Merry Christmas everyone. No really, I mean that. If the family isn't fully complete, I don't suppose that means we shouldn't still enjoy the day. I'm really going to try.
My mom was an unrepentant Christmas freak (and I mean that in the nicest way:) ). Our house was covered from top to toe in Christmas stuff from as far back as I can remember. Two foot Santas, dancing snowmen, Santa praying at the feet of baby Jesus, two Christmas trees (because what house is complete with just one?), those weird little bubbling tree lights, wreaths, mistletoe over door ways, well...you get the picture. After we lost my 19 year old sister when I was 10, Christmas was never quite the same for her. I finally really get it. Not to say that I didn't know what the problem was; I missed Kim too but now I GET IT. It is so hard to laugh and play and celebrate when one of your children can't be a part of it. I wish I still had my mom so I could hug her and let her know that I understand a little better now. Love you, mom. One day you'll have all your kids in one place again. I just wish I knew if they had bubble lights in heaven.
"By adopting a child and helping them reach their potential, they help
us reach ours. An adopted child is not an unwanted child; to the
contrary. They are a child who was searched for, prayed for, cried for,
begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full. Love
is meant to be shared." Author unknown
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Jaden Knows he has a Family!!!
Being paper pregnant is hard! When you are really pregnant, it is so nice to be able to pat your tummy and at least sort of have a guess as to size. (Of course the closer to the end you get, the less you really want that particular piece of info!) I have been going crazy trying to guess Jaden's current height from pictures.
We have pictures of Jaden from about the time he is 2.5 years old until about a month ago at 3.5 years old. It is amazing how much he has changed. He doesn't have the baby pudge on his cheeks any more and he has such a mature look on his little face. Always a smile, but an older-child smile somehow. We hope to be about a month from travel and the few pictures we have had recently have made me doubt that the 3T clothes we have been getting will fit. Most adopted families share how tiny their little ones were when they first got home and so we have planned to go fairly small with the clothes. The most recent picture we received as a 3 month post-op follow up showed him looking so grown up! I have to admit to some tears when I saw the pictures. I know that seems weird. Waiting every day, hoping for an update, and then being sad to see him looking so grown up. I know it is a GOOD thing that he is growing, so many kids in orphanages just don't grow much, we are just missing so much of his toddler/preschool time. Ugh! I know it wont be much longer.
Anyway...tonight I was cleaning out the "junk" folder of my email and saw Jaden's name on the subject line of an email from someone I didn't know. Apparently, the ladies that we ordered Jaden's family pillow from had someone else send us the pictures from the day he found out he has a family! Inside the email were 3 new pictures; one picture was of him holding the pillow with all of our faces on it! :) He looked happy, not terrified and so hopefully he is not going to be too shocked when the time comes. :)
We also got the first height and weight measurements in over a year. My little guy is 37.5 inches and 35 lbs! The charts say that he should wear a 4T by height but I have a hard time believing that. (Hmm, I hope I kept my receipts for 2-3T stuff.)
We have pictures of Jaden from about the time he is 2.5 years old until about a month ago at 3.5 years old. It is amazing how much he has changed. He doesn't have the baby pudge on his cheeks any more and he has such a mature look on his little face. Always a smile, but an older-child smile somehow. We hope to be about a month from travel and the few pictures we have had recently have made me doubt that the 3T clothes we have been getting will fit. Most adopted families share how tiny their little ones were when they first got home and so we have planned to go fairly small with the clothes. The most recent picture we received as a 3 month post-op follow up showed him looking so grown up! I have to admit to some tears when I saw the pictures. I know that seems weird. Waiting every day, hoping for an update, and then being sad to see him looking so grown up. I know it is a GOOD thing that he is growing, so many kids in orphanages just don't grow much, we are just missing so much of his toddler/preschool time. Ugh! I know it wont be much longer.
Anyway...tonight I was cleaning out the "junk" folder of my email and saw Jaden's name on the subject line of an email from someone I didn't know. Apparently, the ladies that we ordered Jaden's family pillow from had someone else send us the pictures from the day he found out he has a family! Inside the email were 3 new pictures; one picture was of him holding the pillow with all of our faces on it! :) He looked happy, not terrified and so hopefully he is not going to be too shocked when the time comes. :)
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| Jaden knows he has a family!!!!!! |
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| Isn't he cute? |
Monday, December 3, 2012
Article 5 drop off!!!
