We just received our travel approval call. We leave August 7th and return August 26th. Our stay is slightly longer because we are heading to Beijing first to do some sightseeing. I am pretty much ready and have to get our clothes and such ready but I think we are good to go!

I can't wait til I have her in my arms. We will be in China for my birthday. What a birthday to remember!

We are now awaiting our travel approval to go get Mia. Mike and I are pretty much ready to go, we have purchased all the medications that are recommended to take with us. I have bought most of our baby gear. The nursery is ready, we will install the carseat just before we leave so when my parents and Mike's dad pick us up at the airport we are set. I am ordering the "new" bills from the bank tomorrow. For those of you who do not know, when we arrive in China, a donation to the orphanage is made and payment for travel, tours, meals is made in American bills. The Chinese are very peticular about the bills being new. I have already informed the bank manager at our branch and they said no problem, just give them a couple of days to get the "new" bills in. There are people who are unable to get all new bills and ironed their money!

We received our itinerary for the Beijing pre-trip that Mike and I are taking before meeting up with the rest of our group. I think there will be 3 families doing the pre-trip. It will be nice to spend some time with them before the baby mayhem starts!

My next post will be our travel dates, we hope to hear something today or tomorrow. Mike's retirement party, which is being hosted by the police department is next Friday. We are excited to see everyone, however; we may not be able to attend if we have to leave to China.
The unknown, you gotta love it!

Update on Mia!

We just received some updated information on Mia. Based on her report, she was abandoned by the Xisha Bridge on October 9, 2005 (2 days old) wearing old clothes and no other information was found. She was taken to the Qianjiang Police Station and then was taken to the Qianjiang Social Welfare Institute (orphanage). She was named by the doctor who examined her and diagnosed as a healthy newborn baby. They estimate that she was only 2 days old. She weighed 6.8 lbs. and was 19.29 inches long. She is currently in foster care, is eating rice porridge 2 times a day and eating mashed fruits. She wakes up at 6am,naps from 11:30-1:30 and goes to bed at 8:30pm. We will try to go visit the area that she was found, as it will be a very sacred place to all of us. I thank her birthmother for placing her in an area where she knew she would be found and taken to the proper authorities. I always wondered if she would be found by some sort of body of water, as Mike and I are definitely water people. I sent her care package out today which had pictures of her new home and pictures of mommy and daddy as well as her grandma's and grandpa's. We included a thank you gift to her nanny and some postcards from Florida. I was told that Chinese people love American music, so I also included an American Idol CD along with clothes for Mia. I sent quite a few outfits so whatever they do not use will be donated to the orphanage. We have sent in all our paperwork for our visas and are awaiting our travel arrangements. In the meantime, SHOP, SHOP, and SHOP!

What an emotional week Mike and I have had. I did not expect the call when it came. Norman (our agencies director) called Monday evening, I was home already and was getting dinner ready. I was on pins and needles all day and saw that others were getting their calls and when the call didn't come I said "Oh well, we'll get the call tomorrow". He totally caught me off guard and I was on my cell phone with my friend Grace when my phone rang and I saw the caller ID. Poor Grace, I dropped the phone and started screaming, "Grace its THE call" I think I just put my cell phone down and everything else is a big blur. Mike was not home, so as soon as I hung up with Norman I called his cell. What a wave of emotions from a phone call. The next day Mia's paperwork arrived at my work and believe it or not, I did not open it and drove home to open it with Mike and my parents. She is so beautiful and looks very healthy. Our agency has several children from the same orphanage and it will be so nice to travel together to get our girls.

We had some family and friends come to visit this weekend. It was wonderful and we even got to see the shuttle launch on Tuesday from the beach. We have to say that we are so fortunate to have such great family and awesome friends. The calls and emails that we have received has been overwhelming. You really get to know who in your life is important!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!

Friends Family and Fun!!!!