China Day 10

This was the day we left for Hong Kong.  (It is cheaper to fly out of Hong Kong than Guangzhou.)

We all got ready and packed.  Abriana and I headed down to the convenience store to spend the rest of our money.  It didn't quite work out the way we planned, but we did get some snacks for the trip.

Check out was at 1:30 and Elsie was there with Allee's passport with her Visa and the rest of the paperwork we needed to come home.  There were 2 Hong Kong vans waiting outside.  One was for us, and the other for another family.  We got checked out of the hotel, said goodbye to Elsie, and everything into the van.  That is when I started feeling sick.  I was just sure I was going to throw up in this van.  It was a very nice, new van.  Luckily, I never did.  The experience of this drive was not the best.  It was like driving through L.A. for about an hour, stopping for gas and potty, and then hopping on the freeway for another 2 hours.

We finally arrived at our hotel, which is attached to the Hong Kong airport and got checked in.  Airplanes were landing right outside our window.  The smog in Hong Kong is about a hundred times worse than any I have ever seen.  We took a little tour of the hotel, and decided we didn't really feel like swimming once we finally found the pool.  Dinner was instant chicken noodle soup, crackers, tuna, and fruit cups in the room.

China Day 9

This was our last full day in China.  We were lazy.  Walked to the park for a while.  Allee is no longer shy at the playground.  She even actually started playing with other kids.  I was horrified because when I turned my head for a second, a little boy's grandparents had given her a food item and she was eating it.  They were also eating the food, so I figured it wasn't poisonous or anything.  :)  She took it in the plastic tube part of the toys so I wouldn't see her eating it.  Then in the afternoon we went to the zoo.  Started packing.  It was pretty much a boring day.  Dinner again at Lucy's.

China Day 8

We are tired of Guangzhou now and can't wait to come home!  I am missing the boys really, really badly. Today, we slept in very late.  Well, the girls did.  I did not sleep well at all last night, and Tim woke up fairly early also.  Allee was very tired, sleeping past 9.  I think she may have caught a cold on the trip here from Harbin as she has some cold symptoms that she did not have while we were there.  It is not bad, though, she seems to be doing okay and does not have a fever just a bit of runny nose and a small cough. We had breakfast, went back to Jordan's shop, then got some snacks and drinks at the convenience store downstairs.  Soon it was 2:30, and time to go to the US Consulate to the swearing in ceremony.  There were lots of other parents and kids there for the ceremony.  We all had to raise our right hands and promise that all the information we gave was true.  We were then called up one family at a time to sign one paper and we could leave.  I think we were back to the room shortly after 4. We stayed in the room for a short bit, and headed out to find some food.  We ended up eating at Lucy's again.  It seem to be the best deal around as far as good prices, good atmosphere where we can sit outside, and the food is not bad.  Allee has ordered the satay twice.  It is meat kabobs with some sort of dipping sauce.  It comes with cucumber and tomato which she loves.  Luckily there are photos on the menu so we can tell what she wants. We are now back at the room for the night.  We leave for Hong Kong day after tomorrow.

China Day 7

Today we visited 2 temples.  They were neat to see, but also very strange.  Will post photos later.  One was an actual Buddhist temple where people worship.  People were offering incense and money.  It was very smoky from all the incense.  The other temple has been turned into an art museum so we were able to see lots of different types of art.  Silk embroidered pictures, ivory carvings, pottery, etc. While we were at the first temple, Allee had to use the "hoilet".  I wish I had the camera with me to take a picture of the sign. We came back and went to the medical clinic to have Allee's TB test read.  It was fine, not really red at all.  The clinic was closed, but we were let in a side door and able to get the test read before they opened for the public.  Not sure why that was. Tim and Abri got Subway for lunch and shared with Allee.  I just ate some of the food we brought from home. Allee seemed tired after lunch, so she and Tim stayed in the room while Abri and I shopped at a couple of shops for a couple hours.  It was really fun.  I got some gifts for the boys and some souveniers for Allee. We came back to get Allee and Tim and went to the park to play for a while.  Then after a little walking we decided to get dinner at Lucy's again.  We had to wait a long, long time for our food, but it was fine because we are not in a hurry.  The only annoying thing, is that they don't bring everyone's food out at the same time.  Only one meal at a time as they cook it.  After dinner Allee said she is tired and wants to walk back to the room to go to bed.  She is playing "cards" with Tim now.

Day 6 part 2

I had to add a second part to day 6. After I wrote yesterday's post, Allee started putting on a show for us.  She was dancing around being so silly and making funny faces.  She had us all in stitches.  This was the first time we have seen her act like this.  It went on for quite a while.

