We welcome our family and friends to follow along on this incredible journey God has planned for us... adopting a babygirl from China.
My friends and co-workers at Gen-Probe gave me and Maelyne a nice potluck baby shower today. Henry was able to join us but he has to leave for work just before the opening of gifts.We had really good food and the cake was delicious! Special thanks to Carol Cowan, Lilian and Beth for coordinating the event and to all who helped in the preparation and clean-up. You guys did an awesome job! It was fun opening the presents. All of them were nice and Maelyne will enjoy playing with the toys and she'll look pretty with all the outfits she got. Maelyne, you are spoiled already. You are so loved! Thank you everyone for the generous gifts. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness. We are trully blessed!
We are relieved to find out from Karolyn of CHI that ACS in Guangzhou received the cabled visa 37 and has been confirmed. This means the American Consulate will be able to issue a US Visa for Maelyne, Yeah!!! You are coming home soon Maelyne...
The Travel Approvals were received from CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) on February 20, 2009. This means the agency (CHI) can now request an appointment at the American Consulate in Guangzhou where we get Maelyne's visa, do her medical and oath taking. It should take a few days.
On February 23, 2009, we received an e-mail from Karolyn of CHI saying that our ACS appointment date has been confirmed as well as our travel dates. However, we have a problem with our I600A/Visas 37 document. This document is necessary so ACS can issue Maelyne's visa to come to the US. We called the local office but we could not get hold of anyone so Henry drove to the downtown office on Tuesday the 24th to talk personally to the CIS officer. Apparently, the updated one was not cabled to the National Visa Processing Center. So, the CIS officer re-cabled the updated document and sent an e-mail to the NVPC to expedite the process. It will take a few days to complete the process we were told. We are hoping there will be a confirmation by Friday so we can relax.
In the meantime, CHI advised us it is safe to make flight plans now. So, we contacted Lotus Travel agency to make flight inquiries. Maricel Climacosa, the travel advisor who is based in Guangzhou, China but main office is in Bellevue, WA, gave us some options to look at. After several e-mails, few phone calls, we decided we will fly China Southern on coach class going to China and premium class coming back to the US. Our reservations are confirmed today and our e-tickets for Mom, Dad and Maelyne are available tomorrow.
Hang on Maelyne... just 24 more days and we will be united as family.
Now, get those suitcases packed....
On February 21, 2009, family, relatives, and friends gave a beautiful baby shower in our honor. Carding and Vangie Edra graciously hosted the shower party at their home in Mira Mesa. My niece Grace worked hard in organizing and coordinating the shower which was full of LOVE and fun at the same time. Thank you so much!!! Also, thanks to Christine and Janice who had the smartest ideas of games and arts. Everyone, kids and adults, who were at the party had a great time. The decorations were beautiful. The food everyone prepared were delicious. The cake who was made by Jasmine (my other niece) was the perfect design... 2 lady bugs with flower candies surrounding them. Impressive! It was so nice to be surrounded with loving family, relatives and friends to celebrate our dear Maelyne. Everyone's presence meant so much to us. Your gifts were so generous and we appreciate them. Maelyne will surely love them. She is really a lucky girl!
From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We picked up our visas this morning after 4 days of processing at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. Wow! We are now allowed to enter in Maelyne's home country. I have butterflies in my stomach. But we are thrilled since we are close to meeting her in person and the best thing is she'll be ours forever.
We are expecting Travel Approval from the CCAA this week. Once the TA arrives, CHI can then make appointments for us at the US Embassy in Guangzhou and then we are able to book for our flight to get us to Beijing, China where we are meeting the rest of the CHI group. So, stay tune for our itinerary...
What a pleasant surprise!!!
Okay, Tuesday is the evening I help out at the church (water plants, organize the flowers at the Confessional, change the altar displays, etc...), This night is also the night the church choir practices, so we always have music while we (Kathleen and Veronica) do our thing.
Ana, the music coordinator announced someone is having a birthday. To my surprise, she said Maelyne, and my reaction was, what? The pianoman started playing the piano and the choir started singing Happy Birthday to Maelyne. Her 1st birthday was February 10, 2009. She was also showered with presents. What a nice surprise! I was speechless and very humbled for their thoughtfulness and kindness. We are so blessed and very grateful to have these loving people around us. Thank you very much!
And we have a nursery....
We had such a fun time decorating Maelyne's room. The lady bugs are all over the walls. The crib is now situated and beddings are in place. We think the nursery looks great! Henry and I are both happy with the outcome. We definitely can't wait to tuck her in there.
We got a call from Babie's 'R' Us today at about 12:30 informing us that the crib we ordered has arrived at the store, a few days earlier than we expected. Henry went to pick up the pieces at 2:00 pm so he'll be back home in time for the 43rd Superbowl. Henry's brother Danny and family arrived from LA to visit. As soon as all the pieces were brought to Maelyne's room, he was very excited he started assembling it and missed the US National Anthem sung by Jennifer Hudson. He had to stop to watch the football game (Pittsburg Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals in Tampa, Florida) and continued during half-time. We temporarily placed the beddings because we just want to see how it looks. I will wash them later when we are closer to our travel date. The lady bugs look really nice! Hang on Maelyne, just a few more weeks and Mom and dad will tuck you in the crib...
