We have confirmed travel dates!!!!

Well, it's not as soon as we wanted, but we finally have our travel dates!!! We are leaving for China on July 23rd & will FINALLY meet Micalee on July 28th (hey, Janea, that's your birthday!)!!! We can finally start making travel arrangements & book our flights! How exciting!!! Below is our "tentative" schedule while in China:

7/23 - Depart US
7/24 - Arrive in Beijing
7/25 - Beijing Tour
7/26 - Fly to Jiangxi Province (where Micalee is!)
7/28 - Meet Micalee Day!!!
7/31 - Fly to Guangzhou
8/4 - American Consulate Appt
8/5 - Oath Ceremony at American Consulate
8/7 - Leaving China & coming home with Micalee!!!

All the "in between" days will be filled with touring, shopping & bonding with our new little girl!!! We are so excited & don't know where to start first! We still have paperwork to collect, baby-proofing to do, packing to do, getting more organized.........

We Have TA!!!!

Our agency received a "surprise package" today - our long awaited Travel Approvals!!!! They will spend the next couple of days trying to arrange for our Consulate Appointment & checking on guide availability, then, hopefully by next week, we will have our travel dates & be able to buy our tickets!!!! Unreal!!!! I'll keep everyone posted!!!

Our Baby Shower!

Wow! We had the BEST baby shower!!! My sisters put together a very fun & memorable day! I don't have room to post all of the pictures here, but you can get an idea from these few! One of my sister had purchased these little Chinese rubber duckies a long time back, and as soon as saw one of them, I recognized the symbol on its chest. It was "Fu", which is Micalee's last name given to her by her orphanage. What an awesome "red thread" experience! They had thought of everything! They had a banner of our picture linked with Micalee's referral picture by a red thread. They had her Chinese name (along with the meaning)

posted at the door! They had a special seating area for us marked with "Micalee's Mommy" and "Micalee's Daddy", along with a sash for me to wear & a ball cap for David to wear. The food was wonderful, the cake was beautiful, the games were fun. But, I couldn't believe how many friends & family members made it to the shower! (And thank you for tolerating the heat!) I am truly grateful for such wonderful people in my life! It means more to be than they will ever know! They all showed such love & support for our new family! I can't wait for Micalee to meet each & every one of them! She will be blessed to have such a wonderful extended family! You can see the little lady bugs in some of the pictures. My sister & nephews made those from rocks! Too cute!!! They provided a matted photo of Micalee for everyone to write a message to her! We will treasure that forever! Oh, and the gifts! I don't think I have a picture of everything together, but let me tell you, we shouldn't need much else for a long time! Everyone was so incredible generous & creative! Thank you to each & everyone of you! You will never know how much this meant to us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! We just need our Travel Approval (which we are still not-so-patiently awaiting, and then we can go get our little girl & bring her home!

More about Micalee....

We've received Micalee's translated Medical & Growth reports, and all is well! She is healthy! Her name translated: Fu=happiness, Na=elegant, Cha=tea. Fu is the last name given to all children in her orphanage. She is called by her middle name, Cha, and from what I've seen, most children are given their nickname by "doubling" the middle name, so she is probably called "Cha Cha"! Here are a few details in her report: she is a good eater (her favorite food is egg!) & she sleeps well (through the night!) - sounds like a good match already (we love to eat & sleep, too!)!!! She is shy & timid, likes to imitate people's actions, listen to music (yeah!), likes bath time, can sometimes be impatient (boy, do we know how that feels!). And the best thing she likes it playing outside (she should like her "outdoor" bedroom!)! Her favorite toy is ring-bell.

We can't wait to go get her! We should be hearing more from our agency about travel, but don't expect to travel until about 5 to 8 weeks from now! The sooner the better! We would love to be there for her 2nd birthday! We have already missed so much! But the best is yet to come!

And here she is......

Micalee Mei (Na Cha)

We cannot believe we are actually looking at pictures of our little girl! We're not sure when these were taken (forgot to ask when we got the call, and not sure if they knew anyway!). We are so excited & still shaking! We should have our original referral documents hopefully tomorrow. Her history is being translated & should be coming by email next week! She looks like she's a little sad, like she's waiting for her mommy & daddy to come get her! Hopefully, it won't be too long!

OMG! WE JUST GOT THE CALL!!!!

It's all a blur, but we just got the call! Here's what we know: Her Chinese name is Fu Na Cha. She was born on 7/4/07 (the 4th of July - Miss Independent!) so she's 22 months old! And she is in an orphanage in Jianxi Province (I think it's Fu Zhou SWI, but I can't read my writing & don't know if I even wrote it down right!). We should have pictures later today & will post them here as soon as we get them!

