The latest word on the street (um, from our agency) is that we might be getting our travel approval in the next 2 - 4 weeks! Which would mean traveling in January to meet Emilia and bring her home. So...pray, think good thoughts, keep your fingers crossed...whatever you want to do and hope with us that we get our travel approval in the next 2 weeks!
Have a great weekend everyone!
"I and Love and You" by The Avett Brothers (my current musical obsession):
12.11.2009
12.10.2009
Wild Thing!
As you are all well aware, I am surrounded by a group of amazingly creative and talented women, and I am constantly touched by their outpouring of love and making things for Emilia.
For instance, I am completely in awe and quite speechless at this gorgeous little Max/wolf sweater that our dear friend Susan knit for little E. This, in addition to the wonderful fox and raccoon props she made for the baby shower.
Susan...thank you. You are amazing. I can't stop staring at it, marveling at it, and bragging to anyone who will listen that you did this! I cannot wait to see our own little wild thing bundled up in it. It's perfect.
12.07.2009
The Wall...
So. After 7 straight full days of working on it....it's done.
I'll describe more of the process and details later...for now I just want to step back and enjoy.
I'll describe more of the process and details later...for now I just want to step back and enjoy.
12.03.2009
Off the Grid...
Things have been a bit quiet around here, not just because of the holiday weekend, but because I've been painting, painting, painting Emilia's room.
Last time I checked in about her room, these were the colors we'd picked. Then they started to seem a bit too bright and by the time Shelley was in town, she confirmed what I'd been feeling about them: that they just weren't...us. So, after the amazing woodland critters baby shower for Emilia, I was so inspired by the muted vintage/retro color palette, that I scrapped the original colors and picked new ones.
And I'm so so so glad I did. These colors are so yummy and make me so happy!
And this, dear friends, is what is keeping me from my computer and taking up all my time and energy these days (don't worry...I'm enjoying it!).
Just a little sneak peek for you. I hope to have the painting all done by the end of the weekend, and then I'll start actually putting her room together. We've got everything but the crib, which should be here in a week or so.
So the question is...do you guys want to see the wall when it's done (by itself) or wait to reveal until the room is completely put together?
Last time I checked in about her room, these were the colors we'd picked. Then they started to seem a bit too bright and by the time Shelley was in town, she confirmed what I'd been feeling about them: that they just weren't...us. So, after the amazing woodland critters baby shower for Emilia, I was so inspired by the muted vintage/retro color palette, that I scrapped the original colors and picked new ones.
And I'm so so so glad I did. These colors are so yummy and make me so happy!
And this, dear friends, is what is keeping me from my computer and taking up all my time and energy these days (don't worry...I'm enjoying it!).
Just a little sneak peek for you. I hope to have the painting all done by the end of the weekend, and then I'll start actually putting her room together. We've got everything but the crib, which should be here in a week or so.
So the question is...do you guys want to see the wall when it's done (by itself) or wait to reveal until the room is completely put together?
11.30.2009
Holiday Weekend!!!
:: Thursday, Herman and I prepared a small feast, and then slipped into a turkey coma and slept the rest of the day away (including Dexter!), waking only in time for our neighbors to drop by for more food. In our books...a great thanksgiving!
:: Friday we slept in (we are most definitely NOT black Friday shoppers), then went to see "Fantastic Mr. Fox" which was perfect in every way. We love us some Wes Anderson!
:: Saturday we went motoring in our Mini Cooper. We started in the hills above Saratoga and eventually ended up at Half Moon Bay and Francis Beach.
We hope you all had an amazing holiday weekend!
:: Friday we slept in (we are most definitely NOT black Friday shoppers), then went to see "Fantastic Mr. Fox" which was perfect in every way. We love us some Wes Anderson!
:: Saturday we went motoring in our Mini Cooper. We started in the hills above Saratoga and eventually ended up at Half Moon Bay and Francis Beach.
We hope you all had an amazing holiday weekend!
11.24.2009
Baby Shower!!!
Our celebration for Sumiko and baby girl Yuan was a huge success! We love you Soom and cannot wait to meet this little girl!
