"I'm leaving on a jet plane"!

We are leaving on a jet plane next Thursday and we do know that we will be coming back to town on June 21st!!! We may have been able to come home late in the day on the 20th but we really wanted to book our tickets instead of waiting another day or so. We are going to be going through Shanghai so Erik will get his wish of going to Shanghai, he just won't get to venture very far.

Ellie Grace's Birthday

I grew up celebrating birthdays in May, June, and July. Then I got married to Erik and celebrated many more birthdays in May and June. There is an ancient Chinese belief that "an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break." Our "red thread" is that Ellie Grace and I share the same birthday.
She enjoyed a party with her friends at a nearby park on Friday, visited with the Kjeldsen family on Saturday, and got to ride her new Dora big wheel on Monday. Erik used the grill to make some yummy steaks for our birthday dinner. Overall, I think we both had a pretty good birthday!

Travel News

We finally got our TA today! It has been a long week of waiting and wondering and now we wait a few more days for our consulate appointment (CA) to be made before we can make travel arrangements. Our agency wants us to leave the first week of June and they have asked for the CA to be June 18, 19, or 23rd.
So, we have a lot to do in a week and a half!

In Memory of Maria

Steven Curtis Chapman is one of my favorite artists. This song is one that Ellie Grace and I sing to in the car. His family suffered a terrible tragedy yesterday when one of his teenage sons was backing the car out of their driveway. The children were playing and Maria was accidentally struck by the car and killed. Our prayers go out to the whole family. They have inspired many families to adopt from China. Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers.

New Photos

I am in contact with a gentleman who has a daughter from Wenzhou and his parents frequently visit China. He has been a very huge resource to many parents who have or are in process of adopting children from there. His father recently took some pictures of the children and forwarded them to him. We had difficulty recognizing Niklas because his hair is parted the way it was in one of our first photos so his face looks longer. But, we are very appreciative of these glimpses of him until we meet him and any photo or information is a treasure to have.

We still don't have our travel approval but we are being told that we will fly to Beijing on June 4th if they come this week!

Ellie Grace and I got a chance to be at the beach this week with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend. I relaxed for a bit but I came home to the same crazy, dis-organized house that I left and I am stressed again. I am a bit like my mom after-all, I do like some degree of organization in my house. I spent some time cleaning the clutter out of our room earlier and will slowly get things back to where they belong.

When will we travel?

Our agency had a travel call today. It was a good chance to hear about the travel process for waiting child families and to have an opportunity to ask questions. Sheri said they hope for us all to be in China the first couple of weeks in June!! Wow, we have a lot to get done in a few weeks.
The CCAA will issue a TA (travel approval) in a few weeks or a month and then our agency will set our consulate appointment (CA) and then the travel plans will be finalized.

Our son's name is official

Erik and I have finally put Jiang Le Rong's English name on paper. His name will be Niklas Le Rong Kjeldsen. Jiang is a name that they gave him because of the province, Zhejiang, where he was born. Le means happy,laugh,and cheerful. Rong means glory, honor, flourish, and prosper.

Painting brother's room

Fortune Cookies

Very interesting prognostications from our Chinese take-out tonight

LOA!!!

Ellie Grace and I spent the day with our playgroup and running a few errands. We returned home to find an email from our agency saying that our LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter-the letter that we sign to say we will adopt Jiang Le Rong) will arrive at our house tomorrow. They anticipate travel in 5-8 weeks from now. Wow, we could be in China on or just after his third birthday. I would love to be able to celebrate it with him. We have so much to do in preparation for his arrival home and our trip to China. We will be bringing Jiang Le Rong home this summer!