Friday, March 13, 2009

A cold day in the Forbidden City



Day 1 was lots of fun!! This won't be long 'cause I am very tired, but wanted to post some photos from our first day in Beijing. We were unable to actually step into Tiananmen Square as the National People's Congress was wrapping up, but we flew by it on foot on a long, cold walk from our bus to the Forbidden City. I do not know what the actual temp was today, but the wind was whipping and we were COLD! My first purchase of this trip was a scarf for each kid! We saw much of the Forbidden City, had a fabulous lunch with the group, did a hutong tour riding in a rickshaw (new friend Regina,. 8, daughter of my friend Kristine and soon to be sister of one of Lilly,s friends) rode with Anna and me. Then quick tours of silk and porcelain factories (i.e. shopping opportunitie2s--we resisted), free time for dinner, and wrapped nup the evening with Chinese acrobatics show. Not bad for 1 day with next to no sleep!!

Anna seems to be feeling much better--just a runny nose. Both kids could hardly keep their eyes open at this evening's show. They are out cold now, and even in a bed rather than the floor(we squeezed a cot intoourtiny room. Tom and I will share a twin tonight. Good thing we like each other!

Lovinmg all the other families...looking forward to knowing each other even better in coming days. Love our guides, Oscar and Barbara too.

OK, here2's what you really want--photos! More from me tomorrow...
Posted by at

2 comments:

The Callender Family said...

Great to hear from you. I am sorry about the weather but I am happy you are enjoying your sightseeing time! Keep posting!

March 13, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Jane said...

Hi Amy, Tom, Anna, and Jared,

It looks like you are having a great time in spite of the cold. I checked the weather and it looks like it is going to warm up over the weekend in Beijing. 56 on Saturday and 63 on Sunday.

Thanks for keeping us posted!
Jane

By the way we found out we ARE going to Germany!!

March 13, 2009 at 9:45 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Why Adoption? Why China?

I'm sure that many of you, when you learned that Tom and I were pursuing adoption of a little girl from China, wondered "why?!" We may have taken some of you by surprise, and we thought it might be nice to share some of our thinking about this journey we are undertaking.

Adoption is something that, even from the earliest years of our marriage, we talked about as "maybe someday." The idea of adoption is appealing to us for many reasons. As Christians, we are adopted by God as his children through faith in Jesus. Adoption allows us to provide a child with the needed love, warmth, and financial resources we have been blessed with as a family. Finally, adoption allows us to add to our family at a time when our biological children are old enough to be more self-sufficient, and we are in a position financially to be able to welcome a child into our family in this way. What we hope to gain is an additional family member to love and learn from, and an opportunity to share the joy and love of our family.

We recognize that an adoption will bring unique parenting challenges to our family--especially since we are considering a child with special needs--and it is likely to put unique stresses on our family in a variety of ways. We are grateful for Tom's medical knowledge and for the great medical coverage we get through Tom's Air Force career, and we look forward to providing a forever family for a child whose medical needs might make it more difficult for another family to take on.

Finally, why China? My love for China, the Chinese language, and the Chinese people made China the natural choice. It was never really even a consideration whether to go with a domestic adoption or international; China was simply the natural choice that we immediately pursued, especially since there are so many children in China that need a forever family.

Chinese Word of the Day

The Time in China

When Love Takes You In

Our Adoption Timeline

  • Travel Dates--11-26 March
  • Swearing In Ceremony at Consulate--25 March (Lilly's 3rd Birthday!)
  • Consulate Appointment (CA)--24 March
  • Travel Approval (TA)--19 February 2009
  • Received Letter of Approval (LOA)--22 January 2009
  • Received Pre-Approval (PA)--25 November
  • Submitted Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt An Xiao Xue, soon to be named Lillian Joy Xiao Xue, 1 November (logged in at CCAA 21 November)
  • Referral Call from CCAI asking us to consider An Xiao Xue's profile--31 October
  • Dossier Log-in-Date (LID) 3 July 2008
  • Dossier to China (DTC)--June 27 2008
  • Dossier Submitted to CCAI--June 2008
  • Fingerprinted at USCIS Jacksonville--April 2008
  • Application Approval ("We're Pregnant!") January 2008
  • Submitted Adoption Application and 3 References--December 2007
  • Requested Application from Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) --November 2007
  • Decided to Investigate Agencies--October 2007