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.
Friday, November 30, 2012
National adoption month thoughts
November is the 7th month of our paper pregnancy! 11/2012 has had some exciting successes, it started with LOA, China saying that Jaden is ours! Then behind that was 800 approval, the US giving thumbs up. Now, on the very last day of our first National Adoption Month, we received our GUZ number! This is the number that says we are in the system at the National Visa Center and our approval should be "cabled" soon to China. After the paperwork is dropped off and goes thru a standard 2week wait for approval, it goes directly to their child welfare so that our travel approval can be issued.
We are in the third trimester of the paper pregnancy and like all of my pregnancies, this has been the most emotional trimester. On a biologic pregnancy, this is the time that there is just no getting away from the fact that you are pregnant. Everyone around you wants to talk about it, including random strangers, even when your heart and body needs time to think about other things. (Perhaps I'll tell you about the two crazy old women in the grocery that thought Tim and I weren't married because I was too blasted swollen to wear my wedding rings one day.)
Sometimes paper pregnancy has been harder though because people don't think of us as pregnant at all. That can make it hard for others to understand some of the "symptoms" of this pregnancy-- the nesting (getting thing ready for Jaden, like decorating his room with Laura and Tim, Laura and I staying up until 2am getting Christmas crafts done in case we get to travel early, Tim decluttering and having repairs done) the moodiness (because darn it, I just want my son home already!), or the fear (not of having to pass a watermelon from places we don't want to think about at this time but real fear for my son's life, children die every day in orphanages; every day!) or the distractibility (for every ping of my email jumping to see if it is the approval or denial of whatever step we're working on) or, lastly, the tears (good tears and bad tears have been abundant, friends reaching milestones in their own alphabet soup of steps, adoptions falling thru, orphan songs on the radio, my daughter (who is usually my big supporter) hurting my feelings and my son Mitch hugging me, my mother in law wanting to buy baby sized hangers for me, patients excited about my adoption, people sending us quilt squares, and patients asking what I think I'm doing leaving the community for two weeks; all of thse things made me water this month). Whether pregnant biologically or going thru a paper pregnancy, I think growing your family is an awesome, inspiring, scary, intimidating, loving, expensive, priceless and physically demanding journey.
This adoption was a gift from God that we almost refused! We're smart enough to know that gifts sometimes come with big costs/responsibilities (remember that free cat Laura got in kindergarten, whatever happened to that cat? Oh, yea, we still have that cat! Well actually, one of her offspring is still alive at about 16 years old and is probably upstairs curled up with Laura!). We tried sticking our fingers in our ears, (la,la,la,la,la. Not listening!!), but God often bypasses our ears to speak to us. He sent Gael and Theron, Stephen Curtis Chapman and the ShowHope video, Josh Wilson with his "I refuse(to do nothing) shirt that lit a fire in Tim's heart, the Emmaus speaker that night who talked about the forty tiny babies who were wrapped like burritos lying silently on straw mats on a concrete floor and finally, He sent a picture of a gorgeous, perfect child on "rainbowkids.com" who looked up and seemed to be saying, "Hurry up Mama, hurry up Baba, I can't wait to play with you!" Thank you, God, for being persistent with your stubborn children.
Wǎn'ān! Tā shì wǒmen de érzi ye.
We are in the third trimester of the paper pregnancy and like all of my pregnancies, this has been the most emotional trimester. On a biologic pregnancy, this is the time that there is just no getting away from the fact that you are pregnant. Everyone around you wants to talk about it, including random strangers, even when your heart and body needs time to think about other things. (Perhaps I'll tell you about the two crazy old women in the grocery that thought Tim and I weren't married because I was too blasted swollen to wear my wedding rings one day.)
