Log In Date

We finally did get an official Log In Date from the CCAA. It is 10/10/2008 which is a week later than I had hoped, but I think I remember there being a holiday in China at the beginning of October so maybe that is why it was delayed. We are hoping for a letter of approval by Christmas and to travel by the beginning of February. It depends on how quickly our paperwork is approved.

Our other interesting event happened yesterday as I was comparing the Chinese documents to the English translations of Nora's medical and history reports. Turns out that she has two different birthdates listed one is January 26, and the other is January 16. There was an error in translation and she was actually born of the 16. We are glad that we caught this before we went to China and had discrepancies for passports etc. Looks like we can resolve it with a notarized letter stating the error and the actual birthday. (Sorry Owen, looks like she won't share the date after all!)

Liam is beside himself with excitement waiting for his sister. Today I mentioned that I saw a toddler bed on sale and maybe we should have a look. Well he got his shoes on and opened the garage door and was so so so excited. We got there and he was ahead of me going "there it is - there it is" I said it couldn't be because we were in the baby section, well he was right. He found this bed in about 2 minutes in a giant Kmart. He and Ryan carried it up to HIS room and read the directions as a bedtime story tonight. He is finally settling on Nora (not his choice) and we are no longer going through the mounds of suggestions which has included Bindi (as in the jungle girl), Molly (just change yours to Mary Jane, Mom), Kafryn among so many others I can't remember. He decided that Pumpkin was a Halloween name for our dog and that we should change it to Fig Newton, (Mom, what IS a newton?)

Darren has been potty training and has a huge fascination with stickers which has helped the process incredibly. He is absolutely adorable and has been dragging around his helium ghost balloon for over a week now. It has a clothespin end that he attaches to the potty when he goes and to his tall boy chair to eat. He walks around saying 'boo' and "go". He had it attached to a rubber boot today and that sent him into a fit of giggles. He also spent his time while I was making lunch unboxing the Christmas candle lights that I put in the windows and plugging them in the dining room sockets. He was using the tine on the plug end to pry the plastic coverings off...hmmm He is always very busy and very quiet. I find things tucked into places very carefully.

Waiting on LID

Boys just burnin' time waiting for their sister to organize them...

We are still waiting on a Log In Date from China. Typically this comes about 5-7 days after the dossier is sent to China. According to our adoption agency, we do "have" a Log in Date, but don't know it because all the computers at the CCAA in China were down for a week. Hopefully we will hear something soon.

In the meantime here is a map of China. Nora is in Baotou at the moment but we will meet her in Hohhot which is the capital city of Inner Mongolia. It doesn't look to be far away and not far from Beijing by air. From the families that have recently travelled, the kids seem very healthy, well fed and developmentally pretty on track.

Inner Mongolia borders Russia to the North and many provinces to the south. Baotou is in the southern part near the two "bumps" at the bottom of the province.We are now trying to get an update and hopefully send off a care package in the next few weeks.

Getting Started

Well, I am trying to be organized enough to share our upcoming journey to China. I will post our travel plans and any updates that we have here for everyone who wants to follow our trip. So far, we have few details although I know that our dossier has gone to China. We do not know whether or not it has been "logged in" by the Chinese government. Typically we travel around 100 days or so after it has been logged in.

In the meantime, I thought I would share a few pictures of the rest of us along the way. The boys are happy and healthy this fall and Liam is eagerly awaiting his little sister. Darren, I have the feeling may not be as thrilled at the beginning as he really is finally bonding and loving being near his Mom and Dad.

This is a picture of our little Nora Meili. This is our ONLY real picture of her. We have one that is super poor quality and one close up of one side of her head. Her most recent update was at 14 months and she is 20 months now. We all think she is as cute as a button and Liam is spending every moment at any store choosing outfits for his little sister. Right now, he is on a quest for a "rainbow" bow for her hair.

I have been on Youtube, trying to find pictures of Baotou and Inner Mongolia. It looks quite remote even though it is not really that far from Beijing (2 hours flying due west) - It is a poor area of China with high unemployment and has cold winters. The main industries seem to be dairy farming and heavy industry. The landscape is beautiful - dry northern desert with wild horses and sand dunes. She will definitely be a northern girl.

The boys were playing the piano and were so cute! Mostly it's trucks racing around the house so I had to get a picture.