trace

today the group that we should have traveled with to china departed. they will descend between the mountains pictured above, into beijing. we probably would have left a two days later than they, but nonetheless, they are on their way, and we are packing (we will need 3 suitcases), watching melvis movies (for those of you who are firmiliar with melvis, jade has recently been introduced, and finds he and melvina quite interesting), picking up a few last items for trace (backpack, meds) updating the blog- the usual :). included in this group are our neighbors down the street who will be receiving a son who is 6 months younger than trace.
anyhoo...

(a picture depicting movement... i took it from a taxi in urumqi at night.) (i really need to move on from the urumqi pictures. maybe some random pictures of us are in order? i'll see what i can come up with- b/c posts are definitely a lot more fun with photos!)
one more document : check. the referral acceptance letter arrived (at the same time as our visas, no less) with a song of thanksgiving from mother. the letter was at the house long enough to be signed, dated, a box checked and copied, then stuffed into another envelope and taken the the fedex drop box. tomorrow it will be delivered to our agency, and within the day be sent off to china. china will have the envelope by the end of the week and we will be one teensy step closer to the eagerly anticipated travel approval.
leave a comment with your opinion: blue gingham or pink for the duvet cover for jade's newly decorated room (pale yellow walls, blue carpet, multicolored paisley coverlet)? then, what color gingham for the lamp shade (the lamp will be white)? this transformation is still very much in the planning process :)...

(this picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. it is just cool and i took it while in urumqi, china. you walk into the crocodile mouth to get into the restaurant. it didn't look too terribly inviting, so i took some pictures, and then moved on. i bet it's the only crocodile or alligator in all of urumqi.)
yesterday we learned at we were the first family in our agency (maybe in adoption land at large) to be required to sign this hard-copy document. by signing it, we say that we will accept trace's referral- even though technically we did so back in october, by sending our loi. it is then sent back to china, and they will send our travel approval sometime thereafter. this is a brand spankin' new requirement from china, that in the future will be a requirement for all special needs families (it already required for non-special needs adoptions). we were just the first to be sent a document. we are special, are we not?
our new projected travel falls after the chinese new year's week off holiday. the earliest we could leave is on february 23 or 24 (mother's birthday), then we would receive him the 26th. that would be an excellent time to travel, as we would be gone over my college spring break, so i wouldn't miss quite so much of my classes. we shall see :). in the mean time, i am cramming the mandrain- if trace knows half as much mandrain as jade knows english...

(and not a sigh of relief.)
i chose the picture you see above (that i took from the great wall in july) because it shows beijing in the hazy distance. it also shows the sky above beijing, in which we wish out plane was descending. this is kelsey's indirect way of saying that yet again, we were really anticipating a ta this week, and it did not come. this news has not gone over very well- we were really thinking we'd go before the end of the month. now we'll be lucky to have him by chinese new year (which sounds like a very fun time to be in china), which falls on february 18. perhaps mother will get to spend her birthday there. we shall see...
oh come quickly, eagerly anticipated next batch of ta's...

(that's mandrain for 'we love pottery barn' and oh do we ever!)
the first picture is from an adorable little shirt i got for trace at gymboree (i could blow lots of money there- so i always bring a friend along to keep my spending in check :)...). it's the perfect shirt for a to-be farm boy who will undoubtedly ride with his dad at least once, or twice...
the second is of trace's room- the bedding and rug are adorable and from pottery barn, the bed was on clearance at ethan allen and the the dresser ('the piece' as mother so affectionately calls it) is as old as our house (150 years or so) and is from an antique store.
the picture on the bed is trace's referral picture in a frame i hand beaded in shades of blue.
for those of you who have been to our house, you know we have run out of bedrooms- trent moved to the back room in the basement, and trace is actually in our formal living room, that after 10 years, has never been lived in :). we bought some office cubicle dividers that will form a wall to the right of his bed and at the foot. this will keep it warmer and quieter and partitioned off from the living room furnishings. now all we need is an occupant for this cute space :)...
no ta yet- dare we hope for next week (rumors are circulating that it could be!)
best wishes (leave comments :)!...)

happy new year! this year is the year of the pig in china (although technically it doesn't start until the chinese new year which is in february). trace & jade were both born in the year of the sheep (2003)- and so was trevor (1991). trent was born in the year of the dog (1994), as was father. mother was born in the year of the tiger and i (kelsey) was born the year of the dragon (1988). find your animal here: http://www.infoserve.net/dragongate/zodiac.htm... although it only lists thru 1995, it's not hard to figure out what years since then are labeled.
hopefully my next post will be concerning our travel approval's arrival! stay tuned...