Sometimes paper pregnancy has been harder though because people don't think of us as pregnant at all. That can make it hard for others to understand some of the "symptoms" of this pregnancy-- the nesting (getting thing ready for Jaden, like decorating his room with Laura and Tim, Laura and I staying up until 2am getting Christmas crafts done in case we get to travel early, Tim decluttering and having repairs done) the moodiness (because darn it, I just want my son home already!), or the fear (not of having to pass a watermelon from places we don't want to think about at this time but real fear for my son's life, children die every day in orphanages; every day!) or the distractibility (for every ping of my email jumping to see if it is the approval or denial of whatever step we're working on) or, lastly, the tears (good tears and bad tears have been abundant, friends reaching milestones in their own alphabet soup of steps, adoptions falling thru, orphan songs on the radio, my daughter (who is usually my big supporter) hurting my feelings and my son Mitch hugging me, my mother in law wanting to buy baby sized hangers for me, patients excited about my adoption, people sending us quilt squares, and patients asking what I think I'm doing leaving the community for two weeks; all of thse things made me water this month). Whether pregnant biologically or going thru a paper pregnancy, I think growing your family is an awesome, inspiring, scary, intimidating, loving, expensive, priceless and physically demanding journey.
This adoption was a gift from God that we almost refused! We're smart enough to know that gifts sometimes come with big costs/responsibilities (remember that free cat Laura got in kindergarten, whatever happened to that cat? Oh, yea, we still have that cat! Well actually, one of her offspring is still alive at about 16 years old and is probably upstairs curled up with Laura!). We tried sticking our fingers in our ears, (la,la,la,la,la. Not listening!!), but God often bypasses our ears to speak to us. He sent Gael and Theron, Stephen Curtis Chapman and the ShowHope video, Josh Wilson with his "I refuse(to do nothing) shirt that lit a fire in Tim's heart, the Emmaus speaker that night who talked about the forty tiny babies who were wrapped like burritos lying silently on straw mats on a concrete floor and finally, He sent a picture of a gorgeous, perfect child on "rainbowkids.com" who looked up and seemed to be saying, "Hurry up Mama, hurry up Baba, I can't wait to play with you!" Thank you, God, for being persistent with your stubborn children.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
I800 Approval!
Whoot! We now have I800 approval! That is the official word from the US immigration that we can bring Jaden specifically into the US. And just in time, I was about to have to get crazy. :) The under/over on approval time is 8-16 days. We missed that one by several days but we had a delay due to Thanksgiving. Our officer would have had it on Thursday had it not been a holiday and then she was out for a vacation day on Friday also. Hmm. Hard to be mad about someone wanting a little extra time with her family when that is really what I'm working toward also. I was (not?) patient in the wait. Is it a problem when your officer recognizes your voice over the phone?
Tim is pretty excited that China says Jaden is ours and now the US says it is ok to bring him home! Both countries are on board, now just to get it done!
Our next step is having his approval cabled over to the US Embassy in China. Then, exactly 2 weeks later, BAAS will pick it up in China and deliver to the Chinese children's authority for travel permission for us. The over/under on this is December 28-February 10. The worrisome thing with this is that Chinese New Year starts 2/9/2013 and everything shuts down. If we already have Jaden, that works ok, just a longer stay in China. If we don't have him yet that puts a 10 day delay in Gotcha Day! Please hurry paperwork, no delays allowed!
It is a little hard to face the upcoming holidays knowing that my little boy is sitting in an orphanage again this year with no family there to love on him. We had really hoped to be there before Christmas but is doesn't look possible at this point. God's timing is perfect, there is a something good that can come from this. Even though I can't see it right now, I know that to be truth. :) Meanwhile, we continue to work to get ready for him. I've started collecting squares for his "100 Wishes" quilt and hope people will start sending them my way so I can start stitching them together. I hope to have him home before the quilt is done but friends and family--start sending squares please! :)
(I just realized how many exclamation points I've used in this post. Can you tell we're a little excited?!)
Tim is pretty excited that China says Jaden is ours and now the US says it is ok to bring him home! Both countries are on board, now just to get it done!
