Package to my princess

Today I mailed off a package to our princess.  Since she is in a foster home and not the orphanage we were given permission to mail things to her at the foundation the home falls under.  I hope the packate  makes it to her. 

I put together a video with pictures and video from the holidays.  I read that our daughter loves music so I had the kids sing different songs like Isty Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and some Christmas songs.  I bet she will love watching kids sing to her.  I know she is too little to comprehend that we are her forever family but at least we have a memory documented for her.

It breaks my heart to think of her having to leave the family that  raised her from 2 months of age until we travel (she will be about 20 months when we travel).  I hate for her to have to leave a familiar place to go with unfamiliar people/places - but she is meant to be with us:).  She will probably not remember this when she is older and having been where she is will help her do so much better bonding with us. 

I pray for the foster family that they will continue to stay in touch with us and that they will continue to foster kids...knowing that they made a difference in these kids lives.

TodayI filled out our I800 paperwork so it is ready to send to our agency with our LOA whenever it arrives.  It should come anytime between the second and third week of January.  Earlier would be nice!  Until then, we wait, not so patiently to travel to get our princess. 

Holiday Times

 I was admiring another blogger (also named Jennifer:) and her kids photos..envy, is what I have:)  No matter how hard we try or where we are I cannot for the life of me get all my kids to smile at the same time.   You would think Santa and Mrs. Claus and Great Wolfe Lodge would do it..no (probably too tired to smile from all that swimming and in the kids defense the candy canes tasted like medicine.  But I guarantee they had fun!  They never stopped swimming for a second.

At home on the cozy couch where we take all our pictures..not sure why but that is what always happens...no, but almost:)

Back at Great Wolfe lodge, nope, even though this was taken before we hit the slides and waterpark, you think the sheer anticipation would be enough...but there is always one who looks like she was taken hostage and another who just refuses to smile (yes, thats you Judah, little man) Of course I was the "one" who always cried for photos when I was a kid, so I understand.

Oh well, even without captured smiles, they did smile alot and they had a great Christmas.  All Adam kept saying was "this is the best Christmas I ever had"....which is sweet and sad all at the same time, considering its really the first Christmas he has ever had...

Off into the New Year soon in hopes of that coveted LOA -we sure felt an empty place this year for our sweet Elizabeth but know in our hearts she is being so loved by her foster family and are grateful for that love and together.  And we know she too shall be home to add to our picture, only I suspect she will be all smiles:)  I know I will:)

LID

What more is there to say than YAYAYAYAY we are officially logged in as of December 16th!

Does this fluidity ever end?

Seriously - the one thing I hate about adoption is that it is ever changing!  Nothing is normal.  Today I got an email from our social workers agency saying we had to pay upfront all of our post adoption reports....$2400.  This was unexpected since we are already paying our adoption agency a fee to ensure we do all of our post adoption reports.  Rgh...with our last adoptions we did not have to pay upfront for the reports..we paid as we went.SOOOOO thats $2400 we did not intend of having to spend until after we came home with our princess.  We are still fighting with the IRS to get our 2010 tax return and who knows what 2011 return has for us. 
Needless to say today I feel defeated.  I am busting my behind and making little progress.  Yes, I do know God is in control, and yes I do know it will all work out, but I am pretty sure he is putting some of the responsiblity on us to make it happen...so I feel tired, useless and defeated at the moment.
It is not fun being caught in the middle -we make enough money to easily take care of our children, but we don't have $25,000 laying around, nor do we qualify for any grants.  So back to the grind stone -with as much peace as I can have in my heart knowing my God is greater than this small task.
 Does anyone else ever feel this way ever?!  I am pretty sure I am not alone, which motivates me to keep on keepin on....I will not stop until not only this baby is home, but all the other children in the world are home where they belong. (don't worry I will not try to adopt them all - I would if I could:)

Grandbaby!

Wow what a week!  Not only did our dossier make it to China but our grandson was born and I got to be part of the birth!  It was amazing, my daughter was a trooper and my son in law so very kind to let me be in the room and even cut the cord!  Welcome to the world little man! 

DTC!!!

We are DTC as of today!!! Yayayayaay!  Now we obviously hope for a quick LID and LOA/LOC...if we can pull that all off before we might actually travel by May of 2012...that would be awesome!  What a great day!

