Getting Prepared

我以前没事时喜欢看新闻，财经及股票走势，和先生商讨有关古董的材料。这些日子，自从小安娜出现在我们的生活中， 除了安娜以外， 其他一切都如过眼烟云。 即使道琼斯一天降了７７８点，我也无动于衷。整天想着下一步该做什么了。首先我同社工联系，让她们把家庭报告做了修改，再让领养机构批准。然后再寄到移民局。同时我联系了一家机构，去福利院要一些小安娜最近的照片。根据国际公约，我们是不能直接同福利院联系的。

另外，我们打电话给 David 和 Leah 小时候去过的幼儿园，给安娜排上了队。幼儿园的校长非常好，还记得 Leah,说给我们优先，保证有小安娜的位置。

我和 Leah 开始购物。准备给小安娜寄去一个包裹。 我们买了条漂亮的小毯子，一套小衣服，毛毛熊，一次性照相机，小书包，还有一个最重要的东西是小相册。Leah 把它装饰得很漂亮，有我们全家人及各个房间的照片。希望福利院和寄养妈妈告诉安娜我们都是谁，这样见到我们时，她不会感到太陌生。真盼着相聚的那一天。
I used to enjoy reading the news, such as financial and stock trends in my spare time. I also enjoyed discussing antiques with my dear husband (DH). Since we were connected with Anna, I cannot concentrate on anything but my new daughter. Everything else passes through my mind without much thought. It didn’t even bother me when the Dow Jones fell 778 points in a day. I have contacted my social worker to have our home study updated. Our adoption agency will then approve it, and I will send it to USCIS. I have also contacted an organization which can obtain some updated pictures of Anna. Based on the Hague regulations, we cannot contact the orphanage directly.

I called the child care center where David and Leah went when they were young. Anna was put on the waiting list. The director of the child care center still remembers Leah. She was very kind and assured us that Anna would be given top priority in enrollment.

Leah and I have also started shopping for Anna. We are preparing a care package for her. We bought a pretty blanket, an outfit, a stuffed animal, two disposable cameras, a small backpack, and most importantly, a photo album. Leah has been decorating the photo album. It will have pictures of all of us, Anna’s room and the rest of our house. We hope the orphanage and her foster mom will tell Anna who we are, so when she sees us, it will be a smooth transition. We are greatly looking forward to the day when we meet.

About our little Anna

经过前几天的兴奋，今天总算有点儿心定的感觉了。只盼望一切手续进展顺利，早点把女儿接回家。许多朋友都很关心小安娜，希望多知道一些她的情况。

小安娜出生时患有先天性心脏病，在她十一个月时，被遗弃在杭州儿童福利院门口。每每想到她的经历，我会常常潸然泪下。但同时我也想，正是因为她的父母爱她，才不得不这样做，希望她能有一个好的归宿。也正因如此，才有幸让小安娜能成为我们的女儿。小安娜在福利院生活了三个月后，被寄养父母从福利院领回家。在她20个月的时候，做了心脏修复手术。手术后，在寄养妈妈的照顾下，她恢复得很好。据儿童心脏病专家讲，她今后的生活应该同正常孩子没什么区别。她到来后，我们会非常注意她的健康，会带她做定期检查。

小安娜是个好静的女孩。每遇到新奇的玩具，都会非常感兴趣，能一个人摆弄很长时间。听到音乐时， 就会扭扭屁股跟着跳舞，见到熟人会打招呼。19个月时，能清楚地叫“妈妈”和 “姐姐”，能说2-3个字的短语…… 看到这些对小安娜的描述，我们真恨不得马上见到她。

Today, I finally feel a little bit relaxed after all the excitement during the last few days. I only hope that the adoption process is quick and smooth, so that we can bring home our daughter soon. Many of our friends are interested in knowing more about her.

