Merry Christmas 2010

This song has a whole new meaning for us this year.  Especially the last verse.

The band Third Day recorded a song entitled "Merry Christmas". The guitarist from the band adopted a daughter from China; the song is about his wait to bring her home.

This video puts a family's pictures to the song.
MERRY CHRISTMAS -- THIRD DAY

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn

Crying for momma's arms

At an orphanage just outside a little China town

There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire

And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home

Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone

And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms

And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights

I'm warmed by the fire's glow

Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,

Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears

And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home

Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone

And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms

And tell you from my heart

I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child and we celebrate his perfect gift of love

He came to earth to give his life and prepare a place for us so we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home

Your family is here so you will never be alone

So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms

And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart

I wish you Merry Christmas

From all 5 of us.  Merry Christmas!

Home

I love being home.  I love our home.  I love being here with all 5 of us.  Jadyn is doing so well, the kids just love her to pieces, we are settling in pretty well--so far, so good.  We are so blessed and I will certianly post more with some pictures later.  Did I mention I love our home?

Headed Home!!

Jadyn is asleep for the last time in China. 
We have the brown envelope packed up and ready.
Our luggage is down at the front desk and we are checked out.
Early in the morning, we will head out of Guangzhou for points North and West. 
Upon landing in the US--our precious Jadyn becomes an American Citizen.

 It's going to be a big day for all of us. 

We are so grateful and feel so privileged and blessed  to have come to this point.  I plan for our next blog post to be from the USA.

Our Last Day

Yesterday was another free day.  We just walked around on and off the island, thestreet markets are so interesting to walk through.  Everything from dried seahorses to tiger claws to puppies (for loving)  they sell pet food by the handful, too.

View from the second story of McDonalds

Pet Market

I'm coming home tomorrow!!!!  I can't wait to meet you!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Jadyn is a beautiful, hungry, playful, curious little one.  We have been enjoying the playroom, hanging out with friends, the breakfast buffet--favorite food this week is hard boiled eggs and bananas--window shopping, strolling and exploring the area.

We took a trip into Guangzhou with a small group and walked back through the street markets.  Of course, we forgot the camera, but we plan to go again tomorrow--with the camera.  We would love to have some photos of the street markets. 

We are really missing our kids back at home.  Today we go to the consulate to swear that all we have submitted is true--and then they will issue Jadyn's visa (on Friday).  We are really enjoying our trip and we know the time here is necessary, but we are ready to come home.  I am not complaining about it, I am soooo thankful that we are able to be here and experience China for Jadyn and with Jadyn.  Living out of a hotel room is nice, especially the housekeeping part, but I'm ready to get back.  Jadyn is going to LOVE her home, her dogs, her siblings, her toys, her yard.  I can't wait to move on to the jourey HOME. 

Our internet subscription expires on Friday, and I hope to post again before then, but if not, Bob & Marj have all the info about when we will be coming home.

Free Day

Lazy day with no schedule.  Of course, when we are able to sleep in, we cannot!  Breakfast was at a leisurely pace, we got to spend more time in the playroom and strolling about town.  At every turn there are photographers shooting wedding photos--these couples are not actually married, but they rent clothes and are all made up and have these elaborate, quirky, fantasy photo shoots.  Seriously there are at least 20 per day.  Then there are the models, here are a few friends Dwayne made:

To each their own........................

Jadyn is very busy.  There is not much down time for her, she will ride in the stroller for a while, but then needs a break to walk and get in on any action.  Naptime was less than an hour today, and she would much rather stay awake and play, if given the choice, for bedtime as well.  She has been doing great at restaurants---for about 45 minutes--which allows plenty of time for us to get mealtime finished, but to just sit there and be quiet when the food is gone just isn't in the cards. 

I tried to load more photos of today, but the server won't let me at the moment, so maybe later.  Time for bed now!  6am comes awful early. 

Cutestuff

Trying to avoid the camera.

Looking through the bridge

In the Play Room at the hotel

I love this.

Baba's head is usually under the right foot.

Things are great here.  Jadyn is doing well. She is sleeping pretty good at night.  She is a very active sleeper and last night cried quite a bit, but never woke up.  So many changes for her--new people, places, smells, food,clothes, etc.  She is certainly an amazing child and we are head over heels.  I don't want to paint everything all roses--she has screaming fits, we get hit and pinched and head butted, too, but we know it will take time.  I cannot even imagine what's going through her little head.  We are glad to see her showing emotion, even if it's anger and frustration at times.  She is now looking for us to help her with things, and is beginning to trust a little more.

