The Pirate had closing day ceremonies for his first T-ball season. He lead his team onto the field to collect their participation trophy and medallion. Then, they got a bigger trophy for coming in second during the T-ball tournament that was held at his field. We all still believe they should have won...we are very proud to be runners-up. The Pirate and his teammates just thought the bigger trophy looked "cooler". Oh well...as long as their happy!!!!! Can't wait for next season!We got an update on The Mermaid today....
She weighs 33 pounds
She is 38.5 inches tall
Her head circumference is 17 inches
She has small feet
She likes dolls and blocks, she likes to "slide" and play Hide and Seek
Her favorite foods are cake, fruit and snacks
She is happy, vivid and has a little bit of a temper!
We were contacted by our agency of our official travel dates. When we get our official itinerary from the chinese staff, I will post it. It will fill in the missing dates. Here they are:
June16th-17th Leave/Arrive in Guangzhou
June18th Leave for Shijiazhuang, Hebei province
June 19th Meet The Mermaid!!!!!!
June 22nd Leave for Guangzhou ... AGAIN!!!
June 24th Consulate Appointment
June 26th Leave for HOME!!!!!
For some odd reason, our trip is shorter than most adoptions. I am not complaining!
We received our copy of the Invitation to Travel. One went to our agency...the other one to us. We must travel with it. It looks so official and it even has the Mermaids picture on it. It has a red border. It looks similar to the LOA. All the info about the Mermaid is correct...her name, DOB, the SWI (orphanage) and the province. So, right kid with the right family!!!! Yeah for the Mermaid!!!!
We are coming soon baby girl....
We received confirmation that our consulate appointment at the US Embassy in Guangzhou has been scheduled for June 24th at 9 am. Very exciting!!!!! They are working on our official travel dates. The other two famiies have been given an arrival date of June 15th in China. However, they are going to Guangzhou...we will be heading farther north into Beijing. We will wait...I hope not too long. We need to make plane reservations.
The Pirate had some fun time at school today...He got to go out and play for 1 hour because he is a good student. I went out to help supervise and while the Pirate came up to see me, we noticed a bug on his shirt. Would you believe it was a LADYBUG!!!! The saying goes in Adoptions...when you see a ladybug, good news is coming! Well it did...
At 12:30 today, we received confirmation that our Letter of Invitation or TA had arrived from China! Which means that our agency can now request our Consulate appointment at the US Embassy in Guangzhou. I think they are asking for it to be on June 24th. Which means we should be leaving around June 14th...22 days from now!!!!!
We did find out there are 2 other families going to China along with us. One being from Florida. We have met them...they seem very nice. They are adopting a little boy.
I am trying to arrange flights for the three of us. The Mermaid has to have a paper ticket with her Chinese name on it, she will still have a chinese passport when get home. She will become a citizen where ever we land in the US. That is the hardest part of all... her paper ticket. We'll work it out.
Things are moving now...
Our agency contacted us to give us some preliminary travel dates. The consulate appointment in Guangzhou is the most important date. The agency is going to ask for the 17th, 18th or the 24th. It is all up to our consulate appointment as to when we leave for our trip. Once you have been to the consulate, you leave the next day for home! If we get the 17th of June for our consulate appointment, then we could leave as early as June 7th!!!!!!
We can not ask for a consulate appointment until we get our travel approval. We are still waiting for that approval. Our agency says to expect it soon. So, we wait again.
In other news...
We did get our renewed immigration form this week. That is good news as we can't go and get The Mermaid with out it.
Our boys played so hard tonight...they almost came back to win. They had been down by 2 runs since the first inning.
I am not a sore loser. However, it is important to be consistant with rules when dealing with children. Rules should be decided on before a game starts and it applies to ALL teams. We adults need to remember that in the future...enough said!
The Pirate was fantastic tonight. He had two of his best hits all season! He ran so fast! He tried to field the ball...it got past him!
So, the season is over. The Pirate states he wants to play again...YEAH!!!! Results from the tournament are:
1st- Mets
2nd- BRAVES!!!!!!!!
3rd-Dodgers
4th-Reds
Just a side thought...he came off the field smiling and that's all that matters!!!!!
Braves Win!!!!
The Braves played the Dodgers in the rain...they won 22 to 20.
The pirate tried to make a few plays and did make one in the outfield. He got to hit two times and scored a run for his team. We are very proud of him.....
They play Wednesday at 6 PM for the Championship. They play the Mets...they have not lost yet.
Go BRAVES!!!!!!
BRAVES WIN!!!!!!!!
They played great today. A couple calls were questioned...But, they WON!!!!!!
They play the Dodgers on Monday to see who plays for the 'ship..... GO BRAVES!!!!!!!
Hitting the ball...
Scoring the 6th run of the game...
No need to slide...just want to get my pants dirty!
We got an email from China today. It was translated by the agency. The Chinese staff called to check on the mermaid. According to the email...
"Chengde is not under the influence of the earthquake. The director said, that she is very good in the welfare institute. "
Good news for our girl.....
According to their tracking site, The Mermaid got her care package at 11:30 am. I didn't think we would be able to track it all the way there!!!!! Thanks USPS for getting it there ON TIME!!!!
See below....
Label/Receipt Number: EB43 2737 447U SDetailed Results:
Delivered Abroad, May 12, 2008, 11:30 am, CHINA PEOPLES REP
Arrived Abroad, May 10, 2008, 10:59 pm, CHINA PEOPLES REP
International Dispatch, May 06, 2008, 3:41 pm, MIAMI
Processed, May 06, 2008, 7:48 am, MIAMI, FL 33112
Processed, May 05, 2008, 5:34 pm
Acceptance, May 05, 2008, 4:20 pm
I have been worrying about the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease going around in China (it has killed over 35 children to date) and today, we wake up to news of a 7.9 Earthquake! Thank goodness The Mermaid is 1000 plus miles from the epicenter. Things look a mess and many people have lost their lives.
I know the nannies are taking good care of The Mermaid...I just want to go and get her so I don't need to worry so much.
I got an email from our agency confirming that out LOA was sent to China today. It has been exactly 3 months since we were matched with our girl....
YEAH for the Mermaid!!!!!
did the sweetest thing. The kids in his class made the Mermaid cards for when she comes home. They drew pictures with fish, seaweed, starfishes and mermaids and wrote "Welcome Home!". The cards are so cute and the Pirate was so proud to bring them home. His class came by my classroom and presented them to me. I hugged each one and said thank you. They are the cutest kids....
At 1:14 pm, Ted got "the call". We have been waiting 78 days for this call...but who's counting? Our LOA was received at the headquarters in Illinois. This Letter of Acceptance (LOA) is the letter that states China has officially reviewed your dossier and they want you to either accept or decline the invitation to adopt. DUH.....we ACCEPT! The papers will come tomorrow, we will sign and make copies and then overnight them to Illinois. They will send them to China for the CCAA to approve our TA (travel acceptance/arrangements). This letter states the reason for our trip to China and is needed to enter the country. This process takes between 2 and 4 weeks. Then we set a consulate appointment, buy airplane tickets and then, pack! We could be in China in 5 weeks!!!! We are so excited!
Couldn't understand why Ted showed up at school today....I kept looking at him, saw him with the flowers in his hand and realized what was going on. It was very sweet....
I am not sure I will be able to sleep tonight...I hope I can. I want to have sweet dreams of the Mermaid!