Another Milestone

Today we hit another milestone in our journey to Elizabeth.  I sent off our homestudy and I797 to the consulate in CA to get sealed.  Then hopefully by Monday it will be on its way to CCAI and within a week or two on its way to get logged in.  Thankfully we can still use our old I797 and didn't have to wait for it.  We will still have to get refingerprinted by USCIS but it isn't as big of a rush as it could have been.

We are all hoping for an update on Elizabeth but probably won't get one until right before we travel next year. Makes me sad, I would love to see her sweet face and how she is growing.  She should be about 17 months old now and I am sure she is changing every day.

We had a great Thanksgiving with our daughter in laws family - we each contribute to the food which makes it so much easier and way more fun.  Titus shared at the dinner table how grateful he and Adam were to be here and how they were thankful for us and our family.  He was crying, as were the rest of us.  What a blessing! They also both helped with the tree, refueling the fun of Christmas and the holiday season. Adam just kept saying how great America was and how much fun it is.  He is really excited to get two weeks off of Christmas.  I told him he would drive me crazy before the two weeks was over, but he reminded me that as long as had the Ipad to play on he would be happy!  Hahahah

We hope to evade anymore holiday germs.  We have had our bouts with sickness since Micah had his surgery and are praying that is the end.  The weather is in and out of rain and gloom and sunshine, sure would enjoy the sun a little more -but then we do live in the PNW!

On the horizon - the birth of our Grandson..our daughter is due December 9th...hoping and praying I actually get to go to the birth!  I can't wait!!

Time Flies

Wow, where has the time gone.  I didn't realize it had been almost a month since my last post.  Things have quiet on the adoption front.  Our social worker was suppose to have our homestudy done last week, but it's still not done.  We are still waiting for our FBI clearance which they said would be done by the 21st of November.  All that to say, hurry up!!!  Because we HAVE to have our dossier to china and logged in by 31 Jan in order not to have to redo our immigrations paperwork.  We still have to get refingerprinted but are able to extend our current immigrations, meaning not having to wait for a new I797 for our dossier.  IF all goes well it will save us an additional 2-3 months of waiting.  As always things are in God's hands.

Our month has been busy.  Little man had more palate surgery.  Actually the "speed bump" surgery where they create a bump in the back of the throat using his tissues to help seal off the throat when he talks.  It is suppose to help his speech.  So far it seems worse, but that probably has to do with swelling etc.  He is also having some sleep apnea issues, due to swelling, that are subsiding as the swelling goes down.  This surgery, by far, has been the toughest for the little guy.  He always bounces right back but this one has taken a little longer. He is also suffering from a pulled muscle in his neck.  They must have had him position strangely during surgery.  Poor guy!

Lucky me, I caught a super nasty virus while we were in the hospital and have been down for the count for a whole week so far.  To some of you this may not seem like long, but for me it is an eternity!  I am the kind of person that likes to be busy, productive and moving.  I feel bettter today, so it shouldn't be much longer:)

We sent our sweetie pie, Elizabeth a package a few weeks ago, secretly hoping someone would send us an update - not sure why I was hoping since they aren't suppose to communicate with us.  But nothing.  I was also hoping at least that our agency would get something from them and forward it to us:(   I seriously think the more adoption a person does, the harder the wait becomes.  We know what a blessing these kids are and to have to wait to hold and love them is so hard!  Thankfully the holiday busyness will help pass some time.

We found out Titus can have Strabisumus surgery to help his eyes not move so much.  We left it up to him to decide if he wanted it or not.  He didn't even hesitate a second, he said if it will help me, then I want it!   We also found out he may not be able to drive afterall. Washington law is you have to have corrected vision of 20/40.  His is 20/80.  His eye doctor said he feels comfortable writing a letter to allow him to drive in the day time in familiar areas.  We of course want 100% safety for everyone so will make that decision when he is in the age of driving.  Titus agrees he wants to be smart about it.  But what a bummer if he can't drive.  It's all he has talked about - he and Caleb:)

Today begins parent/teacher conferences...off to the school house from 1230 until 7 tonight (varied times).  The kids are all doing great. Although Adam is starting to realize his cuteness will only go so far and he is starting to learn to "tow the line" along with the other students and at home.  The other day his time on "electronics" was up and he was told to go play. He stood in the room and wouldn't go.  He laughed, thought he was being funny and wouldn't go.  I told him if he didn't find something to do he would be put to work.  Something I tell all my kids, especially when they say they are bored.  He smirkingly said, ok I work.  Little did he know his bathroom was in need of cleaning and was quickly told to go clean it.  With much attitude and tears (trying to get out of it) he finally cleaned it.  Then he started back with his antics and was told once again that it wasn't cute and that if he didn't find something to do he would work more.  He said ok, I work.  Instead of making him clean more, I sat him down and explained proper obedience and behavior and that even though he is cute and funny, it isn't cute or funny to disobey and be naughty.  I think he understood.  But his attention span is very short:) as his teachers are learning:)  Live and learn. Love them all no matter what:)

Thank you Lord for your creations...we are blessed by them - now I know what you go through everyday with me:)

PS sadly I have taken no pictures lately...I better get back on board!

