Welcome to our adoption journey

(It is actually the morning of day 5). Thank you for everyone signing our guestbook. We love to get on and read your kind words, it is such an encouragement to do so each morning.

Last night was a little rough. I had hoped to write more last night but when we got back after dinner Lia decided to express herself and continued to do so until about 11 or so. We expected this but it was still a little rough. I (Bob) continue to keep my distance. While she was crying she would look at me like she wanted me to come to her and each time I started to she started to cry harder. This was frustrating but I too was expecting that she may not come to me at first. About 1130pm she let me feed her and when she was done she was a totally different little girl. We were able to spend the next hour and a half bonding and laughing (I found all her tickle spots, she has many). She finally went to sleep around 1240. I will try again to upload some video of metcha day, we are in a hurry again right now. Love you all.

The day started off with a snow storm in beijing as we were leaving. Visability was limited and was sort of scary flying out. Took a fairly long bus ride from the airport to the plane and then boarded. Plane was delayed about 40 minutes. It was a free for all as everyone tried to rush on the plan at one time. Lot or turbulance during the flight but we made it to Yunnan just fine. We learned a lot today. We tried to get permission to go to Lia's orphanage but they said it was 12 hours away and was just not possible. We will go to the orphanage where the other two little girls came from later this week. I woke up last night around midnight and Cheri got up around 2 so I think the two of us have gotten about 8 hours sleep in the last 4 nights. Lia has not taken to me very well yet but I will be patient. Each time I get near or she looks over to me she starts to cry. That is OK though, I know it will get better. These last several hours have been precious moments that we will never forget.

We got all of our paperwork done today so that is good. Usually they say it takes a few days but we have a small group so we got it all done today. Kunmeg is a lot different than Beijing. As I mentioned earlier, the orphanage directors that brought Lia were two older gentlemen who were very nice and eager to share whatever they could share with us. We had sent a care package to Lia a few months ago that consisted of a photo album of the family and the house as well as a letter written in Chinese and a disposable camera and a teddy bear. We got the camera, bear and photo album back and are eager to get them developed. Mom is laying down with Lia now but that is not going very well. The first night may be rough so keep us in your prayers.

What a day this has been, one we will never forget. It is 7pm now and we are joining the others at 730 so we will write more later. Praise the Lord!!! We walked in and we saw Lia in another room running around. It brought tears to our eyes since we did not know if she was able to walk or not. It was rough at the civil affairs office when we first met Lia but once we left it was better. She just had her first bath and that was an event. She is sleeping now in Momma's arms. The director of the orphanage was very nice and gave us some presents. When we got to the store we saw a bag wrapped around Lia under all her clothes. We took it off and there was a note. We were excited that maybe this was the note from her birth mother but the guide read it and it was a note from the orphanage director. Very nice. We even got additional pictures from when she was a baby. Need to go so we will write more later and post some pictures and attempt to upload some video. Love you all. Bob and Cheri

First we want to thank all of our friends and families for your prayers, we could not have done any of this without your support. Tomorrow is the big day and we just finished packing (it is about 8pm here now). We are very anxious for tomorrow to come and are counting down the hours. We get up at 4am in the morning and head out at 5:30am to catch our 7:30 flight. It is a 3 hour flight from Beijing to Yunnan. We have gotten up at 3:30am each morning so far so I doubt that 4am will be a problem.

Today started off with an awesome church service. The children of the church put on a Christmas program which was very nice. For those of you who are not familiar with this church service you need to show your passport to get in because only foreigners are aloud in. It is illegal for the Chinese people to come to this church. We brought copies of our passports to show but were waived in before we could even get them out to show. I guess we don't look like we live here. Church service was packed, about 500+. It appeared that most of the people came regularly since we were basically the only ones who stood when they asked if they had any visitors today. They had a very nice worship band that took turns singing the songs in English and then I assume Chinese. The experience of worshiping in a different land and culture but everyone still praising the one true God was an awesome and moving experience.

After service we went to the Jade factory. We sat for about 15 minutes and got a history lesson on the different types of jade. We then got brought into the main jade store where salespeople basically follow you everywhere you go. Needless to say that Cheri liked this store very much but our pocket book did not. Many of the items cost $1,000+ with some pieces costing over $50K. We were afraid to even get close to these items.

Lunch was pretty good. We all ate much better then we did at dinner on Saturday night. Our guide informed us afterwards that what we were eating was not really considered Chinese food but more like American Chinese food. Whatever you want to call it, it was good.