Our next step is having his approval cabled over to the US Embassy in China. Then, exactly 2 weeks later, BAAS will pick it up in China and deliver to the Chinese children's authority for travel permission for us. The over/under on this is December 28-February 10. The worrisome thing with this is that Chinese New Year starts 2/9/2013 and everything shuts down. If we already have Jaden, that works ok, just a longer stay in China. If we don't have him yet that puts a 10 day delay in Gotcha Day! Please hurry paperwork, no delays allowed!
It is a little hard to face the upcoming holidays knowing that my little boy is sitting in an orphanage again this year with no family there to love on him. We had really hoped to be there before Christmas but is doesn't look possible at this point. God's timing is perfect, there is a something good that can come from this. Even though I can't see it right now, I know that to be truth. :) Meanwhile, we continue to work to get ready for him. I've started collecting squares for his "100 Wishes" quilt and hope people will start sending them my way so I can start stitching them together. I hope to have him home before the quilt is done but friends and family--start sending squares please! :)
(I just realized how many exclamation points I've used in this post. Can you tell we're a little excited?!)
Sunday, November 18, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, November 12, 2012
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!
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| Can't you just see Jaden here? |
Thursday, November 8, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, October 12, 2012
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!
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!
Friday, September 28, 2012
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 ;)
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 ;)
Friday, September 7, 2012
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. 😄
Sunday, August 26, 2012
One step forward, two steps back.
After a very harried day that included getting both of our signatures, notarizing our I800A approval, getting money orders for the Chinese embassy, Tamara getting it all up to Tim who was managing the kitchen at the "Walk to Emmaus," Tim driving to OKC to get the notarized copy state sealed while Felix manned the kitchen and then Tim dropping it all off at FedEx, we found out yesterday that the craziness had been for naught.
The courier that was to take all of our dossier to the embassy called and let us know that the Mississippi papers still needed a state seal. We thought this had all been settled and when we asked the Oklahoma folks, just for verification, his words were, "Why would you need to state certify something that was state issued?" Good question, no?
So Tamara and Felix were here helping with the Walk and will fly home tomorrow. Luckily for us, "home" puts them just a few hours from Jackson and that elusive state seal and Tamara's schedule is miraculously clear. So she will drive to Jackson and then FedEx the new papers to our courier in Houston. If all goes well the new documents will arrive in Houston on Wednesday to get to the embassy on Thursday. Since it takes 4 working days (Th, Fr, Tue, Wed) and Monday is a holiday, I suppose she will pick up the papers to send to us on Wed or Thursday for us to receive by Friday. This little snafu will have cost us a week but had Tamara and Felix not been here, it may have been worse. Other than an emotional meltdown due to the high of everything working just right so that it could get accomplished to the frustration of things going wrong, not much harm done. I shed a few tears knowing that if my mom or dad were still alive, I could count on them to go to Jackson to get this done tomorrow and the week wouldn't be lost. Even though my parents have been gone a while, it is times like these that really make it hurt. Is there anyone in the world you can rely on like you do your parents? I want Jaden to have that. Now.
The courier that was to take all of our dossier to the embassy called and let us know that the Mississippi papers still needed a state seal. We thought this had all been settled and when we asked the Oklahoma folks, just for verification, his words were, "Why would you need to state certify something that was state issued?" Good question, no?
So Tamara and Felix were here helping with the Walk and will fly home tomorrow. Luckily for us, "home" puts them just a few hours from Jackson and that elusive state seal and Tamara's schedule is miraculously clear. So she will drive to Jackson and then FedEx the new papers to our courier in Houston. If all goes well the new documents will arrive in Houston on Wednesday to get to the embassy on Thursday. Since it takes 4 working days (Th, Fr, Tue, Wed) and Monday is a holiday, I suppose she will pick up the papers to send to us on Wed or Thursday for us to receive by Friday. This little snafu will have cost us a week but had Tamara and Felix not been here, it may have been worse. Other than an emotional meltdown due to the high of everything working just right so that it could get accomplished to the frustration of things going wrong, not much harm done. I shed a few tears knowing that if my mom or dad were still alive, I could count on them to go to Jackson to get this done tomorrow and the week wouldn't be lost. Even though my parents have been gone a while, it is times like these that really make it hurt. Is there anyone in the world you can rely on like you do your parents? I want Jaden to have that. Now.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
I800A Approval!!!