A few more details here.
A few more details here.
11.23.2009
A Few Questions Answered...
I've written before about how most families who are adopting a child from China are able to use different services to get updates on and photos of their children while they wait to travel...and how Emilia's orphanage has chosen not to participate in giving updates. We did send her one care package through this company (we put it together and mailed it to Ann in China), and she tried and tried to get photos for us, but was refused.
After we got our LOA, I saw that this company was able to make phone calls to our orphanage (only after we had the LOA) to get questions answered, and hopefully new photos. The amazing women who run this company tried for over two weeks and were finally able to get our questions answered (for more open orphanages, it usually takes less than 24 hours)! Angela (who is in China) is still trying to get updated photos, but it's not looking likely.
So, here's the new info on our kiddo:
1. She's so tiny! Just 29.5 inches and 19.8 pounds! According to Gap and Old Navy, that still puts her in 6-12 month clothing!
2. She sleeps in!!! Apparently they put her to bed around 11.30pm and she gets up around 10.00am. With a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. I hope that once we're home and all done being jet lagged...she keeps a similar routine!
3. She laughs when she sees a snack or toy she likes (love this) or puppies.
4. She's outgoing and sometimes a bit stubborn. hmmm...
5. She can say "ma ma", "ba ba", "jie jie" (big sister), "ge ge" (big brother), "na lai" (when she wants something), and "zou" (let's go). It makes me happy that she can say so much already. But also sad that she has not only a foster mommy and daddy that she'll miss...but also a foster big brother and sister.
6. She's walking with assistance, still wearing diapers (no split pants!), and her repaired cleft lip is not affecting her eating or talking at all!
It's not much, but at least it's a little something to hold on to...
(Also, a HUGE congratulations to Irving and Wendy on the arrival of their little man Oscar. Welcome to the world Oscar! We're all so excited to meet you!)
After we got our LOA, I saw that this company was able to make phone calls to our orphanage (only after we had the LOA) to get questions answered, and hopefully new photos. The amazing women who run this company tried for over two weeks and were finally able to get our questions answered (for more open orphanages, it usually takes less than 24 hours)! Angela (who is in China) is still trying to get updated photos, but it's not looking likely.
So, here's the new info on our kiddo:
1. She's so tiny! Just 29.5 inches and 19.8 pounds! According to Gap and Old Navy, that still puts her in 6-12 month clothing!
2. She sleeps in!!! Apparently they put her to bed around 11.30pm and she gets up around 10.00am. With a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. I hope that once we're home and all done being jet lagged...she keeps a similar routine!
3. She laughs when she sees a snack or toy she likes (love this) or puppies.
4. She's outgoing and sometimes a bit stubborn. hmmm...
5. She can say "ma ma", "ba ba", "jie jie" (big sister), "ge ge" (big brother), "na lai" (when she wants something), and "zou" (let's go). It makes me happy that she can say so much already. But also sad that she has not only a foster mommy and daddy that she'll miss...but also a foster big brother and sister.
6. She's walking with assistance, still wearing diapers (no split pants!), and her repaired cleft lip is not affecting her eating or talking at all!
It's not much, but at least it's a little something to hold on to...
(Also, a HUGE congratulations to Irving and Wendy on the arrival of their little man Oscar. Welcome to the world Oscar! We're all so excited to meet you!)
11.20.2009
Happy Friday!
Have a great weekend everyone!
We've got another baby shower (yes...there are babies everywhere!) tomorrow...photos and details to follow!
"The Shining" by Badly Drawn Boy
We've got another baby shower (yes...there are babies everywhere!) tomorrow...photos and details to follow!
"The Shining" by Badly Drawn Boy
11.17.2009
Amazing...
Remember how we were worried about our approvals and the fingerprinting and all of that delaying our travel approval?
Well...this morning we went to the city to get our fingerprints done. By the time we got home, less than an hour later, our case worker had called to tell us that she not only had our fingerprints (!!!) but that she had both of our approvals ready to put in the mail! We had just been talking about how we hoped to have our approval by the end of the week! We never dreamed that we'd have it by the time we got back home.
