Surprise!! a baby shower

On May 10th I (Jennifer) was surprised with a baby shower by my co-workers and friends. They not only gave me amazing gifts but also got the children in the daycare to decorate the room for me. Since we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year each year; we now have Chinese fans, lanterns, pictures of Chinese children and of dogs (for the year Ali was born “year of the dog“) and a lady bug (sign of good luck in the adoption world) to decorate our home.

These ladies have been of great support and guidance to me through-out our adoption. They in fact were the first to hear the news of our referral since I was at work when I got the call. Something I will treasure forever.

Here is a picture of these great ladies and the amazing gifts I received. Also, a picture of the baby quilt Miss Sandy, the daycare cook, made for Ali. It is just beautiful.

Thank you ladies for everything!!!!! You guys are the best!!!!!

Our Travel Itinerary

IN-CHINA TRAVEL ITINEARY – SICHUAN PROVINCE

Group 246-247: Beijing and Chongqing

Beijing:

Jun.13: leave Windsor 10:15 am, Arrive Toronto 11:24 am; leave Toronto 2:10 pm.
Jun.14: arrive in Beijing on AC031/ 3:40 pm., guide will meet them at airport and transfer to JianGuo Garden Hotel.


Jun.17: Beijing to Chongqing on Flight HU7161 (1:25pm-3:45pm)

Chongqing:

Jun 17: Transfer to Yangzi Holiday Inn hotel.
Jun.18: GOTCHA DAY !!!!! Families will to go to Qianjiang SWI by bus and meet the child and sign the agreement. Families will stay overnight in Qianjiang. (please note it will take apprx. 4.5 hours from Chongqing to Qianjiang.)
Jun.19: back to Chongqing from Qianjiang, transfer to Yangzi Holiday Inn hotel.
Jun.20: 10:30 go to the Civil Affairs office for adoption registration,notarization and the passport.
Jun.21: Visit Chongqing Zoo.
Jun.22: Pick up passport. Chongqing to Beijing on Flight HU7162 (4:40pm-7:00pm).


Beijing:

Jun 22: Transfer to JianGuo Garden Hotel.
Jun.23: Rest. Guide will help families for visa photo.
Jun.24: Sightsee the Great Wall with Lunch. (cable car is not included).
Jun.25: Medical for the child and go to Canadian Embassy for visa appointment.
Jun.26: Vist Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City.
Jun.27: Hutong tour. Have Beijing Duck dinner in the evening.
Jun.28: Pick up visa in the afternoon. Leave Beijing for home on AC032/ 5:30pm, transfer to Beijing airport. Arrive Toronto 6:45pm. Overnight stay in Toronto
June.29: Leave Toronto 12:00pm, Arrive home in Windsor 1:07pm

Here we go....

We have decided to start a blog so our family and friends can share even more of our life with Ali Rong Loebach…… So here we go…..

We will start by doing a little back tracking. Our journey began with a seminar from Children’s Bridge on February 13, 2005. This was the day that convinced Dave our family was going to expand by adopting. Jennifer however, knew long before that. This is also the day we met some great families and now new friends. We started the home study portion of the adoption process in April of 2005. With the help and support of many of you guys we finished and submitted our file to China. Our log in date with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) became October 25,2005.

AND THEN THE WAIT BEGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2005 ended no word
2006 came and went
2007 began and we knew were getting closer . We thought we were would get our referral in March 2007 but our log in date was missed by one day. This was very heart breaking at the time until…

On Wednesday April 11 2007 we received our long awaited phone call from Chia at Children’s Bridge and an email package with pictures and a brief description of our new daughter. We had already known we were going to call her Ali but the spelling was going to be different ( we were thinking Ally) but with her Chinese first name pronounced “Lee “ already, we knew we had to change it. On Monday April 15 we received our purolator package from Jim the driver with all of our information on our new daughter. Here is what we know so far;

Name: Qian Li Rong (last name, first name, middle name)
Date of Birth: September 12, 2006
Orphanage: Qianjiang Social Welfare Center, Chongqing, Sichuan Province,China

We are naming her Ali Rong Loebach. She has been in foster care since November of last year. As of Jan. 8, 2007 she was 6 kg and 60 cm long. She is normal in physical and intellectual development. We are told that she is a deep sleeper and is very active and can pick things up. She is a cheerful little girl who always has a ready smile. She is fond of watching T.V. and listening to music. She also likes toys that make noise with her favorite being a bell.

As of today this is what is going on in our lives . We are busy getting ready for Ali to come home. When is she coming home you ask? We are leaving Windsor on June 13th and returning June 29th and we will be arriving home with Ali at the Windsor airport at 1:07pm.