On August 18th we got a disappointing envelop in the mail. It was a pink slip from US Citizenship and Immigration Services. They needed more information from us. On further study, what they needed was an additional line in our home study stating that the kids were told that they have a "duty of candor" during the adoption process. Since they are both over 18, they both had to have been told this. I guess if they are under 18 it would be okay for them to not tell the truth? Hmm.
As it was the weekend, there was really no way to deal with this and so we just moped a bit and called it good. Oh, I did send an email or two to the home study folks asking for help. On Monday, Dillon was great and got it all taken care of for us and FedEx'd the addendum to Missouri. Officer Ladd of the USCIS said that other than that, our file was clear and ready to be approved. Tuesday we got the tracking number saying it was delivered. Being quite patient, hehe, I managed to wait until today to call. We have been approved and it should be sent out today!!!
For those of you who have never managed the particular maze that international adoption requires, the next few steps include a trip to OKC to get the I800A approval State certified and then a FedEx package to Houston so that all of the documents can be taken to the Chinese embassy for their authentification. Once those two things are completed, the whole thing goes to California to BAAS (our adoption agency) so that they can send it to China for us. That's when we will be able to say we are DTC or dossier to China, whoot!
As it was the weekend, there was really no way to deal with this and so we just moped a bit and called it good. Oh, I did send an email or two to the home study folks asking for help. On Monday, Dillon was great and got it all taken care of for us and FedEx'd the addendum to Missouri. Officer Ladd of the USCIS said that other than that, our file was clear and ready to be approved. Tuesday we got the tracking number saying it was delivered. Being quite patient, hehe, I managed to wait until today to call. We have been approved and it should be sent out today!!!
For those of you who have never managed the particular maze that international adoption requires, the next few steps include a trip to OKC to get the I800A approval State certified and then a FedEx package to Houston so that all of the documents can be taken to the Chinese embassy for their authentification. Once those two things are completed, the whole thing goes to California to BAAS (our adoption agency) so that they can send it to China for us. That's when we will be able to say we are DTC or dossier to China, whoot!
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| Hang on Jaden, we're coming as fast as we can! |
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Surgery Day
Today was an emotional roller coaster. I awoke to an email telling me that Jaden was in the hospital preparing for his surgery. I knew that it was coming up but I didn't realize it would be so soon! It is a horrible feeling, knowing your child is in the hospital and not being able to be there. Being physicians, we are not used to being out of the loop about health issues with our loved ones. Luckily, we know he is in good hands.
We prayed and knew that that was the only thing we could do.
At lunch, we got an email letting us know that the surgery had been done and that he was doing ok. He has a nanny with him and is doing a lot of sleeping. They say he will be in the hospital a few days to heal and then he can go back to the orphanage. We received a picture of him in the hospital after his surgery and it is the first time I've ever seen him without a smile on his little face. I know that he is having some pain but hopefully he is getting the meds he needs. I'm glad to see, though, that he has a happy nanny with him through this.
We prayed and knew that that was the only thing we could do.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Another (half) Step Closer!