The highlight of the day was the Great Wall. Pictures do not give this awesome sight justice. It is no wonder that it is considered one of the seven great wonders of the world. We were there from about 3pm till 5. The street vendors even worked up on the wall, we can not get away from them. I finally broke down and tried to bargain with them. I don't think I was successful but it was an experience. I will try and upload a video of one of them trying to sell me this really nice hat. She kept putting it on my head and the price dropped from 80Y down to 10Y (about $1.40) and I finally bought it just to get her to go away. They just keep walking with you. Most only ask about 6-7 times but this lady probably tried about 20 times. Another vendor we walked by I swear lowered the price on the item to Y20. Bret and I decided to walk back because the item was actually sort of nice but when we walked back the item was up to Y50 and we were only successful at getting them down to Y45. We sort of joked with the girls as we left them that we would see how good our negotiating skills were so it was sort of funny when we came back to tell them we were only successful at talking them up to Y45. I think they were expecting us to come back saying we got it for Y15 or Y10. Oh well. We decided to walk up the more difficult way because we were told the view was better. It was very much a straight up climb in some areas. We were hanging on to the railing for dear life. We got some very nice pictures.

PT, you would like it here. It seems that they feel that Coke is the real thing. I think they even convinced Cheri of this as well. She tried one Pepsi on day 1 and said that would be the last one she would have while here. I think she is going through a little Pepsi withdraw right now.

The Duck dinner was interesting. I am glad that they had many other dishes than just the Duck. Cheri and I tried it but did not like it. Well we need to get some sleep for the big day tomorrow. We miss and Love you all.

Today we had a full day of sight seeing. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. First let me say that the street vendors swarm you as soon as they see an American/foreigner. I can't count how many times we must have said no today. I had one lady chasing me with a blanket (I did like it but I kept telling her no) and Bob came to my rescue.

Rosa (our guide) took us to a pearl factory. They taught us how old the oyster is by how many rings are on its shell. There almost like a tree and its tree rings. Plus they showed us how to tell if you have a real pearl or a fake one. We bought some beautiful pieces of jewelry! We went to the Summer Palace after lunch. What a beautiful place!! If it were summer I imagine it would be even more beautiful. This was probably my favorite place today. I loved the natural beauty of Kunming Lake and the scenery in the distance. I wish I had a picture to show you but I don't.

We were able to see the Chinese Acrobats Show tonight. Very beautiful! These are some talented people. The costumes are so detailed and full of color. I think our children would have really loved this! We went to dinner afterwards and the food was good. The Blankenships were able to join us which was great! As you can see we've had a very busy day!

Tomorrow we go to church and we are looking forward to that! We will also do the Great Wall and hopefully the Jade Factory. Another busy day but it will be early to bed because we will have to get up early to leave to get Lia! We're getting closer!

Taylor, Noah and Kera we miss you and love you very much! Noah, I don't think you would like any food over here. You would be so hungry! Taylor and Kera everyone one would be in love with your hair. We have a little 8 yr. old girl who has light hair and she is a big hit over here. Everyone wants to have their picture taken with her. Love you all!

We made it to China! Our flight to Washington and then to Beijing was pretty much uneventful. We were able to upgrade to Economy Plus which was very nice. We met our guide and three other great families at the airport. Unfortunately, the Blankenships flight was canceled so they would not make it in until Saturday evening. By the time we gathered all the families and arrived at the hotel it was about 7pm. I stayed up long enough to call the kids and went to bed. We had some problems connecting to the internet but everything is good now! Won't be long and we'll have Lia in our arms! I'll add some pictures in the photo section soon!

I just put one Child to bed and the other two are close behind. I have been so busy and I am ready to crash. I have a few more details to tie up but I'd like to head to bed soon! We will see. I found (stole, thanks Carla) a cute poem that I thought I'd share with all of you. It pretty much sums up everything we will go through except the part of that it could take a week to get that smile from the baby! Cute poem!

The Night Before Adoption!

Twas the night before leaving
when all through the house
not a creature was stirring,
including my spouse.
The luggage was packed
and repacked with care
in hope that our daughter
would soon find us there.
No child was nestled
or snug in our bed,
she slept that night
in her orphanage bed.

And Mama in her kerchief
with luggage in sight
had just settled our brains
for a long sleepless night.

When out on the lawn
there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed
to see what was the matter.

Away to the window
I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter,
and threw up the sash.

The sun on the grass
and the newly formed dew
gave promise of morning
time to bid our adieu.

When, what to my wondering
eyes should appear,
but a yellow airport taxi
and our friends we hold dear.

With a little old driver,
so lively and pip,
I new in a moment
we started our trip.

More rapid than eagles,
to our cities we came,
and we whistled and shouted
and called them by name:

Albuquerque! Dallas! Phoenix ! LA!
Hong Kong! Beijing! Guangzhou today!

