty. Here is the character for her first name.

美

The next parts are the three names Meili was given,
either by her birthparents,
a relative, or the caretakers at the orphanage.
Here's what Lorraine told us about the rest of her name.

JIANG (first tone)
I was actually a little surprised by her name. First thing,
orphans in Chinaare usually given a family name like Dang,
(meaning the Party), Guo (meaning the country)
or some other patriotic family names.
Meili's family name is Jiang, a very common,
probably not very patriotic family name.
I guess maybe her birth parents
or some people who were close to her
gave her a name before giving her away.
The character Jiang itself means
ginger, but it's just a common family name
and does not carry that meaning
when used as a family name.

XIN (forth tone)    YI (first tone)
What's more surprising, is her given name,
which consists of two characters.
The first character, Xin, means to believe
(belief, faith, if used as a noun), to trust.
And the second character Yi
means to depend on, to rely on.

I say it's surprising because these two characters
carry strong Christian connotations to me.
So I am wondering if her birth parents
(if they are the ones who gave her the name)
actually have some kind of religious belief.
Maybe I am reading too much into it
and the name was just given by a Christian orphanage or
just the adoption agency.

A Package to Meili

We recieved confirmation today that a package we sent to Meili was delivered on December 5. We sent this package through an online service. It contained a teddy bear, two disposable cameras, and candy and nuts for the orphanage workers and director. The package was sent with a letter in Chinese explaining who the package was for, who it was from, and asked Meili's caretakers to take pictures of her, her cribmates, friends, and her caretakers. There's no guarantee that they will have time to take pictures or that they will be able to get those cameras back to us but we think it's worth a try. We sent her a birthday cake too, which also arrived on the 5th. Birthday cakes are really decked out in China and are a really special way to celebrate a birthday.

My Grandma

My grandma died today. I haven't seen her in a few years. She had Alzheimers. My last visit with her (and her roommate, Myrtle, who also had Alzheimers) is a favorite memory of mine. My grandma knew who I was and remembered Henry too. She and Myrtle talked and talked, sometimes about the same things over and over, not realizing they were repeating themselves.

One of my favorite parts of that visit was that Myrtle kept asking Henry if he was from Canada (he was wearing an "I Am Canadian" shirt.). After about the 10th time she asked Henry the question, my grandma said "For heaven's sake Myrtle, quit asking him the same question!"

My grandma did all kinds of great grandmotherly stuff. Here are some of my favorite memories:
- picking green beans with Grandma in her HUGE garden
- watching Grandma crochet while the Wheel of Fortune or Family Feud was on TV
- eating Grandma's chicken soup
- at Grandma's house we got WHITE bread and we could put SUGAR on our cereal
- eating Grandma's chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the freezer
- going to "The Green Farm" for Christmas each year
- playing in the hay loft at "The Green Farm"
- playing with the barbie and other doll clothes she meticulously sewed for us
- the thick blanket Grandma crocheted for me for my high school graduation gift
- going to church really early, Grandma passing us a mint from her handkerchief, and then leaving church right away to go home and have a REALLY yummy meal

I keep thinking of more, I'll add them later.

Gertrude Jeanette Kempema Blankespoor
1921 - 2006

Fingerprints extended

We got our new I171 form in the mail yesterday stating that our new fingerprints are good until 2008. We continue to wait for our TA, and hope that Henry's new passport comes BEFORE that does. Otherwise we'll have to wait for that before we can travel.

What's next?

Well... now we have to wait for a TA (travel approval) to come from China. This comes once our acceptance form has been processed. A TA can take anywhere from 4-10 weeks to come. Once that comes, our final appointment at the US consulate in China will be set and we'll know when our last day in China will be. Then all of our other traveling and appointments will be planned. We would likely leave about 2-3 weeks after receiving our TA. More waiting...

Update on Meili...

Fun, Fun! We got an update on Meili today. Her cleft lip has been repaired and the cleft palate surgery can wait until she comes home.

Here are some other updates:
Height: 75 cm or 29.5 inches tall (I was 22.5 inches when I was BORN!)
Weight: 9 kg or 19.8 lbs
Teeth: 5

They also said that she can sit, crawl, and is learning to stand. Her fine motor skills are good and she pick up toys and holds a bottle. She likes to watch TV and holds toys with both hands. She knows caretakers and her name. She understands her caretakers' facial expressions. She is active, busy and alert.

CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Shopping fun!!!

This weekend we went to Chicago to hang out with my parents for Thanksgiving. It was so nice and relaxing and fun. One of the fun things we did was go shopping for baby stuff. We went to a bunch of thrift stores and found a lot of great stuff including lots of really cute clothing and sleepers, a coat, and a snowsuit. One of the fun and unexpected finds was a stroller for tall people (with extendable handles) for only $28 (used but in great shape). Those strollers are SO expensive when they are new. We also found the Little People barn (the original kind - from our childhood) that moos and a bag of the original Little People and cars. We also went and registered for other stuff at a baby store which was fun too. Here are some fun pictures of the Little People stuff we found! I can't wait until Meili can play with these toys (and us too!)

Happy Birthday!

It's Meili's first birthday tomorrow. Too bad we're gonna miss it. She got her first birthday card in the mail today, how sweet! Happy Birthday Meili!

the process...

Last week we met with our caseworker to sign some papers. Now those will be sent to China. Once they have been translated and processed (could take about a month) a travel approval (TA) will be mailed to us. After that comes, we can start working on visas, plane tickets etc. Here's a map of China showing Zhejiang Province, where Meili is living right now.

MEET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here she is:
Meili Jiang XinYi (pronunciation: May-Lee Gee-ong Chin Yee)
Date of Birth: November 21, 2005
Current Home: Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Estimated GOTCHA DAY: January 2007
Proud Parents: Liz & Henry

Waiting Child

Please keep us in prayer this week as we consider two different girls from the "Children of Promise" list. These are two young girls who have some unique needs and are waiting to be placed with a family. Pray for wisdom for those in the decision making process - that they will find the best placement for these two special girls.

the ticker again...

While we wait...

Right now we have a lot of waiting to do. One fun thing is hearing from other people who are getting or have gotten their referrals recently. It helps remind me that things are moving along. I've also been trying to find some kind of simple stroller that's made for tall people. So far, I can't tell if that even exists. There are some pretty hefty strollers with extendable handles but we want something simple and light. And, since I'm bored with looking at these recent posts, I'll post a favorite picture from our China trip.