Yesterday we came home to some exciting mail, our fingerprint appointments! We have been at a standstill waiting for this to come and so we were thrilled to see those envelopes from the US government. When we looked at the dates though we were a tiny bit less thrilled. The appointment fell in the first 2 weeks of classes for Laura at OSU med school. Although she was willing to miss a day to do this, Dad was worried for her. (The school is not very happy when first year students miss a lab as there is really no way to make that up.) I spent some time on-line trying to find a contact number for the OKC office and found that there is no way to contact them directly. When I contacted the main immigration office they told me that the only way to officially change the appointment was to send the current appointment slips back and they could be re-issued. The danger there is that doing that puts us back at the end of the line and the officer warned us that there is expected to be some big changes coming very soon that might seriously slow things down. He also said that some offices will do walk-in fingerprinting and some won't and that it is at the discretion of the officer you happen to see when you get there.
We prayed for a sympathetic officer. :)
The kids took a chance and drove to OKC this morning and got a very nice officer who agreed to let them sit and wait and get worked in. After a few hours wait, they both were fingerprinted! Yea! They asked if we could come down and do a walk-in just to speed things up and he said no. Last night I specifically prayed that at least Laura get fingerprinted, so I don't even mind that Tim and I can't be printed yet. We got both the kids done today, which is twice as much as I asked for. :) God is good, always.
Tim and I used the afternoon to go to the Sheriff and get our background check from them and that is done. One of the people involved in getting it accomplished was one of our patients; I wonder what new rumors will start in the community now. :)
I posted earlier that we had found out that Jaden was one of the LWB kids and that they were sponsoring his surgery costs. I was looking at the LWB site and looking at kids to sponsor financially and guess who was listed? Jaden! (You probably guessed that correctly, didn't you?) His total surgery cost is expected to be about $2300 in China and LWB already had full sponsorship of him. I usually look at their site daily and so I don't think he was even on the site 24 hours before he was fully funded. Tim and I sponsored him anyway and when we got the thank you response from LWB we got a happy bonus, a new picture of him was attached to our certificate. He is so incredibly cute and is forever smiling. I can't wait to see that smile in person. It does look like he may be going to surgery in August. I hate that I can't be there for him but I know that LWB will take wonderful care of him and I know they usually send one of his caregivers with him so that he won't be alone. If you are reading this before mid-August 2012, I would love it if you could stop and say a prayer for healing and safety for our little guy. I'd also love it if you would put a note in the comment section and so one day Jaden can look at this and know that he was loved and prayed for, even before he knew about us. Blessings, y'all!
We prayed for a sympathetic officer. :)
The kids took a chance and drove to OKC this morning and got a very nice officer who agreed to let them sit and wait and get worked in. After a few hours wait, they both were fingerprinted! Yea! They asked if we could come down and do a walk-in just to speed things up and he said no. Last night I specifically prayed that at least Laura get fingerprinted, so I don't even mind that Tim and I can't be printed yet. We got both the kids done today, which is twice as much as I asked for. :) God is good, always.
Tim and I used the afternoon to go to the Sheriff and get our background check from them and that is done. One of the people involved in getting it accomplished was one of our patients; I wonder what new rumors will start in the community now. :)
I posted earlier that we had found out that Jaden was one of the LWB kids and that they were sponsoring his surgery costs. I was looking at the LWB site and looking at kids to sponsor financially and guess who was listed? Jaden! (You probably guessed that correctly, didn't you?) His total surgery cost is expected to be about $2300 in China and LWB already had full sponsorship of him. I usually look at their site daily and so I don't think he was even on the site 24 hours before he was fully funded. Tim and I sponsored him anyway and when we got the thank you response from LWB we got a happy bonus, a new picture of him was attached to our certificate. He is so incredibly cute and is forever smiling. I can't wait to see that smile in person. It does look like he may be going to surgery in August. I hate that I can't be there for him but I know that LWB will take wonderful care of him and I know they usually send one of his caregivers with him so that he won't be alone. If you are reading this before mid-August 2012, I would love it if you could stop and say a prayer for healing and safety for our little guy. I'd also love it if you would put a note in the comment section and so one day Jaden can look at this and know that he was loved and prayed for, even before he knew about us. Blessings, y'all!
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| Jaden Christopher Sanford--I like it! |
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