a little about china's adoption............

In China there is a one child policy. In many areas, it's illegal to have more than one child. The cultural preferences is for boys. As a result, up to 100,000 Chinese girls are aborted or abandoned every year. This is possibly the largest population control effort in human history. Therefore, Chinese orphanages are overwhelmingly full of little girls.
We are really thankful to have the chance to be able to adopt one of these girls..... nourish her, take care of her, and unconditionally loving her.
In 2001, Chinese government has spent over 100 million RMB to built a new orphanage in shanghai, and they try to use it as a showcase for china to increase the quality of care in other orphanages in other Chinese cities.

Here is the Routine Schedule for Baby Angeline in China.

This was the original report from china with information about baby Angeline's daily schedule at the SWI (Social Welfare Institute). They wrote that her daily main course is nutritious soft rice....of course, rice is THE main course for most chinese people. The SWI starts babies on rice cereal at a very young age, so that they can stay full longer.

Daily routine schedule:

5:30am -she wakes us and has one bottle of milk (formula);
7:30am -she eats steamed eggs;
9:00am to 10:30am -she has indoor/outdoor activities;
10:30am -she eats a nutritious lunch (nutritious soft
rice);after the meal, she rests, then takes an afternoon nap;
1:30pm -she will have another bottle of milk (formula);
2:00pm -she eats dim sum (haha, grandma and grandpa will be very happy to know that, so while they take care of her, they can still go to dim sum often)and fruits;
afterwards she has activity time;
4:30pm -she eats dinner (nutritious soft rice); (Early dinner because they have many babies to feed)
8:00pm -it's time for bed and sleep

We would like to share with you our Baby Angeline's Nursery!

So, what's next?

............you must be wondering.


Well, we are waiting patiently for our visa appointment confirmation from the US Consulate in Guangzhou, which will determine our actual travel dates. We should travel 2 weeks after we receive our travel confirmation, which is about 4-6 weeks after referral. Anxiously waiting, we do have lots of preparation to do before our daughter comes home.



Just this past Friday we met with our adoption agency discussed our projected travel itinieary and baby care issues. We had a travel arrangement meeting with our agency, and we learn so much about how our child will be presented to us, where we will receive her, how best to bond with her, and so on..........how exciting to learn so much about babies!




Our agency is doing such a great job in helping us prepare mentally(about having a new member in our family), and emotionally (about having to deal with a crying baby in our house) for this trip.




During our 2 weeks there, we will spend approximately 1 week in each city.


Week One - Adoption proceedings in Shanghai City

This is where we will finally get to hold Angeline in our arms. We get to take her with us and return with her the next day for official paperwork and signatures. While we wait for her passport to be processed, we get to sight see and bond, bond, bond! We then travel to Guangzhou for her visa and swearing in.




Week Two - Visa proceedings in Guangzhou

Once at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, we are sworn in with 150 other familes, which finalizes our adoption process and allows us to bring Angeline to America with us . With her visa in hand, we can then leave for home.

Thank You Alex & Joanne for such a THOUGHTFUL GIFT!

Long Awaited 1st Look at our Beautiful Little Princess!

Right after the agecny received the mail of the referral from China, we were called to get the very 1st look at the photos of our beautiful baby girl!

Picture of us with Kathleen from Adopt International who has been very helpful in making our dream come true.

Celebration in the office with CIGARS!

Thanks everyone for the chocolate cigars!

Susan is so happy to receive the gift from the whole staff.

They are all so thoughtful.

All staff members sharing the happy moment looking at our new baby girl's photos.

Proud dad lighting his cigar, or should I say eating!

Referral Day!!!

Hi Everyone,

This is our first posting and it's a BIG one!
As we promised, you are ALL the first to know that we are very proud parents of a baby girl!
Her name is Angeline Jasmine Wen San Ho.
After waiting for over a year, the agency submitted our dossier in May 2006, Susan received the phone call this morning from our adoption agency, to inform us that our match was here.
CCAA (Chinese Consulate of Adoption Affairs) in Beijing had finally matched us with a baby girl!
We were told that she was born in Shanghai city, on May 31, 2006.
We are very grateful to have her true birthdate. She turned one years old just last Thursday!
According to her paperwork that was sent with her referral pictures, as of March 12, 2007 she weighed 6.5 kg, was 66 cm long and has one tooth. Wow, she has one tooth which we can start training her to brush! I know what you're thinking, a couple of crazy dentists!
She is described to be active, restless, fond of listening to music, and has a ready smile. All traits that will make her a daddy's girl right off the bat. Restless and active!!! Mom has already started to worry!
We were so excited that, rather than waiting a day or two, we signed the approval letter to be sent back to CCAA right away and am now waiting anxiously for the US consulate in Guangzhou to give us a departure date to China. The longest wait in our lives.
We will keep you all posted as we plan for this exciting journey to bring our daughter home from China.