I've heard a lot of stories about bad experiences with immigration and these new hague processes, but our case worker is a lovely lady who is incredibly helpful and interested in our story. She didn't have to accept both applications at the same time, she didn't have to push our paperwork through so quickly, but she did. And we're so thankful!
Amazing!
Our immigration approvals will be sent to China, then we'll wait for the word that all of our approvals are in order. This should take 2-4 weeks. Then our Travel Approval will (hopefully) be issued 2-3 weeks after that. And then...we go meet and pick up Qin Qin!
!!!
Well...this morning we went to the city to get our fingerprints done. By the time we got home, less than an hour later, our case worker had called to tell us that she not only had our fingerprints (!!!) but that she had both of our approvals ready to put in the mail! We had just been talking about how we hoped to have our approval by the end of the week! We never dreamed that we'd have it by the time we got back home.
I've heard a lot of stories about bad experiences with immigration and these new hague processes, but our case worker is a lovely lady who is incredibly helpful and interested in our story. She didn't have to accept both applications at the same time, she didn't have to push our paperwork through so quickly, but she did. And we're so thankful!
Amazing!
Our immigration approvals will be sent to China, then we'll wait for the word that all of our approvals are in order. This should take 2-4 weeks. Then our Travel Approval will (hopefully) be issued 2-3 weeks after that. And then...we go meet and pick up Qin Qin!
!!!
11.16.2009
Woodland Critters Baby Shower.
On Saturday, my incredible, talented, and inspiring friends threw a baby shower for Emilia. And it. Was. AMAZING. I'm still in awe as I look through the photos, read the book inscriptions and wishes for Emilia, and see how each of them poured their heart and soul into making this such an incredible event for me, and for welcoming Emilia into our lives.
Ok. I'm going to get onto the details before I turn into a gushing, tearful mess.
They set up this cute little tree at the door with a sign (all signage designed by Wendy), and this little handmade fox (there were four of the cute little guys, made by Sumiko and Rita):
Then there was the table...which could've doubled as some sort of display at Anthropologie, it was so beautiful. Everything was so well thought out, down to the tiniest of details. Wendy provided the tree with the felt leaves and she handmade a squirrel stamp for the goodie bags, Shelley handmade the little birds and their nests...there were even fake pieces of bark with moss, little squirrel figurines, and chocolate candies shaped like little mushrooms.
Amazing.
And the food...oh my...the food. Elizabeth, Rita, Jaejean, and Bates put together a spread that was so yummy...and beautiful!
For dessert, Rita made these adorable mossy cupcakes (chocolate and coconut) and toadstool cupcakes (vanilla and lemon), and Elizabeth made oreo truffles and peanut butter truffles (yum!). They also found adorable little clothespins with toad stools on them, to mark who the glasses belonged to.
There's a general consensus that we all hate traditional shower games, so there were activities instead. There were "wishes for Emilia" cards that everyone filled out (and I seriously can't read without crying), and then little wooden dolls that everyone made of themselves for Emilia. I even made one of me, someone (?) made one of (who I'm hoping is) Herman, and Isabel (Susan's daughter) made one of Emilia. Cute!
And because we all love a good photobooth, there was a great one set up. Susan knitted these incredible fox and racoon set (which I love and cannot wait to see Emilia play with!) for props, Shelley provided the tree decals for the back drop, and Rita provided the photobooth camera set up.
Some of the photos:
1. Rita, Susan, Wendy and me
2. Me with my expectant mommy friends (Cindy, Bates, and Wendy. We really missed you Soom!)
3. The small group wives (Jaejean, Elizabeth, Allison, Bates, and Lucretia)
4. My cousin Kelly came up from LA!
5. My dear friend Shelley flew out from Texas!
6. Me and Isabel...one of my all time favorite kiddos.
Instead of cards, guests were asked to bring a book (yay!) for Emilia's library (LOVE this idea). She got some great ones!
