Shenzhen, China.

What was a tiny fishing village on the border of Hong Kong in 1970 is now a buzzing metropolis of over four million people. With 13 buildings at over 200 meters tall, including the Shun Hing Square (the 8th tallest building in the world), Shenzen is a marvel of lights after sunset. You can’t help but ask yourself if you are in a video game or in a real city.
Metro/Urban Population: 4.2 million

Guangzhou, China


Guangzhou

Guangzhou is a very modern city, yet it is called "the City of Flowers,” as each of its spectacular skyscrapers is surrounded by grand green spaces and flower beds. Although it only has six structures at over 200 metres tall, there are plenty of other high-rises, each displaying a design that stands out in its own respect. This includes the 391 metre, 80-floor, CITIC Plaza which appears transparent against the (usually) clear blue sky!
Metro/Urban Population: 4.1 million

Shanghai, China




Not to be mistaken for a space station, Shanghai is a real city! China's biggest and most advanced city, Shanghai was said to be the most cosmopolitan city in the beginning of the 20th century, but lost its glory during the “Mao era”. It is now quickly regaining its position as one of the biggest economic powerhouses in the world as well as a showcase of modern architecture. In Shanghai you’ll find 25 structures that are over 200 metres tall, one of which is the insanely tall, the 468m downtown Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
Metro/Urban Population: 13.1 million

And finally Hong Kong




Hong Kong is number one on my list for many reasons: Hong Kong has a whopping 43 buildings over 200 metres tall, 30 of which were built in the year 2000 or later!!! It also boasts four of the 15 tallest buildings in the world… that's all in one city! Hong Kong’s skyline shows a large selection of distinct sky-reaching towers, with beautiful night lighting and reflection. This city exemplifies the post-modern skyscraper and skyline. Finally, the mountain backdrop makes this skyline (as you can clearly see) the greatest on the planet!
Metro/Urban Population: 6.9 million

I got the first picture from My Chinese Dream. Her daughter Mali is beautiful. Check her out and while you're out surfing around check out the other skylines at Top 15 Skylines.

Another dossier photo. We have to have 8 family photos and 3 couple photos. I also have a family reunion photo from last year we are going to send. So, that's 3 family so far. I have another picture of just the 2 of us from a friends wedding a month ago. That will be 2 couple photos. Jeez...who would have thought getting pictures could be this difficult??

Hmmm...maybe....the picture is off balance but it might just do. Everyone has a nice smile on. I had to crop the picture because you can see all the stuff on the deck by the back door and it looked kind of messy.

Waiting...waiting....waiting....we are waiting on the Assistant Stork to finish up with authenticating our documents so we can send everything to the agency. That should happen next week. So that is about all that has been happening around here. The boys are on Spring Break so there isn't any baseball (yeah!!). Work is still work and will always be work!
Here's a great picture that J sent to T of his parent's wedding day. Wow!! We've never seen this one before. Thanks J!!

I've been reading other blogs and noticed a trend. Quite a few of them have names without the word "Journey" in the title! I can be creative when I need to be (come on folks, I'm a programmer....Creativity is not needed, just logic!) "T for Two...Double Happiness...Grouchy LadyBug....little hugs...The Cady Chase...Wandering Child"...and so on are different blogs that I read. Ok, lets see. I have 3 wonderful guys in my life, 2 dogs, and a cat. We are a sports (ugh!) oriented family who is adopting a daughter and sister from China. What about "3 Guys and a girl" - nah...too corny. "Baseball and Ballet"..."Cleats or Pointes"..."Chopsticks vs Forks"..."Puppydog tails"...."To the Moon and Back"..."Jump Rope"..."hopSCOTCH"..."T For Me and You"..."The Maddening Chase"..."Chopstick Dreaming"

Tell me what you think!!

Well we have seen another snafu in the great paperchase of 2006! Our marriage certificate is FAKE!!!!!!!!!! Haha...just kidding. I did have to send it back to the county clerk for them to certify though. Here's the scoop. Sent the mc to Albany to be certified, they send it back and say it needs to be done at the county level. Ok, sure...sent it to the county clerk in Wampsville. They send it back and said it needs to be done at the town level. Um....ok. Sent it to Chittenango...guess what? They called and said it was already certified but they would go ahead and get me another copy with a notary stating it was a true copy. Sounds fine. WRONG!!! When I got it back I got nervous because all of the other documents that have been certified had the certificate attached to the original document. This one did not. So, I email my agency and they confirmed my fears. Sh......!!! So I called the Department of State and spoke to a very nice woman. She said that yes - the marriage certificate needs to be "County Certified". I explained to her what happened and she laughed and said they have no clue. Now look lady - this is no laughing matter - this is our daughter!! I next called the county clerk...she had NO CLUE what I was talking about!! She said "You need to send it to the town". Oh Lord...here we go, I opened up my can of whoop a$$!! I then said the magic words of "County Certified". Aha!!! The light bulb goes on and she says "Oh..yeah, we do those. Send it with $3.00" OMG!! So, I sent that off and should get it back next week, then it has to go back to the DOS so they can certifiy that the county clerk that certified it is certifiable....I don't know about that, but I sure am!!!

We are headed to NY for Easter this year. We will leave on the14th and return on the 18th. Quick trip. I think if I get that mc back before we leave I will hand carry it to Albany, even though it is a 3 hr drive from the house. Then - if T will let me....we could hand carry the documents to be authenticated in DC since we go right by it on our way home.

Latest rumor - China only referred PART of May 31st and not the whole day...I'm not listening anymore to rumors!! *LALALALALALALALALA**

All we have left to do now is to authenticate our home study, marriage certificate, I171H, and adoption petition. I'm going to send them to the Assistant Stork who did our other documentation. She hand delivers them to the State Department and Chinese Consulate in Washington DC. We are going to pay the extra $20 per document to have a 24 hr turnaround. That means that we should get everything back by Tuesday at the latest and then we can send everything to our agency CCAI.

Check out this video!!


Faith - the dog with 2 legs