Beautiful Fall Weather is Here!

The Pacific Northwest turned from no summer to almost no fall to almost winter all in a matter of weeks.  We have had some nice weather this week though, which is making up for the past few months:)

We decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch so that Titus and Adam could experience a little American tradition of pumpkin hunting etc.  It was very funny!  First off the day was rainy and so they wanted to know why on earth we would purposely go outside in the rain to get a pumpkin.  Then they couldn't understand why you would want the perfect pumpkin, THEN they couldn't understand why you would want to cut a face out of it!  Needless to say all of this was strange to them because they wanted to just eat the pumpkin.  Adam made sure he got a huge one so he could eat alot.  Titus picked a tiny one:)

Overall I think they had fun even though the weather was bad and the trip was quick.  And....we surely enjoyed eating the pumpkin the next day, both baked with brown sugar and butter and some fried with salt and pepper!

On a side note, our dossier is essentially done, just waiting for our FBI clearances and homestudy...please Lord let them be done quickly!  I hear LOAs after LID are taking up to 70 days...rgh...I want my baby home now!

Busy Week

Wow, I had a busy week this week.  I decided to go get a part time job to supplement some of our adoption costs.  Well, let's just say it is hard to find a part time job that allows me to only work from supper time on into the evening, and is flexible enough that I can kind of choose my hours.  Soooooo, those colorful arches is where I ended up.  I worked Wed-Sat nights until closing time, which brings me home at abour 1am.  I haven't worked in three years so it kicked my behind.  BUT looking at the picture of our sweet princess makes it all worth while.  AND I only have to do it for a few months.  Thank you Lord, for answered prayers.

We found out this week that our princess is living in major East Coast chinese city with a European couple as foster parents until we come.  She was provided surgery through an amazing organization called Baobei Foundation.  Everything I have read about them is amazing.  I can't wait to finally meet them and thank them in person for what they have provided her.   We were fortunate to also have one of our other children live in Hope Foster Home in Beijing.  What a difference in the way they bond when they have had that one on one attention from the get go.

Ahhh...now if our social worker would hurry up and get our report done we could get moving forward faster.  We do NOT want to miss our immigrations deadline - so we can reuse our already approved immigrations paperwork.  The holidays are going to drag on I suspect, while we wait.  BUT knowing that our sweet princess is being loved and well taken care of gives us peace of mind.

Our two boys that came home earlier this year, just watched the Jesus movie in Mandarin.  They LOVED it.  It answered so many questions they had that they seemed like they couldn't figure out how to ask us in English.  We do go to church regularly and are actively involved with our church family, so they are piecing it together but it was great to see them light up with excitement over the movie.  O

This week we also met with our local school to finally get the resources that both boys need.  We started this process about 8 months ago before they came home and have just not felt like they were being considered.  We love our school district especially our superintendant, but we were concerned that the boys were being left behind and not given what they need.  We are hopeful to be on the right path now.  They love school and feel so grateful to be able to participate.  The teachers have been wonderful.

We continue to Praise God for His blessings and provision and want to thank all of you out there who contributed to our fund.  There is no greater joy than being part of a process to unite a family together forever!  Thank you!

A Week Blessed by God

This week met with wonder.  We received several very generous donations which will get us through this first phase of the adoption.  And although we continue to "fight" with the IRS (meaning they still don't want to give us our refund, in fact they want to fine us $3000 for our taxes being "falsely filed" thanks to Turbotax - so we write a letter- send "again" the same documents to prove we did adopt and pray they drop the fine and give us our refund before January). Nonetheless we have been blessed by others!  God works His will no matter what stands in the way!

We have yet to hear from our new social worker to get moving on the homestudy (which has to be done in the next 90 days) so am praying that phone call comes today. We were assured it will get completed.  I hate that our little princess is sitting over there just because people want us to redo paperwork we just did last year and hasn't changed..but alas that is the way it works.  Hang on baby, we are working hard to come!