My friends are all so incredibly generous and we got some amazing things for Emilia. Here are a few of them:
1. Bath toys and other personal care items (and a Corduroy Bear)
2. Snuggly Blankets!
3. My friends know my love of Plan Toys! Emilia got some great new ones.
4. Handmade blocks by Lucretia. A favorite of everyone at the shower.
Sumiko, Wendy, Susan, Rita, Shelley, Jaejean, Bates, Lucretia, and Elizabeth...Thank you, thank you, thank you. You created and put together something that so perfectly captures who I am, and what kind of childhood we want to create for Emilia. I love all the handmade stuffed goodies (and edible goodies!) that you poured your hearts into, and cannot wait to make them a part of Emilia's room and world. She will have them for always. I feel so incredibly loved and cared for and I'm so incredibly thankful that Emilia will grow up around such inspiring and wonderful women.
Seriously...this was nothing short of amazing.
Ok. I'm going to get onto the details before I turn into a gushing, tearful mess.
They set up this cute little tree at the door with a sign (all signage designed by Wendy), and this little handmade fox (there were four of the cute little guys, made by Sumiko and Rita):
Then there was the table...which could've doubled as some sort of display at Anthropologie, it was so beautiful. Everything was so well thought out, down to the tiniest of details. Wendy provided the tree with the felt leaves and she handmade a squirrel stamp for the goodie bags, Shelley handmade the little birds and their nests...there were even fake pieces of bark with moss, little squirrel figurines, and chocolate candies shaped like little mushrooms.
Amazing.
And the food...oh my...the food. Elizabeth, Rita, Jaejean, and Bates put together a spread that was so yummy...and beautiful!
For dessert, Rita made these adorable mossy cupcakes (chocolate and coconut) and toadstool cupcakes (vanilla and lemon), and Elizabeth made oreo truffles and peanut butter truffles (yum!). They also found adorable little clothespins with toad stools on them, to mark who the glasses belonged to.
There's a general consensus that we all hate traditional shower games, so there were activities instead. There were "wishes for Emilia" cards that everyone filled out (and I seriously can't read without crying), and then little wooden dolls that everyone made of themselves for Emilia. I even made one of me, someone (?) made one of (who I'm hoping is) Herman, and Isabel (Susan's daughter) made one of Emilia. Cute!
And because we all love a good photobooth, there was a great one set up. Susan knitted these incredible fox and racoon set (which I love and cannot wait to see Emilia play with!) for props, Shelley provided the tree decals for the back drop, and Rita provided the photobooth camera set up.
Some of the photos:
1. Rita, Susan, Wendy and me
2. Me with my expectant mommy friends (Cindy, Bates, and Wendy. We really missed you Soom!)
3. The small group wives (Jaejean, Elizabeth, Allison, Bates, and Lucretia)
4. My cousin Kelly came up from LA!
5. My dear friend Shelley flew out from Texas!
6. Me and Isabel...one of my all time favorite kiddos.
Instead of cards, guests were asked to bring a book (yay!) for Emilia's library (LOVE this idea). She got some great ones!
My friends are all so incredibly generous and we got some amazing things for Emilia. Here are a few of them:
1. Bath toys and other personal care items (and a Corduroy Bear)
2. Snuggly Blankets!
3. My friends know my love of Plan Toys! Emilia got some great new ones.
4. Handmade blocks by Lucretia. A favorite of everyone at the shower.
Sumiko, Wendy, Susan, Rita, Shelley, Jaejean, Bates, Lucretia, and Elizabeth...Thank you, thank you, thank you. You created and put together something that so perfectly captures who I am, and what kind of childhood we want to create for Emilia. I love all the handmade stuffed goodies (and edible goodies!) that you poured your hearts into, and cannot wait to make them a part of Emilia's room and world. She will have them for always. I feel so incredibly loved and cared for and I'm so incredibly thankful that Emilia will grow up around such inspiring and wonderful women.
Seriously...this was nothing short of amazing.
11.12.2009
17 Months!
Since I have a full and busy weekend ahead (my amazing friends are throwing me a shower on Saturday and this lovely lady is flying in tonight), today is my happy-Friday-have-a-great-weekend post...PLUS...tomorrow Emilia turns 17 months old!!!
