12 Days Left!!!

Found this fun image maker online.  Since I don't have anything else to do, I figure I'll spend more time at the computer doing....hmmmm....what really am I doing?  Oh well, I gotta sit down sometime, and I do believe this is the first time I've actually done that today!

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We leave for China in TWO WEEKS!!!

Lots of things happening around here in the past several weeks!  I thought I'd post a timeline of sorts, in photos.  I'm going to back up a bit since I haven't really posted much through all of January and February.

December:

In December we sent a cake care package to our daughter to enjoy with some of her friends at the orphange.  This is not a photo of the actual cake that was delivered, just a photo of one like what they may have received.  We got to send a letter to her and her caregivers that the care package company translated into Chinese.  Included with the cake and letter was a disposable camera that we hope they took pictures on and that we hope to receive back when we pick her up.  Sometimes orphanages will take photos of the cake party and email them to the care package company, who will then email them to the family.  But the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute doesn't seem willing to send photos to the care package companies, so we will likely have to wait until we pick her up to get any more photos.  The cake was delivered on December 24. Here's the letter we sent with that package...

January:

January 21, 2011 - Our LOA arrived at our agency.  The formal name for this document is the "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter".  Basically, it is a document that formally confirms that we wish to be matched with Ren Qian Ting, and that we do in fact wish to move forward with her adoption.  Our agency recieved the document, Fed Exed it to us, we signed it, and Fed Exed it back.  Then our agency returned it to the China Center of Adoption Affairs.  This step formalizes the process that we did back in November when we were matched with Qian Ting's file and we decided to move forward.  At that time our agency submitted a Letter of Intent electronically on our behalf which stated that we wished to adopt this specific little girl.  The LOA is a formal paper version that confirms that the CCAA has our paperwork matched up with this child, and we confrim that this is what we wish to do.  In the adoption world, it is part 1 of the Holy Grail of the adoption process!  Part 2 comes next, which is travel approval. 

This picture is me - after stalking the Fed Ex man - holding the delivered LOA!

This is what an LOA looks like.  Basically, we sign it and put a check mark in the correct box:
1) We accept the adoptee mentioned above
or
2)We cannot accept the adoptee mentioned above


Hmmm...after 4 years.....which to choose......

January - week of the 24th - we received our Chinese travel Visas.  One more thing to check off of the "to do before travel" list




On a separate note, in January we also got things really moving on our bedroom shuffle.  In order to keep a guest room, we are doubling up Grace and Mary Emma and planning for Lydia to have a room of her own.  (Who knows if she'll want to be there by herself, but that's what we're planning).  So this is a very brief nutshell of the process of squeezing Grace and Mary Emma into what was just Mary Emma's room.  Here is how it started - Mary Emma's very pink and purple sea creatures room....

And here's some of our fun process of covering up the pink with a more neutral color in order to suit the blend of two VERY different personalities!  Thank you Mom for your faithful painting help!

And just like on TV cooking shows when they magiacally pull a finished recipe out of the oven, here is the final result of all of our hard work.  Of course here in blog-land it seems to have easily and quickly come together without any effort at all!  What the pictures don't show is that the first steps on shuffling the rooms began on January 11, and the final product photos in this room are on February 23!  Yikes!  In that time we shuffled mattresses several times in more ways that I can count, we painted two rooms, set up a guest room, sifted through 5 years worth of kid stuff in 2 rooms, ordered and received a loft bed and dresser, ordered received and installed a closet organizer, and moved everything in that belongs in this room!

February:

February 22 - We received our TA which stands for Travel Approval!  As mentioned above, this is Part 2 of the Holy Grail of the adoption process.  This one gives us permission to travel and pick up our daughter!  We were notified by our coordinator at about 7:30 pm on February 22 that they had received our travel approval.  That night we needed to decide which date we wanted to meet our daughter!  And also get a rough idea of when we would like our CA which is the consolate appointment at the US Consolate in Guangzhou China.  So we had a late night that night as we looked at airfare, looked at the calendar, and decided our tentative travel dates.  We got back with our corrdinator about our general timeline that we had in mind, and we actually booked our plane tickets that night.  Normally it seems that everyone waits to get that CA confirmed before booking flights, but Jim found out that Delta has adoption fares which make the tickets refundable and changeable to allow for date changes, with even cheaper fares for the child's one-way ticket.

The Travel Approval we actually take with us to China and it looks like this...

February 24 - We were notified that our Consulate Appointment was confirmed for April 4 at 8:30 am.  This is when we have our interview of some sort at the US Consulate.  I have yet to become an expert on this appointment as to what we do when and for what purpose, but overall it is so that we can get Qian Ting's US Visa and so that she can be a US citizen when she arrives home with us!