China Day 6

Well, I think today was day 6. We slept in until around 8.  About 12 hours!  At least Allee is a great sleeper.  Breakfast was at the hotel buffet again. We met Elsie at 10.  She took us to a theater dedicated to the father of China.  I cannot remember his name right now.  After that, we went to a park.  I can't remember the name of the park either, but it was very nice.  We walked through on a walking path.  There were folks dancing, excercising, etc.  In one section there was a lot of excercize equipment, and it was packed.  The equipment is just out for everyone to use, kind of like a playground is in the US.  The equipment that we got to try out was actually really fun.  (There was a similar park in Harbin near our hotel, but it was too cold to go to it.)  There was a large playground for kids, but you had to pay for your kids to play.  :)  Allee was very shy and unsure at first, but Elsie convinced her to try some things, and then she was off having fun.  She did the same slide at least 30 times. Then, Elsie took us to a large market area that had a fairly nice mall, so I could get Allee some shoes.  The ones we brought were too big, and I didn't think about trying them on her before we got to Guangzhou.  She has been wearing the boots I brought in Harbin, and those seem to fit.  Allee tried on several pair before finally deciding on the first ones.  She is very happy, as the new shoes light up!  The shoes were only 117 RNB which is less than $20. After the shoe store, we came back to the hotel and had Subway for lunch.  Subway is just downstairs.  We got drinks and chips at the convenience store next door to Subway and there was an old woman ahead of us in line.  She first didn't have enough money to buy what she wanted, and then she wouldn't move out of the way no matter how many times the clerks nicely asked her.  She was cute. After lunch in the room we met back up with Elsie to give her our paperwork.  Then we walked down to the White Swan hotel and Elsie took some family photos of us.  The White Swan is a lot bigger and fancier than our hotel, but it has smaller rooms.  Elsie left, and we went back to the park where this time Allee was playing like crazy.  We stayed there for a long time and let her play.  On the way back we browsed in some shops (they are everywhere here) and got a few things. Now we are in the room for the night.  Abri and Allee shared the rest of my Subway sandwich, and Tim and I are not hungry.  Abri and Tim are watching TV, and Allee is playing the computer next to me on Nick Jr. Allee seems a lot more playful today and happier.  I think she was in a bit of a shock yesterday after the trip. Tomorrow, we will have more sightseeing with Elsie.

China Day 5

Today was the first day for breakfast at our new hotel.  It was better than the breakfast at the other hotel.  Quite nice, actually. After breakfast, I went across the street to exchange some money.  You have to get a number, fill out a form, and wait in line.  It seems that I was moved ahead of some other people waiting because I was American.  The teller sits behind glass, and you pass things back and forth through a little hole.  They made copies of my passport, and who knows what else.  It took a while just to exchange $200.00, but we finally got it. Then, we headed with our guide, Elsie, to get a visa photo for Allee, and her medical exam. She did not seem to mind the exam at all.  It didn't seem very thorough to me, but she saw the main doctor and the ENT and they didn't say anything at all, so I assume they didn't find anything out of the ordinary.  She also had to have a TB test, so we will need to go back for them to read the results of that.  It does not appear that the area they injected is getting red, so I think she is okay. We had lunch in the room, oatmeal and noodles, then we walked to the park.  We went in to one little shop, Jordan's shop, on the way and purchased some trinkets.  There is a pretty nice park only a couple of blocks away.  There is a play area, but Allee would only go down the slide a couple of times.  We looked at the river, and walked around and took some pictures. We rested in the room, and then went to dinner at an American restaurant, Lucy's.  Lucy's has a lot of American choices on the menu.  It is not exactly what you would get in America, but it was okay.  Allee's favorite is french fries, which she picked off of the menu. After dinner, we came back to the room.  Allee took a bath, and we watched a little TV.  National Geographic is in English.  Then we went to bed early, at about 7:30.  We were so tired, I think from the travel the day before.