So we decided that, with the holidays so close, we'd combine Emilia's 17 and 18 month gifts with her Christmas gift and we got her this Ikea play kitchen!
I'd been going back and forth between buying this from IKEA or attempting to make her one myself, but time and effort won out and we decided to go with the ready made one. But, I still love the idea of her also having a little fridge, so I might be hacking some Ikea pieces in the future to make her one myself.
Happy 17th month to our beautiful girl...and have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back Monday with photos from the shower. With these amazing and talented women behind it, I know it's going to be great (like her and her and her and her and her).
So we decided that, with the holidays so close, we'd combine Emilia's 17 and 18 month gifts with her Christmas gift and we got her this Ikea play kitchen!
I'd been going back and forth between buying this from IKEA or attempting to make her one myself, but time and effort won out and we decided to go with the ready made one. But, I still love the idea of her also having a little fridge, so I might be hacking some Ikea pieces in the future to make her one myself.
Happy 17th month to our beautiful girl...and have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back Monday with photos from the shower. With these amazing and talented women behind it, I know it's going to be great (like her and her and her and her and her).
11.11.2009
Beginning the Work.
Our guest room...which will now be Emilia's room:
We finally got the (giant) bed moved out...
Then yesterday I worked on organizing all her books. The kid has a great book collection (95% of these came from the used book store):
And next week I hope to get started on the actual painting of her room. Here's the color palette we've decided on:
After much thought and discussion, we've decided to do something completely different from our first idea of wallpapering that back wall. It's going to be a serious labor of love, but I'm super excited to get working on it and see how it turns out. At first I thought I might be slightly crazy, then I came across this gorgeous hand painted nursery (swoon!) and instantly felt better about my plan.
So. What are we doing?
You're gonna have to check back in a few weeks and see...
We finally got the (giant) bed moved out...
Then yesterday I worked on organizing all her books. The kid has a great book collection (95% of these came from the used book store):
And next week I hope to get started on the actual painting of her room. Here's the color palette we've decided on:
After much thought and discussion, we've decided to do something completely different from our first idea of wallpapering that back wall. It's going to be a serious labor of love, but I'm super excited to get working on it and see how it turns out. At first I thought I might be slightly crazy, then I came across this gorgeous hand painted nursery (swoon!) and instantly felt better about my plan.
So. What are we doing?
You're gonna have to check back in a few weeks and see...
11.10.2009
Emilia at 3 Months!!!
About 10 years ago, the Chinese government started to require that all orphanages run finding ads in the local newspapers for the children in their care, telling where and when the children were found, accompanied by a photo of the child. There's hope that the birth parents will see the ad and come and claim their child.
A few weeks ago, once we had our pre-approval, we contacted this man, to see if he could track down Qin Qin's finding ad. We knew it would probably be one of the earliest photos we would have of her, and would be something important to have for her as she grows up.
We now have the actual newspaper that her finding ad appeared in! It ran last September 17 (exactly one year before we were matched with her) and we think she's about 3 months old in the photo:
Yup. That's our beautiful bright eyed baby girl! We're so incredibly thankful for this tiny, grainy little photo of Qin Qin.
We've already had a couple of people ask about where she was found. We've made the decision not to share the details surrounding her abandonment...for three reasons:
1. There isn't that much to tell. We simply don't have a lot of information about it.
2. This is Emilia's story. She didn't get to choose to have all of this happen to her in her short little life, and we feel it's important for her to have control over this information someday. We want her to be able to choose when and with whom she'll share it. It might not end up being a big deal to her...but it might. And she gets control over that.
3. Yes, she was abandoned. That's a fact and not one we hide from. However, the details surrounding that event shouldn't matter to anyone but her and Herman and me.
Sigh. I just can't stop staring at that gorgeous little face.
A few weeks ago, once we had our pre-approval, we contacted this man, to see if he could track down Qin Qin's finding ad. We knew it would probably be one of the earliest photos we would have of her, and would be something important to have for her as she grows up.