We have all been fighting the virus that is going around causing people headaches, runs and sore muscles..flu like.  We are hoping it passes through us quickly.  I don't like this season:( 

Not much else to share at the moment except that we are grateful our God is good and that He gets the glory for everything!

Thinking

Today while my kids are at school and my youngest is taking a nap I have been thinking.  I know, hard to imagine me sitting still long enough to think.  I have been thinking about how amazing God is.  Through this past week we have been blessed by His work through many people.  We had over $600 donated to our adoption fund, we had many families calling, supporting and encouraging us, and we found a new social worker agency.   We were beyond blessed with the same social worker we had over the last 4 years and will miss him dearly.  He really became a sweet part of our family - all the kids enjoyed his visits.  But God took what was to be a great big change both financially and timewise, and presented us with another agency who is willing to pick up where David left off.  God is so good.
We still need about $1200 to make our first payment to our agency to get moving faster to be able to make our 90 day timeline, but I have no doubt that this will happen.  Please pray for us and/or consider a small donation.  You would not regret helping bring a precious child home to their forever family.

The crazy thing is if the IRS would have just given us our refund this would not be an issue.  We are working with them to come up with an agreement as to what refund we should be getting.  According to the rules put out by themselves, we should be getting back thousands more than what they are telling us they owe us.  So now we draw up another set of papers and send it back one more time for them to see where the error is.  This apparently has happened to many, many people.  We started this refund process in FEB and don't expect it to be resolved for several more months.  But alas, God has a plan!
We would also ask for prayers that our FBI fingerprints get processed in the next few weeks so that won't be standing in our way of meeting our deadline.  We have been told it can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks.

Other than that, life continues to be a blessing, kids enjoying school, fall weather moving in, precious friends getting LID and other friends getting their first foster kids. I look forward to what the next week will bring not only in our lives but yours as well.

 PS the picture has nothing to do with the post, its just one I love of our 4 year old a couple years ago in October

Grab Button

Hi, One of my precious blog friends so graciously made this grab button on the side bar of our blog so that you could take the code and put it on your blog to help us raise money to bring our sweet Elizabeth home.  We would sure appreciate it!  Thanks!

Pre Approval!!

We recieved our pre approval today and want to introduce you to our sweet new little girl, Elizabeth!!!

Adoption, support and understanding

Not too many years ago my eyes were opened up to a world I was aware, but yet unaware of.  That world is the world that exists around us with millions of children living without parents, a home, or the love that God so greatly shares and desires for each person to experience.

I am ashamed that as a Christian I did not understand the need that existed when the Bible so openly talks about it - care for the orphans.  Although we have always sponsored children in need and helped those around us, I don't think I really understood it to the fullest.

After studying the Bible and what God has to say about orphan care, we knew in our hearts that adoption was something He wanted us to do - being part of His plan to care for His precious children.  I remember reading somewhere that you might not be able to save or feed or love everyone, but you can make a difference in one life at a time.

Any adoptive parent can tell you, including me, that the love and joy that our adoptive children bring into our lives is worth more than anything else on this earth.  It is priceless, no different than biological children.  People think how blessed our adopted children are to have a family, that may be true, but I have to say that we feel just as blessed to have them as our children.  Children are a blessing from the Lord!

We have been blessed to adopt 4 children in the last 4 years and we are head over heels in love with them all.  They fit so perfectly in our family there is no doubt it was part of God's plan for our family.

As you might be able to tell from recent posts, we received an unexpected referral for a little girl.  I cannot post any additional information until we are told we can, so for now this little info will have to suffice.  We knew going into our most recent adoption that we would adopt one last time and that it would be a girl.  When we began this journey almost 5 years ago, it was for a little girl.  But Gods plan was that we adopt 4 boys instead:)    Long story short, we decided to reuse our dossier thinking it would be at least a year before we got a referral, when only 2 days after resubmitting our desire to do so, resulted in a referral.  We are totally in love with this child and cannot wait to get her home to our family forever.

The bad part is that only a few days after receiving our referral we were told we CANNOT re use our dossier (misunderstanding on our agencies part) and we have to potentially find another social worker (who is Hague accredited) AND have a homestudy, dossier and Supplement 3 done and turned in before the end of January.  This puts a major kink in everything.  We thought we would have a year to save for the adoption, but now with a 90 day deadline we have to have all our agency fees upfront.  We know that God will provide through our hard work, tightening of our budget, doing yard sales, and praying for donations from family, friends and sometimes complete strangers:)

We ask you to join us by praying, encouraging and if possible financially supporting us.  We are excited to see what God is going to do to help us bring this beautiful little girl home.