February 28 - We received the following photos of the second care package that we sent to Lydia.  The package should be delivered in the next couple of days!  We used a care package service named Red Thread China and it looks like they've done a beautiful job!

This package again included a camera for them to take pictures of her with.  We would LOVE to receive some by email before we travel, but we know that's rare from this orphanage, so at least we hope they use the camera and give it to us when we pick her up. 

The package also included this sweet sweater.  We also hope they send this with her when we pick her up...

Here is everything in the care package that is being sent.  The sweater, the camera, a cuddly blanket, a doll, a bag of candies to share with the children there, a letter from us, and my favorite part - a soft photo album with 5 photos of us and even one of her.  All of the photos are labeled in Chinese so they can tell her who we are!  I've heard pretty consistently that the orphanages do give the kids these albums and that they do have them when they meet their parents.  The other items I'm not as sure about, but they are so cute I really hope she gets to keep them when we pick her up!



 And here is the letter we included this time to be translated into Chinese....

That about covers the big milestones of the past couple of months I think!  In closing, here is our timeline for travel:

March 15 - leave for China

9:01 am - 11:13 am - Detroit to San Francisco

1:00 pm - 4:55 pm on March 16 - San Francisco to Tokyo

7:00 pm March 16 - 9:50 pm - Tokyo to Shanghai, China

March 15-21 - Tour Shanghai and Xi'an; end in Beijing

March 22 - Gotcha Day!  We will get Lydia in Beijing on this day!

March 23-March 31 - Stay in Beijing while we wait for Lydia's Chinese passport, and do some sightseeing

April 1 - Get Lydia's Chinese passport; travel to Guangzhou (where the Consulate is located)

April 2 - Medical exam for Lydia required by the US government

April 4 - 8:30 am - Appointment at the US Consulate

April 6 - Get Lydia's US Visa; travel to Shanghai

April 7 - leave for home!

9:35 am - 1:35 pm - Shanghai to Tokyo

3:35 pm - 9:15 am (yes - still April 7!) - Tokyo to San Francisco

1:00 pm - 8:35 pm - San Francisco to Detroit

One final thought from a hymn we sang on Sunday that spoke to me of all that God is doing and all that He is able to do. Just a piece of the full hymn, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, but these lines spoke of all that is in God's care - even a little girl in China who is waiting for her family....

"I sing the mighty power of God, That made the mountains rise;

That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies,

I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day,

The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey.

There's not a plant or flower below, But makes Thy glories known,

And clouds arise, and tempests blow, By order from Thy throne;

While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care,

And everywhere that man can be, Thou, God, art present there."

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Good Grief! My last post was at Christmas!

My oh my!  What has happened to the past two months!!??  Well my lack of blogging has certainly NOT been due to a lack of anything happening!  In fact there has been such a ridiculous and sometimes humorous amount of things happening that I was inspired to write about it in the last few days.  I got to thinking - after this long - with all of the things we've been up to - how do I possibly share the crazy chaos of it all?  Well, this is what I came up with...


Ode to my Chaos


Oh what chaos this season is bringing,
Heads are spinning, emotions are swinging.


Too many things have yet to be done,
Some of them drudgery, some of them fun.


So what on earth have I been doing, you ask?
Controlling the chaos - which is no small task!


We've crazily shuffled the stuff in 3 bedrooms,
As in front of our eyes another month zooms.


I've painted a bedroom - no wait - make that two,
Piles are mounting, this place is a zoo!


I've spent way too much time being sick on the couch,
With a sinus infection and a throat that says, "Ouch!"


Both of my daughters have caught this bug too,
Oh - there's NO TIME for this!  There's too much to do!


A loft bed and mattresses, homeschooling too.
"Get off of that Wii game!  There's school work to do!"


Doctors and antibiotics galore,
I've finished my Z-pack....how 'bout one more!?


A party to kick off Grace's 11 Campaign,
111 shoeboxes??  Are we INSANE??


But what a good cause - "Operation Christmas Child" -
Even if our timing is perhaps a bit wild.


I can't even believe that I'm still feeling sick!
Maybe this amoxicillan will do the trick!


Oh shoot!  It's tax time!  We mustn't forget!
And my filing's a mess, my desk is a pit!


But things are moving along, so they say,
We've received from China our offical LOA!


So after LOA comes TA, then CA,
All of these approvals from CCAA!


Still working toward travel in March we are hoping,
"Girls!  Do your school work!  No complaing or moping!"


At least now I'm feeling much better, I think,
Good thing, cuz time is going by in a blink!


Projects and piles and messes are mounded,
The rate jobs accumulate leaves me astounded.


As soon as one mess I try to contain,
The other messes grow even faster - how insane!


All of this working toward one awesome thing,
We wait to bring home our sweet Qian Ting.