China Day 4

The day started out okay, but kept going downhill. We headed to the airport, where Lynn (our guide) helped us check-in, but then after a photo with her we had to say goodbye to go through security.  In security, they seem to just do things on a whim in China.  Last time, they took my sanitizer, but let Abri keep hers.  This time, I was made to open the liquid Benedryl and drink some while they watched me closely, to make sure it was okay for us to take through.  And Abri's bag was very closely scrutinized. We made it through that, and headed to our gate.  After arriving at the gate, it appears all the signs were wrong.  It had our flight number with another city.  This airport had no English announcements and we did not find an English speaking employee.  We asked several times if we had the correct gate.  People started lining up, so we got in line, but were not sure if it was right.  After what seemed like an hour we finally got to the front and were told no, to wait to the side.  We waiting again forever.  Finally, after we had been waiting over 2 hours the sign was correct for our flight and we got on the bus.  The bus is crowded standing, and it takes you out to board the plane. (Allee was so very patient at the airport.  She was very quiet and not complaining much, even though the wait was miserable.  She had been excited to get on the plane all day.) I had to sit with 2 Chinese men, and the other 3 sat on the other side together.  To say the flight from Harbin to Guangzhou was interesting would be an understatement.  The 2 men next to me refused to wear their seatbelts the whole time.  One told Allee to take hers off,, and then he was talking to her in Chinese.  I think he was making a joke of either us or her.  It wasn't pleasant at all.  The one guy got up and headed to the back of the plane while it was headed out to the runway.  The man behind us argued with the flight attendants for about 20 minutes over drinks.  People were getting out of their seats right after we landed and were going down the runway.  No one listens here.  They just do whatever they want, no matter what they are told.  (Here in Guangzhou it seems a little calmer than in Harbin though.) After we landed in Guangzhou, everything went smooth.  We found our checked suitcase and found our new guide, Elsie, right away.  We had to wait a bit for the car, and then headed to the hotel.  The driving laws are more strict here, so there isn't as much crazy driving and honking.  We were so very thankful to arrive at the hotel finally.

China Day 4

It is only 5 AM and I woke up probably a couple of hours ago and cannot sleep. Today, we are leaving for Guangzhou.  Our guide Lynn will come to take us to the airport at 12:30, but our flight doesn't leave until 4:30.  She says it is icy and doesn't want us to rush.  We are okay with that as we are ready to leave.  The flight is 6 hours, so we won't arrive until 10:30 PM in Guangzhou.  I hope everything goes okay on the flight. Will continue Day 4 later.

China Day 3

Today we slept a little later, until around 7:30.  Allee woke up happy and was whispering and playing with her bear for a while, as I was pretending to still be asleep.  We got up and got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast again. She is very good at looking at all the items in the buffet and telling me what she wants.  She picks out a lot of fruits and vegetables.  Although, she has eaten all the foods we have given her so far. We came back to the room and skyped again for a while with the boys and Gramma.  Then we went downstairs to meet our guide.  She gave us some paperwork, as well as some photos of Allee and some of her schoolwork.  Then we went for a short tour.  Instead of going to the church we decided to go to the Tiger Park.  They have several hundred tigers.  They take you in a small bus through the park and then there is a short walking tour.  The walking part was very cold, but it was really neat. I started getting a little queasy on the ride back, but feel better now that I ate something in the room.  We had noodles in the room for lunch.  Allee was playing around, and after a while she started crying again.  She did let me pick her up and hold her though.  Then, after a bit I was able to distract her with nickjr.com.  Thank goodness for the computer and ipad.  They have provided hours of entertainment.  I did bring many dollar store toys, etc., but Allee is already tired of them since we've been so cooped up. Events from later in the day: Back to McDonald's for dinner for everyone except me.  We have been in that McD's 3 nights in a row and are quite the spectacle.  I still feel queasy at times so I'm taking it easy and ate instant oatmeal from home for dinner.  It was wonderful, for real. Walk back over to Walmart.  We got like 8 movies, a fake Barbie for Allee, a coloring book, and a bunch of candy for only $43. (Note to Chris:  We found Avatar, but none of the other movies on your list.  Since they were so inexpensive we picked up several others for you.  Avatar was about $10 because it is a collectors addition.  The rest of the movies were only like 2 or 5 dollars so we figured what the heck and picked some.  We will look for more in Guangzhou.  Send us an email if you want to add anything to your list.)  This time our cashier was really, really sweet and helpful, pulling us over to her checkout she was just opening, and even did offer us a plastic bag!  I have no idea what was up the first day with the bags. We had a small fit before bedtime because Allee did not want to brush her teeth.  She brushed them fine before, but she's starting to not comply quite as well.  Expected.  She sat on the bed and would not lay down.  There was no crying and she laid down on the bed and went to sleep after about 5 minutes.

Day 2 In China

Oh my gosh. This is just insane.  We cannot wait to get out of here!  The city is great, and it is sad we cannot experience our daughter's birth city more, but it is just too cold to be outside. We are so bored in this hotel.  Tomorrow we are going to visit a cathedral.  Inside. We walked accross the street and looked at the guys cutting ice out of the river for the ice sculptures they are making for the snow and ice festival.  It is really something.  I wish the sculptures were already done so we could see them.  We were only out for about 5 or 7 minutes and had to come back because we were freezing. The entire river is frozen over.  There is a row of horse drawn carriages waiting to give people rides accross the frozen river.  I don't think so.  But it is neat to see. We ventured over to Walmart.  That was interesting.  Walmart begins on floor 2 of the building and goes up several levels.  It is very crowded, and took us a while to find everything we needed.  At the checkout, we realized we were supposed to have our own bags.  Oops.  It took us quite a while to convince the cashier to sell us a reusable bag to put some of the stuff in.  The rest we just had to carry.  Our total bill was only around $20 and we got a lot of stuff.  I took a photo of it all.  Leedy wanted all of the food in the store, well all of the candy.  We let her pick out a few things, but said no to some and she seemed to be okay, only stomping her foot once. After spending some more time in the room, we decided to try Pizza Hut.  The pizza wasn't great, but we had some kind of shrimp and cheese appetizer on sticks that was really good.  After dinner, Abri was still hungry so we went accross the street to pick up a couple of cheeseburgers to bring home.  The employees remembered us from the day before.  :)  Back in the room she requested a bath, so I let her take that.  After the bath, I wanted to look at her back and she started crying.  We had been waiting as she had not yet cried.  She cried for a while, but let me hold her and then we went to bed and slept.

