Ballet class - fun stuff!

 
 
 

Bubbles and fun with Cocoa

and.... we're BACK! :)

Thanks everyone for being so patient while we dealt with the earthquake - we are now officially BACK ON THE BLOG! I will be going back in and adding photos. After this post, I'll start working forward from June until I'm all caught up, so that you will still see new posts in the right order.

Here are some pics of AB and her Uncle... There are MANY more great photos from today - something to look forward to!

earthquake relief

Please click on the link above if you would like to help with the earthquake relief. This group is based out of our local Bookworm (library, restaurant, cafe, bookstore, hangout) and 100% of donations goes to the relief effort - no administrative costs. Everyone is volunteering their time and paying their own way to collect and deliver needed items to the devastated areas.

There are also links on the site to other organizations if you feel more comfortable donating to one with a bigger name.

Thanks!


As for us - we are still doing fine. There was another big aftershock yesterday (well, at 6.0 it felt more like another earthquake than just an aftershock!) that went on for a pretty long time and seemed to increase in intensity. Very unsettling. A few light things fell from the shelves, but no damage here. Many people evacuated their buildings again (we did not) and there were sirens outside immediately afterward. Now there is lots of news of the risk of dams bursting and flooding... as if this area needs any more disaster!

If all goes well, we should be flying out of here on Wednesday. I've been watching the weather in Beijing, and while Wednesday was the coolest day next week with a forecast high of 80 - now the forecast high is 88, and if United in Beijing is strict about it, they won't let us fly out with the dogs. (No flying if it's over 85F.) So, keep your fingers crossed for us. Thursday is supposed to be cooler, so we should still be able to get out, but I don't even want to think about trying to get kids, dogs, crates, and luggage to a hotel!!! There is only one hotel that takes dogs... so that will be our only option. Hopefully I would be able to hire a driver to come and pick us up...

We're headed home for a 10 day R&R. The dogs have to fly out before the end of the month because in addition to not allowing Boxers (and other snub-nosed breeds) to fly if it is over 85F, they also have an embargo from June 1 - Sept 30. So, since Washington denied my request to leave for good on May 30, I have to fly home with kids and dogs, leave dogs home, get passport and visa for Meimei, then fly back to China for an additional 18 days of work, and THEN they will let us leave. Great plan! (can you feel the sarcasm???) We'll be in VA for 1o days now, and then flying directly to California later in June. My parents (wonderful parents!) will then drive the dogs across the country for us!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

and the most beautiful 3.5 year old girl I know is...

AngelBaby! Is she stunning or what?

nothing major to report

...and that is a good thing. No more big aftershocks over night. We had a few light ones before I went to bed, but nothing strong enough to wake us up after that. I can't get CNN.com to load right now and my TV is broken, so I haven't seen the latest news on the damage in the region. It's sure to be grim. We are very lucky here in Chengdu. It could have been far, far worse.

earthquake

The earthquake was very scary but we are fine. Kids were outside playing when it hit so they weren't even that scared. In the apartment, both our TVs, and lots of books, toys, DVDs all hit the floor. I think only one other thing broke (a crystal flower I had on the windowsill).

I took all the frames off the walls in our bedrooms and we slept inside last night. There were several aftershocks, one quite long at about 4am, but we stayed in and were fine. I have a bag of stuff for the kids packed and in the car in case we have to get out of the building in a hurry. Not that we'll drive anywhere, but that's just a good place to put it.

Thanks for checking in. We're fine and I'll try to keep you posted. Internet access is out at home (I'm posting this from my work computer).

super sweet sisters

Okay, let's all say it together... "Awwwww!!!!"

I love these photos! Even though they are not necessarily both looking or smiling at the same time, they are so sweet! These are the first pics I have of them this close to each other, the first time I have tried having AB hold BabySister on her lap! Love em!

new blog

We have BabySister and things are going very well in Wuhan. I am not getting enough sleep so there is no way at present that I can add photos to both blogs (or three blogs, if BabySis is going to get her own blog...) I am debating just having the family blog from here on out and posting special pics on the individual blogs here and there, otherwise I have to post many of the same pics to two or three blogs... who has the time?

I haven't been able to load pics for today's entry into the family blog, but there is text about how we're doing, anyway. If you are on facebook, I have loaded a lot of pics to my albums there, and I also have a snapfish sharing site and my yahoogroup - though Groups are down in China right now so I can't load photos - I'm just mailing my narratives to the group. Please email me for the links if you don't know them.

The family blog is at http://abc-familyof3.blogspot.com

You will need to be invited - so please email me so I can send you the invite.

Best ever big sis!

 
 
 
 

AB's first look at the REAL Baby Sister

 
 
 
 

Travel Approval!!!

We are going to get BabySister SOON!!! Received TA today at the very end of the work day. I called Wuhan right away to see if we could get on a plane tonight and get her tomorrow morning, but they said no. They had not received the letter they need from CCAA. It was just sent out yesterday (3/11/08) though it was dated 3/6. I'm guessing their document will arrive in Wuhan tomorrow morning, so I am tentatively planning for us to fly to Wuhan in the afternoon. That will give us time to check into the hotel, then stop at Carrefour or Wal-Mart or somewhere and pick up milk, snacks, diapers, baby food, etc. Goodness knows I won't be fitting that stuff into the suitcase anywhere! My room is two open suitcases and several exploded closets and dresser drawers! Sometime tonight I'll have to fit everything into the bags and be ready to go tomorrow... I can't believe we are traveling tomorrow!!!

There is still the possibility that the paper won't arrive in Wuhan tomorrow - I sure hope that doesn't happen... if it does, we'll have to postpone travel until Sunday and get her on Monday. But in any case, we should still be in Guangzhou the following week and get to meet up with some of our friends from my AB's DTC group! Really looking forward to that!

I am going to keep this blog mostly for photos and will post the adoption stories on our yahoogroup site - email me if you don't know the link! I'll post the link to my photos on snapfish or shutterfly or whichever one I decide to go with there too. I'll also have another blog (private one) for the family that you'll need to sign in for. Please email me if you want an invite for that.

Yippee! Travel tomorrow!

scroll down

I finally got blogger working again, and I have caught up on all the February photos! So keep scrolling down, there are a lot of new pics! :)

playing outside with friends

riding the new bike!
darling duo
caught her blinking but she's still darling!
now let's play on the slide!

she was talking, not sticking out her tongue
see, still talking (and gesturing too!)



watching her friends get ready to slide
big boy K all by himself
and AB by herself too
love this photo!
can you believe how much hair she has now?