New Link Added

This isn't adoption related but I ran across an interesting blog, I've added the link, to the links section. Check it out, "My Life with Bad English".

China Bound

OUR TRIP TO CHINA
So far... we have our flight schedules.

• 6/7 - Depart Chicago to Beijing
• 6/11 - Depart Beijing to Changsha, Hunan (and you know what that means!!!!) We will receive Éva on the 11th or 12th.
• 6/16 - Depart Changsha to Guangzhou
• 6/21 - Depart Guangzhou to Hong Kong
• 6/21 - Depart Hong Kong to Chicago.

We're very excited and we feel a little better, knowing we have an extra week to get ready. To be honest, June 1st scared the heck out of me.

Travel Approvals are in and we're not ready.

The Travel Approvals were not expected until early June, so we were very surprised to hear on Friday 5/19, that Faith International had received them. Now our appointment at the American Consulate can be scheduled. Travel dates are contingent on this appointment, because it occurs at the end of our trip. We were told they (Faith International) will try to schedule this appointment on 6/12 or 6/13 or 6/19 and we could leave as early as 6/1. Yes, that's right, June 1st. We won't know for sure, until we hear from Faith. Hopefully today or tomorrow.

This was quite a shock to us, we didn't think we would travel until mid/late June.

I'm freaking, I'm in a panic and I have so much to do!!!!!

Travel Approval (TA)

In order for us to travel to China, we need travel approval, this is known as "TA". The TA's are sent to the agency's from China. I spoke with Eric at Faith International this week, asking if they could provide a "ballpark" guess, as to when, we'll travel. He stated, due to the slowdown, it's difficult to guess. I understand... Eric was very knowledgeable and after speaking to him, I was even more excited.

In the past TA's have been sent out right before they send referrals...So hopefully we'll receive it soon. This wait isn't, as difficult as the last. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and her name is Eva.

Éva's Finding Ad

Shortly after Ron and I received Eva's referral, I ordered her "finding ad" from Research China http://www.research-china.org/. Research China founder, Brian Stuy had located her "finding ad". He also mentioned, he had an actual copy of the newspaper, the ad appeared in. He stated, "it is a photo ad, which includes a nice picture (much earlier than most referral photos), her Chinese name, her age, when found, where found, and a short description of her clothing, appearance, or other information". I asked him to send me both, the actual newspaper and the scanned image of her ad. I'm anxious to receive them.

Brian Stuy also has a blog, http://research-china.blogspot.com/ which contains some very interesting information. It's worth checking out. Below is a link to an essay, I found interesting/heartbreaking, on his blog.

http://research-china.blogspot.com/2005/12/i-have-no-money_31.html

Orphanage Pictures

Click on the link below to see pictures of Eva's orpahnage.
http://www.halfthesky.org/02CentersPrograms/centers/chenzhou.html
or
http://www.usaweb1.com/chenzhoufamilies/main/orphdir.htm

FOLLOW US ON OUR JOURNEY

Please follow us, on our journey to Eva, by clicking on the link below.

http://www.thestoryofyou.net/EvaLin.html
or
http://www.thestoryofyou.com

COMING ATTRACTION!!!

I've waited a VERY long time to do this. Introducing...
"Éva Lin Giesler"
Chinese Name: Xiu Zhi
Meaning
· Xiu: Beautiful; excellent.
· Zhi: Fine; delicate; to devote; to incur.
Date of Birth: 08/15/2005
Birth place: Chenzhou, Hunan Province
The little girls from Hunan are known as "spicy girls" because the food from Hunan Province is spicy. Since we began this process, I wanted a little girl from Hunan .

PICTURES!!!

Stay Tuned!!!

Hopefully, we'll have some more information to share tomorrow or Wednesday. We're dotting our "i"s and crossing our "t"s.