History

Nov, 3 , 2005 5:37 PM CDT

Hello Everyone....

Well our last night here in Gaungzhou. We fly out to Beijing in the early
morning. Emma is doing well although she has a cold so we visited the
docter here at the hotel today. She put her on a Chinese herbal medicine.
I hope it helps as she coughs then wakes herself up at night. We are still
getting to know each other and figure out her likes and dislikes but she is
such a sweet and amazing little girl....you should hear her laugh..awe just
the sweetest sound. She has changed so much since the day we received her.
Yesterday she started pulling herself up to a standing postion..... When we
received her if I held her to stand on her legs she would hold them up and
not put much weight on them at all and now she is standing up at things.
It's just amazing to see the changes in the babies. It's exciting to see
them all together and to see how some react to certain ones differently.
Emma is a tough girl and a go getter...if she wants something so goes and
don't try and stop her..LOL I have to watch her as she is on the move and
loves to crawl over to the other babies and pull at them. Little monkey.
We received the final papers, finding adds. birth cert. as well as our
adoption certificates for the girls. We are ready to leave in the
morning...My mom and I just packed everything up and are a little concerned
that our luggage will be over weight for a domestic flight here in
China....oh well I guess we pay if we are over. I haven't shopped much here
at all as I knew the luggage was an issue. I did however buy Emma a tea set
and a monkey stamp to signify the year she was born. Being that she was
born in January and the New Year was not celebrated till the beginning of
Feb this year she is still a monkey baby....and that she is!!! I am
waiting to shop in Beijing as we are allowed much more luggage on the flight
home. Mom has bought a few things...purse and shoes etc. She has ventured
out more with a few other ladies while Emma and I have had some down time
and naps. It's a huge city. The people have been wonderful. I am guessing
Emma is about 16 lbs. She is wearing 9months and 12 months clothing. Some
of the things I have brought are just too small. After we had gotten the
referrals of the babies we were able to send a care package to them. We had
sent a disposable camera and received it back when I got Emma. Today I took
it and had it developed and it's so wonderful to see the orphanage staff,
Emma's Nanny playing with her in the playground and some of the other babies
in our group. I will cherish these pictures always. A little piece of her
life before us!..... I miss home and my family and had a good cry last
night. I know everyone is doing well but being so far away for so long is
very hard. Well it's late and I need to get some sleep before our flight.
We have a wake up call coming at 5:00 AM. Night everyone from Gaungzhou,
China....next post will be from Beijing. Love to everyone and please know
we love the emails from back home. I am sorry I have not replied to all but
there just isn't enough time although we love hearing from you so please
keep writing. Talk Soon. Kyle and Kira hope you have a good day at school.
Thanks for the Halloween pictures, looks like you had fun! Thanks
Michelle!

Night.....Janice, Emma and Nanny xoxox
please watch gotcha memories for updated pictures.

Nov 1, 2005 5:36 PM CDT

Hello Everyone.

Today will be a short update as I am really tired and each night seem to be
staying up later and later:) Emma is just wonderful...she has a cough but
with some baby dimatap it seems to help with the coughing. Most of the
babies seem to have colds or some kind of chest congestion. coming from an
orphanage climate where they keep the babies warm into a hotel with air
conditioning and outside etc. the babies seem to catch colds sometimes. We
started the day with a breakfast buffet here at the hotel then off to do
some shopping...mostly just strollers and formula shopping today. We broke
down and bought a stroller. My back was starting to hurt and we just have
so much to carry when we leave the hotel that it was the best way to go for
us. Emma's first time in it wasn't a good one..she cried as she could not
see me. I tried her alittle while later and she was fine and loved sitting
up looking around. After the shopping center we went to a beautiful park
and walked around a bit then took a group picture. After that Joyce our
guide planned a dim sum lunch for us. Emma just loves her congee...I think
mommy is going to have to make that for her when we are back home!! Eating
for me has been a tad tricky....i am living on broccli and steemed rice and
fruit that is peeled. Tonight Joyce planned pizza hut for us at the
hotel...we had fun and the babies had fun playing together. It's so cute to
see Emma light up when she sees her friends. One baby in particular is
Joran....when Emma sees her she goes right crazy....Joran seems to know Emma
too by her reaction so we are thinking maybe they were crib mates or
neighbours in the SWI. All in all the babies are doing pretty well. It's
amazing to see the changes in them in only a few short days. Emma is
standing while holding onto my hands now..something she didn't do until
today. She is very active and crawls, etc. but we hadn't seen her stand
like she is now. She is a stong little girl. Tomorrow we are off to the
Temple of Liu Rong and some factory shops. Should be a fun day. Hope
everyone had a fun halloween.....Emma had her little lady bug costume on for
a bit..thanks Rebecca!!! Nanny is sleeping up in the room right now but she
is doing well and enjoying visiting with the other mom's etc. You will
never guess where I just was......having a chinese massage...can you say
YEOUCH??? lol I had no idea these small chinese girls could be so
strong!!! For a 60 massage I paid 60 Yuan so around $6.00 US wow isn't
that something? Anyway now I am sleepy so will turn in but hope you enjoy
the pictures from today:)

