Travel Approval received!

Margaret was right on with her comment on the last posting: we received travel approval ("TA") from China today!

We are still waiting on the updated approval from the USCIS.

Our agency said that IF we had the USCIS approval at this time, we would have probably traveled around June 8 - DH's birthday! We are hoping to travel mid-June... stay tuned!

Still no news

There is still no news on when we might travel. The Norfolk USCIS office said today that our case is currently with the Adjudications Officers for final review.

Yesterday we mailed a package to Yiyun at the Chengdu Children's Welfare Institute. We enclosed two photo albums with pictures of Chris and me, the dogs, and some rooms in the house; two stuffed animals; and disposable cameras so that hopefully they will take pictures of him and then give the cameras to us for developing.

Kids say the darndest - and sweetest - things!

Here's a card from the three boys of a dear friend's dear friend. These kids have given up the stuffed Elmo that each of them, now ranging from 4 through 9 years old, carried around with them as toddlers. They have also parted ways with books, toys, and clothing for Jack Yiyun along with giving him this heartfelt welcome. Thanks Oscar, Charles and Marcus! A bow and a wink to your parents, too!

What's in a Chinese name?

Above is Yiyun's name in Chinese as it is printed on his paperwork. Below are the three above characters translated into pinyin ("spell sound"). The number after each pinyin word is the tone used when pronouncing the word. A 2 is a rising tone from low to high, and a 4 is a falling tone from high to low.

Liu2 - a popular last name
Yi4 - skill, art
Yun4 - fortune, luck, fate; to move; to transport; to use; to apply

A good friend has speculated that the whole name might mean to have artistic luck or fate. Another good friend thinks maybe the name-giver was thinking about the Olympics when naming him Yiyun; he was born in 2008, when the Olympic were held in Beijing. Apparently quite a few people in China gave Olympic-related names to their children born in 2008.

General travel itinerary

Just over a week ago, DH and I had our "travel meeting" with our adoption agency. We talked a lot about expectations for when we are in China. As a result, here's how we see our travels going - whenever that may be!

• Fly into Beijing, met by guide, stay for a few days adjusting to 12 hour time difference and sightseeing
• Fly to Chengdu, met by guide, possibly getting Yiyun the day we arrive, stay for several days getting to know our son and sightseeing with him
• Fly to Guangzhou for three business days of adoption and immigration procedures, guide included
• Fly home

Our agency said we should NOT expect to receive updated photos and/or information on Yiyun before we travel. (sob, sob)

Fun Stuff! We are planning to send a care package to the welfare institute Yiyun is in. We bought some "soft" photo albums in which we can put pictures of ourselves, the dogs, his bedroom and playroom.

Crib and RACE CAR bed

Because I know my mom is going to my sister's house today to take a look at the blog, and because some people (Lauren) won't stop bugging me for pictures of Jack Yiyun's room, I figured I better post up some photos, despite their camera-phone fuzziness.

I still have bunches to blog about as we plan our travel... which should be in JUNE!