Prepare his heart!

We made a new step today!  We sent a package that will start preparing Jaden for his forever family.

One of the more painful parts of this adoption has been knowing that Jaden has no idea that halfway around the world there are so many people who already care deeply for him.  When he goes to bed at night he has no one to tuck him in or pray with him and doesn't know that we are here, wishing we could.  We should only be about 8weeks out now and are now allowed to let him know that he has a family!  Today we arranged to have a small photo album sent that has close ups of the 4 of us so that he may recognize us as his mama and baba when we get there.  Even though it is now allowed, some orphanage directors still choose not to tell them until the day we get there, in case we back out at the last minute.  I have been praying that the ayis, or aunties, will help prepare him for this major life change he is about to face.  We sent a short letter through a translator that we hope will be read to him that tells Jaden that he has family who loves him and that we hope to see him before Chinese New Year.  I hope to be there long before that but thought it safer to err on the side of later.  We also sent a pillow with a family pic of the four of us holding a picture f him.  I hope that helps him understand, maybe just a little that he is already a beloved member of our family.  By the time he gets his forever family package, we will hopefully just be about 6 weeks til travel!

My fervent prayer is that his Father, who loves him more than I do, will prepare his little heart for the family and community that is waiting for him.  Help him not be overwhelmed by the coming changes.  Let us get there quickly so that he has less time to worry about the coming changes.

Nesting has begun!

I remember the last month or so of both of my pregnancies as a time of nesting.  Let me tell you, it is much easier to nest without the mommy tummy!  We've been rearranging furniture, getting the walls ready and setting up the bed; now we just need a little boy to enjoy it! 

Can't you just see Jaden here?

LOA on its way!

After a bit of chaos, the LOA is officially in the hands of FedEx!  I spoke with our officer with immigration and she assured me that she will do her best to get it turned around the day she receives it!  WHOOT!  Some of the officers say to give them a week once it is on their desk.  Our officer was efficient and polite last time and looks to be the same this time.  Hopefully we have everything filled out correctly and she won't need any additional evidence to approve it!  It is so exciting, my brain is mush!  I literally could not remember how to sign my name and had to practice before I signed the LOA!  Pregnancy brain, anyone?  :).

I have to say now, thanks to all the people around me today that have put up with my frazzle face.  Excited, thrilled but still a little frazzled.  :).

Now on to the i800 approval wait!  It takes about 10-14 days to get to the officer.  Praying for postmen on speed!

LOA!!!

What an amazing day!  We have been waiting, not quite patiently, since coming out of translation on 9/27, for today's news...LOA.  LOA means "letter of acceptance" in adoption-speak.  This is the point that China asks us to formally accept Jaden as our son.

 When we get the snail mail copy tomorrow, we will sign it and overnight it back to the agency so that they can get it back to China.  We also send a copy of it to the US immigration dept with our 800 form seeking permission to bring our new child into the country with us.  We already have permission to bring a child back, now we get specific permission for Jaden.   Then the US has to cable their approval to the Chinese government, who then issues us travel approval.  Somewhere in there we apply for our travel visas and Jaden's visa.
Whew, sounds confusing, no?  No one ever said pregnancy was easy, not even a paper pregnancy.

Funny thing about today...I've been convinced every day for the last week that the LOA would be here that day but Tim, not so much.  We are not yet on day 60 of this particular wait and some families have had to wait up to 155 days!  On his way home from teaching today, at about the same time I was reading the very exciting email telling me the LOA was on the way, Tim had a strong urge to call and ask me if there was any news.  He said it was the first time he had felt that sense that something important had happened.  He convinced himself not to call because he knew it would make me sad to have to say no news and I didn't call him because I wanted to be face to face to tell him.  :).
We had recently prayed for a quick LOA after a long convoluted discussion over the efficacy of prayer in that type of situation.  (We know God doesn't take away free will but does speeding up a secretary in China count as taking away free will?  ).  Anyway, perhaps that wonderful hopeful feeling Tim got on the highway today was God's little whisper, "Don't worry, kids.  I've got this."

See you soon, Jaden.

OOT day 15

Well, we have been out of translation for 15 days and for about 1/2 of that China has been on holiday.  The chance of Jaden coming home in time for Christmas is diminishing with each day that we don't receive our Letter of Acceptance from China.  Regardless of our hopes, we do know that while God's timing is not always what we would want it to be, it is always perfect.  Still praying for an LOA before October 16th though, it could happen, right?

