What a day!!

What a wonderful orphanage group we have! This is the second family that has been so generous as to take a photo of our QiuQiu for us during their orphanage visit!! The father of QiuQiu's crib neighbor, Katie, took this amazing picture! I'm just bursting with pride, and so thrilled that he held her hand and she seems to be smiling up at him!! Many, many thanks to the Pearsons for this wonderful gift!

Travel Itinerary!!!!

We received our itinerary today!!
Very exciting.
Here it is, in brief:

7/22 - leave US for Beijing
7/23 - arrive Beijing, check in to Holiday Inn Downtown. Free time.
7/24 - Beijing tours
7/25 - 7/26 - free time in Beijing
7/27 - leave Beijing for Nanjing, check into Mandarin Garden Hotel
7/28 - MEET OUR DAUGHTER at the registration office, 2:00 pm!!!!!
7/29 - adoption registration and notarization. Our adoption is finalized!!
7/30 - 7/31 - tour Nanjing with our daughter!
8/01 - receive our daughter's passport, leave Nanjing for Guangzhou,
check in to White Swan Hotel
8/02 - QiuQiu's physical exam and visa photo
8/03 - free day in Guangzhou - rest, shop, tour
8/04 - consulate appointment,
8/05 - take oath and receive Visa packet for QiuQiu
8/06 - begin our trip back to the US

Because it's hard to think about anything else...

...I had to share the last few gratuitous pictures of our Flynn QiuQiu! We have received so many that I have not posted the entire lot with each update. So here are the last of the ones that I have yet to put up. I do try to remember how lucky we are to get so many pictures of her during the wait. I know that this is a rare and wonderful thing. She will be very glad of these in later years, as she grows up. It's also a wonderful thing that she looks so happy in so many of these pictures.

Just look at that smile!...

...I can't get enough of it!
I love how open and relaxed she looks - not self-protective or guarded. No one should have to be in an orphanage in these early months of their life. But it looks to me that she has had it better than many, and for that I am infinitely grateful.

A night picture. She looks sleepy in this one. I can't wait to put some weight on that little body!...count those toes, watch her clutch our fingers, kiss her on the nose and on the top of that little head. This little girl has so, so much love waiting for her.

A new life in our world

Today, we got the email from our agency's travel department, letting us know we have TA (travel approval) to go to China. We picked our dates to be in China, and the travel department will now request our consulate appointment from China. They have told us to expect our consulate appointment maybe Monday or Tuesday, and then we can book our flights!
We've chosen to travel around the 23rd or 24th of July, returning around the 8th of August.

Well, a lot of people have asked, so I'll tell you that when I first got this picture I didn't want to put it up. It felt private somehow, because it's so intimate. But M. convinced me that it was selfish not to share it. In his mind, there is no more perfect picture to describe what we are feeling.
This photo was taken just a few days ago and sent to our agency with her measurements. In this picture, the nanny is holding the photo album we sent in her first care package for her to look at. The album has pictures of the whole extended family, but in this photo she's looking at mine. It's an amazing thing to see this tiny girl who, so far, we have only known in pictures, halfway 'round the world, looking at "us" for the first time. It's a bit mind-boggling.

On an entirely different note - here's something I was thinking today as I drove around running errands in preparation for our travel. As I listened to the grim stock market numbers, I thought the following: I am not entirely unhappy at the idea of our daughter coming into her new life here in the US during this economic sea-change.
Sure, it's nice to have a strong economy, and none of us enjoy the uneasiness in the pit of our stomach that comes with uncertain times like these. We have to tighten our belts, worry more, watch where every penny goes. But in all honesty, I think we are coming out of a very long phase of vast and really unconscionable overindulgence in our nation. I think we have learned to spend too freely, acquire too obsessively, and live to easily on money that we don't have.
I think that the consumer mentality that has gripped much of our nation for a long time now has become rather appalling. I think this change has been a long time coming, and I hope this downturn in the economy will stimulate some massive changes in our national psyche, our lifestyle, and our attitudes. I have to say that I feared for children coming into a world that could produce that Super Sweet 16 show, and others like it. I feared for what sort of adults those children would grow up to be.
On balance, I would rather see our daughter grow up in a climate where we have to learn how to save and think about what we spend, where we have respect for our environment, where we do not live outside our means for the sake of vanity and acquisition. I would rather she grow up in a world where the imagination reigns supreme throughout childhood, and where the sheer number of toys and gadgets are no longer the benchmark.
This is my hope for her. I don't know how much this economic downturn will change our national psyche, but I hope it will bring us back down to earth. I am willing to tighten my belt, drive less, budget better, be more frugal, live through some lean times. It is after all a small price to pay if it means that our daughter grows up with a healthy and balanced attitude toward the world and her place in it.

