Dreams Really Do Come True

When I first saw you
I said "Oh my"
I said "Oh my...that's a dream.
That's my dream!"

lyrics from Dreamgirls

Thought I'd post another pics just for fun! Don't you just love that little jacket?! It has been the most amazing few days. I hope everyone has received the news by now. Lucie is everything we had hoped for and we can't wait to hold her close and smother her with love. We received a little more information yesterday. As of April 2nd, she weighed about 7 Kg (15 pounds with clothes on) and was 61.5 cm (24 inches) long. I am assuming that she will wear size 6-9 month clothes, but who knows? I will probably take a variety of sizes and leave what we don't need in China. She has been at the Dianbai (pronounced dyen bye) SWI since birth. She can sit up and roll by herself. She's happy and active. Just perfect!

I've been able to find out a little bit about her village. It is right near the coast of the South China Sea. It is subtropical there--which means HOT HOT HOT in June/July. There seems to be a lot of fishing and farming and other activities that you would typically associate with a coastal village. The population back in 1999 was about 440,000 people. Mandarin is the official language of the PRC. But in Guangdong Province Cantonese is the norm. (So, Bman is quickly trying to learn a few key phrases in Cantonese. I have dubbed him our "language expert" for the trip.) Luckily there is only one written language in China (not that I understand any of it--but at least that simplifies things). I have joined yet another yahoo group of families that have adopted from Dianbai, so I should be learning much more shortly.

We don't have our travel dates yet. Now that we have her referral, we wait for travel approval from the Chinese government. This gives us permission to enter their country for reasons of adoption. It usually takes about 4-5 weeks to get travel approval (TA). We are planning on flying first to Beijing (Northern China) to see some sites and acclimate to the time zone. From there we will travel to Guangzhou (Southern China), where we will be for the remainder of our trip. Guanzhou is the capital city of Lucie's province. It is also the location of the only US Consulate in China. All adoptive families from the US must travel through Guangzhou to finalize their adoption journey. It just happens to be Lucie's province as well. So we will be there longer than most. We are also considering spending some time in Hong Kong, but we will have to see. For now, we will proceed as if we already have TA. We will apply for our VISAs probably next week. We will start gathering everything that we need for the trip so we will be ready once we have TA. Usually after we receive TA, things move very quickly (ranging from 24 hours to 2 weeks)! We are assuming that we will travel the later part of June into July, but we will just have to wait and see. For now, I have a lot to do. Lots of paperwork and lots of shopping and packing. Let the fun begin!