Journey to Liana

Only a little over two weeks and we will be flying to China to my daughter, Liana! I am so excited! Time is flying by and I have to concentrate to ensure things get done that need to be accomplished before we leave.

Here are some things that have happened so far. On July 1, 2004, Children's Hope International (CHI) opened to receive applications from single applicants. Due to the quota on single applicants China has enacted, only eight percent of an agencies applicants can be from singles. I was ready to mail my application to CHI a couple of years ago, when China enacted a quota on single applicants. Since most agencies already had enough applications in the system for a couple of years, I started looking at other options. By the time I had researched Guatemala, there was a year wait to receive a child. I then looked at CHI's special needs program. As I was researching this option, I was informed that CHI would be opening on July 1, 2004, for single applications. On July 1, 2004, I was at the St Louis CHI office before they opened. I was the first there, but Carla was also there. Carla ended up adoption Jerusha from the waiting childrens list and is very happy with her new daughter. I was accepted for Dec 2004.

To speed this up, I will leave out all of the prep work that went into the paperwork collection. Suffice it to say that my dossier was logged into China on Jan 31, 2005. I received the referral of my beautiful daughter Qi Jia Xia, now Liana Jiaxia, on September 1, 2005. She was born on October 30, 2004. She has a thick head of dark hair and the cutest cubby cheeks I've ever seen.

Liana, my friend Julie who is traveling to China with me, and myself are booked on a flight leaving O'Hare on October 8, 2005. I am going to stay with Julie and her family overnight, then an agency is going to take us to the airport. We are traveling a couple of days earlier than the group to sightsee. Julie is a wonderful friend, and part of my family, even though we aren't related. She will keep me sane and laughing, while dispensing motherly advise. She has two fully grown daughters! Her daughter Marianna will be the nanny to my daughter when I go back to work.

There are so many things I want to accomplish before we leave for China, but all I can think of is Liana and the trip to her.

I welcome you to read about our journey and become part of our experience. My intent is to keep everyone informed, or see if Julie :) would be interested in telling everyone about our trip. If my actions fall short, please forgive me, and hopefully I can catch everyone up eventually.

Good night for now,
Patty