Look at the previous post to see updated photos of Flora!

Now for my recent thoughts on the matching process. I think that the job of matcher may be one of the most spectacular jobs EVER! I am interested to hear from my fellow adoption folks what you think it was about your dossier/biography that the "matcher" saw to choose your child for you.
I know that in my heart it was Flora's name, "little sail." We are sailors of the sea. We love the water. In fact, Joe was gone last week sailing a motor sailer down the intercoastal waterway. I also think that her referral pictures look a bit like Joe. One more thing our next sailboat will be named ZiFan....
So why do you think your child was matched with you???

I am speechless....

Look what I received in my "inbox" this morning...

card carrying club member

Let me just say that this adoption community rocks! I have encountered some truly wonderful people along this journey. I have now had the pleasure of meeting even more people since our referral. People really are amazing. I have been contacted by many people. From my yahoo group (I am keeping them anon to protect them only because I didn't ask for permission), a parent told me that a certain great organization, who sponsors babies to put them into foster care, potentially had a photo of Flora in their website. I do believe that it is Flora in the photo. Picture #4! Score! Then I received an email from a gentleman who recently (extremely recently) adopted a daughter from the same orphanage as Flora. He had a photo of his daughter with another child (possibly Flora). The angle was weird, a complete profile. Wow! How fantastic that a stranger would contact you and give you a precious gift like that! Only in special communities, like the adoption world!! Now I have heard from Brian Stuy regarding Flora's finding ad. And last but not least I emailed Anne at Red Thread China to send my sweet baby a care package. I am so excited about all these contacts and potential deeper connections to my daughter!
I am a proud member of the China Adoption Club! This community R-O-C-K-S!!!

How.....

....can you love someone so much and never have even met them? This beautiful little girl will have her entire world totally altered in the near future and she has no idea. We can't even prepare her! Oh, but I will do whatever I can to make her life the best I possibly can.

Where in the world is Flora??

So we/you know that she is in China. And some of you know that she is from Guangxi province. Guangxi is the gray province in Southern China. Nanning is the capitol? Or at least where we will be going to "get" Flora. Not that we have any hard and steadfast plans, but we start in Northern China, Beijing, for a few days. Then we fly to Nanning for 5(ish) days to have gotcha day and finalize the adoption in the eyes of the Chinese government. Finally we are off to Guangzhou, a city due east of Guangxi, where the US consulate is to finalize the adoption for the US government (again 5ish days). We are hoping to travel right before the holidays!

Her Name..

Lin Zi Fan soon to be Flora Josephine ZiFan.
We finally saw the characters for her name and translated them.
Lin (her last name)-means forrest, it is most likely the last name of the director at the orphanage
Zi (her first name)-means child of
Fan (her middle name)- means sail
It is absolutely amazing that she was chosen to be our daughter. We love to sail. We have owned several boats through the years. I wonder who gave her her first name and why they choose that name. I think it is kismet!

I forgot to post that today my girl is 7 months old.

I have 3 daughters!!!

I realized today that I am a mom to three beautiful daughters! Two days ago, I was a mom to two beautiful daughters, and we were in the process of adopting from China (sometimes I would disclose this information and sometimes I would keep it private). But now I have THREE DAUGHTERS!!! I have a face with her name. Emily, Claire, and Flora....the absolute loves of my life (and Joe, too). I can not wait to hold Flora. Is it time to travel yet???? I want to tickle those toes! I want to kiss those tiny little lips. I want to see her intense look for myself. And I want to make her smile. I can't wait!

And voila ....here she is...

Apparently in all my excitement I wrote viola instead of voila! I cringe when I misspell words (which happens more frequently than I care to admit to). Thank you, made in China!! :)

We have a daughter...

We have a wee one.
Name: Lin Zi Fan (last, first, middle)
DOB: 8 April 2008
Where: Guangxi, Yulin SWI
Length: 23 inches (as of 9/1/2008)
Weight: 13 lbs (as of 9/1/2008)
She is normal and healthy.
She laughs out loud (thank goodness in this family)!!
She is a deep sleeper (again, great for our family)
She sucks her fingers.
I will post photos when I receive them!

The stork has landed!!

We are now sitting by the phone that is not ringing. Waiting to hear about Flora...Update to follow!!!

Good Morning!

Today is referral day!! Yay!! After 3.5 years, 4 "missed" special needs attempts.........It is our day! It is our turn!!
I have been awake since 3:15, but made myself "sleep" until 4:15. I am now drinking my first cup of coffee, I have decided to forgo the gym this am, opting for a chemical buzz!! I will keep you posted! No news yet.......

See that....

little rectangle at the top of my blog? Right now it says LID 2/17/06. Tomorrow it will have a photograph of Flora. Can you believe it after years and years of waiting we will know who she is and where she is from and how big she is and what her birthday is. Now, how in the world will I be able to wait the 8 weeks to go and get her?
My agency has issued a stork sighting with an ETA of tommorrow!
Through this whole journey I have lamented, "if I only knew when." Guess what! I know when!!!! Tomorrow is when!!!
Is it tomorrow already? Who won the election?
BTW: excercise your right to vote. We are lucky to have this right!

Another one bites the dust!

Another day has passed and no referral. I really and truly thought a month ago that we would have our referral the last week of October with a worst case scenario the first week November. By Election Day for sure referral in hand. I feel like the sand is running out. One day left to meet my prediction. Fly, Stork. Fly! Better yet, hitch a ride on that jet to make sure you are here by tomorrow!!

Nihao!

I am an early riser. Seriously, I am up most days around 4:30-5:00. I am a bit of a gym rat at those hours. But this daylight savings time has also messed with my internal clock. So here I am blogging at a ridiculous hour (I have been up for the last two hours). Not to mention that I was excited to see Kavanna and Malia as today is their "Gotcha", "Metcha", "Family Day" (or whatever term you would like to use). Oh and I guess I should mention this should be our week! In case you haven't read every previous post I have written.....sometime this week should be our referral day! Fingers crossed that we will hear something on Monday!!!

Update:

No news is.....well it just stinks! I did hear from my agency today. I thought it was nice that they contacted us (all Feb 17th ers) to say that matching is still going on and they will contact us Monday once they have heard from their Beijing office. One more weekend...to survive!