We have article 5 drop-off! :)
It sounds like something NASA might say, doesn't it? I'm so excited! I was shaking when I read the email. In adoptese this means that Jaden has now been classified as "an immediate relative" for immigration purposes and we are on the last step before the wait for Travel Approval! The article 5 will be at the China consulate for exactly 2 weeks at which time our agent in China will pick it up and take it to the department in China that issues Travel approval. The wait for "TA" can be 3-18 days. As soon as we get TA we can make our flight plans; I've seen families leave as early as 3 days after TA. We could be leaving in as little as 3.5 weeks! I'm not going to mention how long it could be because that is not going to apply to us, right? Time to do some serious packing. :)
There are a million and one things to think about and get done between now and then. Umm, I think I waited a little to late to get those 10 lbs off though. ;-)
I still don't have a clue what size Jaden will wear, we have asked for an update but thus far haven't seen anything. What most folks that have been there, done that say is bring clothes much smaller than you think you will need and don't bother to bring shoes as they are very cheap in China. The consensus is most of the little guys from China have no heiny to speak of and to bring things with an elastic or adjustable waist. Several on our fb group have used dog collars as belts because they couldn't find belts tiny enough. Hmm, I think Dug will share. :)
Our plan is to bring what we have and just donate to the orphanage anything that is too small. It is so odd to buy little clothes again!
We found out that his orphanage director is willing to help prepare him for his adoption. This is wonderful news as so often the kids have absolutely no idea that they are about to be adopted. (Just this week there have been several examples given on the fb groups of kids who were misled about the adoption trip. One was told by the caregivers who dropped the child off that they were just "going to get NaiNai (foster grandma)." My heart hurt when I read how this little girl wailed at the hotel room window all day waiting on the only parent figure she had ever known to come back and get her. That family is still in China with her and have blogged that she is grieving but is beginning to accept some comfort from her new mama and baba. Thankfully, they were able to get the guide to explain that the foster grandmother was not coming back and that this is her new family. Poor baby. Please join me in praying for healing of this little girl and her family. Another child was told that they were going off to "camp." Please Lord, let them be honest with Jaden.)
The somewhat odd thing about Jaden's orphanage situation is that they are going to have a farewell party for him in December. That is very sweet but I hope that doesn't freak him out that we don't show up right after the party. I think they plan to wait until then to give him the "forever family" package we sent him and to start showing him the pictures we sent. It would help so much if he was familiar with our faces when we got there.
IT'S GETTING CLOSE!!!!
On another note, I got an incredibly meaningful quilt square today. I need to get permission to share but I just need to tell everyone that is thinking of us and wanting to be part of this for Jaden, I hope when it is finished, Jaden will treasure this forever. Mother Theresa says one of the greatest hungers a child can suffer from is the hunger to be loved. Jaden will know that he was well loved before he ever got here.
Blessings, y'all.
It sounds like something NASA might say, doesn't it? I'm so excited! I was shaking when I read the email. In adoptese this means that Jaden has now been classified as "an immediate relative" for immigration purposes and we are on the last step before the wait for Travel Approval! The article 5 will be at the China consulate for exactly 2 weeks at which time our agent in China will pick it up and take it to the department in China that issues Travel approval. The wait for "TA" can be 3-18 days. As soon as we get TA we can make our flight plans; I've seen families leave as early as 3 days after TA. We could be leaving in as little as 3.5 weeks! I'm not going to mention how long it could be because that is not going to apply to us, right? Time to do some serious packing. :)
There are a million and one things to think about and get done between now and then. Umm, I think I waited a little to late to get those 10 lbs off though. ;-)
I still don't have a clue what size Jaden will wear, we have asked for an update but thus far haven't seen anything. What most folks that have been there, done that say is bring clothes much smaller than you think you will need and don't bother to bring shoes as they are very cheap in China. The consensus is most of the little guys from China have no heiny to speak of and to bring things with an elastic or adjustable waist. Several on our fb group have used dog collars as belts because they couldn't find belts tiny enough. Hmm, I think Dug will share. :)
We found out that his orphanage director is willing to help prepare him for his adoption. This is wonderful news as so often the kids have absolutely no idea that they are about to be adopted. (Just this week there have been several examples given on the fb groups of kids who were misled about the adoption trip. One was told by the caregivers who dropped the child off that they were just "going to get NaiNai (foster grandma)." My heart hurt when I read how this little girl wailed at the hotel room window all day waiting on the only parent figure she had ever known to come back and get her. That family is still in China with her and have blogged that she is grieving but is beginning to accept some comfort from her new mama and baba. Thankfully, they were able to get the guide to explain that the foster grandmother was not coming back and that this is her new family. Poor baby. Please join me in praying for healing of this little girl and her family. Another child was told that they were going off to "camp." Please Lord, let them be honest with Jaden.)