Temperature

Right now, it is 6:45 AM on Wednesday.  The temperature outside is -18 degrees fahrenheit.  The high today is -3.  We are in a great area for a walk, but.....

Day 1- Tuesday in China

This was our first actual day here that is not just travel. We got in to Harbin at about 9:15 AM.  We were planning to go to the hotel, and then meet Sheng Lian in the afternoon. After we got our luggage, we found our guide Lynn.  She said we had to go to civil affairs office and meet our daughter NOW because they were waiting for us.  I was like, WHAT?  I had on dirty clothes and no make-up.  Didn't have gifts ready as everything was in the luggage.  But we went.  The ride took forever it seemed.  Lots of traffic and honking.  There were men alongside the freeway and roads in many spots cleaning the road with shovels and big twig brooms. We got to civil affairs and went inside.  Within minutes, Sheng Lian was there with us.  She was very quiet but all smiles.  She came right to us and sat on our laps and let Tim pick her up for a photo they wanted to take of us.  We were there for quite some time.  There were two other families there, from Spain, doing paperwork for their children. Sheng Lian's doctor/teacher was there.  She seemed very nice and she has known Sheng Lian her whole life.  She is going to get photos and some other information for us tomorrow.  She gave gifts to Sheng Lian and Abri (Christmas decorations).  We decided to name her Allee.  Her nickname is Leedy, so we will probably call her that for a while.  Maybe forever, who knows. On the long ride to the hotel she was laughing and getting a little hyper.  Poking us gently with the snowman decorations (Abri started it), and then it got a little more rough.  Finally, we arrived at our hotel.  It is very nice and Walmart is accross the street.  We skyped with gramma, poppy, and Bradyn, but Colton was already in bed as it was 10 PM at home.  Hopefully, we can talk to him tomorrow.  Then we went to McDonald's down the block for dinner.  That was interesting to try to order.  Especially while the cashier is talking to Leedy and we have no idea what she is saying.  Let me tell you, Leedy can eat!  Her teacher said she will eat any food, and she wasn't kidding. We are all exhausted.  Except for Leedy.  I am going to try to give her a bath in a few minutes.  Not sure how that will go. She came with lots of layers of clothes, and a coat and hat and boots.  Very clean. She also had been given the photo album we sent, and we got the disposable camera back with pictures they had taken. She has been playing with all the stuff I put in her backpack and seems to be so organized, putting everything away carefully in all the pockets. I hope we can go to bed soon.  Tim is snoring and I am so tired I am dizzy.  Maybe we will take turns sleeping as it is way too early for Leedy to go to bed.

Getting There

Sunday Morning we left on our adventure to China. It was really hard to leave the boys at home and I was REALLY wishing they were coming with us.  Colton came to me with crocodile tears saying he really wanted to come, but didn't want to get any shots.  :(  It ripped my heart out and I don't think I'll get it back until we get back home.  Bradyn just didn't want to say goodbye. The trip over was fairly uneventful.  I was entertained by the cute baby accross from me, and Abri was entertained by a little boy in front of her named Jeffrey. We landed in Tokyo, then flew to Beijing.  On this flight, we got talked about quite a bit by the folks we were sitting by.  The guy sitting by Abri even gave us his business card with his email address.  We got to fly over Korea (South we think, but not for sure).  Korea was lit up so bright!  Very wierd to be looking down at Korea.  It's a good thing WACAP decided to have their guide take us to the hotel that night in Beijing, because I don't know that we would have made it otherwise.  Our flight arrived late, so we wouldn't have been able to use the free hotel shuttle and would have had to take a taxi.  That would have been a little scary in Beijing at night. We only had about 4 hours to sleep at the hotel, which wasn't very restful, but at least the beds were comfy.  The next morning we had to get up early to head to the airport.  Driving through Beijing back to the hotel it was still dark, but starting to get light.  There were bicycles everywhere and people starting to be out and about.  Many men with those big wheelbarrow things. At the airport, we kind of wandered a bit, but eventually got to our gate.  From the gate we had to crowd onto a bus and ride *forever* to our plane to Harbin.  We were nearly the last ones on the plane because we just don't have the crowding skills that the people here seem to have.  :)  I was worried there wouldn't be room for our carry on luggage by the time we got on there, but there was. We flew over some mountains, and then it was flat, and then there was snow, but not a whole lot.  Getting off the plane in Harbin, it was below freezing.  So cold!

