11/10/04
Has it only been 24 hours?? Wow!
Name meanings: Hai (Sea) - this is her last name
Ya - elegant,
graceful, refined
There is a web site for the orphanage/SWI she is in : http://www.nhfl.gov.cn/index.html" . There
is a button for English down in one corner. If you go to the Child Welfare part you can see the building she is housed in
and some of the rooms. Dion says she lives better than we do!
It appears this orphanage has only been opened for about
2 years. They have only been adopting babies out for a little over 1 year. It also appears that there are medical staff here
- which means her health should be pretty decent.
As this is a "model" SWI, we will be able to take a tour of the
place at some point during our stay. And this city is only 45 minutes away from Guangzhou so we will be staying at the White
Swan the whole time. This means we will be in very good hands and not have to worry about being in a small place with no place
to buy the supplies we might need. We are set.
There have been just as many, if not more, boys adopted out of this
SWI. We got lucky and got a girl! And so did our travel mates. I personally think she is very beautiful!!!
We went
to the agency this morning and picked up the package with her pictures. We are in love! Now we just have to hash out the name
- something that has never been easy for us!!
We have already signed our acceptance and returned it to the agency.
Some people have asked us if she is part caucasion. The answer would be no. I think she might be a little light skinned,
but what I really think is that they used a flash on the photos a little to close to the subject so she is "whitewashed".
This also made the pictures hard to scan and post - I'm glad I had the originals for first sight as she is much more beautiful
in them!
Next step is our paperwork is sent back to China with the acceptances (ours and our travel mates). Then we
wait for the approval to travel to China. That will be our next big announcement. It is called TA (travel approval).
Hoping
the next 4-6 weeks goes quickly!
11/15/04
Dion dropped off our paperwork at the International Adoption Consultant
doctors office today. They will take a look at what we have and give suggestions for formula, etc. Hopefully they will perscribe
the travel meds too so we can get that taken care of also.
Updated measurements emailed to us today: ht:
63 cm, wt: 5.4 kilograms, head: 39
Grandma and Grandpa Frymark are in town visiting. We are having fun seeing them
and sharing the pictures. Grandma is buying baby clothes! It's good to be the grandma!
11/16/04
Dr. Kolb called
today and went over the baby's exams and info with us. He thinks she looks just fine and there is nothing obvious to worry
about. Recommend vitamins and iron fortified formula. Also told me about labs, etc. to have done upon return. All and all,
except having mighty thin hair, he see's nothing to worry about. He will be sending us info on things to do/check when she
gets home, and perscriptions for travel meds.
Grandma and Grandpa will be heading back to Texas tomorrow. We sure
have enjoyed their visit
11/23/04
Got a call from our agency today. Kathleen needed our GUA number from the
paperwork that the consulate in China sent us. I'd love to read something into that - like she needs it to start setting up
our appointments - but, I'm sure she is just getting everything lined up for when the TA does come in and she needs to make
those appointments. It doesnt hurt to dream for a minute or two though....
We will be heading for Kansas City to spend
Thanksgiving with my sister and her family and mom and dad.We are also celebrating Stayce being pregnant with their second!
2004 appears to be a good year for baby news!
12/2/04
The call came today! We are expected to travel December
16 - 31. Christmas and anneversary in China! Dates are not set in stone yet as I dont have the airline tickets bought - but
that is what is expected. Alia will be placed in our arms December 20th.
Our travel meeting is tomorrow late afternoon.
After that I have made reservation for 14 of us to go out to eat at Back to Guangzhou and get to know each other a little.
Our travel mates will be there also.
We are so very excited. Mom and dad close on their house on the 13th and will
then head up this way. They will stay with the kids.
I have a million things to do. Unfortunatly we are flying at
a very expensive time so that will hurt. Top that off with the fact that we want to have a suite (2 rooms) at the hotel and
it is looking like a much more expensive trip than originally planned. And all I can say is.....WHO CARES! I'd get on a plane
tomorrow if I could!
We will have a busy couple of days as we finish up some paperwork and get the visa paperwork
sent off. Time to start packing seriously also. Good news is that it is in the 70's in Guangzhou so we will get a break from
the cold weather!
12/5/04
Its been a long couple of days. We went to our travel meeting on Friday. It was
informative and we met several other couples from our area that are adopting from China.