The somewhat odd thing about Jaden's orphanage situation is that they are going to have a farewell party for him in December. That is very sweet but I hope that doesn't freak him out that we don't show up right after the party. I think they plan to wait until then to give him the "forever family" package we sent him and to start showing him the pictures we sent. It would help so much if he was familiar with our faces when we got there.
IT'S GETTING CLOSE!!!!
On another note, I got an incredibly meaningful quilt square today. I need to get permission to share but I just need to tell everyone that is thinking of us and wanting to be part of this for Jaden, I hope when it is finished, Jaden will treasure this forever. Mother Theresa says one of the greatest hungers a child can suffer from is the hunger to be loved. Jaden will know that he was well loved before he ever got here.
Blessings, y'all.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Is God Awesome or What?!
I know I posted recently but I had to post some "God news!"
I posted a while back about the fact that Jaden speaks only Wu. In some orphanages and programs in China they are actually able to prepare the kiddos for adoption and will teach even the small ones some English to help the transition. Unfortunately, Jaden is at a small orphanage that doesn't have funds to list kids very often and certainly no extra money for luxuries like English instruction. (As an aside, it apparently costs a fair amount of money just to make children "adoption ready" and so many of the poorer orphanages can't list kids very often. When they can list some children they pick the kids they think are most likely to get adopted. The often means that the ones that need the benefit of a forever family and medical intervention the most remain unlisted. It was an incredible blessing that Jaden was even listed.)
All that to say, that we know that our Mandarin is not really going to be of much help in those first few (potentially) terrifying days for Jaden. (Especially since my best phrase currently is "What is your name?" Hmm, that'll get old quick.) We also already know that the likelihood of the agency-hired guide speaking Jaden's dialect, the Wu dialect, is very tiny as the only place it is used is in that one area by Shanghai. Our plan is to a) know that God has this in control b) hope Jaden is good at charades and c) work on a communication pictograph. Well, God in His greatness gave us plan "d" today!
!!!!!!!Our Chinese class teacher speaks Wu!!!!!!!!
She gave us her home phone number and her email and said to call anytime from China! She's also going to teach us some key phrases in Wu. While we won't have time to learn a lot, just things like "Are you hungry?" "Do you have to potty?" should be a God-send in those first few days. :) :) I know there are other simple phrases but I'm so excited I can't even come up with what I need to know. Any and all suggestions appreciated. :)
She didn't even know that she was to teach our class until the last minute, as this is not her normal class. I wonder why God had her switched to us? Isn't He awesome! I can't stop smiling about this.
I posted a while back about the fact that Jaden speaks only Wu. In some orphanages and programs in China they are actually able to prepare the kiddos for adoption and will teach even the small ones some English to help the transition. Unfortunately, Jaden is at a small orphanage that doesn't have funds to list kids very often and certainly no extra money for luxuries like English instruction. (As an aside, it apparently costs a fair amount of money just to make children "adoption ready" and so many of the poorer orphanages can't list kids very often. When they can list some children they pick the kids they think are most likely to get adopted. The often means that the ones that need the benefit of a forever family and medical intervention the most remain unlisted. It was an incredible blessing that Jaden was even listed.)
All that to say, that we know that our Mandarin is not really going to be of much help in those first few (potentially) terrifying days for Jaden. (Especially since my best phrase currently is "What is your name?" Hmm, that'll get old quick.) We also already know that the likelihood of the agency-hired guide speaking Jaden's dialect, the Wu dialect, is very tiny as the only place it is used is in that one area by Shanghai. Our plan is to a) know that God has this in control b) hope Jaden is good at charades and c) work on a communication pictograph. Well, God in His greatness gave us plan "d" today!
!!!!!!!Our Chinese class teacher speaks Wu!!!!!!!!
She gave us her home phone number and her email and said to call anytime from China! She's also going to teach us some key phrases in Wu. While we won't have time to learn a lot, just things like "Are you hungry?" "Do you have to potty?" should be a God-send in those first few days. :) :) I know there are other simple phrases but I'm so excited I can't even come up with what I need to know. Any and all suggestions appreciated. :)
She didn't even know that she was to teach our class until the last minute, as this is not her normal class. I wonder why God had her switched to us? Isn't He awesome! I can't stop smiling about this.
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