Ming's Room

Here are some photos of Ming's room. I just love the photo with her painted name. The letters were made by her cousins. Aren't they fabulous! We are keeping her room plain at first. I would love to load up her room with items and paint the walls a bright color, but it's recommended not to over stimulate the room. Since Ming is older, it is also important that she makes the room her own - so this will happen after time. I just hope the room feels cozy and safe :) Mike made the dresser. Is is so pretty and is made out of Aspen. I'm so lucky to have such a talented hubby! The desk was my great grandmother's desk on my mother's side. I used this desk while in high school and think it is so cool that my daughter can use it too!

More updates

We are sending off the Visa Applications tomorrow and starting to think about packing and other travel arrangements. It's weird that we don't have TONS of paperwork like we've had off and on over the past two years. To be honest the word "paperwork" gives us the chills to this day.

We are STILL waiting for our 171H, but it was expedited (thank you CAI!) so we should be getting it soon. We've been assured we'll have it in time for our agency to request a consulate date, but it will always be a concern until we have it in our hands.

Everyday I check my e-mail hoping to have updates on Ming. I'm sure it will come in the next week or two.

In other news...it snowed about 4 inches yesterday and still on the ground. More is expected tonight! I would rather have rain, but any precip is good because we haven't had much in the past few weeks. I hope our wildflowers will be beautiful again this year. Even though we have snow - it is finally spring. I saw three pasque flowers on our lot this weekend and the Aspen are pollin"mating" (hee, hee - I love that term!), which means they'll leaf in a couple of weeks....oh how nice to have leaves again!!!

Tentative Travel Dates and Package Photo

Pictured above is a care package we sent to Beijing Children's Welfare Institute for Ming, Caretakers, Director and other children. We really hope she got the package. I just love the stuffed moose. It was a gift from a secret buddy of the Oct 2006 DTC group. So cute! The red box in the photo didn't make it because it was too bulky for the UPS box. We also included two short letters translated in Chinese - one for the Director/Caretakers and one for Ming.

Today we had our pre-travel meeting w/the A Helping Hand travel group. The meeting lasted a little over 2 hours - whew!, but it was very informative. We are travel group #93. 14 other families are in our travel group. It looks like we'll be possibly traveling June 26th - July 12/16th. Wow! We have possible dates now! We won't actually know the confirmed dates until about 2 weeks before we travel. Because Ming is from Beijing we are required to stay 8 business days in Beijing instead of the typical 5.

Please take a minute to send positive thoughts to all those living near China's southwest earthquake today. We are very thankful Ming is in Beijing and wasn't directly effected by the quake. We hope her safety continues. We also think of all the people in Myanmar Cyclone as well - and hope that they can receive increased aid.

Package to China

A quick up date - we tracked Ming's package to day and it arrived 11:04am May 9th! Yippee! We sure hope she is able to receive her items......I can picture her carrying around the little small moose and photo book.

Updates

We sent our LOA paperwork on Monday, as well as a care package to Ming. I'll try to post a photo this weekend of what we sent - too tired now, as I have to download the photo from the cell phone. It was more expensive to send a package to China than I thought, but well worth it. It's so wonderful to think she'll open her package soon and see photos of us! Hopefully she won't be too scared! Ha!

Our first travel group meeting is this Monday at 5pm via phone. How exciting! Mike and I are looking forward to hearing the voices of the other families we might travel with from A Helping Hand. The group seems to be fun, nice and very supportive. Most of the group keeps connected through a yahoo group.

Also, we would like to say thank you to Mike's sister's family and my Mother, Rob & Luke. Ming received some more wonderful gifts yesterday and today. My Mom, Rob & Luke gave Ming a Rice Paddy Doll (Asian version of the Cabbage Patch - my sister got one when my parents visited Hong Kong in the 1980's). Too cute of a doll! Ming's cousins (Jessica, Cassidy and Kyle) picked out some pretty outfits and toys for Ming. We also received the letter's "MING" which already has a place in her bedroom! Which reminds me...I need to post photos of her room soon! More updates to come on Sunday

Adoption Shower!!!

Today my friend, Jamie, threw Ming an adoption shower. It was a lot of fun and is another reinforcement that the community is welcoming her into their arms. We thank everyone so much for their support and for wonderful gifts that will help Ming grow, learn, look fabulous and have fun! Also, a big thanks to Jamie for putting everything together!

We also received our travel and LOA packet on Friday. To be honest, I wasn't sure if we were going to get the package as expected because it arrived late. I was on the phone with our agency, letting them know it didn't arrive yet, when the Fed Ex truck arrived at work! It was so neat to finally see the official papers and complete our travel, visa and LOA paperwork. It gave me goosebumps to see the paperwork so many families before us have described. A Helping Hand Agency (the parent agency to our initial agency, Commonwealth) had also enclosed a travel preparation DVD. Watching this really makes everything feel so much more real and CLOSER!

Ming is constantly on our minds now. I don't think 60 minutes go by w/o thinking of her at least a couple of times. It is amazing at how much being LOA makes a difference in how you think about your child. Reality Rocks!

Today is a great day!

Introducing Ming!!!

This is our beautiful daughter. I'm so happy that we finally can share her photo.

Today we received our LOA. We have waited over the average wait (90 days) for this day to arrive. It is another huge step closer to bringing home our daughter! I was at work and our agency called a little after 11:30am MT to fill us in. I think 9 other families from A Helping Hand received LOA's today too. It seemed like this day would never come. It looks like there is a good chance we'll travel to China at the end of June/early July. We can't wait - that day can't come soon enough! It feels so good that everything is finally falling into place and Ming WILL be coming home soon. I think we'll be able to get updated information and updated photos in the next few - several weeks. The best part is that we can send Ming our care package we put together months ago and she'll know that she has a family waiting for her! I hope she is happy when she finds this out.

This is a such a cool week because my friend, Jamie, is hosting an adoption shower this Sunday for Ming. How fun! We also received Ming's first gifts from Ashley (another Chinese adoptive parent - link on right side) and Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa George. Ming received some really cute clothing, toys, hair accessories, jewelry and educational toys. Thank you so much. Ming will be the most stylish gal in South Park!

LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't posted 4EVER! I didn't realize how long it has been until just now. We got the call today and we are LOA!!!!! I'll post more tonight as well as some photos. It won't be long now Ming!