Little Anna was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). She was abandoned at the front gate of the Hangzhou Children’s Welfare Institute when she was 11 months old. It always makes me cry when I think about her story. I truly believe that her birth parents loved her and hoped that she would have a better life than they could provide, and that we are blessed to have her as our daughter. Anna lived in the orphanage for 3 months before her foster parents brought her to their home. She had open heart surgery when she was 20 months old. She recovered very well under her foster mom’s care. She is no different than any other healthy child. We will be careful about her condition after she arrives and will bring her to a pediatric cardiologist for checkups.

Anna is a quiet girl. She likes toys and can often play with them for a long time. She dances when she hears music. She says hello to people she knows. She could clearly say “mama” and “jiejie” (sister) when she was 19 months old. She can speak short sentences with 2-3 words. We can’t wait to meet her after reading these descriptions.

We got a daughter!

昨天早上，上班之前，我查email. 看见了我们的领养代办人发来的邮件，她说可能帮我们找到了女儿。我的心跳马上加速，迫不及待的打开了邮件，一个叫怀平的大眼睛女孩立即映入我的眼帘，我马上告诉我家先生，他由于要送儿子上学，不能同我坐下来仔细看，匆匆看了一眼照片和孩子的年龄，说了一句话“孩子太大了”就不得不走了。孩子2岁半，比我们想象的大了一岁。我在家里详细地看了孩子的各种报告和照片，很快就难舍难分了。 过了一会儿，先生开着车给我打电话说：“孩子咱们要了”. 我真是喜出望外, 赶紧联系事先安排好的各路人马，帮我们看孩子的病例，Boston 的儿科专家 Dr. Lars Erickson 很快就给我回了信儿，同时几个好友将孩子的病例发给他们认识的中国医生。 这些医生的评估，给我增强了信心。其实在我心中，一看到孩子就把她当成自己的女儿了。

过后，我问先生为什么突然不嫌孩子大了，他说“在汽车里，我满脑子都闪现着孩子的大眼睛，就对自己说，孩子要了”。他反过来问我“我早上走之前说孩子太大了，你不着急吗?” 我说“我还不了解你，就知道你会变心”！这都是后话了，我当时还真是担心先生不同意。

这突如其来的好消息，把我和先生的生活和思维彻底打乱了。 我昨天送女儿去滑冰，却带了跳芭蕾舞用的包，而把滑冰包忘在了家里。 从滑冰场回家取冰鞋，却想不起来该从哪儿上高速公路。 晚饭也没做，买了快餐吃了。今天早上，我和先生都4点钟就醒了，满头兴奋。早上起来后，先生差一点把牙膏挤到剃须刀上来刷牙。我把牛奶放到微波炉里，却忘了加热。真是糊涂透了。我们从来没有想到过，这个孩子会给我们的生活带来这么强大的期盼。我们生自己的两个孩子时，从来没有过这种感觉。我想这个孩子注定跟我们有缘，俗话说，“千里姻缘一线牵”，我们这是“万里亲缘一线连”。无论在天涯海角，她就是我们的女儿。

我门已于昨晚通过领养中介正式向中国收养中心申请领养小怀平。我们同时给孩子起了个美国名字，叫Anna (安娜)。 她中国名字有“平”，美国名字有“安”。 我们就希望孩子一生平安！

如果一切顺利，我们应该可以在明年的一月份或二月份回国将小怀平接回家。我们全家都期盼着这一天的到来。

I was checking my email yesterday morning before I left for work. I saw an email from my adoption agency and immediately opened it. A lovely girl with big eyes called Huaiping appeared in front of me. I told my dear husband (DH) right away. Since he had to leave to send our son to school right away, he could only take a look at the first picture and her age. He said to me that “the child is too old” and left. The child is two and half years old, a year older than we expected. I carefully looked at all the documents and pictures of the child and fell in love with her. A few minutes later, my DH called and said, “Let’s take the child.” I was so surprised and overjoyed by his sudden change. I then sent her files to all the people I had contacted before to review the medical files. Dr. Lars Erickson in Boston got back to me very quickly. In the meantime, some of my good friends sent her Chinese files to several Chinese doctors. The doctor’s evaluations made me feel a lot more comfortable. In my heart, from the very first sighting, I had already begun thinking of her as my daughter.

