July 27

Another delay. We just got word this morning that the CCAA is moving offices this month and is therefore way behind in processing travel invitations. We're told to expect to travel around August 31. We're still hopeful we'll be with Mia on her first birthday.

Below is a picture we found on the web of the Hanzhong Social Welfare Institute where Mia is living. We have heard that the orphanage is run by a British-originated non-profit called Caring for China in collaboration with the Chinese government. You can see a streaming video of Caring for China's work at Chinese orphanages at http://www.caringforchina.org/cfcc/cfcc-video.htm .

Sunday, July 16 --- Greetings, everyone. Sorry for the long break between posts. We've been immersed in construction, trip preparations, and pinkification. We were very fortunate a couple weekends ago to have the help of Kate's mom, sister Jenny, brother Andrew, brother Tim, and Tim's wife Beth and kids Dylan and Julia. Mia's aunt Jenny and cousin Julia were enthusiastic contributors to the pinkification project, otherwise known as Mia's Room.




Uncle Andrew took charge of the outdoor painting, while Jean and Neil took time out to play dueling cameras. Uncle Tim tackled a pesky honeysuckle root in the Zen garden while Aunt Beth and Cousin Dylan offer support from the sidelines.




































Kate went this past week to visit new friends Michelle and Hannah. Michelle and her husband Andrew are new, very proud parents of Hannah, who they brought home from China in June 2006. Hannah's 1st birthday is in late August. We envision that she and Mia will be sharing some playtime fun in future. Michelle is a pediatrician and very kindly looked over Mia's medical records, giving her health a thumb's up. Michelle also gave us very valuable tips on traveling to China which will make our journey and first days of parenthood much easier. Her descriptions of China are getting us really excited about all aspects of the trip. Thank you very much for everything, Michelle!

Thursday, June 29 --- This just in from China!! Mia Xiaohua has one tooth now!! How cute is that to imagine?! She likes her walker and she is described as "a busy baby" with "a sweet personality." We just can't wait to meet her!!!! At the most recent measuring she weighed 9 kg/19.8 lbs. and was 68cm/26.5 inches long if my math is correct.
Kate

June 27 - Introducing the future Miss Mia Xiaohua Morgan!!! Yesterday Kate received the long awaited call from the Barker Foundation. The referrals for the three families in our travel group had arrived from China. The documents were translated overnight and this morning we met with Colleen at Barker. We first reviewed a medical record which shows on-target physical and social development. Then we wept with joy on seeing photos of Xiaohua. We are so grateful to her caregivers that Xiaohua appears very healthy and happy. She was born on September 3, 2005, in Shaanxi province in central China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaanxi ). It is amazing how much two photos have affected us. They bring a lot of sunshine to very rainy Falls Church!


We are still looking at mid-August travel. We will be going to Beijing, Xian (the capital of Shaanxi Province and home of the Terra Cotta Warriors), and Guangzhou (where the US consulate is). Yes, Dorothy, we will be visiting your old stomping grounds! (:
Kate and Neil

June 22, 2006. The day started with a routine check of the China Center of Adoption Affairs website. We've looked at it to see what date of last year's adoption applications the Chinese have placed. Our application was logged in on June 27, 2005. For what seems like eternity, the placed through date on the website has been listed as June 15, 2005. Today, however, was VERY different:

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before June 28, 2005."

... June 28, 2005!!! We can't believe it!!! Our adoption agency contacted us this morning and let us know that we are likely to receive health information and a picture of Mia next week and travel in mid-August. We are ecstatic!!!!

Neil and Kate

June 17, 2006. It seems summer weather has really arrived. To this point we have been blessed with an extended period of warm days and cool nights. Our houshold companions, Max & Smoky, are disgusted with this new development. They now spend their days lying around in an overheated funk. Being cats, they attribute this state of affairs to us, the omnipotent ones, and for the moment we are politely tolerated. I can't imagine how we will be viewed when Mia moves in on their turf.


The Big Construction Project is progressing. I feel confident in finishing before we travel to Mia. We shall see...




Meanwhile Kate has taken on most of the yardwork this year and is starting new landscape projects, including a Zen garden. Our pick-up truck has been quite busy ferrying carpentry supplies, sod, mulch, rocks, topsoil etc. to our "jobsite".

Construction and Gardening Therapies have been very helpful in the Long Wait!
Neil

June 8, 2006. After twenty months and eleven years, the end of the journey to our daughter Mia and to parenthood seems real and within reach. We anticipate getting a letter of referral and photo of Mia next month and travelling to China to adopt her in September. There are many tasks to attend to --- among others, renewing our fingerprints (yes, they expire!), completing The Big Construction Project, preparing the house for an infant, getting travel vaccinations, consulting an adoption medicine specialist, and making work and travel arrangements. More to come as the details unfold.
Neil and Kate