It is Monday night and no news today. We did talk to the agency about our fingerprints expiring. We have sent a registered letter to USCIS to get appointments to have them updated. Our agency also contacted them. Nothing else knew. Very nice day here in the Northeast, sun was shining, very warm fall day!

Jiangxi Province

Okay well I am not sure how to put on a star but Zhangshu City is in Yichun.

Where in the world is Caroline?

I have been getting emails on where Caroline is right now. I have attached a picture of China and put a star where we think she is....China is a really big country!


Zhangshu City Social Welfare Institute
7 Gan Yang Road
Zhangshu City, Jiangxi Province
Postal Code 331200


Zhangshu (Chinese: 樟树; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhāngshù) is a county level city in Yichun, west-central Jiangxi province. It has an area of 1,291 km² and a population of 536,500. The literal translation of the name is Camphor laurel, because traditionally, the city was a major commercial hub for camphor laurel

No news....hopefully Monday we will hear something

Do they say no news is good news....well I am not sure. We were really hoping to hear something this week from our agency with regards to the LOA and then TA. The Letter of Approval means that the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) has approved us to adopt Hanyan Zhang (Caroline). Then we wait for the TA - Travel Approval. As superstitious as we are, we haven't set up any type of bedroom yet for Caroline. Once we get this LOA, we will start working on her bedroom...... We are also waiting for updated pictures and medical records so we have an idea how big she has gotten. Then we will start shopping for clothes for her!

Isn't she beautiful!

Let's start from the beginning

I am pretty new to this blogging thing but I thought I would give it a try. February 2006 we decided as a family to look into the possibility of extending our family through adoption. People ask us why we would do this since our other two children are just a few years away from college. We feel that we are good parents, have a lot to offer, and can offer another child a home full of love, provide a great education and enter a family with lots of friends and family members. Through a lot of research we decided to go the international route and adopt from China. In June 2007 we were given wonderful news that there was a little girl waiting for us from Zhangshu Welfare Agency. To say the least we were ecstatic. Hanyan Zhang turned 1 August 5, 2007. We hope to meet her soon!

September 20, 2007

Terry and I wanted to give everyone an update on Caroline. We have been in contact with our adoption agency at least a few times per week and have been assured that our paperwork is being “worked on” in China. Our agency has not been given any indication that we would be denied….it is just that the paperwork has to be all matched up. This can take up to 4 months after we are referred our daughter (our referral date is June 18), then after the paperwork is matched up we wait for the “travel approval”. The travel approval can take up to another 2 weeks then we will receive dates to travel. So the magic question is…..when do we think we travel…..our agency is expecting mid to late November. We will have at least a few weeks notice before we go so it’s not like we will get a phone call one night that we have to travel the next day. When we do travel we will be in China for 2 weeks, we will bring Caroline back with us.

To say the least we are getting antsy, we would have liked to be traveling by now. However, (always looking on the positive side) Michael started High School this past month and we have been able to make sure that the transition from Middle school to High school has gone smooth. Lauren, who goes to the local Catholic school, had surgery on her knee late August; so again, we are glad that we have been around to make sure that her therapy has gone well.