The weather here is amazing, tomorrow is expected to be in the 80's.  

No Shots!!!!!

Believe it or not, they are only taking her temperature.

See that smile on my face?  No immunizations for my baby girl!  Thank you Obama for signing it just a few days before our appointment!  My faith in the US government is beginning to be restored!  But most of all, Praise God!  This has been another unmistakably clear answer to prayer! 

Time for us to go out and enjoy the beautiful day with a stroll around Shaiman Island!  Life is Good!

Travel Day

Pretty sure this is the first day we didn't have noodles and dumplings.  Only noodles for breakfast.  We had a crazy busy travel day, and the only reason I have any idea what day it is because I had to look at the itinerary to see what time to get a wake-up call. 

Jadyn had her first airplane ride today.  I think she was just so glad to be out of the minivan that we were in from 2-5pm, she did so well.  Just a little fussing when we were descending and then she fell asleep as we landed.  I think we fogot to take pictures of it. 

She is such a little trooper!  We are in awe at how well she is doing.  We were sad to leave Wuhan.  Although she never spent a second there before last Sunday, we know we are taking her from her first home.  She was probably born in the Northern part of Hubei province, at least that is where she spent her first 20 months.  She was  loved, cared for and even spoiled there.  We are forever grateful to her foster family, and to the organization that sponsored her surgeries.

Here's a few pictures from the last day or so.

The biggest musical instrument ever found--recovered from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng

Traditional Boat

Produce storefront in Wuhan

Bonding

Us and our driver, Mr. Li (not his real name) at the Wuhan Airport.

Tomorrow holds a whole host of things--photos, paperwork party, medical exam and possibly 4 or more vaccinations all at once for Jadyn, unless our beloved US government is ready to accept our waiver.  Seriously, I would like to know how many of the people who write these laws give their children up to 6 vaccines in one sitting.  Thought process lacking on that one.

You may  notice the stuffed Panda in a lot of the pictures.  We had sent Jadyn a care package around the Moon Festival time, and that was a part of it.  She LOVES that little Panda.  She kisses and hugs the thing and it must be near at all times.  This is such a good sign that she was well cared for.  She knows how to give hugs and kisses, just not to us yet, but it will come soon.  Not sure if I mentioned it yet, but Jadyn's fine motor skills are really quite on or near target for her age.  I am pretty sure she never learned to crawl, though, and she is a little lacking in core strength. We have been doing a ton of playing since we met her, and I can already see improvements in her movements like going from sitting to standing and the opposite.

Well, now that I finished my supper of Oreos, time for bed. 

Life Here on the 17th floor

Life is good!  The view is great.  Jadyn had her first bath (with us)--screamed for the first 40 seconds and then loved playing and splashing.  We are enjoying Wuhan.  It gets a little uneventful and solitary at times, but we have met a few other newly formed families, one from Denmark and one from San Francisco.  We took a few walks around this city, it's is full of people and traffic.  It's about half of Beijing--only 9 million people.  We do love it and are trying to soak up as much as we can.  Crime is low, and people are friendly--well we think they are, we actually have no idea what they are saying!! 

Jadyn is doing great with me and better each day with Baba.  She will let him feed her and play with her.  I have a feeling that we have a future daddy's girl on our hands!!  Jadyn sleeps well, although fitfully.  She has been sleeping from about 9pm till 6am--and so have we.  Naptime is now, around 1pm or right after lunch.  Time to go get my share of naptime.  We leave for Guangzhou tomorrow.  Our first flight should prove interesting!

A little more about Jadyn

First some pictures:

Magical Gerber Puffs, do not come to China without them.

Our flight to Wuhan was quick (compared to UAL nonstop ord to Beijing).  We were met by our guide, Eric who told us there was a change of plans, that we were going directly to Civil affairs to get Jadyn.  Ahhhh.  We had a plan and that order was not a part of it.  So we went to the Civil Affairs office which took an hour in crazy traffic.  When we got there, we were the only family, the office was cool and dark.  We signed an agreement to care for her for 24 hours and then in she came.  We peeked through the office window out into the waiting room at her.  After our meeting, we hung out in the waiting room with her and the director of the SWI, and another nanny.  Jadyn wanted nothing to do with us.  We were given some snacks (junk food), formula, bottle and a few other gifts.  She was brought to us in a cutest ever little velour puffy outfit with a wool sweater on and jammies underneath.  It's 70 degrees here!  We were sweltering for her.  At some point I just picked her up and the guide told her SWI people to leave the room so we could go.  Screaming ensued for about 4 minutes, then she started coming around a little.  We left and in the van, she screamed for another 3 minutes and fell asleep.  She stayed asleep while we checked into our hotel and continued for another hour or so.  Dwayne ran out to get food.