Millie's out of surgery!

Raymond (0ur vet) just called, & Millie is waking up & trying to stand. She had a pyometria (infected uterus) & had to have an emergency hysterectomy. If she didn't have surgery, it would quickly lead to sepsis & death (I covered her ears when Raymond said that in front of her). She will have to stay at the vet for 2 to 3 days for IV antibiotics. It's awfully quiet at home without her! We will be able to visit her tomorrow! But now that I know she is okay, I can concentrate on our pending referral!!!! It should be very, very soon! We keep checking the email for word from our agency that they have received them (phone calls should begin shortly after getting the email!).

It's finally happening!!!!

OMG!!!! Our agency has confirmed referrals are on the way & that we should be getting our phone call this afternoon! We are finally going to see a piture of our little girl!! We SO needed this today! I didn't sleep at all last night! With all of the rumors of possible referrals & having to take Millie to the vet for emergency surgery, I'm a nervous wreck!!!! I think I need to throw up! Stay tuned to see a picture of our long awaited Micalee!!!!

Mother's Day & Our 38 Month LID-Anniversary....

Wow! Could it get any better! We've hit another month LID Anniversary (although we thought we wouldn't) without our referral, and to make it worse, it's another Mother's Day without knowing who Micalee is & seeing her picture (which we thought we would have by now!). Thanks to this wonderful Swine Flu (here piggy, piggy), we don't know when we'll finally see our little girl's face for the first time! I'm hoping with less media coverage, and reports that it seems to be leveling off, that China will resume matching, and we will get our referral soon! I still can't believe the luck! After this excruciating long wait, to finally be so incredibly close to seeing her for the first time & then to be placed in absolute limbo! I still can't believe it! We have NO IDEA when we will get our referral. Our agency has no idea. They just keep checking everyday with the CCAA to see if matching has resumed. I don't know what to expect. Even if they do finally match & send referrals, will they allow us to travel? Right now, some provinces are not making Civil Affairs appointments (which means no adoption or travel). There are families with our agency that received their referrals last month who are still waiting for Travel Approval. Everything is so up in the air, and I just can't stand that! I could handle the waiting better if I had SOME idea of what to expect!!! This is so sad & so frustrating! And I can't stop eating (stress eater here!) & I'm too tied to the computer looking for any positive rumors to go exercise, so by the time we do get our referral, I should have gained at least 50 pounds (here piggy, piggy!)!!!

Un-friggin-believable!!!

I really thought this would be the day I would be posting here that referrals where on the way, but instead, here's the latest rumor! Apparently, the CCAA will be holding off on sending referrals due to the Swine Flu outbreak! We haven't heard it officially from our agency yet, but the Rumor Queen is reporting that CCAA has informed a European & a Canadian agency that they will postpone sending referrals or travel approval for 20 - 30 days and then reevaluate the situation. I certainly hope this is merely a rumor, with little to no truth, but I have feeling we have just been bumped by the Swine Flu! I'm in shock & numb! I hope to give an update soon!

37 Months (should be our last!)...

I didn't think we would need it, but I found a "37"! This should be our last LID anniversary without a referral! All indications are we should be in the next referral group! To think in about 3 weeks we'll know who are daughter is & finally be able to hold her picture is too cool! I'll finally be able to buy more clothes, some that are more likely to be her correct size! We'll know when she was born, where she is living, how much she weighs (at her last check-up). I can finally tell Jeanie she can give us a baby shower! And everyone will know we weren't crazy and made this whole adoption thing up! It really is happening & we're still excited & scared too death at the same time! I hope she likes us! Be on the lookout for a picture of Micalee in less than a month! OMG! How cool is that!

Missed it by that much.....

Well, our agency has received its referrals today, and they only received them for their 3/8/06 families, so we almost made it in! There have actually been a couple of reports of 3/9/06 families from other agencies getting referrals (but most likely a mistake in reported LID). So, anyway, we are 99.9% sure we are NEXT!!!!! And that should mean a late April or early May (most likely early May) referral!!!! This time next month, we should be holding a picture of Micalee and begin planning for travel to China to bring her home! FINALLY!!!!! We'll keep everyone posted! I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck until then. You never know what could happen! There are some 3/7/09 folks still waiting to hear about their referrals (either lost, mis-reported LID, or something!). I won't be completely calm until we're holding her in China! Calm?!?! No, maybe not calm, but relieved! Stay tuned.........