CCAI Application Sent

This morning, I mailed our application to Chinese Children Adoption International. After they review it and hear back from our references they can approve us and then it’s on to the official paperchase.

School's Out!

We had our final adoption class tonight. It was a series of 5 classes covering issues related to adoption, from birthmothers to grief and loss to attachment and more. One class was a panel of couples that have adopted internationally. The classes were very informative, very interesting and gave us the opportunity to discuss specific things we were unsure of or curious about. They gave us a lot to discuss and gave us a strong foundation to prepare us for the adoption. We had a wonderful facilitator!

Hana's First Book

We got a really nice surprise today - Hana received her first book! There was a book fair at work and Sumnima, our Industrial Hygienist found a wonderful children's book set in China. The book is Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett. It is a story about a girl Mei Mei and her chicken Daisy. The illustrations are amazing and reflect life along the Li River in China - if you look very closely you will discover animals hidden in the mountains. What a wonderful gift! A huge thank you to Sumnima! We can't wait to share this story with Hana!

Learn more about the book and author by clicking here and on the title above.

Why "The Road to Hana"?

Hana (HAH-nah) is the name of our future daughter. The name comes from a beautiful little town on the island of Maui, Hawaii where we spent our honeymoon in 2003. The 52 mile road leading to Hana is narrow with many sharp bends and blind curves. It is surrounded with forest, runs along the coast and is dotted with bridges and waterfalls along the way, with the smell of fresh guava in the air. The town of Hana is small and simple. We stayed in a sea ranch cottage at the Hotel Hana-Maui overlooking the ocean. Plumeria was blooming everywhere. The "secret" red beach and Hamoa beach were something out of a dream. It was absolutely amazing and we can't wait to go back. Here's a photo we took of Hamoa beach.

We were so enchanted with the beauty and serenity of the area that we decided right then that our first daughter would be named Hana. Hana is a Japanese, Hawaiian and Hebrew name meaning flower, blossom, graceful, and merciful. It is also an Arabic name meaning happiness or bliss.

Welcome!

Hi everyone! This is the web log of our adoption journey - our own personal "Road to Hana". Visit often to view updates. We will include summaries of where we are in the process, links to interesting information and as soon as one of us can figure out how to do it, we will also include occasional photos. This will serve to keep you informed and most importantly, it will be our journal for this important step in our lives.