Olivia's Talk

I'm so glad because mommy and daddy and Kirk is goed to China !! Olivia's exact words. I'm happy to well good bye Love Olivia and Zachary

Happy New Year

Happy New Year I talked to kirk for a hour!!!!! At his new year (of corse) it was fun Adios

Forbidden City

Today, we went to the Forbidden City. It was a lot bigger than most people would think. It has many, many palaces and gates and walls. At every gate, there is a small wall, so spirits get trapped. There is a moat around the Forbidden City. It is very big and deep. There are huge hills that are rough. At these hills, it even says "Perilous Hills" to show how dangerous it is. There are two trees that join together to symbolize a happy marriage. There is a museam inside the Forbidden City. It shows many of the emporers' artifacts. There is a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City (how sad). I think it is amazing that such a big complex can fit in the city of Beijing.

Kirk

My first "squattie pottie"!

Sorry, I just had to grab everyone's attention with that. It was in a very nice restaurant, so I wasn't expecting one to be there. Not dirty or gross...just different. Picture a toilet minus the seat stuck right in the floor of the bathroom.
We were able to attend church services this morning and then went to lunch. I didn't like this restaurant as much as the others but it was ok. We went to the Forbidden City afterwards. It is amazing...much bigger than I realized. It was a cold and slippery walk but still a neat experience. It's New Year's Eve, so we will try to stay up to ring in the New Year but if I get too tired maybe I'll celebrate with all of you back home!
Take care,
Stephenie

Mike's take on it all

We have had a great time seeing all the sites here. Our guide, Rose, is wonderful. She shows us everything we want to see and explains it for us. The picture below in Stephenie's post shows her with some Peking Duck being roasted on the street.

Kirk and I went to a little dive to get some dumplings. The place was recommended by Rose and it was very good. Stephenie was scared of it and stayed at the hotel. Everyone was quiet when we went in, but they started up again pretty quickly. We had Rose write down what to order and we just gave the paper to the girls working there. It cost us about two dollars for 30 dumplings. They were very good!

We saw some of the political sites today, but very quickly. It was snowing and crazy. The army was out with sheets of plywood and bamboo brooms to sweep and move the snow. They would carefully heap it up around the trees. It was wild! Then we went shopping. I thought it would be more fun that being hit on the head with a 2X4, but I'm not sure. Kirk, I know, would rather hit his head on the wall than do that again. We were happy to go on to the restaurant. We are getting fed very well here. The breakfast in the hotel is included and I overeat because it is so good. Then we get lunch with the guide. She takes us to her favorite places and they are really good. She makes sure to order enough for the whole tour group of 15 people. Problem is, that we are the entire group! We always order Coke because it is bottled and you want to make sure the drink is ok. She promises that we will all get diarrhea before we leave China, however.

We paid the travel agency today and now we are watching Chinese television. Stephenie and Kirk are "translating". It is rather funny. I will download some pictures from today and then upload them later.

Snow Day!

Today, we woke to snow on the ground and more coming down. Rose said it only snows a few times a year here in Beijing. But it didn't stop us from going out and doing some sightseeing. First we went to Tiananmen Square (sp?)where were instantly surrounded by souvenier sellers. Mike got a good price on a huge Chinese army hat with the flaps on the side. Unfortunately, this marked him as an "American tourist with money to burn" so he was always having people come up to him to sell gloves, hats, etc. We had to make way for the crazy snow sweeper who zoomed across the square at an odd angle beeping his horn for people to get out of the way. It was quite a big, noisy machine and caused a bit of commotion among the crowds. We saw army officers marching and many of them trying to clear the sidewalks with brooms and shovels.

Next we went on a real adventure to the "Undergound City". Our driver took us to a side street right next to Tiananmen Square and asked someone how to find the entrance. We went through an ugly, smelly alleyway and I was ready to turn around and run back to the van as fast as I could, but decided that might be even less safe. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but found out it was built back in 1969 for a safe place for the government officials to get to in case of attack. It has many tunnels and entrances but didn't look like much comfort was considered in the design. All the work was done by hand by the laborers.
After this, we went shopping and had lunch at a great restaurant that served very "hot" hot pot. It was a fun outing all in all.