We now have the actual newspaper that her finding ad appeared in! It ran last September 17 (exactly one year before we were matched with her) and we think she's about 3 months old in the photo:
Yup. That's our beautiful bright eyed baby girl! We're so incredibly thankful for this tiny, grainy little photo of Qin Qin.
We've already had a couple of people ask about where she was found. We've made the decision not to share the details surrounding her abandonment...for three reasons:
1. There isn't that much to tell. We simply don't have a lot of information about it.
2. This is Emilia's story. She didn't get to choose to have all of this happen to her in her short little life, and we feel it's important for her to have control over this information someday. We want her to be able to choose when and with whom she'll share it. It might not end up being a big deal to her...but it might. And she gets control over that.
3. Yes, she was abandoned. That's a fact and not one we hide from. However, the details surrounding that event shouldn't matter to anyone but her and Herman and me.
Sigh. I just can't stop staring at that gorgeous little face.
11.09.2009
Weekend in the City.
So, it wasn't London...but it was fun! We had a great weekend in the City, starting with lunch at Miller's East Coast Deli (so that Herman could finally have that corn beef and pastrami sandwich he's been dreaming of):
Then we were off to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to catch the Maurice Sendak exhibit. This was the first time either of us had been to the CJM, and we loved it. It's a great space with interesting exhibits and they also have great (free) art programs for kids. When Emilia gets a bit older I'd love to get a membership.
The Sendak exhibit was amazing. They divided his life's work into four sections and it was so moving to experience his artwork (including his original painting from Where the Wild Things Are) and read his thoughts behind it all. I absolutely love his view of children and childhood (and sheds new light on why he so loved and fiercely defended Spike's Jonze's movie adaptation of WTWTA), and wish I could remember everything he said.
That night we went for the famous salt and pepper crab at the R and G Lounge. So good!
We stayed at the Hotel Tomo in Japan Town:
Slept in on Sunday morning then went for coffee and pastries at la Boulange Bakery:
Then we finished off our weekend at the 49ers v. Titans game, where we had amazing seats and a great time...even though they lost. Again.
Hope you all had a great weekend too!
Then we were off to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to catch the Maurice Sendak exhibit. This was the first time either of us had been to the CJM, and we loved it. It's a great space with interesting exhibits and they also have great (free) art programs for kids. When Emilia gets a bit older I'd love to get a membership.
The Sendak exhibit was amazing. They divided his life's work into four sections and it was so moving to experience his artwork (including his original painting from Where the Wild Things Are) and read his thoughts behind it all. I absolutely love his view of children and childhood (and sheds new light on why he so loved and fiercely defended Spike's Jonze's movie adaptation of WTWTA), and wish I could remember everything he said.
That night we went for the famous salt and pepper crab at the R and G Lounge. So good!
We stayed at the Hotel Tomo in Japan Town:
Slept in on Sunday morning then went for coffee and pastries at la Boulange Bakery:
Then we finished off our weekend at the 49ers v. Titans game, where we had amazing seats and a great time...even though they lost. Again.
Hope you all had a great weekend too!
11.06.2009
Happy Friday (and an update)!
I spent all day yesterday filling out paperwork, making phone calls, and running around trying to collect everything we need. The amount of paperwork to be sent off at this point was a bit overwhelming...because this is the beginning of making everything official to bring Emilia home. We applied for her visa, applied for her to be a US citizen, etc.
But I'm happy to say...it's all done and sent off! Everything!
Yesterday, after talking to the immigration specialist at our agency and the woman handling our case in immigration, it became clear that moving our fingerprint appointment up would not be happening. However, as I kept talking to her, she decided that she would process both requests at the same time and asked me to send in everything right now! Amazing!
Now we wait for our travel approval to be issued! The wait for that varies from 4-6 weeks, and we should be able to travel around 3 weeks after we get our TA. We're still praying for a miracle, but most likely we'll end up traveling in late January.
Tomorrow Herman and I are headed to the City for our last (albeit, short) getaway before Emilia is home. We're staying at a fun hotel, plan on eating some great food, and then going to the 49ers game on Sunday.
Have a great weekend everyone!
