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.

Home study update

We met with our case worker today to update our home study. We have to be re-fingerprinted by the US Department of Customs and Immigration (in case we committed any crimes in the last year.) We also have to get updated physicals and security clearance from the department of social services or something like that. More paperwork. Boring... Oh well, soon we won't even remember all this paperwork stuff. =)

time to re-apply

Well, it's been over a year since our home study was complete which means that next week we have to meet with our case worker to update our home study. Also, since our immigration fingerprinting expires in November, we'll have to re-apply for that soon too. All told, another $600 or so in paperwork. Too bad the US government refused to extend the time frame for fingerprints to be good or to make a easy renewal process. This is the kind of stuff that gets me really bummed out.

HILARIOUS! Panda Attack...

Panda bites drunk Chinese man, man bites panda back at Beijing zoo

Gu Gu, a six-year-old panda, eats near the entrance to its enclosure at Beijing Zoo on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)Audra Ang, Canadian Press

Published: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

BEIJING (AP) - A drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinyan had drunk four pitchers of beer at a restaurant before "stumbling to the zoo" nearby and stopping off at the pen holding a sleeping 6-year-old male panda, Gu Gu, on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.

"He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand" and jumped over a waist-high railing down into the enclosure, the newspaper said. "When he got closer and was undiscovered, he reached out to hug it."

Startled, Gu Gu bit Zhang in the right leg, it said. Zhang, a 35-year-old migrant labourer from central Henan province, got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.

"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."

Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who soon got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.

Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and several seams of stitches running down his leg.

The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang, a father of two who was visiting Beijing for the first time, as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people."

"No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."

Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy and uninjured."

"We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."

China has more than 180 pandas living in captivity. A 2002 government census found there were just 1,596 pandas left in the wild. But state media has said a new study by Chinese and British scientists has found there might be as many as 3,000.

In 2003, a college student trying to take a photo of a panda in the Beijing Zoo jumped into the enclosure and broke his bones in the fall, the Beijing Morning Post said.

It did not say which panda it was or if it attacked the student.

© The Canadian Press 2006

Out of the review room!

The December 2005 dossiers (including ours - December 5) are out of the review room. That means all of our paperwork was done right and everything has been approved. It doesn't speed anything up for us. But it's one more step that we are through. Now there's really nothing to do but wait.

In the meantime....

Here's another favorite picture from our trip to China... Some of our nice traveling friends at the Great Wall.

Rumor Queen

The "Rumor Queen" gets emails and info. from people all over the place and in various stages of their China adoption. She sometimes makes predictions based on the recent trends in referral times etc. This is one of her latest thoughts on referral times.

Quoting Rumor Queen "As a reminder, my most recent good and bad case scenarios are:

	Good Case Scenario	Bad Case Scenario
September Referrals	08/16/05	07/28/05
October Referrals	08/30/05	08/22/05
November Referrals	Well beyond 9/11	08/29/05
December Referrals		09/07/05

So, she predicts referrals coming in December for people whose paperwork was logged in (in China) last September. We weren't logged in until December 06. Based on the time frame here, it could be July of 07 before we get a referral. Hmm... patience...

Estimating.... traveling....

A family from Bethany who was logged in on July 26, 2005 reported that their case worker estimates that they will travel anywhere from mid to late November. We didn't get logged in until December of 2005. There's a possibility it could be next spring before we go... We'll just have to wait and see. Depending on how things go, we'll likely have to re-apply for our I171 immigration form (filing cost is $545). Like I said, guess we'll just have to wait and see.