Civil Affairs Appointment

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Office to finalize Jake's adoption. After some paperwork, photos and a short interview, Jake officially became an O'Malley. After our appointment, Rebecca took us to the Chinese version of Walmart. We were in need of some additional warm clothing items. It was a very interesting experience to say the least. Rebecca told us if we had gone on the weekend we would have waited in line for an hour since next week is Chinese New Year. I asked Rebecca to pick out some food items Jake might be accustom to eating. Again, very interesting. She picked out duplicate items so Emily could have them too. There are some weird jello like containers that she called jelly. I asked if you were supposed to put it on something and she said they just eat it out of the container. Jake was really excited when he saw these jello/jelly things so I guess he'd used to them?

This afternoon we have an appointment at the police station to complete Jake's passport application and photo.

Here he is...

We received Jake today around 4 pm at the Civil Affairs Office. We had a long wait since the driver from the orphanage could not find a parking place. Our guide had to meet the car with Jake and his Nanny on the street while the orphanage director and the driver kept looking for parking. Emily immediately we right to Jake and announced she was his big sister and gave him a hug. She had candy and toy truck to give him and wasted no time trying to fill his mouth with candy. After Emily's greeting, it was pretty easy for Jim and I to pick him up. I would write more but we're really tired. So enjoy the pictures and we'll fill in the details tomorrow.

The clock is broken

It's 12:25 and we leave at 2:30 for our 3:00 appointment. Time is passing really slow. Next post is with pictures of Jake!

Museum & Tea Party

Today was very cold and rainy...again. The forecast looks like rain and cold weather for the next 10-days. Guangzhou is experiencing an unusual cold spell with temperatures in the low 40's. We were expecting temperatures in the high 50's to low 60's so we've been bundling up with what we have. Rebecca took us to a beautiful museum today. The highlight of the tour was the tea room (Undercover but still open air) where we were treated to traditional tea service. Rebecca explained how much the Chinese hate tea made from tea bags. My father-in-law Ed, who recently retired from McCormick, told her he quit his job when McCormick started putting their tea in tea bags. I think the guide took him literally, so it was pretty funny.

Jim and I met with Rebecca later in the day to prepare for receiving Jake tomorrow. His foster mother calls him Sha Ming, which translates to little emperor. Our appointment is scheduled for 3:00 pm.

We've done a horrendous job of taking pictures thus far. Hopefully today we'll do a better job now that everyone is feeling more on schedule. That last statement is somewhat questionable since I started working on this at about 5 am. Emily set up in her bed at 4 am and said, "I'm hungry right now!" I had this great idea of walking over to Starbucks at 6 am, but found out they don't open until 7:30! You cannot believe what the Chinese call coffee, think Sanka crystals.

Hope all is well back home.

We're Here!

We're finally here! Our first flight out of Newark was delayed, which meant catching our connecting flight in Hong Kong was not going to happen. Much to our surprise, we landed in Hong Kong with about 30-minutes until our next flight. When we got off the plane there were people from the airlines yelling Guangzhou and putting stickers on us. Next thing you know we're following these people through the airport. As they were expediting our processing through immigration and security, I started to wonder if these people really worked for the airlines. They were so concerned about us making this flight and we're helping us move luggage and holding our jackets. We caught the second flight knowing our luggage wouldn't catch up with us until today. Everyone had enough in their carry on luggage to make it through. There were a few items we needed so our guide (Rebeeca) took us to the 7-11 store across the street from the Hotel. There are some great stories about 5 jet lagged adults searching for health and beauty aids at 1 am in the 7-11. I'll have to save those for when we get home.

We won't be receiving Jake until Monday, but received a good deal of information about him from our Rebecca. She went to visit him a few days ago and says he is very shy. She says he is almost as tall as Emily and very skinny. Emily does not like hearing her little brother might be as tall as her.

It's been rainy and cold here, which makes walking around outside not too much fun. I'll try to post some photos later.

New Picture from China Today

We were surprised to receive a new picture of Jake today. He's gotten so big! It's very crazy here today trying to get everything together, but wanted to share this new picture with everyone. I know I'm his Mom, but he's really a cutie.

Packing Stress

Should I be doing this right now? No, I should be organizing our paperwork or packing. I'm so tired of packing and repacking. I also have the good fortune of having my assistant Emily unpack things that I already packed. She says she wants to see what I'm taking. Today we took the dogs to the Vet to have their shots updated for boarding. We got in the car and a few minutes later Emily started sobbing. It seems she thought we were leaving for China and forgot to take her stuff. She was most upset about a card she made with her friends in school that she wanted to give to Jake. Once we convinced her we were only going to the Vet, she was much better. After we left the Vet, I felt like sobbing because I really hate paying ridiculous vet bills. Why do I have to pay $400 to have someone tell me I have a fat dog and an old dog. Now I'm really off topic, so I better get back to packing.

Confirmed

We are booked and ready to go! We leave in just a week and still have a good deal of packing and prepping to go. As of today, it looks like we'll be receiving Jake on 1/28, but there is a possibility of receiving him on 1/26. It all depends on if the orphanage is willing to travel on Saturday. I guess we won't know for a couple days or even until we get there. We'll be leaving China just prior to Chinese New Year. I'm hoping we get a couple glimpses of the lucky Chinese Dragons. We've seen the dragons at the parades in China Town NYC. The Chinese believe the dragons bring luck, which is something I'm always up for.

Catching Up

Where to start? I'm a bit behind sharing everything that's been going on, so here's the latest. We received our LOA (Letter of Approval to Adopt) on 12-14-07 and thought we'd be leaving sometime around the beginning of January. Once you receive the LOA, you need travel approval (TA) from China to plan your travel dates. We finally received our TA today and have a tentative Consulate Appointment of 2-4-07. We have the travel details and flight arrangements worked out once we received the confirmation, which will come tomorrow. We will be leaving on 1/24, if all goes as planned. We were hoping to get an update on Jake's height and weight with our TA, but that didn't happen. Fortunately I'm pretty good at over packing, so I'm sure he'll be fine.