12th

So we are actually not leaving until the 12th.  However, I am a mess.  Having some minor panic attacks the last few days.  I knew I would.

I think we have everything we need for the trip.  You would think we were traveling to a different planet the way I feel like I have to bring stuff. 

Food for Abri in case we end up somewhere that she cannot safely eat the food due to her allergies.  Sanitizer.  Hats and gloves and coats.  Toys.  Money.  Papers.  Clothes.  Medicine.  Oh the medicine.  I have a large stash of whatever I think we might need.  Lots of Excedrin included.

We are still packing fairly light, so if we show up at home with dirty clothes, that is why.  It is not likely that I will ever pay for laundry service.  I plan to wash a few items myself the old fashioned way.

Almost ready to go.

The "why"

I have been asked this before.  I never have had an answer, at least not one I wanted to share.  I was asked again today.

My first answer is always, "Because we are crazy."  And part of me does think we actually are crazy.

The answer lies more in the "why not" than in the "why'.

We have room for another kid.  It may not be easy, but most things worth doing aren't.  Our other kids have not always been easy.  Maybe they've never been easy. 

With 150,000,000 orphans in the world we can't help them all.  But we can give a family to one.

Leaving December 10 or 11, Returning December 24!

No dates yet.....

We did not hear about our travel dates yet.  The agency needs to get permission from the orphanage about which Monday we can meet SL.  After that, they will make a consulate appointment.  Then we can plan the trip!

TRAVEL APPROVAL

We will be leaving soon!

$15

$12 more for diapers from Amazon.

$3 to the local AWANA group for a wooden race car for Colton.  Normally this would not fit my donation requirements, but I did not have any other cash with me.

Photo test

Just trying to see if I can post pictures from email.  This is us at the Grand Canyon, April 2010.

Operation Christmas Child, Diapers, Wipes

$23 donation to Operation Christmas Child to send the shoebox gifts

$31 for a HUGE box of diapers and a HUGE box of wipes from Amazon that were on sale (will stash these for the baby gifts at work)

Test Post

Testing to see if I can correctly create a blog post from my email since we will be unable to access blogger.com in China.

Food bank, food baskets, Operation Christmas Child

$16.00 went to these 3 Charities.

Most were in conjunction with the kids' school donation projects.

The food bank donation was due to a request of the very strange cashier at the Dollar Tree.

Learning to cook good Chinese food

It's time to learn some yummy and easy to make Chinese recipes.  We love Chinese, well, American Chinese, but really don't know any good recipes.  We can make rice.

Two reasons Chinese recipes would be great.

1.  We will have a Chinese member of the family very soon.  (Obvious reason.)

2.  I think I am allergic to dairy.  Or highly intolerant.  Chinese cooking doesn't include dairy.

Article 5

Our "Article 5" was picked up Thursday and delivered to the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs).  I am not *exactly* sure what the Article 5 is, but what I do know is that we are almost done waiting.  Only travel approval from the CCAA is left and we should receive it in a few weeks!  Then we can go to China!

Time to start making lists and getting things checked off!

Approximately 8-11 weeks...

...until we go to China!  Oh my gosh!  I can not believe I am going to China!

We got an update on our girl last week with new pictures and some information.  Here is some of it.

"She enjoys being in the class and playing games with other children. She likes reading, drawing, singing and dancing. She is a lovely little girl."

Lions Club + Show Hope

Bought a raffle ticket from the local Lions Club for $2.

Purchased a Show Hope t-shirt to help this family with their adoption funds.

Most of my funds for donating right now are going in to a fund to purchase baby gifts for three pregnant women at work.  The gifts will be from all of us at work, not just from me, and all are needed.  In addition to helping these moms, I get to go shopping for baby items, which is always fun!  I am hoping we will have enough funds to get them something really nice that they need.

Another Birthday

And today would be our baby girl's birthday.

I wonder if she even knows it.  That it's her birthday and she is 6.

We are going to celebrate here, on Monday.  Today was Colton's birthday party at the park.


It was chilly, but as Colton said, God stopped the rain for him so we could put up his trampoline and have his party.  :)

Next year, we will be able to celebrate *with* our girl.

Six!

Our baby boy is 6 today.

The last six years have been filled with a little more sunshine than we had before.

And they have just flown by.

We love you Colton!

For Sophia

Donation for today.  I can't wait to read about this family's trip to China.