PS - only 7 of the kids in the photo are ours...the other two are sweet friends

Not at Liberty to Discuss

Although I am not at liberty to discuss our current brewing, I will call to attention to sidebar and our needs...more to follow.  If you would like to email me off line, feel free at mommatheis@hotmail.com

Something is brewing!

Something is brewing on the Theis front....I wonder what it could be!? Check back in a couple weeks and you will find out! In the meantime enjoy pictures of the boys coming home from their first day of school - so far they are enjoying it!

School is here!

School finally starts this week.  The summer was very busy and fun, but I think the kids are ready for school.  We did so many fun things this summer.  Went on a road trip, went to the beach, horseback riding, camping, swimming in the ocean, lake and river, roller skating, parties galore, youth lock-ins, youth lock-outs, bowling, wow what else I can't even remember.  Needless to say it was fun.

I hope the boys don't expect this fun to continue throughout the school year:)

The boys are ready for school but I don't think the school is ready for the boys.  They have never had someone come in from China with little english and in one case, no education.  We have had many struggles, meetings and discussion to make sure they get what they need and deserve.  Please pray with us as we begin the year that they will get everything they need.  I will fight as long as I have to to advocate for them.

They are amazing young men and have been a blessing as new additions to our family.  We just celebrated our 3 month anniversary together.  Titus's english is amazing and Adam has learned alot even without any past english training.  He has a long way to go but is eager to learn.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support -we are blessed to have each of you in our lives whether it be in person or cyberspace:) 

Vacation!

Finally home from our amazing vacation which included driving through 6 states, carrying 12 people in a 12 passenger van, and traveling over 3200 miles.

We traveled from WA to OR then to ID where we spent the night to rest.  Then we went on to WY where we spent 3 days visiting all of my MILs side of the family.  It was great to meet and remeet many cousins, aunts and uncles and even second cousins.  We even did our own church service at the christian camp that we stayed at.  We went on a mountain hike, experienced the Bar J in Jacksons Hole, WY and managed not to be eaten by the local bears.

Then we treked on down to CO to visit my brother and his family.  They live in an amazing part of the mountain where my brothers runs resteraunts for the ski area.  Beautiful!  We had so much fun with them and look forward to future visits.

We were also able to pop down into Denver and visit CCAI, our adoption agency.  This was a special pleasure for us since we have been working with them over the last 4 years on all of our chinese adoptions.  The ladies that work there are all special and dear to our hearts.  It is an amazing organization.  Not only do they assist families in adopting but they raise tons of money for chinese orphanages etc.  We hope to reuse our dossier this next year to adopt a little girl - if God allows financially.  We also the pleasure of meeting up with a few of the families we recently traveled with to adopt our children.

We are now home and in  the process of doing too many loads of laundry, putting all the traveling gear away and looking at the grass that has grown out of control in only a week and a half.

The boys had a blast and were so happy to meet and know they are part of such a great extended family.  They were welcomed with open arms by everyone.  As soon as we got home Adam yelled "Washington I love you, no hot, no cold!"  I guess WY was a little too hot for him - that and the snakes, he was ready to leave:) 

                                                          Fun in the car?!

                                               Our family with some of the amazing CCAI staff

                                                     CCAI family Moms:)

                                                         Eating at my brothers resteraunt in the mtns

Favorite times while playing pool

                                                               The two littls guys outside CCAI

This week the kids will experience Vacation Bible school for the first time.  I can't wait!  It's always fun

God is so good!

Seriously, does it get better than this?!  Of course it can but I am so happy right now:)  Titus asked me today to help him translate and understand his sunday school class material.  Although he understands a fair amount of english we all talk so fast he misses most of his SS teacher says and falls asleep due to boredom.  So I was more than happy to spend time with him tonight translating and explaining the bible study material that they will discuss on WED night- so he will be ready!  Time consuming - Yes - well worth it - YESSSSS!

Both boys continue to be a joy!  Our close friends organized a church welcome home party for the boys - thank you Denise and Deanna.  They were so excited and happy.  You could tell by their reactions to everything that they were pleased.  Today when we went to church they were saying hi to everyone!  I am so glad they feel loved!