Our guide took care of all our banking, Praise God!!!  I have been praying for these little stressfull details to be handled well, and we were blessed with this answer to prayer.

We played and played and played with stacking cups and a few other toys.  She has this panda that she calls mama.  I think the nanny told her that mama sent it to her.  She does not know who mama is at this point.  We have had many smiles, giggles and belly laughs.  She is doing really great.  This beautiful little one eats nonstop.  She is chubby and round and VERY heavy.  I mention this because she hasn't let Dwayne hold her for more than a second, so I'm bulking up here by the minute. 

Today, we went back to the Civil affairs office to finish up paperwork.  We are now the parents of Jadyn Ying Kuiper, in the eyes of the government of PRC.  We have to stay in Wuhan, Hubei to record the paperwork and get her passport so she can travel. 

We are smitten by Jadyn, and she is beginning to like us more and more. She wanted nothing to do with  the nanny today, and really tensed up when the Registrar and the nanny spoke to her.  I do not think that she knew the nanny very well, because she had been in foster care up until Sunday.

Baba and baby are both napping and soon I will be too.  Enjoy!

While You Were Sleeping........

Guess what we did?  Hmmmmmm, had a baby.  I will post more later, but had to share the love.

Meet our new daughter, Jadyn Ying or commonly known to her caretakers as YingYing, sounds like EyngEyng.  She is amazing, God is good!  The thing on the head of the Hubs was a Panda Hat.  More on that and our new beautiful daughter later............stay tuned.

Stuffed!!

In the morning we left for a full day of touring. We started Tiannamen Square which led us to the Forbidden City. Beijing is so rich in history. It was incredible to actually stand in the square and to learn about how the Emperors and their families and staff lived. We did, however freeze. Dwayne had fun with the vendors--people who hound you to buy their stuff--and ended up buying a lovely souvenir that you can see him wearing in the picture. A few others in our group decided that was a great idea as the windchill was probably around 18 degrees.

We left the Forbidden City and were able to tour a Hutong neighborhood. A Hutong is basically a traditional neighborhood connected by alleyways. There are very few Hutongs in Beijing anymore as it is becoming so modern. We were taken on this tour in a Rickshaw. It was a pretty touristy thing to do, but we were able to meet a man of one of the families who still lives in one of the homes, we got to sit in his house and learn a little about how their houses are set up and why. Again, steeped in tradition and culture.

After our looooong day in the cold, we went to an Chinese Acrobatics show, lots of bouncing and gravity defying. Fighting the urge to drop, we decided to brave the local neighborhood and have supper at a restaurant down the street. Thanks to one of the new dads-to- be, we enjoyed a gigantic, really authentic meal. 9 of us overate for 338 yuan--if you do that math, you'll realize that's around $5 per person. It was very delicious,especially the duck. Pretty sure we will be eating there tomorrow, again.

We have a wonderful travel group of families and many of them will be getting their kids on Sunday, a few are staying here in Beijing for the rest of the week because their kids are from here. It's still a little surreal to many of us. One of the families is from SD, a few are from TN, also represented are WI, GA, IN and PA, and of course, IL.

When you are sleeping Sunday night, we will be meeting our daughter in Wuhan, Monday afternoon.
 
Shannon & Austin,
Are you guys ready for a little sister?  We meet her Monday Afternoon and will try to skype you before you leave for school Monday morning.  If we don't get through then, we will try after you get home from school.  Hope you are doing great!!  Love you and miss you guys.
 
Mom & Dad

The Great Great Wall

It was indeed.

Check out this CRAZY man, it was no one we knew.

A little more our style!

Today, we also visited a Cloisonne factory, had an authentic Chinese dinner (although our guide told us it was not really authentic, but Americanized. We were also given the opportunity to spend tens of thousands on some Jade sculptures. Only 420000 rmb for this really excellent looking bull figure.

Besides the Great Wall, the most fun thing of the day was the local grocery store. We found some ordinary, unusual and just plain bizzarre things there, but all we bought was snacks and water.

We do a bit of touring tomorrow and Sunday. Monday, we will go to Jadyn's province and in the afternoon, we get her!! Only 3 more sleeps till Jadyn.




 

We 're Here!!