Thanks to everyone for the great emails...they are very encouraging. Miss
you Kyle, Kira and Scott..hope you had lot's of fun trick or treating.

See you soon....Love Mom, Emma and Nanny xoxoxox
Ps. Doug is that better??? ha ha brat!

Oct 31, 2005 5:36 PM CDT

http://www.gotchamemories.net/Referral-Olson-October31.html

Love you all...Janice and Emma and Nanny

Oct, 29, 2005 5:33 PM CDT

Hello From Hong Kong.....we made it and will update everyone
tomorrow....very tired and I just typed out a whole email and LOST it
all...grrrrrr we had a great day today with a tour of Hong Kong....I have
been able to download my pix but for some reason they won't let me add them
to this email..I will have to figure this out..sorry guys. Love you all and
miss you like crazy. Tomorrow we meet for breakfast at 8:00 am and then
leave Hong Kong to Gaunghzou to receive our babies. I am so excited as are
all the other families. We will email from our hotel there and I hope to
have pictures to post. Very sorry about that. Scott, Kyle and Kira I miss
you like crazy....mommy loved waking to your phone call this morning.
Hearing your voices just made my day. I am sending you tons of hugs and
kisses and can't wait to see you all soon with your baby sister. Tomorrow
at 3:00 PM China time will be our "Gotcha Moment" Sorry this is
short...Jerome mom says hi and she is well...very tired and up in the room
getting ready for bed. Good night from Hong Kong!!

Love you all.....Janice

Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:40 AM CDT

Well I leave in 7 days for China....I can't believe the time has finally come...we are so overjoyed that little Emma will be in my arms so soon. I wanted to type out our Itinerary for those of you who would like to follow us along to China. so here it is!!

Oct 26: leave home for Winnipeg
Oct 27: fly out of Winnipeg at 7:30 am
Oct 28: arrive in Hong Kong
Oct 29: tour Hong Kong
Oct 30: leave for Guangzhou by tour bus at 8:00 am
and meet baby Emma at 2:00 PM!!!
Oct 31: apply for Emma's passport
Nov 1: Tour City and shopping:)
Nov 2: Temple of Liu Rong
Nov 3: possibly visit orphanage
Nov 4: Leave Guangzhou for Beijing
Nov 5: Emma's picture of immigration, group picture
Visit The Summer Palace and Beijing Zoo
Nov 6: Great Wall of China
Nov 7: Emma's Medical and shopping excursion
Nov 8: Silk Factory and Pearl Market
Nov 9: Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City
Nov 10: Leave Beijing for Vancouver where Scott
Kyle and Kira and Auntie Shannon will be waiting
for mommy,Emma and Nanny.
Nov 10 - 14: We will stay at my girlfriends in Vancouver
to spend some time as a family before flying home.
Nov 14: arrive in Winnipeg at 7:00 PM
Nov 15: HOME!!!!!!!!

