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Thursday, March 30, 2006

Locked & Loaded

It has been an eventful week - we received approval for our frequent flier mile travel, our Chinese visas, our in-China travel itinerary and Hannah's lap ticket for the return flights back to the US. Everytime I wanted to post a new development, something else came in the mail! Here's a little bit of what I know thus far:
We found out that there are 12 families traveling in our group (a nice large size). Not all have daughters in the same orphanage, but I think we are spread out between just two orphanages that are not that far apart.

Our itinerary is as follows:
April 19th: Leave for China (connection through Chicago)
April 20th: Arrive in Hong Kong
April 20th - April 23rd: Rest & Tour in Hong Kong
April 23rd: Leave for Nanchang province, fill out more paperwork and RECEIVE HANNAH!
April 24th: Adoption Registration, Notarization & Passport Application (takes five days to receive passport)
April 24th - April 30th: Relaxing, Touring, Loving, Hugging, Playing, Feeding, Changing, Sleeping (yea right) with HANNAH
April 27th - Receive Notarized Documents (fingers crossed that they are correct)
April 28th - Receive HANNAH's passport (fingers double-crossed that it is correct)
April 30th: Leave for Guangzhou
April 30th - May 6th: Stay at the famous White Swan Hotel
May 3rd: HANNAH's physical & visa photo taken
May 4th: Consulate appointment
May 5th:Take the oath at the U.S. Consulate
May 6th: Leave for Hong Kong
May 7th: Leave Hong Kong for the U.S.
May 8th: Arrive home with HANNAH!!!!!!

That's what we know so far!
:)

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Sweet, Sweet Miles

Virginia at US Airways, if you can hear me... YOU ROCK!

We have an itinerary that uses OUR MILES, I REPEAT USES OUR MILES that lands us in China one half day before the rest of the group and we leave one day after the group. I guess stalking US Airways for the last week has paid off! Can you get in trouble for stalking a company in the state of North Carolina? Nevermind, that is all behind us now. Now we all must cross our fingers, toes and eyes that CCAI (our adoption agency) approves our itinerary. Upon approval, we can book the tickets and that is one less headache to deal with.

:)

Goodie Box to China

Since things have sped up recently we figured it would be a good idea to get the goodie box we were preparing out so it gets to China BEFORE we do. We included a pink stuffed bunny, blue blanket, photo book with some pictures of us, small plastic rings, disposable camera, socks (we heard that this orphanage needs them) and candy for the nannies.We have been sleeping with the pink bunny and small blue blanket ever since we got our referral. That way it will have our scents and, of course pet hair.


Speaking of pet hair here comes Domino...Hey Kitty. Wait, wait please don't lay there, I am trying to pack the box.


Yes, I am talking to YOU! Who else do I call "Domino"? Get! Shoo! Yes, you are a handsome cat but you have to move... Oh no, wait not you too... well there goes my productivity for the day, I guess I'll finish it tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

CONSULATE APPOINTMENT!!!!!!!

Even better news! We now have our Consulate Appointment! Our appointment is set for May 4, 2006. That means we need to be in Hong Kong on or before April 21st! We will get to celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary in China - that's right ten, wonderful years! Who could think of a better anniversary gift? Now I am off to see if the 100,000+ miles I have will come in handy! Wish me luck.

We will post our travel itinerary as soon as its available.
:)

Monday, March 20, 2006

TRAVEL NOTICE!!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to announce that our group has received our Travel Notice! This comes about THREE weeks earlier than we were expecting. Next step is our Consulate Appointment which can come in as little as five days. There is the remote possibility that we could be leaving for China as early as April 19th.

So, needless to say we are beside ourselves excited. Keep us in your thoughts for the next few days.
:)

Where in the world is Hannah Mei Davis?

Currently, Hannah is at the Shangrao Children's Welfare Center in the Jiangxi province of China. For those who are curious I have included some maps of the country & provinces. And for those who are even more curious I found these interesting tidbits about the Jiangxi province from CNN.com:

The province holds an important place in China's revolutionary history. On August 1, 1927, the capital, Nanchang, was the site of an uprising in the Nationalist army by a group of Communist officers. The rebellion was soon crushed, but Jiangxi became a Communist base and was the starting point of the epic Long March. The scenic Gan River valley helps make the province rich in food and fiber production, and there is a thriving timber industry. The province is famous for its porcelain because of rich deposits of kaolin (china clay) and petuntse (white briquette). Other industries are tungsten and coal mining, oil refining and textiles. It is home to 40 million people.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Why can't I find this product?


Just to give you some insight into my crazy type-A existence... I have been looking for this product for the last three weeks. Why, you may ask? Because I read it on someone's recommended packing list and now it has to be the bain of my existence. I've looked in every kind of grocery, big lot and kitchen & bath stores in our area. Where is it? Doesn't Dawn want to sell this product? Does Dawn have something against North Carolina? Is this another product that I can't get here like Barq's rootbeer? And since I can't find it, it makes me want the darn things even more.

Has anyone seen this product? Or have you used it? Do they even work well? Please stop me before go and buy it online and pay more for shipping than the stupid tub is worth.

:)

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Frequent Forever Miles

We just received the request for more paperwork to fill out from our agency. Joy! The interesting thing is that this time we have a deadline. They have asked us to complete, sign, notarize and send back within the next 5-7 days. I like having a deadline - makes me think things are moving along quickly.