Adam's sunday school class gave him an action Bible with pictures (like a comic book).  They all signed it - he showed me with a beaming smile what his new friends gave him.  Titus was given a Bible by one of Bryan's chinese workmates.  So now both boys have Bibles they can read in english and chinese.

After a week of doctor and dentist appointments, a party and a youth overnight lock in (which they both loved) we are taking a week off to relax - well sort of:)  One of our bio boys turns 14 on Tue, I turn 46 (yes it is true I am getting old) on Wed and both new boys turn 13 and 14 on friday...another son turns 4 on Monday...so more parties, but low key:)  We are getting Titus an MP3 player and Adam wants an airsoft gun (his new passion and something he is very good at despite his visual impairment)  I hope they are both surprised and pleased.  We are trying not to get carried away at birthdays since we have so many kids (but I think I can squeeze out a few more than that for their first bday home:) 

Here are pics of the welcome home party:

                                                                     Ping Pong champion

                                This is when they first arrived at the party and a little unsure of everyone

                                                       Some of our wonderful church family

                                                     Soccor was their favorite -thanks Jennifer G!

Thanks again to everyone who has made this forever family possible.  We cannot imagine life without these boys!

Love these boys!

Sorry the pictures did not come out very well.  But I had to say that we sure love these boys!  They are so different in many ways, yet both caring and kind.  There is no doubt in my mind that God hand picked them for our family. 

The Boys

These are the handsome Theis men in our house (minus #1 man - Dad). The three girls are totally outnumbered and in need of another girl. The boys are doing great, everyone is bonding well.  Titus recently told me he really likes our big family.  Adam seems to enjoy everything.  A huge thank you again to all who helped bring these two boys home!  God is smiling a huge smile right now I am sure!

Home!

We are finally home.  I am so tired I didn't even think to look at the blog to see if I already post it:)
After a few trials and errors we made it home about midnight on Tue.  Everyone is settling in just fine.  Now if I could get the boys to sleep at night and not all day we will be great.  They don't bother as night when they are awake and we are asleep, but I worry if they don't try to transition it will be a long process.

They don't care for american food which we expected.  In fact they complained about everywhere we ate in China once we left their province.  I think they understand there isn't much we can do about that, and I understand the loss they have without their comfort food, but they have to transition enough to survive:)

We had a nice meeting with everyone at the school.  Titus will take a math assessment sometime this week to see where he is.  If he is on track he will  stay with Caleb in grade 9 next year.  They also decided that even though Adam is small and acts younger than his age, he should stay with his peers, so next year he will be in 7th grade but doing 1st grade work.  Not sure how they will handle that.  The only thing that will change it is if the doctors decide he needs a bone scan to confirm his age. 

Anyway, that is it for now.  We are grateful to be home and to be a family finally!  Thank you everyone for all your love and support!  The picture is of our adoption group:)

More "See you laters"

Just a few more see you laters to our friends today.  I couldn't post all the pictures because some are on Bryans phone...will post later.  The one with the handsome young man and baby is Will and his new little sister who is also from Hope.

We leave in the morning for Beijing!  We may try to squeeze in a trip to the Great wall for the boys.  We get in to our hotel by the airport at about 2 so we will see.

The boys are swimming one last time before we head out.  I staying in the room to pack them all up.  We had to run out and buy a suitcase this morning.  Who would have thought we would accumulate so much stuff in Guangzhou.  I guess 8 days here is too long:)  Bryan said if we come back again he is going to do his hair strange and take pictures for money.  Everywhere you turn someone is taking wedding photos for families.  Its hot and humid and they dress up and come outside for a daylong photo shoot!

Anyway.....until later!

Saying Goodbye to New Friends

Tonight we had to say our goodbyes to several of the families we adopted with on this trip.  Some are heading to Hong Kong for the night.  Tomorrow more will head out, some straight home, some to Beijing etc.  Since we had a later consulate appointment we don't leave until Saturday - along with three other families.  We wish we could have gotten to know them all better but as big as our group was and as spread out as we were, it just wasn't possible.  They are ALL dear to us in one way or another!  For those living in Colorado, we hope to pop through and say hi the end of July.

For those "Hope foster home" lovers, check out the precious Hope baby girl...there were two on our trip (I will post the other sweetie tomorrow). 
PS...the picture with the fat lady is to represent how I feel after eating at Lucys too many times:)

Catching Up

I am still trying to catch up on the blog with what we have been doing so bear with me. Not having a VPN has been a pain, I would totally recommend it.