"Brand New Day" by Joshua Radin
But I'm happy to say...it's all done and sent off! Everything!
Yesterday, after talking to the immigration specialist at our agency and the woman handling our case in immigration, it became clear that moving our fingerprint appointment up would not be happening. However, as I kept talking to her, she decided that she would process both requests at the same time and asked me to send in everything right now! Amazing!
Now we wait for our travel approval to be issued! The wait for that varies from 4-6 weeks, and we should be able to travel around 3 weeks after we get our TA. We're still praying for a miracle, but most likely we'll end up traveling in late January.
Tomorrow Herman and I are headed to the City for our last (albeit, short) getaway before Emilia is home. We're staying at a fun hotel, plan on eating some great food, and then going to the 49ers game on Sunday.
Have a great weekend everyone!
"Brand New Day" by Joshua Radin
11.05.2009
A Great Surprise!
Yesterday I got the great news that our LOA/LSC is here! This means that China has officially and formally approved us to adopt Qin Qin! We thought we'd wait at least another month for this, so we were both completely shocked to find it here already.
I'm going to bury myself in paperwork for the rest of the day and hopefully have everything ready to send back to our agency tomorrow (there's an insane amount of paperwork to fill out and send back with this) and they will then send it on to China and then we wait for travel approval.
!!!
The only thing that's making me a bit nervous is that some of the paperwork we need to file with US Immigration can't be filed until we've received the updated approvals. At this point we have a finger print appointment set for the 17th, and then we'd have to wait another week or so after that. I've been on the phone most of the morning to see if we can get the fingerprint appointment moved up and this all pushed through a bit quicker.
We're one step closer!
10.30.2009
Happy Friday!
It looks like I might be doing a week long contract job with a design firm I worked with last year, so things might be a bit quiet around here next week (I'll be working in their office).
Have a great weekend everyone!
"Lille" by Lisa Hannigan. Gorgeous song. Lovely video. Reminds me that I've been wanting to make a pop up book....
Have a great weekend everyone!
"Lille" by Lisa Hannigan. Gorgeous song. Lovely video. Reminds me that I've been wanting to make a pop up book....
10.29.2009
Ahhh...The Baby Room.
Herman and I didn't really start talking about or thinking about what we were going to do for Emilia's room until after we had our Pre-Approval. The room that is going to be her room is currently our guest room and we still need to get the bed and all the other stuff moved out...so I'm just starting to really think about what to do with it.
One thing I knew I wanted to do for sure: wallpaper! But just one wall, the one the crib is going to be against. I had my heart set on this squirrel wallpaper by Aimee Wilder (yup...I've showed you that one before)...but when I did the measurements (and the maths...yup...I did the maths), I realized that it would cost about $450 to wallpaper that one wall.
Crap.
So not going to happen.
I showed Herman my other two choices which ended up being more feasible and we pretty much decided that we LOVED the Julia Rothman Daydream wallpaper (featured extremely well here). When I went back a couple of days later...It was sold out. And not reshipping until January.
sigh.
On to choice number three: the Dotty Wallpaper from Ferm Living (LOVE!). It wasn't Herman's favorite, but it's just so cute and happy I thought we could make it work. Then, last night, I went to show it to a friend, and I'm not joking...they don't have it anymore. At least it's not up on their website (and yes...I did email them about it).
Seriously?!
So there you have it. Back to square one. I do have a few new ideas brewing and will share when I get them fleshed out a bit more.
It just *probably* won't be wallpaper.
One thing I knew I wanted to do for sure: wallpaper! But just one wall, the one the crib is going to be against. I had my heart set on this squirrel wallpaper by Aimee Wilder (yup...I've showed you that one before)...but when I did the measurements (and the maths...yup...I did the maths), I realized that it would cost about $450 to wallpaper that one wall.
Crap.
So not going to happen.
I showed Herman my other two choices which ended up being more feasible and we pretty much decided that we LOVED the Julia Rothman Daydream wallpaper (featured extremely well here). When I went back a couple of days later...It was sold out. And not reshipping until January.
sigh.
