We are celebrating each moment until you are united with your Kylee! We are overjoyed for all of you and are praising God for the love you already have and will continue to create with each other. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. We LOVE reading all about it.

Love,
-Boston and Wayne

Letter of Approval

On November 5, 2008 many things happened: it was my father's birthday - he would have been 85 years old, we elected the first black President and we received our Letter of Approval (LOA) to adopt our second daughter from China.

When we started the process to adopt our daughter Qin Xia --soon to be named Kylee Alexandria -- she was two. When Kylee joins our family she will be shy of four years old. We missed her third birthday, Halloweens, Thanksgivings, family vacations and Christmases and she was always in our thoughts. This has been the longest wait I have ever experienced in my life.

But today, November 6 we signed and returned our LOA which agrees that we accept our child. In approximately 4 weeks we will receive our Travel Approval (TA) and it will confirm that we can travel to China to bring our daughter home. We have tentative travel dates for January 1 and we should have her in our arms on January 5, 2009. (At the time I wrote this post I didn't know that we would experience yet another bump in the road, Travel Approval took 8 weeks to arrive.)

It is amazing how you can bond with a child whose picture you've only seen. That you can unconditionally love someone you have never met and plan her future when you haven't even spoken her name for the first time. But she is ours and we cannot wait to bring her home and let her become the person that God intended her to be.

Kylee's Referral Pictures

The face we fell in love with!

I always wonder if this is the first time a camera is put in front of them and that is why they have that sad face (aka driver's license photo).

According to the biography we received with her picture, she does not like stuffed animals but does love to play with balls.

I "conceived" her on an open list and this is what it read:

Mary Kate
born January 25th 2005 Xian Yang City Shaanxi
Mary Kate's fontanel is not closed completely in the back and she has a small lump behind it
causing her to have a small bald spot at the back of her head.
She is healthy and described as a gentle girl who is shy at times but likes to play with other children.
The nannies say she is energetic and very loveable. Mary Kate is a pretty little girl

We didn't feel the name Mary Kate suited her so we changed it to Kylee (not that anyone ever called her Mary Kate in China, that is just what the poster from the Waiting Child Group named her).

Updated information on Kylee

We received an e-mail from our agency with updated information on Kylee.

General Condition (as of 11/08)
Height: 100cm (3' 28")
Weight 37.4 lbs
Head size 48.2cm
Chest size: 55cm
Foot length: 15.3 cm (approx. a size 9 shoe?)
Teeth: 20
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set1clinical/cj41l022.pdf

According to the above link she is in the 90th percentile (US chart).

General Condition (2006)
Height: 84cm (2' 76")
Weight: 12Kg (26.4 lbs)
Head Size: 47cm
Chest Size: 50cm

Additional pictures of Kylee

These pictures have been sent to us from families that have travelled to Xian and have graciously taken pictures of children that are awaiting adoption.

I hope to be able to do the same for waiting families when we travel to the orphanage.

Kylee is the one with the blue shirt:

Mia, Kylee's sister

Mia will become a big sister in a few short (long for me) weeks and she is so excited! She talks about her sister all the time and tells anyone that will listen that she is going to China for over 2 weeks and that is a really long time. I don't believe she totally gets that Kylee will be only 16 months younger than she is so she talks about teaching her to walk and feeding her. We will post more about this later!

Mia is five years old and was adopted on November 29, 2004. She is from the Hunan Providence (Yue Yang County SWI).

With Daddy on Gotcha Day!

Kylee's Orphanage

Kylee is currently residing at the Social Welfare Institute of XianYang where she awaits her parents and sister!

Where Kylee lives today

Shaanxi Province is located in the very heart of China. Boasting a population of more than 36 million in an area of over 200,000 square kilometers (about 77,225 square miles), Shaanxi includes most of the middle stretch of the Yellow River. It borders Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu and Ningxia.

Shaanxi Province's climate is temperate and semi-arid in the north and subtropical and humid in the south. Annual average temperature of Shaanxi is between 8C and 16C and its annual rainfall averages from 400 millimeters to 1000 millimeters. Spring and fall are the best times to visit Shaanxi, since the winters are cold and summer is often rainy. (Note from us -- we are traveling in the WINTER!!!!)

Shaanxi Province is one of the most important cradles of ancient Chinese civilization. As far back as one million years ago, some of China's earliest inhabitants lived in this region, and began spreading their culture along the life-sustaining Yellow River. Throughout the province's long history, there are 13 dynasties who established capitals here, including the Zhou, the Qin, the Han, and the Tang. Because of this rich history, cultural relics and ruins are plentiful, and may be found preserved both above- and underground. So Shaanxi is called the 'authentic history museum' in China.

There are many historic places to be seen. One of the oldest is the Banpo Village Remains, the site of a 6000-year-old village which belongs to the Neolithic Age. In the capital city, Xian, you can see the City Wall, which was begun in the Han Dynasty, a century before the Christian era, and is now the largest and most well-preserved ancient wall, existing in China. Xian Forest of Stone Steles Museum boasts a largest collection of the stone tablets in China, 114 of which are engraved with 'classic' texts. In or near the city are 72 ancient tombs and remains, including the mausoleum of the Tang emperor Xuanyuan (the Yellow Emperor), who initiated Chinese civilization. There are many more ancient structures and temples such as the Big Goose Pagoda built in 652, Famen Temple, Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. The highlight of a Shaanxi tour for many visitors is the amazing Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses who guard a site honored as the Eighth Great Wonder of the world.

Shaanxi is also abundant in natural beauty beyond its rich historical legacy. As one of the five best-known mountains in China, Mt. Huashan, 120 kilometers (or 46 miles) east of Xian, is famous for its breath-taking cliffs and awe-inspiring landscape. The Hukou waterfall on Yellow River, the second biggest one in China, is very overbearing and magnificent. And Moutain Lishan and the nearby Huaqing Hot Springs are very attractive. Their beautiful legends will bring you into a moving love story between emperor Xuanzong and a beauty named Yang Guifei.
Shaanxi is both a base area of Chinese new-democratic revolution and a place with unique folk customs. The loud resounding Shaanxi opera, the joyous clattering of gongs and drums, the exquisite cut - paper art and the peasants' paintings full of a rich flavor of life attract more and more tourists' attention from home and abroad.

Kylee's pets!

These are our two old guys (nearly 11 years old) and our family pets, Yoda and Spot (the white one).

They are Dutch dogs but now speak English! When Edwin and I lived in The Netherlands we got these little guys. They have traveled to over 8 countries in Europe and have the life of Riley! Mia adores them and often goes on walks with them in the evening. They on the other hand are only interested in someone feeding them and taking them for walks!

We hope Kylee will enjoy these wonderful guys as much as Mia has and hopefully they will not scare the pants off of her since she has never seen a dog (that we are aware of) in her entire life!

Spot after being told we were going to add another member to the our family!