A morning of good news

So, I'm in that stage of travel preparations where I'll be perfectly happy and calm one minute, and falling into a well of panic over something that had not occurred to me until that second the next. Yesterday, after receiving our second round of immunization shots, and in the midst of preparing my mum's room for her arrival this weekend, I had not one but two simultaneous attacks of apprehension. The first was over our I171H, which, suddenly, I was certain we would not be able to use even if we did make it to China before it expires, and the second was over our fingerprinting "invitation", which I was abruptly convinced had gone to our previous address, never to be issued again.
Well, I manage to field these two alarming thoughts in a more or less reasonable and orderly fashion, and was able to finish my day with a minimum of anxiety. Which was nothing compared to the relief I felt when, awakened by the buzzing of my phone this morning, I rose to a message from our agency reassuring us that our I171H would be fine, and that the appropriate government offices did, in fact have our correct address.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I logged in to my emails to find a note telling us that not only did our first care package arrive in Xuzhou just fine (yes, that was another of my attacks of apprehension. I hate the post office.) but that they had new photos for us as well. These photos came with an apology saying that QiuQiu had just had a bath and was not properly dressed.
Me, I'm thrilled to see her in a towel, looking supremely happy and content! I tell you, any baby who enjoys a good bath is good news to my mind!
Just look at this cutie!

More QiuQiu

You might be able to tell from all the frou-frou that I am infatuated to the point of distraction with this little girl. In fact, I am so infatuated that even my distaste for pink has started to crumble, only just a little. Maybe it's all the pink in her crib, I don't know. Or maybe I've just departed my senses a bit in the face of all this beauty. I will illustrate this statement later.
(Since many people have asked, her name is pronounced "ChooChoo". She will still be Flynn, with QiuQiu as a middle name, but we love the name QiuQiu and I think it will be used as one of her nicknames, of which I'm sure she'll have many!)

Wild weather and unexpected news!

What a crazy day it is! Hail was crackling on our deck this morning when I got an email from a friend (thanks for checking on us, Viv!) asking if we were OK...
In fact, we were in the kitchen, sipping coffee in our PJs, blissfully innocent.
About an hour north of us, meanwhile, a large tornado was wreaking havoc in a town near Fort Collins. Within an hour, M's work beeper was bleeping madly as the news station put out a general call to all reporters. On the local stations, reports of baseball-sized hail were whizzing across the wires.
As he dressed for work, M made me promise to take the dogs and the laptop and a phone into the basement if I heard any sirens.
The wind whipped around the house, and bouts of hail (none baseball-sized, thank goodness) soaked the gardens periodically, interpersed with patches of brilliant sunshine. Other than that, nothing.
And then I got another email...we had new pictures of QiuQiu!!

Here she is, our little tornado girl! Looking healthy and contented in her lovely crib. And with two tiny new teeth!!

Isn't she beautiful? I just can't believe how much she's grown - look at those long legs!! I have been sitting here just gazing at her pictures, completely entranced. I can hardly believe my eyes. I feel so incredibly blessed that this beautiful creature is our daughter...our daughter!!
It's simply amazing. Those are the only words I have. I am so pleased to see her looking so healthy and comfortable, and growing so quickly! This is really a day like no other!

Flynn's world

I have to admit that everyone has been nesting pretty furiously chéz nous for the past few weeks.