Necklaces

Three necklaces purchased today to help this family raise money for their adoption.

They necklaces are really pretty.

$35.75

Day 26!

Today it has been 26 days since our dossier was logged in.

Today we received our Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC)/Letter of Approval (LOA) from China!

We were not expecting it this soon.  Twenty-six days is a really short time.  At first, when I got the call from our caseworker, I thought something was wrong.  I could not believe when she said she had received our approval.

The kids and I decided to go out for Chinese food to celebrate.  (We brought Tim lots of leftovers.)

Time to get busy on our I-800 paperwork and our care package.

Raffle Ticket

$5 to help an adoptive family with their raffle.

I am starting to blog about my donations, for my own information.

Drawn From Water

Today's charity.  I bought a t-shirt.  I would have donated more, but they did not have a link to donate via my preferred method.

LID

LID = log in date = China receives our dossier and puts a date on it = August 4th!

Now we are waiting for our Letter of Approval from China.  Praying for it to come quickly.

Gina

Giving

Giving, not as in presents, but as in giving to help others.

Until recently, this was unfortunately not a regular in our life.

Back in March, I decided to change things a bit.  You see, at work, I receive a portion of "tips" that are divided between employees.  It is not a large amount by any means.  But, I decided to save it all and see how much I had at the end of the month.  Turns out, these dollars add up.  I had around $100 that had been given to me by the generosity of folks who didn't even know me.  And, I didn't really need it.

Ever since, I have been giving it all away.  I've been donating to different causes, mostly online, but sometimes in person if the opportunity comes up. 

Yes, we should be donating more.  A lot more.  But this is my start.

Amazing Internet

In about 10 minutes I was able to find TWO photos of our girl on the internet!!!  I am so excited.

I looked for more, but only found the two.  A lot of the pictures are hard to make out and everyone has the same color hair and skin.

Dossier To China!

Our dossier is (finally) ready and being sent TODAY!!

"The Lake"

Today was a day at "The Lake".  Gorgeous and relaxing.  We had a good time as usual, although there was a small bit of complaining from the older two that they were "bored".  Next trip we plain on incorporating more hiking time to lessen the boredom complaints.

Highlights from the little guy.

1.  He woke up again this morning with a stiff neck (had this happen a few weeks ago also), so he walked around all day with his head to the side.
2.  He climbed into the bag that the chair slides into and was playing around.  He wanted me to carry him around in it like a chair, but I politely declined.
3.  He stated  he does not like the chicken skin, he only likes the "tender meat" inside.
4.  His hour long adventure trekking up the creek with sissy and daddy was "So! Awesome!"

Final Documents

Our final set of documents is on it's way to our agency, so our dossier should be sent very soon!!

Name

We were thinking we'd keep our daughter's "first names" as her middle name and also give her an American name that is easier for people to pronounce, for her new first name.

Then she can choose what she wants to be called.

(I, however, will be calling her "mei mei" which is Chinese for "little sister".)



It's not easy, deciding on a name for a child, who is NOT a baby. She clearly already has her own personality, but we have no idea what it is!

Financial Thoughts

The opinions on financing adoption are as varied as there are people.  Here is what it boils down to.

1.  Fundraising is awesome.  If you have the desire to adopt but not the means, please fundraise and give one more child (or more) a family.

2.  Please do not fundraise if you are not willing to give up some things yourself.  Don't sit in your fancy house with a pool, go on multiple vacations and drive brand new cars and wear designer clothing and expect folks like me to help you out because you can't afford it.  Puhleeeeze!

3.  Money is not going to make you happier.  Neither is that new car or fancy house.  In a few years the car won't even be new anymore.  A child is more important than a car.  Your life will be better if it is filled with children and people than with cars.  If you can afford a new car you can afford to adopt.

4.  If you are curious how *we* are affording this, we are *working* at our jobs.  It's the most effective form of fundraising for all involved.  :)

Updated Photos and Approval Notice

We got our approval notice from USCIS today!  So now, our last 4 documents are on their way to be verified.

And I forgot to mention that we received updated photos and measurements of our girl a couple of weeks ago.  The photos are soooo cute.

Finally Fingerprints!

We finally got our fingerprint appointments we've been waiting for.  And 8 of our dossier documents are at our agency ready to go.  Only 4 left and the dossier will be finished and headed to China!  Our fingerprint appointment is next week unless we decide to try our luck and do a walk-in.

Our Homestudy is done and approved!

Things are happening even when it seems like they are not.  I spoke with our coordinator at the agency today.  It looks like it will be about 8 or 9 more months before we are able to go to China.  I wish it was sooner.  She is going to send a request to the orphanage for an update and some new photos of our daughter, so that will be fun to get!

Well...