We would like to take this oppertunity to thank everyone who has been apart of this amazing journey with us..we could not have done it without any of you. We love you all and can't wait for you to meet our new daughter:) xoxo the Olson family:)

Thursday, September 22, 2005 6:01 PM CDT

Wow, can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. So much to tell...we have our flights booked..we leave on Oct 27th. Fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver then onto Hong Kong that same day. We arrive in Hong Kong on the 28th and will be staying at the Concourse Hotel. On Oct 30th we will take a tour bus to Guangzhou which is about a 3 hour drive. That afternoon we get our baby Emma Ray Yanghua placed in our arms. Yippeee we have waited so long for this day and dream about our little girl every minute of every day. We love you little Emma. Now for more exciting news...Scott, Kyle and Kira will fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver on November 10th and arrive 2 hours before our flight gets in. They will be at the airport to meet us. The hardest part of this journey for me will be leaving my family. I have never been away from the kids for more than 2 nights (that has been hard)...can't imagine 14 nights. Yikes!!! We will stay in Vancouver with my girlfriend and her family also we hope to see Tania, Mark, Asia and new baby Sabryna while there too. We will leave Vancouver and arrive in Winnipeg on November 14th. Until next time hope everyone is well:) Love to all.

Saturday, Sept 3, 2005 3:50 PM CDT

Hello Everyone,

Well she is finally here.....we have our REFERRAL!!!

It is with so much excitement and love in our hearts that we announce the referral of our daughter......

Name Qiu Yang Hua
place : Jiangxi Social Welfare Institute in Guangzhou City in Guangdong
born: January 21 2005

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOO.
so far this is all the information we have but we are in love!

We will be leaving October 28th to go get our sweet girl!!!!

Thanks to everyone who has followed us on this journey of love and who has given us such love and support. We thank you all very much. Hugs to all..love Janice, Scott, Kyle and Kira and baby Emma Rae ? (still deciding)

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 10:16 AM CDT

Well we have heard from our agency that they are estimating we may travel Oct 15th or 22nd. We have also been told we should hear who our little one is in the next 2 to 3 weeks. How exciting is that???? We are all so excited we can hardly stand it. WE ARE NEXT...WE ARE NEXT....YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!!!! Hugs to all and a special thank you for signing our guestbook...we love reading everyones messages.

Love the Olson Family:)

Thursday, July 14, 2005 6:39 PM CDT

Well it's already the middle of July and some very special friends should be hearing about their daughters in the next week or two. I am so excited for these friends. I have shared in their wait and experienced this wonderful time with them which has brought us so close. I pray they hear soon, I can't wait to share in their joy with them. I am amazed at the wonderful friends I have in my life. How did I get so lucky meeting such wonderful people? I ask myself this question from time to time. I am forever greatful. We are just over a month away from hearing news of our daughter. We pray she is well and loved by her Nanny's in China. We will be there soon sweetie...we love you little one.

Janice

Thursday, June 9, 2005 11:56 PM CDT

First of all I want to wish my dad a very happy 54th birthday today. Unfortunatly he is not here to celebrate this day with us, but he is in our hearts and in our thoughts and we love and miss you Dad/Grandpa. Today I think back of when I was a little girl growing up and how special my family was. I was a "daddy's girl" and enjoyed all my time spent with my dad. I have the best memories of him and have taught my kids all about their grandpa "Darrel" It is because of him and my mom that I am the person I am today. Thank you Mom and Dad...I love you both very much!

On the adoption front we are still waiting...not much new to write about other than we think and dream about our baby every night..what will she look like, where will she be from in China, how old will she be. We know that God has chosen the perfect baby for us. We just can't wait to finally meet her. We bought the baby a little Sonya Lee doll and she is just so cute. We have a small collection of things for her but have held off getting too much until we have more details. Thanks to everyone for the lovely messages left in our quest book..we enjoy reading each and every one of them..... With Love

Saturday, May 21, 2005 11:54 AM CDT

Hello Everyone....it's nearing the end of May which means we are getting closer and closer to a referral. We are getting really excited as the days pass as we are all anxious to finally see the sweet face of the baby we have been dreaming about for a long time now. Both the kids are super excited and ask daily about their baby sister waiting in China. The other day Kira was eating a "wish-chip" and she made a wish for her baby sister to be safe. It was so sweet to hear. We have 2 weddings this summer to keep us busy, by girlfriend Shannon who I could not be more proud of as well as my sister in law. Both have great guys and I wish them a lifetime of love and happiness. Kyle and Kira are both enjoying Soccer twice a week, mom is working more and more as well as dad. We keep busy but always enjoy our time together as a family best of all. I will also update the pictures in the photo section. I want to say a special thanks to our family and friends for being here with us through this very special time in our lives as we await news of our precious daughter who is waiting for us in China. We love you little one:)

