Our Itinerary

This past Thursday, August 24, 2006, we found out that our Consulate Appointment was set for September 25, 2006. That means we can travel! It also means we no longer have to worry that we'll have to wait until November since October is as good as closed to adoptive parents for travel. So, I am pleased to announce our flight information (which has been booked!!) and our itinerary while we're in China:

September 13, 2006

9/13 Tampa/Chicago UA1589 Lv. 8:25A, Ar. 10:08A

9/13 Chicago/Beijing UA 851 Lv. 12:03P, Ar. 2:25P (Next day)

September 27, 2006

9/27 Hong Kong/San Francisco UA862 Lv. 1145A, Ar. 917A

9/27 San Francisco/Denver UA892 Lv. 1113A, Ar. 241P

9/27 Denver/Tampa UA1414 Lv. 341P, Ar. 856P

China Itinerary:

Day 1 - Departure from your hometown to Beijing, you will meet the other families in your
Group when you reach China. (If you wish to depart early for China, we will transfer you to your group hotel once you arrive in Beijing. Unless otherwise noted, families arriving early will be booked into the group hotel.)

Day 2 & 3 - Arrive in Beijing (Great Wall Guide will be outside customs holding a green flag with “GW” and transfers you to your group hotel.)

Day 4 - Beijing Cultural Tour: The Great Wall, Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City. (Full day touring.)

Day 5 - GOTCHA DAY!!!! Travel to your child's Province. You will receive your tickets for the capital city of your baby’s province at the airport in Beijing. You will also receive your tickets for all other Intra-China flights from your guide prior to your flights. Your guide will hold your airline tickets until that time. (Great Wall will have a Guide meet your flight and transfer you to the hotel once you arrive in your province.) Your child is usually delivered to your hotel once you arrive unless otherwise listed on your Intra-China itinerary. (Some families travel to the Office of Civil Affairs the same afternoon to receive their child; the Province officials determine this procedure.)

Days 6 to 10 - Bonding with your child, sightseeing, and all official paperwork will be done this week (Receive your child’s passport.)

Day 11 - Travel from your child's province to Guangzhou.

Day 12 - Have baby’s brief medical exam.

Day 13 - Consulate Appointment. (Guide takes your paperwork to the Consulate for review.) Please keep in mind that the American Consulate accepts appointments only on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of each week.

Day 14 - Pick up baby’s exit visa that afternoon, the day after the scheduled American Consulate appointment.

Day 15 - Morning departure from Guangzhou to the US, or a flight to Hong Kong to connect from Hong Kong to the US. If you are flying China Southern for a direct non-stop flight from LAX to Guangzhou, and from Guangzhou to LAX, and the airline flies the day/night you receive your baby’s exit visa, you can depart Guangzhou that day/night.

Her middle name will be Xiaoping! Growth Report!

Growth Report on Yong Xiaoping

Yong Xiaoping, female, was born on Oct.28th, 2005. She was found abandoned before the gate of Leng Shui Tan Finance Bureau by Zhao Aiyin on Oct 31st, 2005 and sent into our institute. Our staff inquired the finder about the course of picking up this baby and kept the finder’s description in record. Later, our staff reported this case to Mei Wan Police station. After finding her parents in vain, the baby was sent into our institute by the police. When she was entered our institute, we took her to Yong Zhou People Hospital for a full examination. The doctor diagnosed her as a healthy infant who developed well without medical concerns. According to her development, the doctor estimated she was born for 3 days. She had oval-face, double eyelid and fair skin. We named her Yong Xiaoping, Yong stands for Yongzhou, Xiaoping means elegant. Under the care of our caregiver, now her height is 24.43 inches, weight is 13.64 lbs, head size is 15.96 inches and chest size is 16.15 inches. Her development is good.

Living Habits:

She has a regular routine. She gets up at 6:30 and goes to bed at 20:30. She is used to taking a nap in the noon. She sleeps 12~16 hrs per day. She sleeps through the night. The first thing she likes to do after getting up is to take a bath. She also takes another bath before going to bed. She likes taking baths very much, which will make her flourish. She has 1~2 stools and urinates 5~7 times per day. We will wash her bottom after she relieves herself.

Eating:

When she was 1~2 months old, she drank San Lu formula mainly. We fed her 6~7 times per day. Her appetite was good and could drink 80~100 ml per time. When she was 3 month old, we added her some snacks, such as steamed yolk, cod-liver oil, chop soup and something for Ca, Fe supply. Now she is 5 months old, besides milk, she will have lots of snacks, including steamed eggs, paste, congee, noodles, vegetables, chop soup, soy products and fresh fruit juice.

