Eight Days to Go

Eight days to go until we leave for China and still no home-study addendum. I called the social-worker agency and informed them in no uncertain terms that if the addendum isn't in our hands by the 29th, "we're screwed." They will FedEx it overnight, so I'm hoping we'll get it Friday morning.

Well, it wouldn't be a blessed important event without some last-minute scrambling, would it? Hopefully, this is it.

UPDATE: The addendum finally arrived today - a full week after it was sent Priority Mail. (Well, that's the post office for you.) We now have every piece of paper in place and we're good to go.

Room Readiness, More Developments, and Random Thoughts

After a lot of work, our daughter's room is finally 100% ready! All the boxes of books have been removed and shelved, her dresser is getting some clothes in it, she has nice warm flannel sheets on her bed, and her bookshelves are filled with fun books from I Love You Like Crazy Cakes to Walter the Farting Dog.

With nine days to go, we have still not received our home-study addendum specifically clearing us to adopt Xiao-Ling. We talked with the social-work agency yesterday and was told it was sent out priority mail a week ago - and that we are the fourth family to have this same problem. (It seems they're having some issues with their mail service.) If needed, the social worker who did our home-study will FedEx the documents to us directly.

We're also reading Our Own, a book about adopting and parenting older children. It's something of a harrowing read, as it details the many problems that can result when raising institutionalized kids. We know a lot of it does not apply to us since Xiao-Ling is not institutionalized in the accepted sense of the word (she currently lives in CHI's Beijing foster-care center) but it still makes an impact. It will certainly be different than raising Harry, who arrived when he was just 4½ months old - after all, our daughter will have her 5th birthday just two weeks after we get home.

I'm also wondering what will happen when Christmas comes around and she sees no tree and no decorations. I'm putting in a call to CHI to see if they celebrate Christmas at the foster-care center and how we can manage her expectations. We will be celebrating Chanukah with her in China, as it runs from December 4-12 this year. Hopefully, she'll enjoy it.

UPDATE: CHI says China does not celebrate Christmas (or indeed any Western holidays) the way it's celebrated here in the US, so Xiao-Ling won't look up at the roof and ask where Santa will park his sleigh.

Fingerprints Cleared!

USCIS has sent our (re)fingerprints to the American Consulate in Guangzhou and received confirmation of same, so that's done. The only item we're waiting for is the updated home study specifically approving us to adopt Xiao-Ling, and we hope that will arrive in today's mail.

On the technological front, we won't have to buy any voltage converters, as both our laptop and my sleep-apnea machine can run off the 220-volt power supply used in China with no problems. All we have to get are a couple of adapters to make the American plugs fit into the Chinese sockets.

Ten days to go...

Scheduling and More Papers

We received the final travel packet from CHI with an updated checklist of papers to take with us, tipping guide and important paperwork.

A possible snag, though, is that we have not yet received written confirmation from USCIS that our fingerprints were updated and cleared by the FBI. The travel coordinator at CHI told me over the phone that written confirmation is not needed, but the checklist says it is. So, just in case, we called our Congressional representative's office yesterday afternoon and they will lean on USCIS to get us that paper.

We have already scheduled Xiao-Ling's formal conversion to Judaism at a mikvah (a Jewish ritual bath) in Teaneck for December 17, the Monday after we get home. We have also scheduled her public naming at our temple for Sunday, January 20, the day before Martin Luther King's birthday.

13 days to go...

A New Desk - and Our Itinerary!

Xiao-Ling's room is 99% complete - she now has a desk, a wonderful gift from her foster family when she was in Los Angeles for medical treatment 2 1/2 years ago. All that's left to take out are a few boxes of books, and those will go on an (as yet unbuilt) bookshelf.

But we now have our itinerary for when we go to China! Beijing to Haikou to Sanya to Guangzhou to Beijing and from there back home. We've also done some Googling and found a synagogue in Beijing - Kehillat Beijing - for Shabbat services on 11/30 and 12/14.

18 days to go...

Fingerprints Redux

USCIS says our (re)fingerprints were cleared by the FBI and a cable to this effect is on its way to the American Consulate in Guangzhou. Only 21 days to go...

Photo Albums and Phirst Class

With less than four weeks to go until we go get our daughter, we put together a photo album with pictures of us, Harry, the cats, and our house so she knows what we look like. (Hopefully, she won't go "eeew!") Jacquie wrote loving captions for the photos and we sent it off to CHI for translation into Chinese and forwarding to Beijing. We made another copy of the album sans translation to bring with us to China.

And speaking of going to China, we are now officially in First Class (seats 5A and 5B, to be exact) for the Newark-to-Beijing flight. So not only do we get to enjoy creature comforts (and the food!) during the flight, but we get to hang out in the Presidents Club lounge before both flights!