Century Tel Shower

On Friday, June 26th, several of Brian's friends from work hosted a luncheon/shower for us at Century Tel.

Bella greeted everyone as they walked in the door:

This is her 100 Good Wishes Quilt with just a few of her presents:

Brian made a speech that made a few people tear up:

Here we are opening just a few presents:

It is surreal, and at times overwhelming, to see so many people who are excited about Bella's arrival. Century Tel has requested frequent, if possible, daily visits by Bella.

Smith Family World Tour '09

We're booking tickets today!!! We'll be leaving on July 16th (at 6am) and touring Bejing on July 18th. The total time in air will be 24 hours, so from "doorstop to doorstop" it'll be 30+ hours. We'll fly on Continental Airlines from Monroe to Houston to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles we'll fly on China Eastern into Bejing. We'll be returning on July 31st and landing in Monroe at 8:28 pm. The flight home isn't as long, only around 20 hours. :)

We'll be very glad to have people welcome us home at the airport; however, we're asking in advance to please be respectful of our little Bella. We do know she's the most precious, beautiful baby ever, but everything we've read has said how important it is to not overwhelm her during this important moment.

It's Confirmed

We received notice this morning that the US Embassy has confirmed our appointments in China! I've been busy talking w/ the travel agent to make our final plans, but here's what we know so far:

SundayJuly 19 - arrive in Province capital
MondayJuly 20 –morning - receive your child at the Civil Affairs Office
Begin adoption paperwork
FridayJuly 24- receive adoption paperwork and Chinese passport
SaturdayJuly 25 - fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong
Monday July 27 - medical exam and visa photo
TuesdayJuly 28 - Open day for provincial touring/shopping
WednesdayJuly 29 - Consulate appointment
ThursdayJuly 30- receive U. S. visa, swearing in ceremony

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

Woo hoo!!! It finally came!!! Looks like we'll be meeting Isabella Ziyu Smith on or around July 19th!!! We'll probably be leaving around July 15th. Our agency will confirm everything with the US Consulate in China within 48 to 72 hours, but the 19th looks like our magical date!!! Stay tuned...it's about to get busy here!

Calming Down

After all the hooplah the beginning of the week, we're now calm again. Just anxiously awaiting our Travel Approval. Since we are at the end of June, odds are we're going to be traveling in July. It was September 2005 when we started this process. Over half of our marriage has been spent on this wild, frustrating journey. I'm so proud of us for surviving it with some sanity in tact. :) ("Some" might be the keyword in that sentence.)

Finally....Confirmation

We finally got confirmation from our agency today. If our travel approval arrives before Harrah's closes on 6/30 we'll be traveling with them to China. If not, we'll be traveling with CCAI. This is the agency Harrah's is referring their families too. We're hoping to hear something this week about our travel approval. A main reason we chose Harrah's is because we had read they were fabulous to travel with; they really hold your hand. That's what I want in a country where I cannot speak or read the language, a little hand holding. Let's face it, that's what I have wanted during this process, a little hand holding.

I'm so tired. The past 24 hours have exhausted me! Just when you think you can't be more emotionally exhausted than you have been for the past 3+ years, you realize you can be.

Small Update

Someone with our agency decided to have a heart and take pity on the 8 families in limbo and post a message on our travel group board. It appears if our travel aproval comes this month we'll travel with Harrah's. If not, we'll be traveling with an agency who we do not know. We cannot believe this is happening and we cannot believe our agency is so unwilling to NOT share any information with us. They're our only link to Bella. You know those people we hired to hold our hands when we travel to China and back? They just quit...with less than a two week notice.

If you want to see God laugh....

We just read a message online...our adoption agency is closing! Yep, the people who we hired to hold our hands just quit. What does this mean for us? We have no idea. Our agency has not let us know. I'm stalking the computer waiting for someone to let us know what in the world this means for us!

Where's Our Travel Approval?

I'm hoping our agency knows something we don't know. We're now being told we need to go ahead and fill out paperwork for our visas. Before, this wasn't a big deal; now it's being pushed to be done. (Don't worry, the OCD Smith's have already handled this.) Maybe this is because they know travel approval is on the way? I hope so. I'm now starting to get anxious because other agencies have already received travel approval for their families. We need to go get our baby girl!

Shoes

This is one reason why I will not be in flip flops during our stay in China:
http://www.renmenbi.com/split-pants-scene

Some Travel Approvals

I just read that some families with a LID of 3/14/06, and who received referral on the same day as us, have already received their travel approvals. This might (hopefully) mean ours is coming soon!?!?!

Here's how it works: Once Harrah's receives our travel approval letter, they fax a copy of these letters to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. The US Consulate is the one who actually sets up our official appointments which will decide when we'll leave.

Long story short, the sooner we receive travel approval, the better.

Happy Nine Month Birthday

Happy nine month birthday, sweet baby girl.

Still Nothing New

Nothing new for you guys, sorry. We're a little busy with "behind the scenes" stuff, but nothing new on Bella.

We've received some tour information from our agency and have been discussing how long we're going to tour Bejing. We've also sent our visa information to a courier and she's working on getting our visas together so we can enter Bejing. We're also discussing what vaccinations we're going to take before leaving the country. Because of my job I've had the majority of them but poor Brian hasn't.

I'm about to get started on the nursery. We've accumulated so many baby things over the past three years that it's a little overwhelming to tackle the room, but I'm up for the challenge. Gotta make the room fit for a princess!

We did hear back from our pediatrician and it they're not concerned at all about Bella's blood results. Yay!!!

Our letter is on the way....

We're not on the way to China, but at least our acceptance letter is. All the families letters were received today and they're being sent to the CCAA as I type. Once the acceptance letters are received by the CCAA, it typically takes an average of 4 weeks to hear about travel plans. Of course, we're hoping for sooner rather than later.