Sunday we went to church on Shaiman Island. It was an English/Mandarin service. We really enjoyed it except for the hard pews :) They explained who Jesus was very well. We went on to another shop to get the boys some Bibles ($18 for each leather bound mandarin/english). The boys also wanted to buy cross necklaces :) The shop owner gave us tracts in English that explains the Gospel. We were very grateful for this.

Today we went to the zoo but I won't bore you with animal pictures. It was nice but almost 90% humidity and somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees. Adam whined the whole time about being hot and tired, but then so did I ;)

They are now swimming with Dad while I get a shower (and emails) for our family photo on the red couches. We aren't dressing up or in traditional clothing. We did not think the boys would want traditional clothing. I will post more tomorrow with our group photos.

We arrived in Guangzhou!!!!

After many attempts to post to the blog I will try one last time, if it doesn't post then my daughter in law will post for me:) We spent the last 5-6 days in Zhengzhou with the boys, getting to know each other. We had a great time with several families visiting the Shaoling Temple. Adam especially liked it. He screamed with delight at the top of his lungs when we went to the Kung Fu show! It was so funny. They asked for volunteers to come to try our Kung fu in front of the stage and Adam jumped right up but when he got to the stage they said no kids....he was so sad:( But we all still enjoyed the show. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday. The boys had their physical exams and shots this morning. Neither appreciated it (neither would I for that matter). Then we ate and went swimming. Not a good combination. Adam threw up and Titus got leg cramps. They are both fine now, inside playing DS games.

The weather here is really humid and hot, not something us Washingtonians appreciate:) BUT the sun is nice:)
The next few days are the Dragon boat festival so we won't be doing any paperwork, which is a shame, we are ready to come home. I love it here, but miss the other kids and my own home.

There is a 12 yr old boy in our group that came with his parents to adopt a little sister. His name is Will. We thought that was funny since our 2008 adoption group had an 11 yr old boy named Will too. Too bad both Wills aren't here at the same time. Caleb would love that:)

The pictures are of the boys at the Shaolin temple with Will, then sleepy boys after a long day and baby crying filled flight. The last photo are the two boys waiting for their physicals. Good thing we brought the DS's!!



Well back to getting cleaned up from the swimming pool and off to eat Thai food with our whole group. We love and miss you all!

PS...I would really love to add a little girl to our family..time to start praying:)


[I have been trying to upload the pictures...it's not working for me right now...I'll post them as soon as I can. -tiffiny]

Gotcha day!!!!

ZHENGZHOU!

We are here! We landed in Zhengzhou on Sunday at about 1230 and are at the hotel getting everything together to meet the boys tomorrow. We spent the last few days in Beijing doing the normal tourist stuff and getting to know the other families. There are 14 families total - they came in anywhere from Thur - Sat. They are all wonderful! Most are getting younger children ages 18-30 months. There is another family adopting an 11 year old girl :)

All of the families with the exception of us and one other family, will travel to the registration office to receive their children. Since our boys and another child are coming from Xinyang which is very far away, we will wait at the hotel and receive our children here. I am kind of sad to miss everyone else getting their kids, it's so emotional and lovely.

We are staying in the same hotel we did when we adopted Micah, and are only a few rooms down from where we stayed before. It's like reliving Micah's adoption..makes me miss the kids at home and our first travel group!

I attached pictures of Dad and I at the birds nest, Caleb with our guide George and our travel group at Tinaneman square (minus a few families who hadn't arrived yet).

I guess that is it for now, now we sit and wait anxiously for all our children. You can feel the joy and nervousness of everyone as we pass each other in the hallways :) We can't wait until we can share more with you as we take this journey.

Jennifer

Schedule

Looks like we are leaving tomorrow instead of today - we arrive in Beijing on Thur night, tour a couple days (or goof around on our own), then on to Zhengzhou on Sunday and get the boys on Monday!!! YAYAYAY
We are in Zhengzhou for about 5 days where I hope to take the boys and do some fun things in their province before heading down to Guangzhou for 8 days - then on to home:).  We will be sure to post while we are gone.

Pray for safe travels, healthy minds and bodies, safe watch over all our children in the states and smooth paperwork processing.  Thanks!  I can't wait to show pictures of us with our boys - we are almost there!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Did I tell you I am excited about going to get our boys?! Well I am!!! We are on our way next week. I plan on using this blog to journal our trip. My daughter will probably post for me

Jennifer

TRAVEL APPROVAL

We got THE phone call today - we are finally traveling to get the boys. We are asking for the 25thish of May to depart. We will know more later this week. I guess God knew I needed to come home first to do laundry and prepare for this trip. More later!

