It may be difficult to see here, but we bought some fresh New England steamers and Atlantic salmon and cooked them up for supper. They were delicious, Patrick was very happy!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
They That Go Down To the Sea in Ships
Yesterday we visited the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial, the names of the over 5300 men of Gloucester lost at sea between 1623-2001 are listed here. There is also a widow's memorial further down the shore looking out at the open water. Very touching memorial.
It may be difficult to see here, but we bought some fresh New England steamers and Atlantic salmon and cooked them up for supper. They were delicious, Patrick was very happy!
It may be difficult to see here, but we bought some fresh New England steamers and Atlantic salmon and cooked them up for supper. They were delicious, Patrick was very happy!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
We are at the beach!
We made it to Gloucester, MA! It took 10 hours of driving yesterday, through rain and traffic, but we did it. Our first stop after traveling that far with the kids; to get some beverages to enjoy after the kids are asleep! Then we walked over to the beach and Nyla jumped right in with her clothes on, she loves it. Our apartment is cute and only a block away from Good Harbor Beach. Today was sunny and warm, the kids got a chance to swim and play in the sand for hours.
This is our first trip to the Boston area, we hope to explore the city later this week. The kids will also be attending Vietnam culture camp at Endicott college next weekend. With the trip to China only a couple of weeks away, it seems like a very bad time for a vacation. But we had planned this trip months ago and it was basically too late to cancel:) It is also a good distraction from our eagerness to see Ethan.
Friday, July 27, 2007
We got our TA!!!
Today, I was so excited to see CCAI come up on the caller ID! We have been waiting for this call for months now. The Travel Approval arrived from CCAA, which means our agency can book our appointments (US consulate, Provincial) and we can start working on an actual travel plan. We are hoping to leave for China on August 16th. We would spend 1-2 days in Beijing, then we would go on to Nanjing on Aug. 19th. Ethan will be brought to Nanjing most likely, not sure what day just yet. We will have to wait a few days (until they can confirm our appointments) before we have an actual itinerary.
I started this blog so that our friends and family can follow along on our journey. Although, it seems like things are moving very quickly, we actually started completing paperwork to adopt our third child in early 2006. By summer of 2006 our dossier (large packet of paperwork) was complete and ready to send to our adoption agency, CCAI, in Denver, CO. They translated and bound the paperwork and off to China it went. Our dossier was officially logged in on October 11th, 2006 in China's central agency called CCAA. Not long afterwards we completed a "waiting child checklist" to adopt a child with a special need(s). We were open to a boy or girl up to 3 years old. Fast forward to April 30th, 2007 and our agency called us at dinnertime with news of a baby boy called Lian RuHan. He was born August 3rd, 2006 with a cleft lip/palate and was living in Lianyungang orphanage in Jiangsu province. We did a lot of research and talked with the kids and made the decision to adopt him. Since that time we have been completing more paperwork and waiting for our TA to finally arrive! In early June we received an update on Ethan's Growth & Development, new measurements and a report of surgery on his cleft lip. Everything went well and they sent us an updated picture (top left corner). We are anxious to meet him and we pray he is healthy and happy every day. Thanks for following along.
I started this blog so that our friends and family can follow along on our journey. Although, it seems like things are moving very quickly, we actually started completing paperwork to adopt our third child in early 2006. By summer of 2006 our dossier (large packet of paperwork) was complete and ready to send to our adoption agency, CCAI, in Denver, CO. They translated and bound the paperwork and off to China it went. Our dossier was officially logged in on October 11th, 2006 in China's central agency called CCAA. Not long afterwards we completed a "waiting child checklist" to adopt a child with a special need(s). We were open to a boy or girl up to 3 years old. Fast forward to April 30th, 2007 and our agency called us at dinnertime with news of a baby boy called Lian RuHan. He was born August 3rd, 2006 with a cleft lip/palate and was living in Lianyungang orphanage in Jiangsu province. We did a lot of research and talked with the kids and made the decision to adopt him. Since that time we have been completing more paperwork and waiting for our TA to finally arrive! In early June we received an update on Ethan's Growth & Development, new measurements and a report of surgery on his cleft lip. Everything went well and they sent us an updated picture (top left corner). We are anxious to meet him and we pray he is healthy and happy every day. Thanks for following along.
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