Rose had a tailor meet us at the hotel to make me a silk dress. She suggested this after we went to the silk market and didn't see much that I could wear and it was quite expensive. I haven't been measured that extensively in years, so this dress should fit me perfectly! It was hard to choose from all the beautiful fabrics though. I'm excited to see the finished product.
Tomorrow, we plan to attend church services and then visit either the Temple of Heaven or the Forbidden City, depending on the weather.
Take care everyone!

Silk Market Adventure

Today, which is Friday in China, but Thursday in America (We are in the Future because of the International Date Line), we visited the Silk Market. It was many floors high, but we only visited the bottom three. We took are scary ride to the Silk Market. At one time, the van was a couple inches from a pedestrian. The Silk Market had some silkworms at their different stages of life. We also saw their cocoons, which is where the silk is from. I got to keep one of them. The silk here can only be grown in China. We also saw some looms, both ancient and modern. To demenstrate the strength of the silk, the guide and I pulled with all our strength on the silk and the silk did not break or even seem anywhere close to breaking. When we left, we went to a restaurant that had delicious food. I liked the noodle and pork dish the best. We learned that our guide is from Inner Mongolia. In Inner Mongolia, they hardly eat any vegetables. It is all meat. After a brief pause at our hotel, our guide showed us the shops within walking distance. We have to get bottled water because the tap water is not safe. After that, we went to our hotel, and now I am writing this.

From Kirk

We made it!

After a very long day of flying, we were happy to get to our hotel last night. The flight between Minneapolis and Tokyo seemed to never end. I watched three movies ate three meals, plus a snack and drinks. The sunset was pretty when we flew into Tokyo, but that was about all we got to see there. The last flight between Tokyo and Beijing was hard because we were all so very sleepy. I couldn't stay awake so I tried to use my tv monitor and watch a show. It felt like the middle of the night to us but it was really about 7:00 p.m. Japan time so they brought us dinner. I ate some of it just to try to wake up. The airport at Beijing was pretty dead when we got there at about 9:00 pm. I didn't see any other groups of people besides our plane, so it was easy to find our bags. Our guide, Rose, was waiting for us and took us back to our hotel in the van. We just wanted to go to sleep when we got to the hotel.
Today, Friday, we woke up and went down to the breakfast buffett. It was much nicer than I expected with lots of meats, breads and egg dishes. After that, we met Rose and headed for the silk market. I'll let Kirk tell you about that, but I will say that I spent too much on some pretty silk dresses for Eliza, Olivia and Hannah. Lunch was amazing. We had Kung Poa Chicken and Beef and Peppers. Yummy! We went for a walk down the street by the hotel to find the markets where we bought water and some goodies (including Scott's favorite-green apple Juicy Fruit). We were quite obvious as tourist in that area and got a lot of looks from the local people. It was a fun outing and we really like our guide. Tomorrow...the Temple of Heaven!

Love you all,
Stephenie

So excited

I'm so excited Mommy, Kirk & Daddy are going to China!!! I'll miss them, but it's worth it !!!!! It was hard waiting (almost to hard) and I'll get a very special late Chistmas present!

Packing

Today is our day to pack everything up. Since tomorrow is our extended family's Christmas party and Sunday is Christmas Eve and Monday is Christmas and Tuesday is the day after Christmas where we are still recovering, this seems like our best chance to get everything done before we leave Wednesday morning.

We plan on staying up on Tuesday night and celebrating the New Year with family here. We hear that it is nice on your system if you can stay awake that last night and then get to China with your clock reset a bit. We can have fun with the family and get ready to go at the same time.

