Sometimes Some News Is No News

Our agency got a message from the CCAA today. They were told that our LOA will be sent out either this month or next month. Like I said, 'Sometimes some news is no news'.

At this point, it seems impossible that we'll travel before the new year. Our sponsor was kind enough to give us prices for staying in Beijing an extra week to wait for the Canadian embassy to reopen from Christmas break. We could likely do it, but airfare for December 21st is way out of our league ($7000.00). It is likely a moot point anyway since we haven't recieved the LOA and still have to wait at least a month after that for the TA.

And so.... I need to stop posting for a while. I need to stop thinking about what we don't have and start concentrating on creating a beautiful Christmas for the precious daughter that we do have. She loved Christmas so much last year. She is totally in love with Santa and with all the pretty lights on Christmas trees. So, we'll spend one last Christmas as a family of three and start the new year as a family of four.

I will start posting again when we get our LOA.

Clarification

O.K., we now know that none of our acquaintances actually saw, talked to or touched Mingjie. The pictures we received were given to another family when they picked their child up at the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing. The orphanage is in Danyang about an hour away (about, I think). The other family wasn’t able to go to the orphanage because the road is under construction and the orphanage is moving (temporarily due to the road construction or permanently, like new digs – I don’t know). Anyway, that means that the other family didn’t have personal contact with the little man. Also, we have been questioning whether Mingjie was living in Foster Care or in the orphanage. His report was unclear on that point. Looks like he's in the orphanage, but it seems to be a good one.
I didn't sleep last night wondering about Mingjie. Is he confused about where his little friends have gone? More people that he loved have suddenly disappeared out of his life again. He looks so happy in his little life though. He's not looking at the camera in either of the pictures we got. He looks like he's on the go..... Hey, look at the shoes of the little girl that is sitting beside him. They have the greatest shoes at that orphanage.

No news from the agency today, meaning, obviously, no LOA. For the day… for the week… for the month :-0… who knows. So, day 131 passes...... The Christmas season is fast approaching which could further delay us by two weeks. While the Chinese side of things would be open during Christmas, the Canadian embassy is not. At this point we'll need lots and lots and lots of luck to travel before January first. I wonder how much it would cost to spend an extra week in Beijing waiting for the embassy to reopen. At least we'd have Mingjie a week earlier. Hmmmm....

New Picture!!! AHHH! New Picture!

LOOK AT OUR SON!! Mingjie is the child in the middle, with the Orphanage Director.

The other two children are now with their new parents. Chunmei (in red) was adopted last week and the other child (in yellow) was adopted yesterday. I wonder if Mingjie misses them? According to Chunmei they were all very good friends.

Doesn't Mingjie look great! Look at his GREAT pants and shoes! Ohh, I just want to go, go, go get him! AHHHHHH!

Reviewed

We actually got some news from the CCAA. Our agency was told that our file has passed through the 'Review Room'. This means that the CCAA has deemed our file complete and has accepted us as eligible to adopt a child from their program. That's a good thing.

I don't know if this means that they have matched our file to Mingjie's yet. I also don't know if this means that an LOA is on the way or not.

So, we wait........

A Samuel Sighting! A Samuel Sighting!

Some of you may have seen the mention of 'Mingxi' on Kaitlyn's Cafe (the site I gave you in the last post). She was talking about our Mingjie (a.k.a. Samuel)!

Stefanie has seen him, taken pictures of him and says that he is doing well!
I wish she could have just grabbed him and run him home to us, but at least we're going to get some news and a recent photo of him once they get back from China. Unfortunately, they've been unable to upload pictures from Nanjing. They head to Beijing tomorrow so we may see some pictures then, but for sure she'll send us something when they get back to Canada the week after next.

I just can't believe that someone we know has seen Mingjie in person, has maybe talked to him and has maybe even touched our sweet little man. Right now I wish with all my heart that it had been us. How can I miss a child that I've never met so much? How can news feel so wonderful and hurt so much at the same time?

Day 123 - Also Known As 'The Four Month Mark'

Yep, four months down and nothing coming this week. I talked to the agency today to ask about them doing Eva's entry Visa for China. They said they didn't have any news for us, but they were going to ask about our file. I know that they won't really get any information out of the CCAA. Our LOA will come when it comes and that's it.
Meanwhile, a family whose LOI was sent two weeks after ours (but whose file had been in China long before ours) received their daughter yesterday. She is from the same orphanage as Samuel. http://kaitlynscafe.blogspot.com/ She seems to have made the transition swimmingly. I'm both jealous of and happy for Kaitlyn's family.

And our little Samuel waits, all happy in his little world.

Halloween & Eva's Room

I wasn't too good about getting Halloween pictures. Daddy was away and Mama forgets to take pictures. Anyway, here is the gang with Eva 'the monkey'. The Monkey had an awesome time with her cousins. She said 'Trick-or-Treat' and/or 'Appy Alloween' at each house!

We got Eva a new bed. Her room is a lot smaller than Sam's room, but her bed was very big. We put her bed into Sam's room and got her a new, small scale bed. We weren't sure how she was going to take it, but she LOVES it. She kept going up to lie down in her new bed all afternoon and she couldn't wait to get into it tonight. Hope the romance lasts. She even let me cover her up...with real covers. She never wants that. I mean n.e.v.e.r.