Later, I asked my DH what made him to change his mind about adopting the child. He told me, “When I was driving, all I could think of were her big eyes looking at me. My heart told me that this is the girl we were waiting for.” He then asked me, “Were you worried when I said she is too old?” I replied, “Nobody knows you better than I do, and I knew you would change your mind.” This conversation occurred after we had decided to adopt her. I was indeed worried that my DH would say no to her.

This big news completely disrupted our life and thoughts. When I sent Leah to ice skating yesterday, I took her ballet bag instead of her ice skating bag. When I was on the way home to get her ice skating bag, I forgot the directions to the freeway entrance. I was in no mood to cook and our whole family ate fast food for dinner. My DH and I woke up at 4 am this morning, feeling very excited. DH almost put toothpaste on his shaver to brush his teeth. I put milk in the microwave oven without starting the timer. We were a mess. I never thought the arrival of a child could have such a big impact on us. We never had such a feeling when we had our two children. I believe this is fate and that an invisible thread linked us to her. No matter where she is in the world, she was meant to be our daughter.

Last night, we officially submitted the pre-adoption application also called Letter of Intent (LOI) to the CCAA to adopt little Huaiping. In the meantime, we named her Anna. Combining her original Chinese name and the translation of her American name, it means “Safe and Sound.”

If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to travel to China to bring little Anna home in January or February next year. Our whole family is looking forward to the big day.

No special needs list released this week

最近几个月，CCAA每个月中旬发出新的特殊需要小孩的名单。 我在上周就把我和老公的所有联系方式都告诉给了我们的领养代办人，告诉她任何时候都可以给我们打电话，哪怕是半夜三更。她也觉得这星期很有希望，这几天我一直都很兴奋，每晚都做跟领养有关的梦。因为这里和过内的时差，新的名单到美国时，大部分都是这儿的晚上时间。 我每天，尤其是晚上，都在期待着代办人给我打电话。 我将手机随时带在身上，即使睡觉时，也放在枕头边儿。今天是星期五，国内已经是周末了，而且又是中秋节长周末，我只能把希望寄托到下星期了。我想生活本身就是这样一个过程，有期待，才有奔头。
In the past few months, CCAA has sent out the special needs shared list in the middle of each month. Last week, I provided all our contact information to our agency and told her that she could call us any time if there is any news, even if it is in the middle of the night. Our agency also thought that the list could be released this week. I have been very excited in the last few days, and was hoping to receive a phone call from my agency. I have carried my cell phone everywhere I go and I leave it next to my pillow when I sleep. Today is Friday and it is already the weekend in China. Now I have to put all my hope to the next week. I guess this hopeful waiting process makes life more interesting.

Special Needs Children Program

自从七月初将领养申请寄到移民局，在等待的同时，我开始阅读大量有关领养的各种信息，加入了各种有关领养的网上兴趣小组，这也包括了有关特殊需要的小孩。 随着阅读的不断增加，我的心逐渐被这些可爱的孩子所吸引。 很多孩子经过手术或治疗后，大都同正常小孩一样，我从心里觉得，我们也可以抚养一个这样的孩子。我每读到一些有关资料，就跟先生说说，他也开始慢慢接受。 于是我们于8月12日转为申请领养特殊需要的小孩. 每当我想到这些可爱的孩子，我常常会激动得难以入睡。 想想自己又要当妈妈了，好多好多计划让我浮想联翩......
While waiting for USCIS approval after submitting the I-800A, I started doing a lot of research on China adoption. I joined various forums regarding China adoption including the special needs (SN) program. As I read more and more, my heart was drawn to these precious children.A lot of the kids have some minor or moderate SN and they can live a normal life after surgery and treatment. I feel that we can provide a loving family for such a child. We decided to switch to the special needs program on August 12, 2008.