Waiting to travel and good friends

Our adoption agency's guess about when we'll travel is sometime in June.  Many families who received their referrals when we did will be traveling sooner, but because we are adopting under the new Hague convention it is taking longer to get our travel approval.  It's complicated so I won't go into details.  However, we are keeping busy doing paperwork, figuring out what we need to take with us, what we need at home.  Some friends are planning a baby shower so I need to get registered someplace.  I was wandering through the baby section at Target to get some ideas of what I might need.  Also, some new friends who are also new adoptive moms gave me some great suggestions (thank you, Deana and Becky!).  I've also been learning how to post to Blogger from China as it is apparently blocked there.  This post will be a test using email.
 
Our very good friends (and great next-door neighbors), Andy and Lauren, have been such an encouragement to us from the get-go.  Lauren had some prints from Journey's referral pictures made up and framed and they are now displayed in the living room so we can look at her often.  Lauren is also crocheting a blanket for Journey using the pink and orange colors of the nursery.  It is beautiful!   As you might guess, Lauren is a woman of many talents.  Sunday morning, at Doug's men's group, another friend, Jim, gave Doug a beautiful frame with a picture of Journey and a picture of us.  Our first "family" picture.  We have some great friends.
 
So, back to paperwork and all the other stuff.   We'll keep you posted.

A different kind of Journey

It can be a challenge to decide on a name for a child. I had a list of names that I liked ~ actually about 130 names. I love unique names; Doug tends to be a little more traditional. We would discuss names periodically but had not come to any decision. Then one day, as I was reading a book, I came across the name “Journey.” I liked it right away and thought how appropriate it would be for both the baby and for us. I planned to run it by Doug and see what he thought. That evening Doug came home from work and one of the first things he said was “I heard a really cool name today.” I told him I did, too, and asked him what name he had heard. His reply was “Journey.” I was so shocked and he couldn’t believe it either when I told him that was the same name I found.

Many cultures choose a name based on a characteristic or something external that may be relevant during the birth of a child. We’ve heard Chinese names that translate to Snow or Ocean. And it has been quite the journey for us and for our little one. So it is with great pleasure that we introduce our daughter, Journey Ming Le Logsdon.

FINALLY! The Call ...

It is with great joy that we announce the referral of our daughter, Lu Ming Le. She is almost 13 months old and is currently in the Luchuan orphanage in the Guangxi province. Lu is her last name and represents the location of the orphanage. Ming Le means “bright and happy”.

Monday, March 1, was quite a day. I had heard a few rumors on Friday that China had sent out referrals and the agencies would receive them on Monday. I really didn’t allow myself to get too excited for fear that the rumors weren’t true or that our referral would not be included. Our agency called at 2pm with the great news and emailed me a picture right away. It was amazing to finally see our daughter's face and know her name. I forwarded the picture to Doug’s work email and called him with the good news. Wouldn’t you know, he was in the car returning to work from an appointment. As soon as he arrived at his office, he called me back as he opened the message with her picture. His first comment was that she has the same hair style that he does.

We don’t know when we will travel to China to bring her home, but hopefully it will be in 8-10 weeks. We have mountains of paperwork to do before we leave, so I will be kept busy doing that. I also need to figure out what I need to take to China and how I can get it to fit in one suitcase. That is going to be tricky... I’m thinking Doug will need to share his suitcase with me. I have a feeling the time will fly by.