...we are working through the snags.  A fabulous friends agreed to be the guardians.  And, as it turns out, the Embassy is no longer taking UPS or any other mail.  The documents have to be hand delivered.  No, we are not going to DC, but we will use a courier service.

SNAG

Paperwork snags!

For some reason, the Chinese Embassy has refused my "package" which is the documents they are supposed to authenticate!  So my shipment is being returned to my by UPS.  What is the deal?

AND we are also having trouble locating suitable guardians to list in the homestudy.

Seriously.

Waiting on Homestudy

We are still waiting on our homestudy.  I will call in the morning to see what is the hold up.

Our documents arrived back from the Dept. of State while we were on our trip.  I am planning to send them to the Chinese Embassy tomorrow for the final verification.

Road Trip

Road trips are not for sissy's.  Especially "family" road trips.  They can make some good memories, though.  Here is a recap of our recent road trip.

Day 1 - Leave home.  Drive to Boise, where Abriana would like to go show us the capitol building (she has been inside with Grandma and Poppy before, but the rest of us have only seen the outside).  We don't arrive until 7 PM so, of course, it is closed.  We are able to look in the window.  Head back on the freeway to Twin Falls where we are staying for the night.  ALMOST get to Twin Falls when two people motion to us we have a flat tire.  Pull over to the side of the freeway where Tim changes the tire.  Drive to our hotel in Twin Falls.

Day 2 - We were planning to leave early, but have to wait until the tire shops open.  No one in town has the tire we need.  See, we just purchased 4 brand new tires, so we would like to replace the flat with one that is the SAME as the other 3 new tires.  We end up buying a used tire so we will again have a spare.  Head out of town around 10 AM.  Drive through Nevada which is miles and miles of no one.  Not much traffic at all, which was nice.  Finally, arrive in Vegas.  Decide to show the kids all the cool hotels.  Finally, find the right street.  You know the one.  Spend a large amount of time finding a place to park and get out and stretch our legs for an hour or so.  Get back in car and get out of town.  Decide we are definitely NOT going to make it to Yuma this night and start searching for a motel on the gps.  The whacked out gps finally does find us a nice place to stay near Hoover Dam.  Then we search for food and call it a night.

Day 3 - After breakfast at the hotel we make a quick jaunt over to Hoover Dam.  We get to drive accross the top of the dam, as well as get out and take a look.  There is a huge bridge being build so that soon vehicle will not be allowed to drive accross the dam.  After a bit of looking, we head to Yuma.  Upon arriving in Yuma, we meet Great Grandma and Kenny at the Chinese buffet.  I was skeptical, but it was very good.  We all enjoy the meal.  Most of us are ready to go, but Bradyn had decided to try a bit of ice cream, so we wait.  Next thing I know I think there is some sort of machine turned on in back of the wall behind me.  No, Tim feels it too.  EARTHQUAKE!!  We try to get out as quickly as possible and all I can picture is the fallen buildings and crushed people.  Thank the lord we were all fine and there was no damage.  The earthquake was really strong, some of us were scared, and most definitely a memory.

Day 4 - Mostly relax.  Order a tire.  Brave going into the superstore building.

Day 5 - In the morning we get to go see Grandpa Ray for a bit.  Then, trip to Mexico!  We did a little shopping and had some yummy fish tacos and Coke.  The Coke is better in Mexico.  Real sugar.  After returning to Yuma we did a little Goodwill shopping, got our new tire, and took Great Grandma out to dinner.

Day 6 - Say goodbye to Grandpa Ray and pack up.  Visit the "castle park" one last time.  Still, after waiting, Great Grandma's sister and brother have not arrived.  We cannot wait any longer so we take off for the Grand Canyon area.  We miss seeing Montezuma's castle because it is closed by the time we go by.  We do get to go swimming at the hotel.

Day 7 - Abriana comes down with stomach virus.  Tim isn't feeling well either.  I try to entertain the boys with the Grand Canyon for the afternoon.  More swimming.

Day 8 - More of the Grand Canyon.  We also went to see the Imax movie, which everyone enjoyed.  Then, drive to Utah.  More swimming.

Day 9 - Drive to Idaho.  We try to find a way to go see the Great Salt Lake but can't seem to figure out how to get to it so we just look as we pass on the freeway.  Abriana wanted to go see the Utah capitol building but that didn't work out either.  We did see it from the freeway.  More swimming.  The hot tub was out of order which was extremely dissappointing.  Had I known, I would have chosen somewhere else to stay.  We like the hot tub!  In the wee hours of the night, I get the dreaded stomach virus.

Day 10 - We get out late because I do not want to be sick on the road.  Which, of course, I was sick all day but at least there were no emergencies.  Abriana does not feel well again.  Neither does Tim.  We try to get home as quick as possible.  Finally, we arrive home!

