Monday, November 23, 2009

Where in the world is Celia Qindan?



Celia is in Chongqing Municipality, specifically Dianjiang SWI. Here is a little bit of info on Chonqing.

Chongqing is a port city with the largest municipal area and population in China. It is situated in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers in southwest China. With an area of 82,400 square kilometers (31, 800 square miles), Chongqing shares borders with the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shaanxi. Besides the Han who form the majority of its total population of 30.9 million, numerous ethnic groups reside in Chongqing, including Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Qiang, You and Tujia.

Since its founding 3,000 years ago, Chongqing has been called Jiangzhou, Yuzhou, and Gongzhou, before getting its present name nearly 800 years ago. Since the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), many dynasties have set up administrative institutions that have endowed the city with brilliant cultures. Perched beside the Yangtze, the "Golden River," Chongqing symbolizes Yangtze River civilizations and is the cradle of Bayu culture.

Today, Chongqing is a modern city, China's fourth municipality after Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Within its borders Chongqing encompasses a wealth of water reserves, mineral resources, dense forests, and abundant flora and fauna. The focal point of the unique Yangtze Three Gorges Dam, Chongqing is a tourist attraction as well as a commercial city.

Chongqing attracts visitors from home and abroad for its cultural heritage and other tourist attractions. The city is the starting point for theYangtze River Cruise, which explores the stunning scenery of the Three Gorges. Other attractions include the Dazu Rock Carvings , valuable works of art carved during the Ninth Century, Gold Buddhist Mountain, a rich repository of diverse animals and plants; and Fishing Town, one of three ancient battlefields in China. Ancient Ci Qi Kou village lures tourists to linger in its streets to buy handicraft souvenirs.

Chongqing is famous for its hot Sichuan cuisine and world-famous hotpot dishes. Street vendors as well as restaurants feature exciting spicy delicacies for the adventurers.

Servicing western China, Chongqing provides convenient water, land, and air transportation. Hundreds of star-ranked hotels provide excellent facilities and services. Chongqing is ready to be the pilot in the Western China Development to usher in more investors and visitors.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...




She's ours!!! Well, almost :) We got our LOA in yesterdays mail and thankfully Dave came home from his business trip last night. So we signed it last night with our Uncle Sam pen and sent out via fed ex today! Our agency should get it tomorrow and hopefully they will send it out that same day. If you note the CCAA stamp you'll see we actually got approval last friday (on Day 57) but I guess it takes a bit of time to get documents where they need to go.

I also applied for my visa today and started the process to get our power of attorney authenticated. Busy! Busy! Busy!

Thankful!


My friend Amy & I have never met but we have known each other online through our adoption agency connection. She is a kind and wonderful person that has a very big heart for all the children living in orphanages in China. She is hosting a fantastic fundraiser for a very special foster home in China. The Starfish Foster Home is an amazing place! It is run by a South African woman named Amanda that is a teacher by trade and three years ago decided to pick up and start a foster home in China for children with special needs. This is a woman of courage and strength if ever I have seen one. And she is surrounded by the most beautiful and courageous children at the Starfish Foster Home. You can check out her blog and learn more about the special work they are doing for children that have a cleft lip and/or palate.

Amy's fundraiser is a simple one. Simply go to her blog called Lots O' Kidz . Scroll down to the post titled Thankful! and leave a post about something you are thankful for. Amy & her husband will donate a dollar for every post of gratitude to Starfish Foster Home! That's it! Nothing else! She is not gathering email addresses. You can leave it anonymously if you so choose. Its just a celebration of all we have to be thankful for and an understanding that there are those out there that have so little. If nothing else just check out her blog and her beautiful children, two of whom were adopted from China.

Won't you please visit Amy's blog, join in the fun and do something good for someone across the world this holiday season? I did and hope you will too!
Cheers! Cindy

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

LOA!


We got it this morning on Day 61! The day has been a blur of excited phone calls and emails and planning, planning, planning! In celebration of this moment I am sharing a recent photo of my boys. Our whole family is so excited bring Celia home! China here I come!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Day 60


It has been 60 days since we submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt Celia. Someone on RQ's forum told me yesterday that the average wait for LOA in the fall is now 72 days. That's just 12 days away. Here's to not having a Day 80 post! Wish us luck!