Updated Photos of Brooke and Itinerary

According to her update as of 11/12/07 she is 28" tall and and 21 lbs. Wow she is 2lbs bigger and a 1/2 inch taller than Sienna was at the same age!

Itinerary:

12/5-leave for Hong Kong

12/6- Arrive Hong Kong at 7:40pm-Regal Kowloon, Hong Kong

12/7-Free day while waiting for group to fly in

12/8-Hong Kong tour

12/9-depart Hong Kong/arrive Nanchang-WE GET BROOKE TODAY!-JinFeng Hotel

12/10-12/15 Chinese adoption business/touring/bonding in Nanchang

12/16- depart nanchang/arrive Guangzhou-White Swan Hotel

12/17-12/19 business at US Consulate business/shopping/ touring

12/20 free day

12/21 -depart Guangzhou-via China Southern/arrive Hong Kong and depart flight #856 United for LAX arrive 8:35am that same day! Brooke arrives and becomes a US Citizen! Welcome home little girl!

We are all set and just have to finish at work, pack, buy a few more items...

We have finalized our International flights! YIPEEEEEE

We are leaving LAX 12:10pm on 12/5/07 United flight #867 and returning 8:35 am on 12/21/07 United flight #856 to LAX (terminal 7). We have an extra night in Hong Kong so I booked us at Disney's Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong. Disneyland is 4 miles from the airport. Hopefully, we will see the park!

Travel dates are set

We are leaving the 5th and coming home the 20th. I still have not completely finalized our airline plans but hopefully tomorrow I think we will be all set. We are planning on direct nonstop flights on United from LAX. Our consulate appt. has been booked, travel approval received, and the passports recd by the consulate for visas. Our agency CCAI is working on our in country travel plans. I think there are ten families going to our province and about 35 families meeting in Hong Kong and then going off with their separate groups. I think we are staying at the Regal Kowloon in Hong Kong. The Regal i believe is just down the street from the Shangri La hotel where we stayed last time we were in Hong Kong. I don't know which hotel we are using in Nanchang. Its hard to believe we are leaving a week from tomorrow.

All of sudden it is really busy at work. I received two new packages and Mike has said no more...we are at capacity. So this probably ends up being an excellent time to take a leave. I have taken care of my xmas card list and gift baskets for my VIP bank customers. On friday my neighbor Jan and I are having a session at Dream Dinners. We are assembling fresh ingredients for 3 entrees that will be frozen and eaten when we return from China. Now thats a good idea!

Our Travel Approval arrived.

We will be joining the group on Dec 6th in Hong Kong and leaving on Dec 5th. We just have to see if United Airlines will help make this happen, we need to move up our travel a week! I am trying not to finalize until we have our consulate appt.

We are so relieved to have this done. Hopefully, we will get our appointment on monday. I think we will return around the 21st or 22nd, maybe even the 20th.

I have put in my paperwork to take time off work till 2/4/08. I am lucky that I saved all my personal and vacation time for this!

Sienna's "100 Good Wishes quilt" is done!

The finishing touches for Brooke's room

Welcome to our wild ride!!!

Our agency called again today to indicate that travel approvals had arrived for a majority of the group, and ours was one of a handful that were missing....

What does this mean, well the large group is aiming to travel now by 12/6 as our agency has requested appointments from the US Consulate in Guangzhou for them. The agency says they are hopeful and optimistic that we can expect our travel approval anytime within the next 2 working days. If that is the case we will remain with the group and travel by 12/6 as well. Like I indicated in an earlier post this is a week earlier than I predicted. The group has been told not to finalize their flights to/from Hong Kong until the Consulate Appt. is obtained. So we may only have a week to maybe a week and a half to get our flights finalized before travel.

This is going to be a very very very long couple of days. I just want some certainty.

On the positive side work is okay with me being gone until 2/4, and I have to rush now to tidy up and close the office, fill out leave paperwork, expense reports, finish loans, order holiday gifts for clients, send gifts to the staff and prepare cards for mailing. We will miss all the holiday festivities leading up to Christmas and Hanukah but be home by they think...the 21st.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!! Gooble Gooble

OH MY GOD!!!!!

WE COULD BE LEAVING AS EARLY AS 12/5, IN TWO WEEKS!!!!!

Our agency called to find out if our paperwork was in order and to find out if we were open to traveling by 12/6. They said if they received travel approvals from CHINA this week they were going to push for that date! I didn't really think it was possible and now two agencies are reporting to their families that TAs were signed in China on 11/18 and may be received here by FRIDAY.

I checked airline availability for our seats and it looks tight.

Lets see how this pans out! I am in panic mode right now!!!

I think it finally hit, WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

Wow!

This weekend I started going through all of Sienna's old things to find the items we would be recycling for Brooke. First let me just say our big girl is really a big girl now and not a baby anymore. I looked at her old clothes (and I only had some that were nine months) from mostly 12 months and up and boy was she little! I can hardly remember those days. Anyway, mostly everything is in great shape, the high chair, the crib, toys, clothes etc. and so we are lucky to have most of everything we need. Today it hit that we are going to have a baby when I was grocery shopping and I bought diapers, wipes and looked at the formula choices. It seems so far away... the last time I bought those items...the time just ran by.

This weekend was also very busy with a build a bear birthday party and a first birthday party down the street on Saturday. On Sunday Sienna and I invited our neighbor and her daughter out to see the show Alice in Wonderland and then we ate at Rubys, Sienna's favorite place. It was just us girls.

Also, I received on Friday Sienna's finished 100 good wishes quilt from the quilter. It looks beautiful! I will post pictures soon. I also completed a pillow sham for Brookes room to match her quilt.

Getting ready to hit the friendly skies...

It has been a crazy week since referral day.