M reconstructed and added underwater lights to our koi pond, fertilized the gardens, had much of the old electrical wiring revamped around the house, reorganized the cupboards under the sink, and replaced the old, ugly white hood over the stove with a sleek new stainless steel one which, in addition to reducing the fire risk, also goes very smartly with our stainless fridge! He has also been saving articles and news items related to child safety, I've noticed, which is very sweet.
Recently, I have caught him admiring other people's lawns when we take the dogs for our morning stroll around the neighborhood. This is an interesting development, along with a recent tendency to covet other people's lilacs. I'm not sure if that's a sin or not, but I think we're going to have to install some more lilac bushes soon in order to appease his lilac-lust.

Meanwhile I reorganized Flynn's closet, worked on the flower beds, and started rearranging various storage cupboards so that cleaning products and other dangerous items are out of reach. Hmmmmmm....when I write it all out like that, seems like M. has been working a lot harder than I have! Better start pulling my weight!

We finally found a closet rail and mounting assemblage to fit Flynn's closet, and as soon as ever I can find time to actually install it, I'll be able to hang up and de-wrinkle all of the lovely dresses that NaiNai has been collecting for us!

As for the book shelf situation, I'm not sure quite what to do about that. At the moment her bookshelf (which says "twinkle-twinkle" on it) is in our bedroom, and is so overly-stuffed that it literally bristles with books like an angry porcupine. Clearly, we're going to have to create additional book storage somewhere. I am nowhere near finished aquiring her book collection, I can tell you that much!


Here's that beautiful papoose quilt that NaiNai Susan gave us, and which has pride of place on the crib right now (hiding the fact that I don't yet have any sort of crib bedding!)

The yellow satin slippers were the very first gift for Flynn, purchased by M's folks two seasons ago at the Adoption Exchange charity auction. I have had them in a special cupboard ever since, and just recently unearthed them.
This hamper and the baskets that hold folded clothes in her closet are made from seagrass, and when we go to bed at night, they fill the room with a clean, comforting scent, like fresh straw but slightly salty. I love to smell that while falling asleep.

I like the coziness of her room. It's still my favorite room to walk into, and it still makes me feel drowsy and at peace, which is exactly what I think a nursery should do.

Ahem. Well, this is not the same star. It's a different star. I mean, it's similar, yes. But I felt the need to include it anyway.


This M and I found in the design boutiques of South Broadway when we first moved to Denver. It's been in his closet ever since. I cleaned the spiders out and proudly mounted it in the nursery last week!

No, I have not yet got around to glazing the chair!! I'm a bit overloaded with portrait commissions at the moment, and so nursery work is taking a back burner. Believe me, this does take a lot of self-discipline! (How's that for elephants, Yoli?)

The stuffed animals I made last summer. I am still amazed that I was able to create these with my own hands. How did that happen? I'd like to make more, but that's really a pipe dream right now, what with all the other things on my list!
...OK, back to work with me.

Rattles, albums and blankies

Happy new parents! (photo by niece Victoria)

Flynn's first care package, all wrapped, labeled in Chinese and English, and ready to box.

Sam demanding to know what's going on here????
The papoose quilt, which I love, was a gift from NaiNai Susan, and will probably travel to China with us.

All boxed and ready to face customs.

A family photo, all labeled in Chinese for Flynn's first photo album of her new family.

ps - I am not doing well at keeping up with people's blogs this week, and I apologize!! I will be back! I'm just the teensiest bit overwhelmed right now!

Announcing......

Yup, I got home from some errands today to find an email from our agency...we received pre-approval from China today!! I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself! I'm also kinda speachless (I'm sure I'll recover my power of chatter soon enough) so for now...Here she is!
She just turned eight months old (although I don't know when these pictures were taken), and her medical condition is an unrepaired unilateral cleft lip and palate. She is currently in Xuzhou city in the province of Jiangsu in eastern China. We are OVER THE MOON!!!! That's really the only way to describe it. I mean, just look at those eyes!!... And that grin!! It bowls me over.
I'll tell the whole story once I've regained my breath again.
(btw, the name given her by the orphanage is Chu QiuQiu, Chu being her surname. I've switched the surname and the given name so as to avoid confusion for those who aren't familiar with the Chinese order of names.)