On to choice number three: the Dotty Wallpaper from Ferm Living (LOVE!). It wasn't Herman's favorite, but it's just so cute and happy I thought we could make it work. Then, last night, I went to show it to a friend, and I'm not joking...they don't have it anymore. At least it's not up on their website (and yes...I did email them about it).
Seriously?!
So there you have it. Back to square one. I do have a few new ideas brewing and will share when I get them fleshed out a bit more.
It just *probably* won't be wallpaper.
10.27.2009
What's Next?
"What's next?" is such an obvious question that I should have answered sooner...but somehow in all the excitement of everything, I sort of forgot to address that. Woops.
So here we go...
On September 17, we were sent Jiang Qin Qin's files...and that afternoon we sent our Letter of Intent (basically asking China if we could please adopt her) to our agency, who then emailed it to the government agency in China that handles all the adoptions. Once they received that it took them nearly 4 weeks to give us our Pre-Approval. The Pre-Approval simply says that they have received our letter of intent and are agreeing that we can pursue adopting Qin Qin.
What we're waiting for now is the Letter Seeking Confirmation. This is the formal approval to adopt Qin Qin, and they issue this after they have looked over all of our paperwork to make sure that everything is in place. We've been told that the wait from Pre-Approval to Letter Seeking Confirmation is 2-4 months.
We've been waiting 16 days.
The next thing we'll wait for is our Travel Approval. This comes after the US Consulate in China, US Immigration, and the Chinese adoption agency all work together to make sure our paperwork is all done and correct and they start making appointments for us in China.
Once we have our Travel Approval and Consulate appointments set up, we'll hopefully travel 2-3 weeks after that.
Yeah. I have a hard time keeping it all straight...and I start to get seriously overwhelmed if I think about all the paperwork that still needs to be done.
The bottom line is that our agency hopes that we can travel to meet Emilia and bring her home in January or February. Of course, we're hoping and praying for sooner...but we'll see. We'll keep you updated!
So here we go...
On September 17, we were sent Jiang Qin Qin's files...and that afternoon we sent our Letter of Intent (basically asking China if we could please adopt her) to our agency, who then emailed it to the government agency in China that handles all the adoptions. Once they received that it took them nearly 4 weeks to give us our Pre-Approval. The Pre-Approval simply says that they have received our letter of intent and are agreeing that we can pursue adopting Qin Qin.
What we're waiting for now is the Letter Seeking Confirmation. This is the formal approval to adopt Qin Qin, and they issue this after they have looked over all of our paperwork to make sure that everything is in place. We've been told that the wait from Pre-Approval to Letter Seeking Confirmation is 2-4 months.
We've been waiting 16 days.
The next thing we'll wait for is our Travel Approval. This comes after the US Consulate in China, US Immigration, and the Chinese adoption agency all work together to make sure our paperwork is all done and correct and they start making appointments for us in China.
Once we have our Travel Approval and Consulate appointments set up, we'll hopefully travel 2-3 weeks after that.
Yeah. I have a hard time keeping it all straight...and I start to get seriously overwhelmed if I think about all the paperwork that still needs to be done.
The bottom line is that our agency hopes that we can travel to meet Emilia and bring her home in January or February. Of course, we're hoping and praying for sooner...but we'll see. We'll keep you updated!
10.26.2009
Woodland Critters!
I'm incredibly lucky to have an AMAZING (and talented and creative) group of girlfriends here in the Bay Area (and one in Texas!), and they've recently blown me away by getting together to plan a baby shower and celebration for Emilia. And I'm so honored that Wendy created these absolutely perfect and adorable invites for the woodland critter party. Seriously. Can you stand that squirrel?
So thank you in advance, ladies, for what I know will be an incredible time together. I so appreciate all that you're doing to celebrate our gorgeous baby girl and make this an amazingly special time for us. And thank you Wendy for the PERFECT invites! We love them!
So thank you in advance, ladies, for what I know will be an incredible time together. I so appreciate all that you're doing to celebrate our gorgeous baby girl and make this an amazingly special time for us. And thank you Wendy for the PERFECT invites! We love them!
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