Oh What a Surprise!

In an earlier post I mentioned that we sent a care package off to our daughter. It was a small package with some pajamas, a couple of small toys, a photo book with pictures of me, Chris, the boys and even the dogs, and a disposable camera. I used a service called Red Thread China which is run by Ann, an amazing woman who lives in China and assembles and mails care packages to the orphanages in China from their new families. I also included a super soft blanket that looked too beautiful on her website to pass up and a tin of Moon Cakes, which are good luck in Chinese culture, for Dani's foster family. Ann will also take a letter you write to your new child or, in our case, her foster family and translate it to Chinese. This morning I received an e-mail from Ann informing us that she received our care package, added the blanket and moon cakes and was sending it to Dani's foster family and they should receive it in the next 3 days. I was very happy and hopeful that the items would make their way to Dani.

What I did not expect was a second e-mail from Ann a few minutes later informing me that she had updated information and new pictures of our little girl!!!! Through the tears and shaking I quickly opened the attachments only to find a new photo of our happy, smiling, beautiful daughter walking!!! I do not know how Ann obtained this information and frankly do not care, all I know is that we have new, current pictures of our daughter and did I mention, she is walking!!! Now I have to go shoe shopping - oh darn!

Being on the other side of the world and waiting, to go get our daughter is almost painful, so these tid-bits of information and pictures are like Christmas morning when you were a kid! We are so grateful that she is in foster care and not in an orphanage. She is obviously flourishing and well-cared for. This may make her transition to us more difficult, but I will be forever grateful to her foster family for giving her the love, attention and care that she and every baby needs during this critical time in her life.

A Little About Where Dani Is . . .

This past weekend we did the last of our paperwork for our agency and also sent our passports off to a courier to obtain our China Travel Visas. Should have them back in hand by next week. While we are waiting, I thought I would post a little information about the Henan province which is where Dani is.


The name of the province Henan comes from its geographic location. Henan means 'the south of the river', indicating that Henan lies south of China's Yellow River. The province covers an area of over 62,000 square miles. Henan has a humid warm-temperate climate. Dry and windy in winter and spring, the province is hot and rainy in summer and bakes in strong sunlight during the autumn months. Henan province is considered the cradle of Chinese civilization due to its location on the Yellow River. This rich historic heritage has endowed Henan with numerous historic treasures, from primitive dwellings to earliest wheel thrown pottery. The remains of some of the earliest human settlements have been unearthed here, including the over 7000-year-old Peiligang Culture Site, the 6000-year-old Yangshao Culture Remains and the 5000-year-old Dahe Culture Remains. All these cultural remains have profound significance in the history of Chinese civilization.

Kaifeng City was established more than 2700 years ago and today is considered one of the seven ancient capitals of China. Dani was found abandoned at the riverside outside the entrance to Xiaonan in Kaifeng City. I don't know if this is where she was abandoned, but after a bit of Google-ing, I found the photo below which was labeled "the small south gate (XIAONAN) of Kaifeng." The children tend to be abandoned in fairly public places so that they will be found quickly and taken to an orphanage and cared for. Please keep in mind that not all parents abandon their babies because they are girls. Henan, despite the images is a fairly rual province with a very poor population. Not all families can afford the fee China imposes for having a child nor the care a special needs baby will require.



I also learned that the best travel seasons are September and October during which, Kaifeng City welcomes her most beautiful event: the Chrysanthemum Fair. The Chrysanthemum Fair usually persists for one month from the 28th of October, each year. During the Fair colorful and prosperous chrysanthemums are placed in streets and lanes. If you read my earlier posts, you know that Dani was born September 14th and her Chinese name Xin Ju translates to "New Chrysanthemum."

Letter of Acceptance!

It's here! We received our Letter of Acceptance today. This is the final document we were waiting for from China before they will issue our Travel Notice. We anticipate that we will travel in the next 4-5 weeks if everything goes as smoothly as it has thus far. Here is a picture Chris and I after signing our Letter of Acceptance.

Happy Birthday!

OK, so technically, it is no longer Dani's birthday as China is 15 hours ahead of us, however; it is September 14th here in the States so, we are saying today is her birthday. That makes the timing of the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) so perfect! We received an e-mail from our adoption agency this afternoon that they received our LOA from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) today and are Federal Express-ing it to us for delivery tomorrow. This is the last document we were waiting for from China and we were not expecting it for at least 2 more weeks. Things are moving along a lot quicker than we expected.

After we sign the LOA, our agency will return it to the CCAA and they will issue our travel notice. We could travel in the next 4-8 weeks, however; everything so far has been happening in half of that time, so who knows, maybe in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Check back tomorrow, I will post a picture of the LOA from China!

Beginnings and Endings

Tonight the four of us had a quiet family dinner at home and raised our glasses to our daughter and future sister for the boys. It is already Monday, September 14th in China and it is Dani's first birthday. While it makes me very sad to miss this milestone, I know that we will be together for her 2nd birthday and many more after that. We mailed a care package to her this weekend with some pajamas, a couple of small toys, a photo album with pictures of us and even the dogs in it and a moon cake for her foster family. We also included a disposable camera and a letter translated to Chinese, with the hopes that her foster family will take additional pictures of her and give us more information on our beautiful daughter. We hope to hear from the CCAA in the next few weeks, but until then, wish our daughter a very Happy Birthday!

We also raised our glasses to our neighbor Mr. Crawford who passed away this weekend. He was 91 years old, and was the last original owner on our street. He was only too happy to tell you how much he paid for his house and loved coming over and asking Chris "what the hell he was fixing now." Up until just a couple of months ago he would cook family dinners every Friday for his kids and grand kids. He will be greatly missed and our street won't be the same without him.

Pre-Approval!

Yay! Today we received our pre-approval from the CCAA! It only took 7 business days for us to receive, so I am hopeful that the rest of the process goes as quickly. The pre-approval is essentially the CCAA’s acknowledgement or confirmation that our Letter of Intent has been received, along with the basic family information and photos we provided, and it represents the CCAA’s agreement to shift our file from the traditional adoption program to the Waiting Child Program. The next thing that we will expect to see from the CCAA is our acceptance letter (often called an “LOA”), which is part of the CCAA’s Match Room process to formally match our dossier together with our child’s information. If all goes as planned, we will have the LOA by the end of this month and travel to China shortly after!


The significance of receiving the pre-approval is that this little girl is essentially ours and we can now share the photos of her with the rest of the world. We can also send a care package to our daughter and her foster family in China. We are now one step closer to bringing Dani Jade Bagalini home . . . .enjoy the pics!