Visas & Money

Our Visas arrived back today! China will let us across their border! Some people are reporting delays in getting their visas, or getting requests from the Consulates for recent travel histories, supposedly because of the swine flu. We had no problem at all. Thank you Chicago Consulate! I thought I was going to order new money for the trip, but the bank said NO. They can't get new money (hmmmmm...) but they will go through their future money orders (2/week) and pull all the best bills for us. We'll have it before the end of the month.
We've been working on Ke Xin/Brooke's bedroom. I know from experience that kids don't spend that much time in there when they are little, so I'm not going to make it all fancy, but it will be comfortable and cheerful. Depending on if she has sleep issues, she may not be in there at all. There is a daybed and Olivia's old crib, since we don't know where she'll want to sleep. Other recent adoptive moms of China kids her age have reported their children still wanted to be in the crib, even if they were in regular beds at the orphanage. I want her to have the choice. When we're in China, I will pick up some small things to display in her room so that she'll have something familiar to look at and handle, along with pictures of her foster mom and foster brother. The walls are a soft, pale yellow with white trim. Some cute bedding should complete the picture. Its exciting to think we've finally gotten to this point and this is really going to happen!!