We will be in Beijing for 9 days and see lots of sites. We were hoping to stay in a hotel close to all things including a branch of my company, but that won't be possible. BOIT isn't much interested in doing that for us and trying to set this up by ourselves at this point is much too difficult. The hotel they have us staying is will be fine; it was the location of the other that would have been nice.

We did find out that we won't be going to Hong Kong. We would have needed to fly into Hong Kong or picked up a different visa than what we did. I thought Hong Kong was part of China now, but it is still its own little world. Oh well, I guess that gives me a reason to go again some time.

We are almost feeling like it is real now. I think it will really sink in when we get into the shuttle on Wednesday. Time to go out and get our cash for the trip. What a joy...

One week from today...

...we leave for China! Grandma Carol and Grandpa Albert are here and will spend Christmas with us. We are grateful for family and friends who will be helping take care of Zach and Olivia while we are gone. It has made the holidays so much happier knowing that we will be going to get Eliza soon. Being in limbo was not fun! So far, we don't have our itinerary set but hopefully we will be getting that done tomorrow.
Since there isn't anything much to add about our trip, I'll fill you in on the rest of the family! Olivia had a dance recital today. We especially enjoyed her "free dance" with jingle bells. She was great! Kirk won the school National Geo Bee this afternoon and is excited to take his test after school tomorrow to qualify for state. Yeah Kirk! And Zach only has two plays left (Wed. and Fri.). He's been "Chip" the teacup in Beauty and the Beast. It's been fun for him and for us to watch but I'm looking forward to him getting to sleep before 10:30 soon!!
~Stephenie

Travel plans

Our flights have all been confirmed now. We will be leaving on December 27th at 8am and arriving in Beijing the next day at 9pm. We will be met at the airport and taken to our hotel and left alone until the 4th. Since the travel agency is "off" during this time, we won't have guides or translators, but we think we'll be ok. My company has an office in Beijing and some of the people who work there said they might be able to show us around a bit.

We leave Beijing on the 5th to go to Xian. Eliza's orphanage is about a 10 hour train ride from Xian, so we won't be able to visit it. They will bring her to us on Sunday or Monday. The whole reason for going! We will deal with paperwork in the province until Thursday then fly down to Hong Kong for a few days. From Hong Kong, we go to Guangzhou to finalize the paperwork with the consulate on the 16th. While there is no anticipation of problems, they like to have you there just in case until the next day after 5. So, we have our flight leaving on the 18th at 8am to return home.

We will fly from Guangzhou to Tokyo, then to Minneapolis and back to Salt Lake City. We will be arriving home about 8pm (at least that's my best guess right now). We will be taking shuttles to and from the airport to make it as easy as possible.

I have Zachary set up to take care of our Christmas lights while we are gone. I told him that New Years Eve was the last day for him to turn on the lights outside. Until, that is, we call him with the news that Eliza is with us; then he is to turn on just the Asian Pear's lights. The day we come home, I told him that he could turn on all the lights everywhere!

I think that we're all excited to be going. Kirk and I the most because of the trip itself, but all of us to finally bring Eliza home.

OK, not the last hurdle, but they are getting smaller

So after we get all of our flights and schedules arranged to go to the consulate on the 10th, we get another phone call telling us that we can't get into the consulate until the 16th. I'm pretty sure that Stephenie was not impressed with this in any way. It's a good thing she doesn't work in a post office (just kidding).

Now we will be going on the 27th and hanging out in Beijing for about a week by ourselves; no translators or guides. We will hook up with them on the 3rd or 4th and then go to Xian around the 8th or 9th to start the paperwork and see Eliza for the first time. Then to Guangzhou to finish the paperwork and maybe see some sites and possibly Hong Kong. Then home on the 18th, or the 19th, or the 20th... We'll see, but I'm scheduled to come back to work on the 22nd. As it is, I'll be gone from December 22nd to January 22nd. I'm glad I stored so many days away when I could and that I still have a few left over.

