This and That from Sept 30th

Well I guess I am happy September is just about over, it means October is upon us and we can say that we will get out daughter NEXT MONTH. I purchased a Little Tykes outdoor play house for Tianna today off of Craigslist. It was a great deal and well worth the $15 bucks I paid for it. But the guy who I bought it off of was a PUTZ. And thats about all I want to say about that.

We went to K-mart tonight to look at stuff for Tianna's room, and I found the finishing touches. Two nicely framed pictures from the Disney Princess collections. They fit nicely on either side of the window.

I have my eye on two others but I am not sure if I want to spend the money. But who am I kidding, I will end up buying them on Saturday.

We did our finger printing today with the USCIS in Hicksville, its a division of the Department of Home Land Security. It sounds more important then it really is. But it did mark the last time we will have to do these stupid finger prints. YEAH

Oh and I also figured out how to add more then 1 photo to this blog. That is one battle I won tonight.

Well its 23:16 hours, October is 44 mins away. This wait is gonna kill me.

Later folks
Matt

A drag

Matt spoke with Pauline at New Beginnings yesterday. Previously, Pauline said we may be traveling November 11th, but now she's saying it look like it's going to be a few more weeks. She's waiting on a few more families to travel with us since we're the ones to pay for the tour guide (her time, her food and her hotel and travel). So, it's better to stretch it among several families than for only two families to pay for her. I'm quite disappointed as this would mean Tianna won't be here for Thanksgiving. But, we may be traveling to China Thanksgiving week.
We'll just have to be patient and wait. It's just another couple weeks that Tianna has to stay in the orphanage instead of being home with her family.

As everyone who knows me well, I'm not the most patient. I hate waiting. lol. But, I have no choice. Tianna will come home in God's time and not ours.

Tiannas room is almost ready. We just need her bed which we ordered last week.
I hope she loves the Disney Princesses. The playroom still needs alot of work since that's where we put some of the winter bins that we still need to empty out.

Yesterday, I went to Hicksville in hope of getting my finger prints done early. Figuring some of the other families have done that. But, when we got there, we found that they aren't open on Mondays. Ugh. I have to take time off tomorrow to do my finger prints. The new place seems nicer than the old one. The last two times we did finger prints, it was in an older building and the area didn't appear very safe. But the newer building seemed nice (from the outside) and safer.

Will add more when we get an update. CCAA is closed this week for holiday, so we won't get any updates until next week.

Tarket registry/Gratitude

Laura Silvia-Balkam wrote at 9:03am I personally had a great time last night at Target. I love those scanners. They really have some great stuff between the clothes, toys and music/DVD's. We even looked at books. It was pretty cool. I couldn't believe that we actually scanned 85 items. I day dream constantly about what life will be like once Tianna Rose comes home. I'm so excited about her. Her new grandparents are even more excited. I wish I could put to words how I feel about Matt's Mom and Dad. They are the most wonderful giving people I've ever met in my life. They've made such an impact on my life. I owe them so much and can't even begin to thank them for the wonderful things that they do. A card would never cover even 1/4 of it and I just can't put it into words. The love I feel for them is amazing. I hope that one day, they will realize the impact they do have on my life. Now, we wait for China. Maybe Nov 11th is what we were told yesterday. I'm so excited. I think Matt should just learn sign language.

Tarket registry & Possible Travel time

Matthew Balkam wrote at 10:09pm yesterday So tonight was a fun night, we decide to go to Target and make a "Toddler" registry. Not as easy as I thought because there is a bunch of stuff we dont need. I E all the new born things. But after we were done there was about 85 items on the list. Spoke with Pauline at New Beginnings and she thinks November 11th is a safe bet for the trip, kinda makes me nervous, "7 weeks and counting". Anyways back to the Manderian ,

Updates

6:30 this morning, Matt comes into the bedroom and pulls the covers off of me. Once realizing that it was only 6:30, it hit me that we must have got news on Tianna. I jumped up so freaking fast and ran straight to the computer. There, open on the screen, were five updated pictures of Tianna. They were all taken yesterday. I couldn't believe it. She's beautiful. Oh my goodness. She is 3ft 2in tall and weighs 30.5 pounds. Sounds like she's going to be in a 3T to start with. The pictures show that she's a little spit fire. lol. Looks like she likes to model.

