Yes, we've chilled out a bit since our last post. Just hanging back and waiting. One day soon Xiali will be here with us. That's for sure, and there's no point getting too upset about the TA wait.
Thanksgiving was very nice. We hosted this year and we had so many dishes, and desserts. We had two turkeys. One baked in the oven and one fried. Now we are starting to make preparations for Christmas.
We went to the Big Apple last friday. We saw the Bodies exhibit too, suffice it to say, you don't want to get any gallstones, not a pretty sight!
Aunty Cheryl sent a very nice stroller for Xiali. Now if we could just get her in it before she grows out of it...LOL
Grampa Herbie is really the one to calm us down. He said it's only a matter of time now. Just relax. We took his words to heart.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
No News is Good News?
We haven't heard too much, although we are doing our very best to get any information possible! We know this:
1. LOI to TA for our agency is averaging about 3 months, so that would mean 11/30 for us, if it remains
2. Our dossier was indeed translated (we found that out on Oct 31)
3. Others who have a LID or LOI around our date, are now receiving their TA's
4. Cynthia- for those of you who don't know her...she's waited 180 or more days for her TA, but her dossier was misplaced, has now received her TA.
Why is the TA so important? The TA is the travel approval. Once we receive our travel approval we can travel to China. Some people travel a week or two after they get their TA, others travel in a group, so they will need more planning and it sometimes takes a little longer. We don't believe we'll be in a group. Other than getting the visa, we also have to schedule a consulate appointment (CA) with the US embassy. The consulate appointment is the final step in the adoption. Xiali will be a US citizen after that. The CA takes place in the southern part of the country in Guangzhou. The weather in Guangzhou is much like to weather in Miami. The second week of the trip will be in Guangzhou.
We are optimistically waiting. On November 21, the planets are supposed to line up. This is according to one of our dear friends who gave us our astrology rundown.
We sent Xiali out a care package last week. We hope she received by now. Our friend Yili, was very nice, he translated our letter for us!! Thanks Yili and your wife!! We included a camera, so hopefully we will be able to have picture of Xiali, during these days that we can't be with her.
1. LOI to TA for our agency is averaging about 3 months, so that would mean 11/30 for us, if it remains
2. Our dossier was indeed translated (we found that out on Oct 31)
3. Others who have a LID or LOI around our date, are now receiving their TA's
4. Cynthia- for those of you who don't know her...she's waited 180 or more days for her TA, but her dossier was misplaced, has now received her TA.
Why is the TA so important? The TA is the travel approval. Once we receive our travel approval we can travel to China. Some people travel a week or two after they get their TA, others travel in a group, so they will need more planning and it sometimes takes a little longer. We don't believe we'll be in a group. Other than getting the visa, we also have to schedule a consulate appointment (CA) with the US embassy. The consulate appointment is the final step in the adoption. Xiali will be a US citizen after that. The CA takes place in the southern part of the country in Guangzhou. The weather in Guangzhou is much like to weather in Miami. The second week of the trip will be in Guangzhou.
We are optimistically waiting. On November 21, the planets are supposed to line up. This is according to one of our dear friends who gave us our astrology rundown.
We sent Xiali out a care package last week. We hope she received by now. Our friend Yili, was very nice, he translated our letter for us!! Thanks Yili and your wife!! We included a camera, so hopefully we will be able to have picture of Xiali, during these days that we can't be with her.
We keep looking at her little red holiday dress Gramma brought her, and we hope she will be able to wear it on Christmas!!
Tracy, Kim's very dear friend from high school gave us a very pretty diaper bag, with all the essentials in it. People are so nice and generous.
That's about it for now. Please, please, please hope for a TA this week or next at the latest!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Where in the World is Xiali??
The answer to that question is..... the Anhui Province of China in Guangde County. The capital of Anhui is Hefei. Hefei is a large city for our standards. It has a mere 4.4 million souls!! We've been learning so much about China, and you can learn too. Here is a link to Xiali's hometown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuancheng.
Here is a link to a local government homepage for the Guangde County: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.taozhou.gov.cn/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DTaozhou%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D
You get a flair for what the area looks like.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Hello
Sooo...no news since the last post. Actually a small bit of news. We found out that our dossier was translated. That's pretty much all we know at this point in time. We hope that it was moved to the review room over the weekend, but we don't know for sure.
There were a few SN TA's that came in last week, and one for little Abby!! Abby's family traveled to China on Friday, and they are going to see their little girl today! Isn't that unbelievable...a week ago today they were waiting for their TA, and today they are seeing their little girl for the first time!
Aunty from Alaska has been busy too! She sent Xiali some more adorable gifts!!! A little rain coat, (that matches the little umbrella she already sent), some little tee-shirts and khaki pants..my goodness they are so cute, I can't wait to see Xiali wearing them!
That's about it for today. Today is day 66, we have been waiting 66 days. In the past, 66 days would be nearing the average time to TA, but lately that timeline has slipped some. Some people have been waiting 100 days or more.... So let's all hope that this week will mark a change and that a whole bunch of TA's are flying over the ocean and to the homes of waiting families this week! OK? OK!
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