The last hurdle

We decided this morning to setup our flights to and from China assuming we'd get our TA today and that we'd be able to go quickly. So, out to Beijing on December 17th and home on January 6th. Well, we got out TA... problem is that the consolate appointment was either January 10th, 11th, or 16th. I picked the 10th. That means that we need to be in Xian on the 2nd or 3rd of January to pick Eliza up.

Now our flights are going to be December 27th to Beijing and home out of Guangzhou on the 13th. We will fly from Salt Lake to Minneapolis and from there to Tokyo and then to Beijing. We will come home the same path except we will start in Guangzhou instead of Beijing.

It's finally happening and our Asian Pear tree is beautiful in the front yard all aglow with red lights.

Waiting...

Well, we didn't get the news we were hoping and expecting on Thursday. Or Friday. Or Saturday. It is extremely frustrating to wait; especially when we know the paperwork has been sent from China already. We may just use Northwest and book seats for this week and change them if we have to. At least a portion of the process would be take care of. I'm not excited to tell people, once again, that "we still don't know when we're leaving." I'm certain that if we had news I'd blare it out to the world, but...

Depending on who's counting, we're at 97 days now. We've passed all the "cool" days to hear that we can go. Thanksgiving week, Eliza's birthday, our son Zachary's birthday. It's just time to bring her home.

We are also frustrated with CHI since it seems that they don't know anything and don't have any way to find out information. I know that I should be more charitable, but it truly is discouraging at times.

We have a tree in our yard with lights on it just for Eliza. All the other trees are lit up but this one. I have it in mind to light it when we get TA and then turn it off again as we leave. Then call home to have it turned on once again when we have Eliza with us. I want to see our little asian pear tree lit up all red soon!

A ray of hope

We just received some information that makes us optimistic of leaving soon.

"... (asked when the) adopted parents will arrive and bring her (Eliza) home. She said they have checked with the BJ office that all documents have been ready and sent to the US..."

"We really hope that her parents can meet her before X'mas. As far as we know, most adopted parents don't want to travel during x'mas. Also it takes a week in Xi'an to get all the documents. Within these few days, many children in our Centre get diaherrea, and (Eliza) is already put in the isolated room in case of infection by other children."

"Wait for your good news."

As do we!!! If it comes, we will be in a desperate hurry to get the arrangements made to travel ASAP. Christmas and New Years in China, who would have thought that possible last year?

In the beginning...

Since we are at the point of waiting for our Travel Approval (TA), we need some way of documenting what we are going through at this time. The normal wait, we were told, is 56 to 70 days from the Logged In Date (LID). We are now on day 94! It seems to be taking much longer that we anticipated. I'm sure as we go along, we'll put more out here!

Pictures are from an unknown source that shows her from last May (sitting at table) and October (standing).



















As a historical note, the first message that Stephenie sent Michael was on March 16th. This is when we were first able to see the children waiting for families and on the 24th Stephenie read about "Ariel" on the site. Her message was, "Ariel is the one I just read to you. She sounds sweet!" On the 27th we received information from CHI about her, including some pictures.

On the 28th we requested some more information after talking to our pediatrician and CHI sent for it. On the 30th, Stephenie had made up her mind and was trying to get me to commit also. I did so without too much resistance. On April 4th we started the process truly going. This is when we had to write a Letter of Intent (LOI). Basically you tell China that you want to adopt and that you'll be good parents and have the resources to do so. Then you wait 4-5 weeks for the Pre-Approval (PA). While this was going on, we started thinking about names for her. Since her Chinese name is Yang YiHong, we didn't feel that would "work" very well in the United States. We received our PA and the process of the paperwork chase began. Home study, etc. On June 6th, we got an update about Eliza's condition at that time and everything looked great. Our next step was to get fingerprinted and have a background check. This usually takes 6-8 weeks. Ours came back in two. At this point, we had all the documents needed and just needed to get everything authenticated. This took until the middle of August and we sent them off. They went to China and were Logged in on September 5th. This is the Logged In Date (LID). From there we heard the 8-10 weeks average time for getting TA. And that's where we are now.