Friday, April 1, 2005 10:46 PM CST

Well it's been awhile since I have updated our website. We finally have our LID(log in date) date which is Feb 21 05 so we are now expecting our referral in August and can't wait. We are Logged in..yippeeeeeeee The kids are super excited and talk daily about their baby sister. We are trying to decide on a name for our little one. Our fav is Emma Rae but we also like Anika, Sydney, Katie and Lia. I think we will end up with our little Emma but we will decide once we see her sweet little face. Thanks to everyone for following along on this wonderful journey with us. Best Wishes to you all.

Friday, January 28, 2005 9:56 PM CST

Hello Everyone,

Well, we are finally DTC (date to china). We found out our dossier was mailed off last week and we couldn't be more happy. It is super exciting to know that we are done with the paperchase and that the countdown has started..I guess you could say I am paper pregnant!!! Kyle and Kira are super excited and hope the time passes quickly as they just can't wait to see their baby sister's sweet little face. The only one thing that makes me a tad sad is that I have met a couple WONDERFUL women and their documents were not ready to send to China with ours so we will not get to travel together. Cindy and Susan it will be fun to continue to get to know you ladies and be here to lean on each other anytime you need. We are on our way!!! Thanks to FOI for all the hard work they have done to get us to this point. Best wishes.....Janice, Scott, Kyle and Kira xoxox

Tuesday, November 30, 2004 3:04 PM CST

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to share our news. Our homestudy was sent to the Ministry for Approval on Saturday November 27th...yippeeee...This is a step closer to our baby, and it's an exciting step. Now, we pray the approval doesn't take too long and we can finally have a DTC date. Thanks for letting us share our news.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004 10:58 AM CST

Hello Everyone,

We are still awaiting my finger prints and we have our fingers crossed that they arrive in the mail today. We can't wait to have everything sent to our agency, FOI, and then await Ministry approval. What a happy day this will be:) Hope everyone is well. We are all fine and said goodbye to my mom who was here vistiting for just over a week. We will miss her alot but she will return at Christmas time. Baby girl, mommy dreams of you every day, sleep tight my angel....

Friday, October 29, 2004 2:49 PM CDT

Yippeeee today we received Scott's fingerprints back from the RCMP..some 4 month wait huh?! I had to have mine redone and sent them today Express Post so I hope mine come very soon so we are able to submit to the Ministry... Oh we are soooo excited and can't stop thinking about our little one in China.....each step is one step closer to our little one:)

Thursday, October 28, 2004 6:00 PM CDT

Today I went to have my finger prints done again for the second time. When I called the RCMP in Ottawa to ask if they had received them I was told mine were unreadable but that Scott's were fine...grrrr not sure what happened to mine but anyway they are done now and I will send them off tomorrow Express Post! They said that once they receive them it will take 2 weeks. So in about 3 weeks time our SW should be able to send our home study to the Ministry ...yippeeee we can't wait;)

Saturday, October 23, 2004 8:05 PM CDT

Today we met with our Social Worker for our final visit. We had a really nice visit and all is in order..we just need our RCMP police checks to come back and we are set to submit our home study for approval..yippeeee we are soooo excited and one step closer to our little girl. Thanks to everyone who is following our journey. Please take a minute and sign our guestbook so we know you were here:)

Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:13 AM CDT

Today we talked to our Social Worker about moving our last visit to Saturday instead of Friday as Scott is away working and won't be home until Saturday early morning. After talking with Joan she said to call the RCMP office in Ottawa to see about our RCMP checks. When I called I was told it was taking 4 months. I was really upset to hear this but the great people on our chat lists as well as our agency reasured us that everyone is told that, but that now they are taking between 4 to 6 weeks for a return. This has made us feel much better as we are anxious to have our home study sent in for Ministry approval. Once we have this our dossier can be translated and then sent over to China and we will have a DTC date. Wish us luck for tomorrow's visit!!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2004 9:49 AM CDT

Sent our package off to Family Outreach International for review. We are still waiting on our Social Worker to make her final visit so that our homestudy can be sent in for Ministry Approval. We are getting closer and closer to our little angel from China. Please Follow us on this amazing journey!!!

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----End of History----