Once we finish this "mini-paperwork blitz" then we wait for the Travel Notice. The Travel Notice will be coming from China and can take anywhere from 2-5 weeks. Once we have this notice, then we can request our U.S Consulate appointment. The consulate appointment can take up to 4 business days. Once we have the Consulate appointment, we can book the travel. Sounds complicated? It really isn't if you think that all Chris and I are doing (for the most part) is waiting.

Our biggest quandary is travel. We have been saving up frequent flier miles for the last two years and since we do not know when exactly we need to travel - there is a good possibility we will not be able to use them. Everytime I call the airline to put a "best guess" travel itinerary together, I get the run around. What is the point of these miles when I can't use them at a critical time? Should I just hold onto to them forever? Maybe we can earn enough miles to get us to the Moon.

:)

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Consignment, oh how I love thee

Hi, my name is Kim and I am consignoholic.

I am addicted to consignment sales. The season is upon us. In fact, I kicked off the season last weekend. I do not need clothes. I do not need anymore toys. I do not need bottles, backpacks or bibs. I have a room full of them. And still I go. I wake up very early to go. I LOVE the smell of a consignment sale in the morning. Smells like... Peg Perego!

Since we have had a HUGE amount of time to get ready for Hannah and I WAS a girlscout, I have been buying for years now. Always be prepared! I must say, we have gotten some amazing deals along the way. Our baby's furniture was purchased at a community yard sale. Not consignment, but close enough for my addiction. It is in excellent condition. Almost all of Hannah's clothes are consignment (mostly 6-12 months, but that's another story). We've even bought formula at consignment shops (I've checked the dates and they are not past expiration - nice try ;-).

I think I like it because of the BARGAIN FACTOR. I am SAVING MONEY. Aren't I a SMART CONSUMER? Well, maybe not. If I am spending money on things that I really don't need, or my daughter won't use, how is that a bargain? Ahhhh but wait - don't forget the beauty of re-consigning your previous purchases. If you are a savvy consignor, and can spot a Gymboree label at fifty paces, you could stand to make a little profit for yourself. Children's consignment is such a huge enterprise in our area that there is practically a sale each weekend from now until October. My first venture into the re-consigning world is coming soon.

But how can you re-consign when you haven't even gone to China yet? Good question! I bought too many 3-6 month clothes and even some 0-3 (don't ask, I don't know why either) and some boy-stuff since Hannah is Hannah. We shall see if my so-called fancy label scouting turns any kind of profit. Honestly, if I make $10.00 - I'll be happy.

:)

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Pictures of Hannah's Room

Since we have finally received our referral, we figured that now is a good time to finish the epic project of Hannah's nursery. We are pleased to share the pictures with you and hope you like it as much as we hope Hannah will. Now its time to finish the rest of the house. Ha ha ha.

Since we had a decent amount of time on our hands, we took on alot of little projects in Hannah's room. It seems like everytime we look at something, we see something else we can add. I was inspired by a stripe pattern found in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog about a year and a half ago (you can see the boxes underneath the changing table). I duplicated the stripe on the wall at a large scale. We kept the pattern to one wall this time, since we tried this technique in our previous house and it just was too much of a good thing. :) Each remaining wall is painted with one of the colors from the stripe. For those of you who know me, you may have wondered: where is Pooh? I am a huge vintage Winnie-the-Pooh collector and it would be a natural to decorate Hannah's room that way. Chris and I didn't want a "theme" room, especially since we haven't met Hannah yet, we did not want to impose a theme upon her (although the chances are that she will hate Winnie the Pooh are extremely slim. I mean, who can hate Pooh?) We are giving her a happy, fun room that she can change as she wishes. As you can see the closet is filled with delightful outfits for Hannah, an alarming majority are 6-12 months old. Side note here: if you see me buying 6-12 month baby clothes, please snatch them out of my hand and quickly walk away. I will try to talk you out of it - do not listen. I have a problem and I am seeking help. The image of my daughter wearing rags when she is 12-18 month size is starting to do the trick.


There are windows on two of the walls (pink wall & green wall) so we alternated the curtain color with the wall color. The windows are brand new, top-of-the-line from Pella and are painted a creamy white to match the trim. We applied these cool flower wallpaper-like decals to the walls - I think the white looks pretty sharp against the wall color. I am a huge children's book fan, my fondest memories are ones with my mother reading me stories, singing songs and going to the library. So I featured some books on these picture ledges and plan to rotate them as Hannah's tastes change. We bought the alphabet cards because I really love the animal illustrations on them. Chris made a little ledge out of chair rail to top off the stripes and give the cards a place to sit.


We plan to use the rocking chair to read in every night. The rocking chair came from Chris's Mom so it will be a very sentimental spot. We are in the process of adding tie-backs and blinds to the windows. The tiebacks and the entry doorknob match and are glass flowers from Anthropology - BTW an awesome store. The pink paper lanterns are from the historic society's Japanese Tea that we attended last summer with Chris's Mom. It is a very nice memory from her visit and I'm glad we kept them.

This last picture shows the rest of the room and the mysterious high window. If you look closely, the narrow window on the far right is at the same height as the large window, but for some reason the narrow window on the left is ALOT higher up on the wall. Freaky huh? We think it might have something to do with the original porch's roof pitch,etc. I love the querky details of our home.

Thanks for looking at Hannah's room. She can't wait to have you over for a visit.