WE HAVE THE LETTER

Well, here it is!! The letter has officially arrived!! Now all we have to do is sign and date the document and send it back to China. Then they send us one more piece of paperwork which is called the Notice of Coming to China. We will be travelling sometime in November not sure of the specific dates but we will be ready by then and hopefully have a little time to rest up and anticipate with great excitement the day we meet Tianfeng. Which in the China adoption world is called Gotcha Day! The boys are so excited about going to China to meet her!

The house also continues to progress. We now have shingles on the veranda and doors in the porch. As well Stephen is now putting styrofoam insulation on the top to match up with the bottom. The sider will be here tomorrow and then it will take on a whole new look. Can't wait to show you the finished product.

Letter of Confirmation Has Arrived

Excitement in the Hayden House!!!!. The permission we have waited for has been granted! The special letter called the Letter of Confirmation for Adoptees has arrived and is on its way to us via Fed Ex. This letter gives us permission to come to China and bring Tianfeng home. The most exciting part is that we will now travel in 6 to 8 weeks, which means Julianna will be with us for Christmas! We get to call tomorrow and find out a bit more about the travel arrangements. Will fill you in on the details as soon as we hear more!

School Has Started

It is so hard to believe it is September the 3rd. Today was the second day of school and so far things are going OK! Nobody went back with a big hurrah but there have been no bouts of weeping and knashing of teeth either.

Both older boys are playing football this year, so Monday, Wednesday and Friday are practice nights and Saturday is game day. I must say as their Mom they do look quite cute in their uniforms. Music lessons don't start for awhile yet.

Renovations continue, the veranda floor and roof are on and Stephen is madly wiring the upstairs hoping to be ready for an inspection later this week. There unfortunately are just not enough hours in the day.

Today is another day of silence on the adoption front! Hopefully, there will be some news later this month.

A Day Away From Home

Today we made it all about family and took the boys to the Whitemud Amusement Park. Beautiful weather to be out and about! The boys have been incredibly patient for the most part through this crazy renovation and enjoyed being away from the house. We all needed the break and having a little fun is always therapeutic.

End Of Another Week

Mitchell's 8th Birthday

Well folks, it is the end of another week and I have nothing new to report on the adoption front. We are now waiting to receive our Letter of Confirmation from CCAA, the Chinese office for adoption affairs. It could possibly be another couple of months and then as soon as we have it we would travel 6 to 8 weeks after that. Adoption is all about waiting!

On the reno front we now have hardened pilings for the veranda, a porch foundation, an upstairs sub-floor and the guys are putting up partitions today. Stephen's main chore yesterday was smashing out a door in the basement foundation(cinderblock) underneath the porch. This was a dusty messy affair.

Today is also the day we have chosen to celebrate Mitchell's 8th Birthday which was actually the 3rd of August. The weekend of his birthday we did the family celebration and then waited for friends to get back from vacation. Oh, the joys of summer birthdays.

Hope you all are having a great day! Ours is destined to be one of the hottest this summer, supposedly we are headed for 34 C.

Will post some new pictures this weekend.

Studded Rooms

Bay Window In The Master Bedroom Porch Foundation with Door Into Basement

Renos Continue

Well, here we are the 7th of August already. Of course the rain has stopped because the roof has shingles again. The new porch foundation and piling holes have been dug and the concrete guy is due here today to lay the footings. Stephen has had the joy of putting new duct work and plumbing lines down the walls of this old house. Of course back when they built the house 60 years ago they didn't think that putting a 2 x 4 across between 2 studs might cause a problem for anyone. But we must be thankful this chore is almost completed and we will then have the carpenters back to partition the upstairs.

We are patiently waiting( OK so not so patiently, you have sound proper you know) to hear any news about Julianna and when we might go. I emailed our agency a couple of days ago but haven't heard anything new yet. Each morning I wake up to realize she has just gone to bed and when I go to sleep she is just starting her day. They are exactly 14 hours ahead of us.

Hopefully, we will hear something new soon.

Info about Orphanage and Guangzhou

Guangzhou City Orphanage cares for about 1400 children. Half live on the premises and the other half are in foster homes. Their ages range any where from infant to 18 years. An American run organization called Half the Sky sponsors different programs at the orphanage such as the preschool class Julianna takes part in. The everyday language at the orphanage is Cantonese but Mandarin is spoken in the preschool.

The province of Guangdong is the most populous province in China with around 110 million people. Guangdong province is at the northern tip of the South China Sea.

There are over 50 orphanages in Guangdong alone.

Guangzhou city is the capital of Guangdong province. It has a population of about 12.6 million people. It is also known as Canton. The climate is subtropical. The Pearl River, the third longest in China runs through Guangzhou.

There is only one time zone in China set according to the location of Beijing.