A Huge Day!!!

I woke up to find 11 new pictures of Anna Mei sitting in my in-box from Ann of Red Thread!!!!  She looks beautiful and healthy.  We got confirmation last week that she in fact did have her palate surgery, and she is doing very well.  The orphanage director sent us a message that they have assigned a full time caretaker to Anna for a while since she is on a liquid diet and recovering from her surgery.  These photos show he eating her cake and looking happy and quite healthy!

My day only got BETTER.  When I checked the mail, our approval from the USCIS came today for Anna Mei's immigration papers.  That means that overseas the US Embassy is now working to generate the NVC letter we need.  We should possibly have it next week!  From there it is on to Article 5 and travel approval!!  We hope to be in line right now to definitely travel right after the Chinese New Year.

Everything today makes this feel so much closer...

News From China

Well, the morning started with an email from Ann of Red Thread complete with photos of the care package we ordered for Anna Mei.  I'm posting them here, but that was not the real news of the day!!  She mentioned in her email that her cake to share with her friends in the orphanage would not be delivered until later next week because Anna Mei is in the hospital having her operation!  We were completely unaware that they would be doing her operation, but I'm assuming they had the opportunity, and/or saw the need to have her cleft palate repaired sooner than later.  I can only hope and pray for our little cutie sitting in the hospital room today recovering from her surgery.  The only feedback we have is that they feel it went very well.  Did they put tubes in her ears to help with ear infections?  How large was her cleft, and is it healing well? Will she need follow-up surgeries? So many questions...

It Feels So Good to Reach Out to AnnaMei...

This week we finally got the OK to send a care package to China.  I knew right away from my time online that reaching out to Ann of Red Threads was the way I wanted to go.  Our package should reach her next week complete with a cake to share with all of her friends at the orphanage, a small blue toddler photo album with pictures of all of us (yes, even the dogs),  an adorable stuffed mama panda holding her baby panda, and a disposable camera (with hopes of getting some updated pictures of AnnaMei!).  Ann also translated this letter into Chinese...

December 8, 2010

Dear Orphanage Director and Caretakers of BaoDing City Social Welfare Institute,

We are so very honored to have Dang Qing Qing joining our family!  I assure you she will be very well loved and cared for in our family.  We are Tiffany and Chris, and our children are Christopher, age 10, Alex, age 9, and Wil, age 6.  

Please share our photo album with Qing Qing so she may see our faces, learn our names, and know that she has a family which is completely in love with her from across the ocean. Our dogs are in the pictures.  Shelby is brown and sweet.  Tommy is white and full of fun.

We are busy getting a room ready for Qing Qing.  Her brother Wil asks every night when she is coming home.  Christopher is helping to set up her room, and Alex is picking out the toys she will like best.  Her Daddy and I are so very anxious to meet Qing Qing and bring her home.  She has so many friends in our neighborhood so ready to meet her!

Please give her a special hug and kiss today coming from her Mama and Baba.  If it is not too much trouble to take some photos of her while she enjoys her cake with her friends and caregivers, we will have these photos to look back and remember the time she spent with you.  

Finally, please allow her to hold onto her stuffed panda.  It is there to hug and give hugs in the middle of the night.  It is there to remind her that she is a little one with a Mommy and Daddy ready to hug her.  

Thank you, from our hearts, for the love and care you show Qing Qing every day.  

With Love and Respect,

Tiffany and Chris

I wish I were there to see her reaction.  I wish I were there to bring her her first Christmas.  But for now, we are finding happiness in the knowing that she IS coming home soon.

A Mountain of papers complete...

Well, our social worker completed our match meeting yesterday since our LOC was officially in my hand on Wednesday, November 24!  All papers are filled out for the next step in the process, mailing to the USCIS for immigration approval.  Tomorrow we notorize, and Tuesday I will drive them to Pearl S. Buck for review and mailing.  This could be another month of paper delay, followed by a few weeks wait for Article 5 and a few more weeks for travel approval.  Travel a few weeks after that...I am losing faith that we will meet Anna before her second birthday, but I am trying everything I can manage to speed up the wait.  Reading every paper, every website, every book.

Today I went to the store and purchased Anna's crib and dresser.  It is on order and will arrive in January!  Maybe Anna will come home then too.  For the first time, I purchased girlie white furniture, and I loved it.

But today is football Sunday which means friends, and food, and footballs thrown around the living room!
Go Eagles!

Finally...Word from China that the LOC is on its way!!

Since October 9th, we have been watching our email, and listening for that phone to ring.  Today is day 45, and while it is not here yet, our contact from our agency has confirmed with CCAA that it is in fact on its way.  This is a relief, as the word we received about two weeks ago was that our file had not moved off the translation desk for the first month it was in China!  We are moving forward.  Our match meeting is scheduled for Saturday morning to review the next set of documents to fill out and send once the LOC is in hand.  Personally, I am excited because this means we can send a care package to our little sweetie to let her know who we are, and tell her we are coming to bring her home!  Happy day!