Today was a great day... We got new pictures of Ivie and our travel dates!!!!!

Our consulate appointment is on November 8th (Uncle John's birthday). Based on that our travel is as follows:

Leave Milwaukee on October 27th and arrive in Hong Kong on October 28th. We will spend some time there and then fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi where we will be united with Ivie. We will stay in Nanchang for a while and then go to Guangxou where the American Consulate is located. We will leave Hong Kong on October 10th and arrive home that same day (18 hours later).

Its finally real - we are going to China to bring Ivie home.

Here are the new pictures. They were taken on August 31, 2006 when she was 7 months old. She has changed so much but she is still the most gorgeous little girl in the world.

Travel Notices!!!!!!!

We just got word that our agency received travel approval from the Chinese government. We are now awaiting the US Consulate to issue an appointment for us. Once we receive the appointment date we will have our travel dates firmed up. Hopefully we will hear something very soon.

The agency is requesting a date the week of November 6th which means we could travel around October 28th. That is so soon but not soon enough.

Our agency recently sent us some information on Ivie's daily life. I thought we would share it with you.

Ivie was found at 6 am on January 22, 2006 in front of the orphanage gate by a vegtable grower named Shen Jin Hua who was on her way to the Agricultural Products Market to sell her vegetables. She found a baby wrapped in a small cotton-padded blanket inside of a cardboard box.

Her medical exam revealed that she was 21.26 inches, weighed 6.61 lbs and her head circumferance was 13.78 inches. Based on the examination and that she appeared to be 8 days old, they estimated that her birthdate was January 14, 2006.

Ivie did not stay at the orphanage long. She entered foster care on February 17, 2006. She has been living with a foster family ever since. This is great news because it means she is getting individual attention and is living in a family setting.

The report described her has being "cooperative" when she was one to two months old, except that she would use her "crying voice" to tell them when she had a wet diaper or was hungry.

At 4 months she could recognize people. When she sees her foster relatives, she can baby talk with "yi ya" sounds to herself. She can extend her hands with the expectation of being carried. She likes to play in busy and noisy places. When she sees a stranger coming, she will use her tiny eyes to look at the person to see whether the person is friendly or not. She likes to look at colorful pictures.

She is described as a healthy and lively girl.

It will be so interesting to see what she is like now. She will be almost ten months old when we finally get to meet her. I can't wait

Getting ready for Ivie.

Scott and I have been hard at work getting our house ready to bring Ivie home. We have painted the room - pink of course, my favorite color. Hopefully it will be Ivie's too because pretty much everything we have gotten for her so far is pink.

We had a shower at work on Wednesday. Ivie got lots of cute outfits and blankets. Oh boy did she get a lot of blankets - she will never be cold.

Today I also mailed Ivie a care package, two little outfits and a stuffed bear that says love bug on it. I hope she loves it. We also sent a disposable camera so the orphanage and her foster family will take pictures and give her something to remember.

I also wanted to post some pictures of where she is.




This is Jiangxi province. She lives in Yihuang County which is located in the circled area on middle of the map on the right. We will be staying in the capital city, Nanchang which is indicated by the arrow.



This is the Yihuang County Social Welfare Institute. She was found by the gates on January 22, 2006. She does not live here because she has been in foster care since February 17th.



This is a picture of the playground at the orphange - it looks pretty nice.



Does the rabbit rocker look familiar?