Prayers for Health

One of my favorite blogs is A Place Called Simplicity.  Recently Linny has started what she calls "Crazy Love".  Today, Linny is having Crazy Love Challenge #2, where everyone can post a prayer request and then we will all pray for each other even though we are total strangers.  Linny is sweet like that.  Head on over there and see what she is all about.

My prayer request is for the health of my family.  Several members of our family are dealing with health issues.  These issues range from small to large.  Prayers for our parents, our 3 children here at home, our daughter in China, Tim, and myself for our health would be appreciated.

Today

We had our first meeting with the lady doing our homestudy.  She will be coming to our house next week.

Also, we received from UPS 8 notarized documents with the Idaho State verification seal attached!

Monday, I need to send those same 8 documents to the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Also, tomorrow the boys have appointments at the dentist for some dental work.  It should be quite a productive day.

We have all the Dossier paperwork!

We received the notarized medicals as well as certified birth certificates and marriage license last week!!!  Now, I need to send all the Idaho certified/notarized paperwork to the Secretary of State to be verified.

After we get our financial form and a letter notarized I will send those along with Tim's birth certificate to the WA Secretary of State to be verified.  Although, I may wait until I have one last paper that will need to be verified to send these.

I also spoke with our homestudy coordinator today and we should be setting up times for the visits on Monday.  I can't wait to have our homestudy finished.

Happy Birthday Bradyn!

Today is Bradyn's 12th birthday!

We celebrated by going out to Chinese.  Tomorrow will be a birthday party, and Saturday we are going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D.

Happy birthday Bradyn!

2 more

One personal reference and one letter of employment received today!  Thank you to everyone who is doing their part so quickly!  I am truly amazed!

Medical #1

Colton's medical form was finished today.  Some progress.

Shenglian

She lives in an orphanage in Harbin City.


Yes, we will go pick her up, it is a 2 week trip. I am tossing around the idea of taking the whole family on the trip. Yes, that would be 5 tickets there and 6 on the way back, but I think it would be worth it.

I don't know for sure if she speaks Mandarin, but I hope so.

We asked the agency to look for a child for us from the waiting child list. They were able to find her MUCH faster than we expected. Our parameters were that it be a girl 6 or under with a minor special need. The waiting child list from China surprisingly consists of mostly boys.  While I would love to have another boy, it seems logical for us to add a girl to the family due to the fact we already have 2 boys and only 1 girl (who by the way has been asking if we could adopt her a sister for a couple of years or more).  We also got our pre-approval back faster than I thought we would so now I feel like I need to hurry to get the paperwork finished.

Shenglian's special need is cleft lip/cleft palate. This birth defect is very common in Asian people. She has already had them repaired, but will need some more procedures as she grows up.

She is an orphan. In China, due to the law, if parents are not able to care for their child they leave the child in a public place to be "found".

Enough for now. :)

Teeth

Colton told me he has a tooth ache at bedtime tonight.  I looked in his mouth and 2 teeth have pieces missing!  They are back teeth so who knows how long they've been broken.

Bradyn has a sore tooth also, so I guess we'll be making a visit to the dentist.

Pre-Approval!!!!

We received the news this morning that we are pre-approved to adopt Shenglian!  So exciting!!!

I am choosing not to post her photo on the internet, as we are not her parents yet and some country's officials have frowned upon people posting photos.  If you know us and want to see a photo please email me!

tigiabra at yahoo dot com

Here's what else we need right NOW...

Forms for the homestudy....
2 more references from non-relatives
5 medical reference forms (one for each person in our family)
1 set of married people we can mention as our child's guardian for the adoption
4 state child abuse clearance forms (one for each of us for every state we've lived in which is 2)

Forms for the Dossier (which is the pile of papers which will be sent to China)...
2 medical forms (duplicate to the ones above) notarized
1 Letter of Employment from Tim's employer notarized
Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificate (already ordered)

There are numerous other documents as well, but I think all the rest of them I either already have, or they are forms I can fill out myself.

Letter of Employment #1

I recieved my "letter of employment" from my boss today.  I feel so grateful to have such a helpful boss.

Police Clearance Report Notarized

We went down to the city police station and got the police reports filled out an notarized today.  It was so quick and easy, they were very nice.  We also dropped off a copy of the form that we will need to have filled out at the doctor's office so they can look it over and see what we need.

Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificate

One item crossed off the list.  I ordered the certified copies of my birth certificate and our marriage certificate today.  I already have a certified copy of Tim's birth certificate that we can use.

The News

The reason I am starting this blog is to share some bits and pieces about our family here and there.

Right now we have some big news. We are adopting a little girl from China! She is 5 and so gorgeous. Our information has been sent to China by our agency for pre-approval. We are expecting to receive that back in 4-6 weeks!