Frustrations

I planned on posting to our blog while I was in China for our trip to Hope Foster Home, but it didn't work and hubby couldn't figure it out while I was gone. So I hope to post it later this week.
While I was in China our agency informed us that we had to retroactively do some paperwork that was previously not required. Thankfully we were able to get it done and it should be back to us and off to our agency by Monday. But I do believe it delayed our travel even more. There has been on delay after another which is more than frustrating. I know it will eventually happen but the thought of my boys sitting there and wondering if it really is going to happen, is disheartening to me.
We really though we would get our travel approval this week, in fact there were two batches that came in, which almost never happens, but guess who's was not in there? Yep, ours. We were told it could be another full week before we get it and another 2-3 weeks after that before we travel. We should travel in June but with Titus's 14th bday coming in July - it is too close for comfort.
Anyhoo...it will all work out, just wanted to post and let everyone know why yet again, we haven't traveled.

China!

Yay, our team made it to China and are enjoying New Hope Foundation and all the babies. Our team arrived in three different groups coming from CA, TX and WA. We got right up this morning after arriving at 1030 Wed night and went to see the Great Wall. Tomorrow we spend the day with babies, so will try to post some more pics. I was able to give Micah's nanny the photo albums I made for her - she was so excited...along with the little girl she use to nanny (her mom sent me photos to take to her as well)

Prayer request! We found out today that two of our documents are going to have be notorized, authenticated and Certified before we can travel...a new requirement from China, so guess what, we are back to being delayed at least another month. Even though our documents were already in china and all we had to do was get travel approval. This is cutting too close for comfort! Please pray they will make an exception and we can still travel this month.
 

 

Article 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Article 5 was picked up at the US Consulate today and is on it's way to the CCCWA in Beijing to await Travel approval. Praying it comes in the next two weeks or less!! BOYS WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!

He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

(poor Judah did not want to cooperate today)

What a great day! Time with church family, hearing the message and reminder that Jesus died and rose again, fullfilling God's plan for hope and salvation! What more can one ask for!?

We enjoyed a nice morning eating brunch with church family, then off to an egg hunt at our house for joint families with our son and daughter in law and extended family. The kids were great! We hid over 140 eggs and they hunted them until they were too tired to look anymore. Not sure if they even found them all. Then off to my sons MIL/FILs house for more food and fun times. What a blessing this day has been. I only wish we had our daughter, SIL and granddaughter there for the pictures....by the time they were able to come we were too stuffed to take photos!

What would have made it better? Having our two boys home with us! But thats okay because they will be home soon enough and there are always more parties.

Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice so I can have hope in you!

Bless My Soul!!

The lovely family who sent me pictures of Adam, just sent me an update of their interaction with Titus.

They said that when he found out someone who might know his parents were visiting the orphanage he ran directly to the office to meet them. They told him we are trying hard to get there in the next month and that we loved and missed him. When they left he ran over to them to make sure they knew he also missed and loved us! How sweet! He must also be getting very tall - they said they joked with him that he will be the next Yao Ming!

They promised to send notes on their interaction with Adam when they get a chance. I hope they were able to get some new pictures of Titus as well. Either way, I am pleased with any bits of news:)

Praying we hear about our Article 5 on by Wednesday at the latest!

May God bless each of you on this special weekend where we celebrate the fulfilled promise of God's son, Jesus, rising from the dead!!! HE IS RISEN!!!

Pictures of Adam!

Today I was hoping to hear about our Article 5, but it looks like we aren't going to. BUT it was still a great day. There is a wonderful couple in country right now adopting their son from the same orphanage as our boys. Her parents were able to take the train to the orphanage and tour. They said the staff was very welcoming and wonderful! They let them talk to our boys, among other children who were being adopted and also take pictures.

They were told, and shown where Adam goes to school. It is a school outside the orphanage with other visually impaired children. I will attach pictures of him at school that they sent me. They said he is very bright despite his visual impairment and that he can write and draw very well! That is food for my soul! We were concerned about his vision and how he would learn, etc...and we are prepared for whatever we need to do, but just to know and see him at school made me feel so much better. I can't wait for him to come! I also can't wait to see pictures of Titus!!

I don't know about you, but I think they are pretty darn handsome!

Now to go to bed and dream and pray that Article 5 comes asap!!!