We just realized that Jaden's health information is over a year old.  The good news is that if a child's file is over 9 months old, updates can be requested!  Tim sent off a request for information and often the updates come with new pictures.  We aren't exactly holding our breath as the process is known to be sloooow, but I am checking my email oh, about 50 times a day.  No luck yet. 

I don't think I've mentioned yet but we learned quite a while back that Jaden does not speak Mandarin but rather the Wu dialect.  We haven't been able to find any language help with this dialect on any type of search.  Apparently it is only spoken in the "little town" of Haimen City.  Only in China, would a gathering of a million people be considered a little town.  :)  This dialect difference is not like in the US where "Hi Y'all" and "Hey you guys"  would be considered different dialects.  These are totally different languages.  Any closet Wu-ians among my friends?  We'd love to hear from you!

Tim, Mitch and I are still learning Mandarin (slowly) in hopes that it may make the trip a little easier.  Mitch really hopes to go on the Visiting Orphans (not Oprah) trip this summer, too.  Perhaps we should add charades lessons also; it will probably help with communications more with Jaden than our mangled Mandarin will.  As the time gets closer, we hope to make a communication board with pictures as a possible means of communication with Jaden.  Anybody have any pictures of squatty potties they'd like to share?  I'm not sure that pictures of western bathrooms would mean much to our little guy. 

I've tried to change the blog settings so that anyone can post and so if anyone can think of any "must-have" pictures for a communication board for a 3 year old, suggest away!

We're in the final stretch!  Some specific prayers I would love from my family and friends:
                                     Jaden's health
                                     Speedy LOA
                                     Preparing Jaden's heart for the massive change his life is about to take
                                     Wisdom for us on how best to prepare for Jaden


Blessings Y'all!

OOT!

We are "Out of Translation!"

One of the interesting things in this world of international adoption is all of the baby steps that you have to successfully make.  We just made another exciting one.  Being out of translation (for all my not-yet adopting friends) means that China has all of our paperwork and some poor person there has had to go through all of it and translate it into Chinese.  Thankfully I didn't have to do that as all my skills right now would allow me to say would be basically "Howdy y'all, would you like some coffee?"  (Nimen hao!  Nimen yao kafei ma?)  and "Wo shi ni de mama" which may or may not be, I am your mama;  I don't believe that would get us too far.  Come to think of it, wouldn't that make adoption simpler?  Hi, I'm Tracy.  Would you like some coffee?  Great, by the way, I'm Jaden's mama.  When should I come get him.

What we are waiting for now is their response that seeks confirmation that we really are ready to bring Jaden home.  Two ladies on facebook  told me that they got their letters 19 days after being OOT (I chose not to notice the one that was OOT for 50 days and still doesn't have hers) and so this step could be soon.  If it did come by mid-October we could travel by Christmas.  Tiny, tiny chance of that as China starts a long holiday today but a girl can dream.  :)

Blessings y'all and if you want some coffee, let me know ;)

DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!

We've finally made one of the bigs steps. We're DTC.   :) :)

Dossier to China

Since our last post things have been a little crazy.  After my sister agreed to make the drive to Jackson to get our authenticated documents, Hurricane Isaac decided that she really shouldn't do that. Jackson was a major evacuation route and so we weren't even sure that FedEx would manage it.  Since they were our only chance of getting it done, we tried anyway.  Luckily, Tim had the foresight to get extra copies and so we sent the extras via FedEx to the MS secretary of state office with a return FedEx airbill.  When tracking didn't show that it had been picked up yet by 4 the next afternoon (the day Isaac hit) I called the office and explained what we were waiting on.  The lady was very hospitable, as most of us Mississippians are, but she didn't give me much hope as her quote was "the lady that normally does this isn't in but I'll try!"   

It was apparently done correctly; woot!  That still left us missing our agency's Friday dossier to China day and so we were looking at losing a full week.  One of the other mothers on BAAS's fb group happened to mention that her docs were being picked up by a courier and sent to BAAS that day.  I hadn't realized that was an option. ;  BAAS needs the originals and a set of plain copies and our plan had been to have the courier send them to us to copy and forward.  We sent XQ (our BAAS agent) an email and she happily agreed to make the copies there as to save a few days.  

We are headed to Fiji to celebrate!  (Ok, not really; we actually already had our 25th wedding anniversary trip planned--6 months early so as not to interfere with Gotcha day).  Hopefully we will be LID when we get back and on our way to a speedy LOA.  😄