Lord, help me to focus on what to do next,
The list is so long, I'm completely perplexed.


But even in chaos I constantly see
God's blessings are everywhere, all around me.


His love and protection, His merciful hand,
All leading us daily in his marvelous plan.


So we stand firm as the chaos around us will whirl,
With our eyes fixed on Jesus and our sweet China girl!



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Merry Christmas!

As we prepare for our celebration of Christ's birth with our families, as we prepare the gifts to be exchanged and the food to be shared, there are those around the world who don't have the easy comforts that we so often take for granted.  We wait to bring home one of them....

We've been saying this for several years now, but surely this will now be our last Christmas with only two daughters.  On that note, this song by Third Day about their adoption journey is quite close to our hearts this year...



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Waiting for Lydia...

Last week we were in New York again since Jim has still been working there.  We wanted to see the city at Christmas and get back to see a couple of the things we missed on our trip in September.  One of the most exciting things we ended up doing was naming our new little girl!  We will name her Lydia Qian Ting.  Her name given at the orphange in China is Ren Qian Ting.  Ren is her last niame, given to all the girls who arrived at that orphanage in 2009.  Qian Ting is her given name, translated to us as meaning "the hope for her to grow up healthily and vigorously, as slim and graceful as flowers."  We will keep her Chinese name as her middle name, and while we were in New York, we decided on a first name of Lydia.  In the Bible, Lydia was a woman whose heart was like the good soil in the parable of the sower.  When she heard the word of God, she received it with joy and believed.  Our prayer would be that the heart of our new daughter would also be like the good soil: that her heart would be softened to the love that we have for her and also the love that Jesus has for her.  When given the opportunity to be loved and nurtured in our home, that she would thrive and grow in that love.  That she would be open to receive God's love for her as Lydia was.


While we were in New York, we found a street vendor doing Chinese name art.  We first saw him in Chinatown, and then proceeded to track him down two more times at different places in Rockefeller center!  Funny how we could successfully find the same street vendor three times in that huge city!  But battling crowds in Chinatown, police officers making him pack up his stand, rain, and then snow...we successfully found him and purchased three name art hangings.  One for Grace, one for Mary Emma, and then finally one for Lydia. 

Getting started on Mary Emma's name.  This was the first night we found him at Rockefeller plaza after seeing him in Chinatown the day before.  This was right before it started raining on him, and right before the police came and told him to pack it up!  Also right before we said,"But wait!  We have two more names we want done!..."

So this was the next night when we came back to look for him again at Rockefeller!  We happened to find him again, in a different place, and this time had him complete the last two names while the snow started to fall!  The name Lydia was a surprise to our girls - they din't know we had a name picked out until we wrote it down for this guy!  For Lydia's name we got purple and green with pandas and bamboo.

This is the finished result of all three.  We loved that they are all different and unique.  And I LOVE those little climbing pandas on Lydia's!

We also had fun doing a little shopping for Lydia while we were in New York.  We're making her more "ours" everyday as we think of how we need to prepare our home for her.  So many things to do, but they are all so fun!  Going through bins of clothing to get rid of smaller sizes we don't need, finding the right size clothing to put in her closet, getting her room set up and ready, pulling out toys for a 3 year old...such fun things to finally be doing after such a long wait for another duaghter.   While in New York we had fun getting a few things for her:

Her name art, a fuzzy panda to take along when we go to meet her (also a board book of Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you See?), and an awesomely soft coat from a discount store we frequented called Daffy's.

We also made a stop at American Girl to get a single Bitty Twin.  We learned on our last trip to NY that, while Bitty Twins only come in twos through the catalog, in a retail store you can get just one!  So we took the opportunity to get a single twin with almond eyes and black hair.  :)

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New pictures!!!

We got four new photos of Qian Ting this evening!!  Most of the time I can't believe this is really happening, but when I see the pictures I know that it is!!  She's bundled to the neck, as they frequently are in the Chinese orphanges, and she's as cute as can be!

We're moving through the remaining paperwork process are aiming roughly for March travel!

It's been a HAPPY Thanksgiving and a BIG couple of weeks!!!!!!!

Introducing....Ren Qian Ting!!!

We are so happy to announce that we have been matched with a little girl, Ren Qian Ting, who is in Beijing at the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute.  She is almost 3 1/2 years old and we will be traveling to bring her home most likely within the next 3 months!


It's been a big two weeks!  In this time, we were given the file of Qian Ting (pronounced like chee-en ting), reviewed it with international adoption physicians, and decided to submit our paperwork and permanently lock her file for our family!  That was all during Thanksgiving week.  Then this past week has been a big paper trail to get our homestudy updated, our immigration paperwork updated, and begin the process of switching adoption agencies.  Lots more paperwork hoops to jump through and lots of preparations around home in the next few months!

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