It's hard to put my feelings and excitement to words because there's no way I can explain my feelings. The emotions that are running inside of me. The thoughts and day dreams that go on in my head.

Now, we wait for our Travel Arrangements.

Laura

Pick up and Signing the LOA

So Tuesday was a fun day. We expected to receive the LOA in the mail from New Beginnings via Express Mail. I called NB to get a tracking number for the package and they tell me the LOA is still on Paulines desk in the office. I am like "Oh great" so you know what that means. Yes I drive into Mineola to the NB office to pick up the original LOA straight from CCAA.

I then drive back to Holtzville to meet Laura at her job and have her sign it. Figure Mom and Dad would like to see the original so I stop off at there house and moms job to show them. Leave Moms office and drive back into Mineola to drop of the signed original to Tim at NB. All this in under 4 hours.

Of course when I get home the package that NB sent was there in the mailbox waiting for me to review and sign off. Also included in this was a little invoice for $ 3,530. Oh well that's the cost of doing the adoption business.

Matt 9/16/09 10:44 pm

Our first package

Matt just ordered Autumn Moon cakes and had it shipped to Tianna. I wonder if she likes them. It's all so exciting. I wrote a letter to our daughter that this woman Ann from Red Thread will translate for Tianna. It was so hard to write the letter between the tears of joy.
How I've fallen completely in love with a child that I haven't met yet. I guess that's not so amazing, is it. I can't wait to hold her in my arms, smell her hair and tell her how I love her.
I guess I have to be patient though. I've already waited over 3 1/2 years, what's another couple of months. Funny thing is, we started the paperwork for China the same month/year that Tianna was born.
Next, I want to send a package with disposible cameras and a picture pillow.

Notification of LOA

We get home today after a day of running errands. Our agency rep, Pauline, leaves a message, "Hi its Pauline call me at home". Fear sets in that CCAA is rejecting something. I call Pauline and say "your tone of voice does not sound good". She says, "NO your LOA is in" and then utters the words "She's yours" .

After 3 years and 8 months since signing a contract with New Beginnings we are now going to become parents. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the next big day, we will get our LOA in express mail and hopefully new pictures.

Its on to parenthood.

Matt 9/14/09 11:25 pm

Weight/Height at 12 months

When Tianna was just under 12 months of age (as of January 08, 2007), she weighed 19.8 pounds (9kg) and was 27.6 inches (70cm). So, we can safely assume she will be a small little girl.
Tianna will be 4 years old (or almost 4) by the time we see her for the first time. We aren't sure if she will be small sizes like 2T or normal size between 3T and 4T. We found out today that China may not send us updated pictures. I hope they send an updated medical at least. Otherwise, what sizes clothes do we take with us? It'll be winter, and winter clothes is heavy.

We were told we could get our LOA (Letter of Approval) from China in about 2 weeks. Then after that, we'll get our TA (Travel Arrangement). I pray we have her in our arms by Christmas. What a wonderful Christmas gift she is (regardless of when she comes home).

Matt and I plan on sending Tianna a care package before we travel. In this care package will be a photo album of our family so that Tianna will know where she's going or who her new family will be. I'm thinking a nice teddy bear or other stuffed animal would be nice as well. Not sure what we'll send other than the album of course. Our agency recommends it. It will prepare Tianna for her new life.

Our Daughter

Tianna Rose Balkam
DOB 1/20/06
No current pictures yet, hopefully in a few weeks.

Matt and I are so excited to announce that we are finally going to be parents.
We've been approved by China to adopt Huang Tian Na (now known as Tianna Rose Balkam).
We will keep everyone updated on travel arrangements and everything about our Journey to Tianna Rose.