Intelligence and Motor Skills:

She is a clever girl. Her intellectual and physical developments are good. When she was 2 months old, she began smiling. When you talked to her, she would stare at you, smiling. When she was 3 months old, she could raise her head. Her hands would scratch unconsciously. If you put up your finger in front of her, she would grasp it. When you were walking by her, her eyes would follow you. When she was 4 month old, her hearing improved and began to locate sounds. If you talked to her and amused her, she would respond to you by burbling. She would laugh if she felt happy. Now she is 5 months old. She can turn left and right while lying in bed. She can stand for a long time on her fathers’ laps with help, she can also jump. She will suck her little finger. She can stretch her hand to grasp things nearby. She can distinguish the strangers and acquaintance. When the strangers come closer, she would cry. If someone she is familiar with calls her, she would give him/her a big smile and be eager to talk to him/her. She now walks in the walker which she loves.

She is out-going and open and loves smiling. She likes to watch TV and play toys. She is living in our institute and in good health. She has been inoculated against BCG, Hep B, POLIO, and DTP vaccines.

Prepared by Yong Zhou SWI

April.9th, 2006

Everything You Want to Know But Are Afraid to Ask

Maile and I began this journey without a lot of education around the process. We didn't know much about China except that their food here in America is excellent. Over the past year and a half, we have met a lot of wonderful people, and we have spent a lot of time seeking to understand the language and the culture of our daughter's homeland. Raising an adopted child also has its own challenges, and raising a child of a different race, even more, and raising a child that has been in an institution for the first year of her life... well, you get the point. So we needed to educate ourselves along the way.

All this time, we have been devouring everything that we can get our hands on around adoption, China, babies, and so on. We are only now drawing each of you into our wonderful little world. Snaring and captivating you with cute pictures, sorrowful tales of abandonment, and inspiring stories as she develops, grows, and can do new things. But Maile and I forget that while we have spent a lot of time preparing ourselves, we haven't done a very good job of preparing you.

So here are some things that we have learned along the way, as we slowly shifted our perspective, and began to look at the world with new eyes. Some of these are silly and funny, and some of them are quite serious, but I hope that you find all of these tidbits of information useful and informing.

Getting to know you
Each child is different, and Amelie may instantly bond with us and be perfectly at home in a large crowded setting. It is not an uncommon occurrence with other families that have adopted from China. But she may also need some time, particularly to bond with Maile and me. So as tempting as it may be to immediately pass her around the room for everyone to give her hugs and kisses (and believe me, we want to! It's so much fun!), there is a significant amount of trust that Maile and I will be trying to establish with this little girl, and such a scene can cause panic and fear in her. We promise there will be plenty of hugs and kisses to go around in due time.

Peek-a-Bu.. er.. Boo!
I thought this tidbit was very funny. "Bu" in mandarin means "no". It can be pronounced a little like "boo" depending on the dialect. So a simple game of "Peek-a-Boo" can be quite confusing to a child who is only beginning to understand simple words in her native language (and now we switch it all on her!). I plan to teach her checkers instead.

The Oriental Trading Company
The term oriental is reserved for inanimate objects, and is frowned upon by the Asian community when referring to people. There is really no need to add labels at all. I would no more introduce Amelie as my Asian/adopted/Chinese/oriental daughter than I would introduce Maile as my white/Caucasian/sometimes cranky wife (particularly not the latter!). She's my wife. She's my daughter. She's my cousin, my granddaughter, my niece, my best friend.

Grocery Store Scenes
These are what adoption experts categorize as off-the-wall questions that you may encounter while out and about on the town with Amelie. Many of you will find yourself in this situation, as Maile and I will seek baby sitters regularly ;) It is good to simply be aware of these seemingly innocent questions below, and their impact.

- Are you going to have children of your own one day?
Many of you may not get this question directly, but it is one of the more common questions that adoptive parents get. Some parents can get angry with this question, particularly if it is in front of the child, as it can make them feel second rate. Your child is your child. There is no distinguishing between biological or adopted with adoptive parents. I think Maile and I may have inadvertently asked this to some of the other families when we were just beginning our journey.

- How much did she cost?
Well, she is a priceless angel, as are the kids of each one of us. We all know the biggest investment we make is giving 100% of our hearts to our children. Getting this question in front of the child again can objectize her and make her feel second rate.

- China? They murder little girls there, don't they? They consider them worthless.
No they don't. And we have heard stories of people actually saying this in front of the little girl. And it's wrong. I won't go deep into China's culture and one child policy (which they are easing up on, thankfully), but there are plenty of publications out there to read. The abandonment of a baby is a very heart-wrenching experience for a mother. They love their daughters. When a "lost daughter" is found, as you can see from Amelie's growth report, they are well cared for until they find their forever families.

Xie Xie (Thank you)
It is through fragile waters that we wade to meet this wonderful little girl, earn her trust, and bring her home; into our house, into our families, into our hearts. You could read what she has been through and you could say "what a lucky girl, to be rescued from all of that." But I tell you without ego or design that it is we who are the lucky ones. It is we who are rescued. It is we who are blessed to have this shooting star fly so brightly into our lives. My heart is hers. It has been since I first saw her picture. It is a father's heart, and I have surrendered it to her for all eternity.