The bad news is that we found
out that our consulate appointment is not actually confirmed yet - so we are still waiting to see if the 17-31 is the actaul
dates for travel. 90% chance that it is, but we were told not to purchase our tickets yet. This is bad because as each hour
ticks away we have watched all the discount fares disappear and flights booking up even at full price fares. And full price
fares are going for almost 5k each. At that rate the tickets will end up costing more than the adoption - assuming we can
get flights for the dates needed. Can you say STRESSSSSSSSS!!!
Our dinner afterwards was very nice. I think there
were 10 of us.
Saturday I sent off for our visas and put a box in the mail to the orphange with disposable cameras
for both babies and questionaires. Dont know if we will actually get them back, but it was worth a try.
Hopefully
tomorrow will see confirmation of our consulate appointments so we can buy some tickets and rest easy. We are also looking
into booking rooms at a cheaper hotel than the White Swan since the airfare is so bad. But- time will tell. Either way we
are getting on a plane!!! Every day until that day feels like an eternity!
12/6/04
Well -its done. I went
ahead and purchased our tickets. They are adoption fares so the dates can be changed if needed. Our travel mates did the same
thing - and called to let us know they got the last tickets into guangzhou for our needed date - they couldnt even get their
mother in also. Thank goodness we had just purchased our tickets (probably at the same time - great minds think alike!). So,
if those consulate appointments change for some reason we will be scrambling to change things, but at least we know we have
flights into China. Whew. We sure cut it close.
Later....
Got the call from Adoption Links that the 28th consulate appointment is confirmed. We are set. Our ticket
dates are perfect and everything will work out great. What a load off of my mind.
So now we wait for the visa's to arrive all safe and sound. They should be here about Friday. Once those
and the tickets are in our hot little hands it will almost be time to leave to go get Alia!
12/9/04
Well, we are one week out. Had a glitch which has now been worked out. Our visa applications were suposed
to be in Washington DC on Monday. They did not show - or Tuesday either. This is a big deal as our passports are
with them!!!! Talk about a serious problem. They did show up yesterday - and everything was soaking wet - should
not have used the post office express mail. Lesson learned. They will get the visas in today and pick them up Friday (we paid
for 24 hr turnaround thank goodness) and should have them back by Monday.
Plane tickets are on the way. Hotel reservations are confirmed. Next I need to get the Panda phone all set
up so we have a cell with us while we are there and can call home and talk to the kids.
It's getting close!
12/11/04
The visa's showed up today! I could break out into the hallelujah chorus! (If I could sing that is) NOW we
are ready to go to China. Now I can relax and stop sweating it.
I started a Yahoo group for our travel. If you didn't get an invite let me know at my cox account (
autumnfrymark@cox.net) - Netscape is down once again for me. It's a approved only site so you have to ask permision or be invited to join.
I know I missed a few people as my brain isnt functioning correctly at this point. Let me know if I missed you.
5 more days!
12/13/04
Ran into a glitch with our car seat - until babies are a year old and 20 pounds they are suposed to be rear facing.
Had to run out and buy a rear-facing seat as the one we have is forward facing. Just got a inexpensive one as we wont
need it long.
The base called Friday and had me come in for the flu shot. I ended up high priority since we are traveling overseas. That's
done.
We are three days out. Need to confirm all reservations today. Mom and dad should be here tomorrow night
- they are closing on their house today.
Anybody out there that has Lisa's email PLEASE send it to me. I still dont have it. Also looking for Denny
and Darlene's email - theirs keeps bouncing back also. Sara - are you still using the aol address in your apartment?
Also - Sara can you email me your new address for regular mail?
It's getting close! NOW I'm excited!
12/15/04
Bills are paid, grandparents are here with the older two, suitcases are packed, airline tickets and passports are handy.
We'll be on the way to the airport at 6 tomorrow morning. Wow - did it really take almost a year to get to this point?
Somebody pinch me!
The Yahoo group BringingAliaHome has been set up. If you want to see the pictures and read the daily posts from
when we are in China you will have to join the group. I sent out invitations to everyone I had an email address
for. If you didnt get the invite you can try to let me know and I'll resend if I can from China. Otherwise you
are out of luck and can hear all about it after we get back.
Time for night night!
1/10/05
Adding a travel page and putting our travel log from our trip on it. The Yahoo group worked wonderfully - and we
were unable to get to this site from China.