So far we have made travel arrangements that I feel in my gut are firm (based on talking with our agency) however it is subject to a Travel approval from the Chinese Gov't and then getting a consulate appt. I can say that our agency is definately shooting to get us to Hong Kong by the 14th of December. My arrangements have us getting in a day earlier. We think this is important for Sienna who will need the rest to acclimate to the time change. I have us returning on the 29th. The agency felt it would probably end up being the 28th or 29th. We erred on the side of conservatism.

Just to give you an idea of what we did this week-

1. You all know we emailed the world with pictures of Brooke.
2. Finished our Annual letter for insertion to our Holiday Card, along with of course...pictures of Brooke (in case you have not had enough)
3. We registered at Babies R Us
4. We filled out our visa applications and obtained our passports to mail out.
5. Signed and notarized 5 documents.
6. Obtained documents in the Safe Deposit Box.
7. Karen had a cleaning found out she had a cavity. Then she had a tooth filled.
8. Did lots of shopping for over the counter meds and perscriptions.
7. Karen had a personal training session of Thursday.
9. Karen went to the Getty Villa on Saturday with Angie (a Kiwanis outing).
10. Karen had a golf lesson on Saturday.
11. John had a tennis lesson on Saturday.
12. Karen and John had a personal training session on Sunday
13. Sienna went to a Birthday party on Saturday.
14. Karen went to a Rosemary's board meeting on Tues.
15. Karen and John entertained Karen's Clients on Wed. evening
15. Printed out packing lists
16. completed airline arrangements.

We have a travel conference call with our agency and members of our travel group. so far I see there are at least 6 families in this group. There is not much to do in Nanchang. but I am sure we will spend that week bonding and getting to know Brooke.

Whew!

The end of a perfect week.

This was the most emotional time we have ever experienced next to having Sienna. We feel so blessed and happy. We appreciate all the emails, phone calls and support that everyone has shown. Yesterday at our Kiwanis meeting they passed a basket so they could give us a gift for Brooke. I was really touched.

I spoke to our agency yesterday and they are pushing to have us in Hong Kong by the 14th of December and then we would fly out to Nanchang to get Brooke by the 16th. We will spend about a week in the province taking care of the Chinese side of the adoption and then we fly to Guangzhou (pronounced "gwanjoe") to finish up the US side. If everything goes as planned we should be home around the 28th or 29th. However, all planning is subject to first getting the travel approval for adoption by Beijing and then a scheduled appointment with the US Consulate. So until that is finalized plans are not permanent.

WE ARE IN LOVE!

We told Sienna last night that she had a baby sister and she was so happy that she kept asking over and over again to see her picture. I printed a picture for her to take and share with her friends at preschool, she is so proud!

The orphanage that Brooke is in is Poyang SWI, in the city of Poyang. They are on the other side of the Poyang lake, but you have to drive around the lake to get there about 3 hours. The orphanage just began participating in the international adoption program about a year ago. I went onto the parents yahoo site last night and found that one of the parents visited "unannounced" the orphanage prior to receiving his child 3 weeks ago. Fortunately his was received well and he was let onto the grounds. He said the babies were surprisingly well cared for and happy, very social and developmentally on track. He was very impressed and surprised as the orphanage and staff had surpassed his expectations. He did post a slide show on his trip. The orphanage is on the outskirts of town and replaced an older SWI (Social welfare cetner/orphanage) in town. The grounds and buildings are very nice and there is ample green space for children to run around. We feel so much better knowing the city and orphanage she is from and seeing it for ourselves. Oh he also said that many of the babies go to foster care the 6 weeks prior to adoption but there is no record of that. He found that out by bumping into the foster mother and his child while walking through the city. He bumped into the Asst. Director who confirmed this was not a normal occurance and should not happen. But he said everyone was very nice!

We are awaiting the Fed Ex today and the rest of the pictures and our acceptance document.

Thank you everyone for the giant outpouring of love you showed our family yesterday....We know we have a great support system and wonderful caring friends and family. Plus the adoption community of families with children from China is amazing. They are there for you all the way cheering you on!

Introducing Brooke Chang Drew!

We are over the moon, she only just turned 9 months old and was born 2/4/07! She is a replica of Sienna as a baby from the nose down.

Her full name is Bo Chang (Chang is her first name) and her name means long and happy day. She was taken to the orphanage, the Po Yang county Civil Affairs Office on 3/20/07. She is a healthy happy baby that appears to be developmentally on track as she sits up, rolls over, and holds her head up.

The agency said that we need to plan on being in Hong Kong on or before 12/14! Thats 5 weeks or less! From there we travel to the capital of the Jiangxi province to the city of Nanchang.

Thank you everyone for being there for us! We love you! Karen John and Big Sis Sienna

Sitting on pins and needles

On Sunday we found out our group had been matched and yesterday I confirmed with our agency that they had received a match for us. However, the translating and confirming would take an extra day. Well here we are today waiting for the "the call".

Is it a he or she and what does he/she look like? We found out a few families who didn't specify gender were surprised yesterday with healthy boys. How old will she/he be? Will Sienna have a little baby to help mommy to take care of, or an instant playmate. We are approved up to 3 years of age! Where is he/she located and what province are we traveling to? Is there a foster care family? does he/she take a bottle or eat solid food? Does he/she sleep through the night? Was there an abandonment note left with the child? What is her/his measurements and weight? How many families are traveling with us? When are we leaving?

We will know soon....

It is official CCAA has matched to December 8th!!!!!

WE ARE IN! YIPPEE

The stork is flying and should be at our house soon.

We expect our agency to recieve our match before noon tomorrow. They will translate and verify the information and then call us on Tues. They will email us a picture of our child at that time.

Travel to China will occur in 5-7 weeks.

We are coming to get you Brooke!!!!!