HELLO BEAUTIFUL!!

NEW PICTURES AND AN UPDATE TODAY!

Could she be any more adorable!

We got a new update today from Angela!! She spoke with the orphanage director and learned some wonderful new information about Danielle!!

1. What things upset or scare Yu Jie? How do you comfort her?
Yu Jie is an extroverted child. She has a ready smile. She is very smart and quick response. She gets along well with others. She is emotionally stable. She is full of energy. She seldom gets upset. Usually if there is no little friend playing with her, she gets a little impatient. She is scared when she made some mistakes. Talking with her and telling her what is right can comfort her.
2. What things make Yu Jie angry? How do you calm her?
See question 1.
3. What makes Yu Jie sad? Does she recover quickly, or does it take her awhile to get happy again?
Yu Jie has great personality. She doesn’t get upset often. She calms down quickly.
4. Is Yu Jie excited to be adopted or is she worried? We know she is only 4 so she may not understand.
She is too young to understand adoption. Whenever she sees the pictures her adoptive parents sent to her, she gets very happy and she knows she is going to America .
5. Does Yu Jie have any friends that she will miss - are they at the orphanage?
She will miss her friends from the kindergarten. They are not from the orphanage. she is going to the kindergarten in her community/neighbourhood.
6. How often does she visit the orphanage? Does she go there every day for preschool? Does she ever sleep there or only with her foster family?
She comes to the orphanage about once a month. She doesn’t sleep at the orphanage. She usually sleeps in her own bedroom at the foster home. Sometimes she sleeps with her foster mom. She is not afraid of sleeping alone. She sleeps well.
7. Will she stay with her foster family until we arrive or will she come back to the orphanage and stay there for a while before we come?
Yes, we will let her stay with her foster family until the adoption.
8. Will we be able to meet the foster family? Does the foster family speak any English?
No, it’s not allowed to meet the foster family. they don’t speak English.
9. Besides her heart, does Yu Jie have any physical or developmental problems that we should know about to help her?
Up to now, we haven’t found she has any other problem.
10. Will she know any English when we meet her?
She can say a few simple words, such as: Hello! Bye! Yes!

Her updated measurements:
Height: 98cm ; Weight: 13kg ; Foot: 16cm

We are so thrilled to have this new information and pictures!

Our Papers Head Back to China

See this grand building? This the US Consulate in Guangzhou China. This will be the last stop on our trip to China. We will go to this building to take an oath to be Danielle's parents. This will happen the day before they grant us permission to leave China with Danielle and start our new family in America. But before we make it inside this building, or are even allowed to go to China to get Danielle, the nice officers working in this building have to approve our US visa and immigration documents for Danielle. Now that both the US Immigration Dept and the National Visa Center have approved our immigration documents for Danielle, and our file has been emailed to this building in China, on Monday, a nice woman by the name of Ms. Xia will deliver our Visa Application for Danielle to the US Consulate office in Guangzhou - to this building. Then in 2 weeks, Ms. Xia will pick up the Visa approval documents and then send them to Beijing to the Chinese Adoption Authority. Then we wait about 2-3 more weeks for the Chinese Adoption officials to give us our final authorization to come to China and adopt Danielle, called the TA. When we are granted the TA, we can book our travel tickets and make our appointment at this building for our oath, etc.

The most exciting part for us is that now we are pretty sure that we will be leaving some time the first week in Oct and return about 15 days later with Danielle!!

Mr. Elliott

That was my immigration officer's name - thank you for your approval today!! We received our I800 approval today, this is the US immigration dept saying that they will allow Danielle US citizenship when she comes to the US with us. Our immigration file will now be sent to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, who will then notify by cable to US Consulate in Guangzhou China that we are approved. Once the US Consulate in China receives the approval and our file, via email, we can have our courier in China walk Danielle's Visa application (which we already prepared and sent to China with the Visa fee) into the US Consulate's office. Once the US Consulate in China gets both sides of these immigration documents, it issues an approval called Article 5 (all part of the Hague adoption file). When the Article 5 document is picked up in China by our courier she will take it to the Chinese international adoption authority who will then issue us approval to come to China and pick up Danielle. This is called the TA - Travel Approval. OK, wake up, you need to follow all this, it gets more exciting here ...... Once we get the TA, we can buy our airline tickets and set up our appointments in China both in Danielle's province and at the US Consulate's office in Guangzhou. We are hoping to receive our TA by the third week in September and be on a plane soon after!

Yet Another....

Kitty, that is! Yes, Jack this time, picked out a purple kitty to send to Danielle in this last care package. We also included a little puppy for a little variety this time! A dress, doll, some light-up shoes, hair clips and a new photo book with translations were sent as well. We threw in some additional disposible cameras hoping that the foster family will give them back to us with lots of pictures for Danielle to remember them by. We included gifts for the foster mom, dad and brother too (some Blackhawks Stanley Cup t-shirts for the dad and brother). We had a custom necklace made for the foster mom that has YuJie's name imprinted on it. I had one made for me too! Shipped this off today! No word about the I800 yet. I am thinking tomorrow........ wait, wait, wait.

Muy Bueno!

We took a vacation to Mexico this last week. It was Muy Bueno! Very good to relax, swim, fish, snorkle, explore and take a break from the stress of watching the days tick by with no quick responses from the US govt on our immigration papers for Danielle. I spoke with my immigration officer today and he said that our forms are "in the building" and as soon as they land on his desk, he'll email me with our provisional approval. Don't you wonder how big this building is? In the time he chatted with me, put me on hold to find out where my papers are, talk to a superviso, and then tell me the status, he probably could have reviewed and approved it right on the spot. Mind you, I mailed these on July 23rd. I could have walked these forms to Missouri and personally handed them to him before now.
Nonetheless, as soon as we get this provisional approval, things will start to move in smaller timeframes, which will make it seem so much quicker!