From the Great wall of China
To the Province of Guandong
Now Dash Away! Dash Away! Dash Away ALL!

Like treasure from heaven
in our arms they did place
our precious new daughter
tears fell from our face.

So up to the hotel room
with our child we flew
our new bundle of joy
"We have presents for you."

And then, in a twinkling,
I heard from the door
"Paperwork to do!"
I heard myself "MORE?"

Like rain from the heavens
when hurricanes fly
Tears just like raindrops
fell from our eyes.

We bathed her and dressed her
from her head to her toe.
With ribbons and dresses
and a giant hair bow.

A bundle of clothes we had
that were to big or to small
We sent to the orphanage
to be shared by them all.

Her eyes- how they twinkled!
Her dimples, how merry!
Her cheeks were like roses,
my nose red as a cherry!

Her beautiful smile
was drawn up like a bow,
and both of her parents
seemed to give off a glow.

A stamp of her foot
and a print from our thumb
made a family of us
the adoption was done!

Passport! and Visa!
then the Consulate Visit.
Our paperwork done?
Afraid that it isn't.

A wink of an eye
and a twist of a head
soon gave me to know
We had nothing to dread.

He spoke a few words,
went straight through our work
double checked our documents
then turned with a jerk.
He wanted to know
"was this the daughter we chose"
and giving a nod,
up from his desk he arose.

They gave the approval
and we gave a loud whistle,
And away we all flew
like the down of a thistle.

They heard us exclaim,
both me and my wife:
"Blessings to all and to all a good life!"

Dedicated to my daughter Dashalani

Jack Hilton

Well here it is the day before we leave and I can hardly believe it! I just checked the weather and I hope I can do this.

Friday, Dec 7

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Partly sunny

Low: 26 °F

High: 42 °F

Saturday, Dec 8

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Periods of clouds and sun

Low: 26 °F

High: 42 °F

Sunday, Dec 9

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Bit of rain, snow

Low: 28 °F

High: 40 °F

Weather for Kunming, Yunnan

Monday, Dec 10

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Cloudy to partly sunny

Low: 42 °F

High: 60 °F

Tuesday, Dec 11

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Partly sunny

Low: 47 °F

High: 57 °F

Wednesday, Dec 12

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Rainy

Low: 41 °F

High: 59 °F

Thursday, Dec 13

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Rain

Low: 42 °F

High: 61 °F

Friday, Dec 14

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Rain

Low: 39 °F

High: 60 °F

Weather for Guanzhou (I'm thinking this is too far out but gives us an idea of temps)

Saturday, Dec 15

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Cloudy

Low: 60 °F

High: 72 °F

Sunday, Dec 16

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Mostly cloudy

Low: 61 °F

High: 72 °F

Monday, Dec 17

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Mainly cloudy with a shower

Low: 60 °F

High: 69 °F

Tuesday, Dec 18

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Rain

Low: 61 °F

High: 69 °F

Wednesday, Dec 19

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Rain

Low: 52 °F

High: 69 °F

Adoption Itinerary

December 6^th - December 19^th

v Sunday, Dec. 9 Church service & The Great Wall (Lunch & Beijing Duck Dinner Included)

WE'RE GOING TO CHINA DEC. 6th!! We received notice today that we received our CA for Monday Dec. 17th and will return home Wed. Dec. 19th!! We leave ONE WEEK from today! God is sooo good! I can't wait to hold Lia in my arms! Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of weeks.

We received a call from Kristen today from AWAA with good news! She told us that we received our TA! We can now travel to China! We are trying to leave the 6th but we have to have an appointment in China. We have to wait and see if we can get that before we can make flight arrangements and so on. Please pray that we get the CA for that time period and we can leave on the 6th. If we can't then we will be leaving on the 13th with the NSN group. We could be leaving in just over a week! WooHoo!

Boy this was an event trying to get this picture on this site! At first it was HUGE but Bob was able to figure it out! Here is Lia at 8 months old! Hope you enjoy the picture because we sure do!

Still no definite news on when we will go and get Lia! Still praying we can leave next week or the first week of December. We really need to hear something by Wednesday if we want to leave next Thursday. I tried to call Kristen today to see what we might be looking at if we didn't get TA's this week but no call back. Maybe that means she knows something is coming in the mail tomorrow and praying it is TA's! I know, I'm grasping.

We received Lia's finding ad from Brian Stuy! He did an amazing job! Don't know what a finding ad is? Check out his website. http://www.research-china.org/findingads/index.htm I now have a picture of Lia from when she was 8 months old! As soon as I figure out how to scan the picture I'll upload it to this site. I feel confidant enough to say that her birthparent loved her very much!

