Back to work

They are back to work in China after their Chinese New Year holiday. This is good news, as we hope to hear that our transfer has been completed so we can starting waiting for the next step.

That's it, stay tuned...

UPDATE:

I just got word that our new LID and therefore, our transfer date is 2/9/10! First of all, that means that our prayers were answered, the transfer was complete before the Chinese New Year. Praise the Lord! This also means we have been waiting for 2 weeks for our approval, and we didn't even know it!!!

It's starting to feel more real! This is when the process should pick up for us. The next step can take as short as 19 days (the shortest I have heard) or as long as 5 months (yikes), we should be on the shorter end of that wait. Oh my, we're going to China soon!!!!!

Didn't make it...

Well, the Chinese New Year holiday has officially begun. Well, not officially, but the offices are closed and we did not get word of our transfer. As I said before, it would have been completed rather quickly if it would have been done by today, but a girl can hope!

Now we wait, as the holiday is celebrated. The offices will reopen on Saturday, February 20, maybe that will be our day. Now if I am grasping at straws, maybe they completed our transfer today and just didn't have time to notify our agency before the holiday, it is possible!

I did get a response from our agency today and they said that they are waiting for some info about a few other families as well, and they will have the in-country rep check on our status. But, as I mentioned, that won't be until 2/20.

In the meantime, I'm going to go watch my video for the 100th time!!!

Gift for Xander

There are some wonderful services provided to adoptive parents that allow them to send care packages to their children while they are in the orphanage. Our agency allows you to send a care package once your pre-approval is received.

We sent our's through Ann at redthreadchina.com. We had heard great things about her, and we were not disappointed. We chose a care package and then added a few things. This is the picture she sent of all of the things that Xander, his nannies and the kids in the orphanage will receive from us.

You'll notice in the bottom left corner is a photo album full of pictures of our family! We were delighted to know that this was an option. The hope is that his nannies will show him this album and he will be able to recognize us when we get there. Here are two of the pictures that we put inside.

With this package we were able to send a letter. It was written to his nannies, thanking them for caring for him and explaining the care package. We asked that the blanket and bear be given to Xander so that he can have something to bring with him to his "new family" to help the transition. We asked that they show him the photo album as much as possible. We explained that the candy and cookies were to share with the staff and the other children. The clothes are so cute, and they are intended for him to wear, but in orphanages clothes are definitely shared, so it is unlikely that those will come with him. There is also a disposable camera included. The instructions we gave were to take pictures of Xander while he is still there and that the camera be given to us when we arrive. That way we can have more pictures of him during this time in his life when we cannot be with him.

All of these things are very common to do when sending a package, so it is likely that they have done this before. Also in the letter were a few questions. Sometimes these questions are asked on the phone by Ann, and sometimes they are included in the letter. I believe our's were included in the letter, so hopefully we can get the answers when we go get Xander. When Ann contacted the orphanage they told her there were no new updates to give us. This doesn't surprise me since we got so many pictures and a video from them this week, our package order and the photos they sent just happened to cross in the mail.

It is very exciting that this week Xander will receive his first gifts from his family! We hope that he grows very attached to the blanket and bear, anything that helps him feel secure when we got get him will help in his transition. It would be so fun if he was wearing the clothes that we gave him, but we are not anticipating that. We can hardly wait to hear all about him from his nannies, but mostly to kiss his sweet face!

A pleasant surprise!

We got a wonderful surprise yesterday, more photos! Yay! Most of them are old, and taken when he was about 6-7 months old, but we don't care. It was SO nice of the orphanage to send them to us. I got about 10 in all, but I'm not going to post all of them here, so here are my favorites.

I mean the hats he gets to wear are just awesome. This picture was taken at the same time as the picture that was on his referral paperwork.

This is a recent photo! Look at that cubby dude! He is, once again, over stuffed with clothes, but I think there is a little chunkiness under those clothes.

Here is the first picture we have seen of Xander smiling! We now have quite a few pictures in the stylish mesh outfit.

And finally, the greatest surprise of all was a video! Here is our little man showing off his walking abilities. Enjoy!

It's the weekend in China

Well, the work week is over in China, and we have no new news on the transfer front. Did we expect to know anything? Not really, but we were hoping to be the exception, not the rule. The average time to complete a transfer is about 4 weeks, but in order to have an average some must take longer and some must be quicker, so I was hoping we were one of the quicker ones. I guess we still could be, so all hope is not lost.

Next Friday, 2/12, is the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday. I have learned that most government offices are closed 2/12-2/19. However, because of all the vacation days they have to come back to work on 2/20 and 2/21, Saturday and Sunday. I thought that was pretty interesting. All this to say, if our transfer is not complete by February 11 the next day it could happen is February 20. There is a chance that they may "clear their desks" before the holiday, so that gives us hope.

So, if you would like to pray for us, in addition to praying for Xander, pray that our transfer will be complete by February 11!

I realize this is boring, but this is what consumes our wait right now. Our file is in one pile, it needs a "stamp" to move on to the next pile. Once it is in that pile, it needs another "stamp"...you get the idea.

Next week we are going to send Xander a care package, I'll post all about it when it happens.