As soon as we receive any new info I'll be sure to post it! Pray that our TA comes soon and that we can get Lia home!

OK, so I'm receiving a few questions on some of the details. I can give you what I know. Bob and I will be the only ones traveling. The kids will stay with friends and family (still to be determined) but IF we could get them to Florida they would stay with our very BEST FRIENDS. I don't think that is possible though. :( We will be gone for 12 - 14 days. We will spend three to four days in Beijing. There will be a tour of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and The Great Wall of China. We then spend five days in Lia's province (where we will meet her) which is Yunnan. We will do paperwork and more tours. Then it's off to Guangzou where the US Consulate is. There is lots of shopping here, more forms to fill out, medical exam and hopefully some down time.

We won't have anything def. until we receive our TA. Hopefully it will only take 2-3 wks to receive it. Then we will list our itinerary. Hopefully this will give you a brief summary of what we will be doing.

Just two days after I posted about our PA we have just been informed that we have received our RA! It only took 18 days for us to get it back and we were not expecting it at all. I was hopeful that it would be here in two weeks but this is even better! Now all we have to do is wait for China to give us TA (travel approval) and then we can be on our way! We can leave as early as the end of this month! We will def. be home for Christmas! I can hardly believe how fast everything is going. We have barely had Lia's picture for a month and we are now waiting to travel. We have so much to do and I already feel a bit overwhelmed! Please keep us in your prayers as we get ready to travel. I also ask that you remember Lia and her foster parents. She will be returning to the orphanage soon and it will be a big transition for her. She will be grieving for them as they will for her.

Well I'm off to pack, decorate for Christmas, Christmas shop, shop for our trip and home school the kids. I'm sure there is more that I have forgotten to add that I will need to do!

Lots going on here in the Hawkins home! We received a wonderful e-mail from our FC from AWAA (agency) telling us we were pre-approved to adopted Chu Meng aka Lia Mei! Here is what the e-mail had to say -

The CCAA has processed the Pre-Approval (PA) for your family's request to adopt Chu Meng. The PA is issued once the information from the electronic acceptance has been reviewed and approved. Once the CCAA has fully reviewed your Dossier and application to adopt a specific child, they will issue the Referral Acceptance (RA). As a reminder, this step is currently taking anywhere from 2-5 months from the date of your electronic acceptance. There is no guaranteed timeframe from the CCAA on when your RA will arrive.

I have printed the PA from the CCAA's website and have attached it to this email. Be sure to print one off for your records. Please let me know if you have any trouble printing the PA.

We were not expecting this but are so excited! Usually once you have been logged in and through review you do not receive PA but our agency sent our LOI electronically so we actually get to know we are doing OK in the process. Thank you Lord! Praying for the rest of the group to receive their PA (esp. my friend Liz) soon.

We also got word that Brian Stuy was able to find Lia's finding ad! So we ordered that last night and hope to have that shortly! If you'd like to see what a finding ad is you can look here at his site http://www.research-china.org/

We've been busy packing and getting ready for our trip. We have one suit case packed. We are unsure when we will go but I don't want to wait until the last minute to pack. We plan to decorate our house for Christmas early JUST INCASE! In two weeks Bob, Taylor Noah and I will see Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. Kera will say with one of her sitters. I'm finishing up a photo album for Lia so I can send it off to her in China . I hope it helps her to recognize our faces when we pick her up.

Just received word from Amy that our LOI is offically in China! Our count down begins today! We are already through review so I pray that we get a speedy LOA and TA. We hope to have Lia home around Christmas.

We are thanking God today! We received a call today at 3:22pm from AWAA for a referral for a beautiful little girl who will be two on Jan. 15th. Her name is Chu Meng and we will be naming her Lia Mei ChuMeng Hawkins! She was left with a note from her birthparents and is currently in foster care! She is from Chuxiong City which is in the Yunnan Province of China! She does have a medical condition that will be fixed as soon as she comes come. Our next step will be sending in our LOI!

LOI - Letter of Intent: This is the letter we have to send the CCAA to tell them Iwe want to go forward with the adoption of a Waiting Child, Lia Mei

RA / LOA - Referral Approval / Letter of Approval: This says CCAA is approving the adoption and then we send it back basically saying "yes, we want to adopt her"

TA - Travel Approval: CCAA has given us permission to go to China and pick up Lia.

CA - Consulate Appointment: This is the appointment where we will finalize the adoption while in China.

So we hope to send our LOI out next week! Please keep Lia in your prayers as well as the rest of the family.

Adoption Itinerary

December 6 th - December 19 th

December 6^th - December 19^th