We had an amazing flight.

It even arrived over an hour early. Things we are thankful for: Free upgrade to ecomomy plus, smooth flying, no problems at either airports. We met a couple other families in the airport and on the plane. We are kind of easy to pick out of a crowd.

It took about an hour to get to our hotel from the airport. Traffic was like a typical day in Chicago mulitplied by 50. This hotel is beautiful and the neighborhood looks sort of upscale. We took a walk around after we got settled in, pretty much like downtown anywhere.

After dinner at the hotel restaurant, (I know, lame) we decided to turn in. At that point our bodies were telling us it was 5 am, although local time said 7ish. Soooo I am typing this on WordPad at 4:30 am because I can't sleep. Jet lag. Let's hope we kick it tomorrow.

We have to investigate our internet problems. Waaaay too tired before bed to call someone to fix it, but either they need to activate our rooms cable connection, or something else is up. Long story short, if you're reading this, we got it fixed!!

Tomorrow, after breakfast we leave for our day of touring. This includes the Great Wall and Cloisonne factory.

OK, I got this working, don't know how!  Noodles for breakfast, also, asparagus and some saugsage looking things, eek!!



Shannon & Austin:

We flew over the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean. The weather outside the plane was like 70 degrees below zero!!! We love you and miss you like crazycakes! Mom & Dad
 

On our way.

So, the husband comes home from having dinner out with a friend, and decides the house must be cleaned before our departure.  Not exactly in my plans.  Cleaning never is.  The kids helped, I triplechecked our bags, again.  49.5lbs, I told him the shoes had to go, but he says if I get 2 pair, he does too.  We are fine until Monday when we have to be down to 44lbs.   For the record, we only have 1 suitcase a carry-on and a backpack.  It's what works.

I haven't gotten nervous, yet.  It'll probably come out in the morning on the drive in.  Sorry, in advance to our brave family member airport transport!

We had ice cream together for the last time as a family of 4.  Got the high chair booster thingy ready, crib assembled, car seat installed, supplies on hand for when we return, food in the freezer. 

It's time!

Travel Plans

We go next week, we go next week. I cannot stop saying (well, actually I'm singing that in my head) that phrase.  I will be making flight arrangements today and we will return Dec. 11.  

Finally, this is happening. Praise God! 

Time to attend to the details.

TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA

Deep breath, followed by sigh of relief.  Our Travel Approval came yesterday.  We don't have our exact dates yet, but are hoping to travel as soon as next week.  We should hear some details on that today or tomorrow.

Because I am a neurotic person, I am going to leave some of the details of our travel a bit sketchy. If you do indeed want details, (which we are happy to share with friends and family) leave a question in the comment section and I will get back to you with an answer. 

We will be blogging from China, also skyping.  If you're interested in skyping with us, leave me your skype id.  Or just do a search for mine, but if you do that, let me know how I know you, if it's not obvious from your id.  I leave mine open, but block people I don't know.

I am so excited, and freaking out slightly.  Freaked out or not, I sooooo want to go next week! 

Did I Ever Post This Before?

Cannot remember, but it's worth a re-read.

Can You Imagine??          A Different Perspective

Imagine for a moment... You have met the person you’ve dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancée. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by “soul mate,” for this per- son understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow.


The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonder- ful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day’s events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world...the person who will be with you for the rest of your life.


The next morning you wake up, nestled in your part- ner’s arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face. But it’s not him! You are in the arms of anoth- er man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved?


You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn’t understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back. . .even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him?


Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn’t speak your lan- guage-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn’t seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone.


You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact. Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradu- ally you are learning to trust this new guy. He’s finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don’t under- stand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it.


More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking


you? You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are cry- ing. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried.


The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy.


The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to “get along.” You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation.


Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of peo- ple are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kiss- es your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you’ve ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you’ve never heard before.


He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you’re used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to asleep.


People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy’s hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one other, marveling at how quickly you’ve fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you’re hanging on for dear life, you’ve learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along.


Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait.


How would each of us handle all these changes? How would this impact us for the rest of our lives?

Written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp, Cynthia is an adoptive parent like many of us. She was a longtime school teacher for a variety of grades who has a website on dealing with attachment issues: www.a4everfamily.org. Analogy courtesy of Dr. Kali Miller.
 
So this is a pretty good analogy about Jadyn will be feeling.  From all the experiences shared with me, and the research I have done, this sounds right on.  Of course, there are varying degrees of everything and everyone's experiences are different. 
 
Deb

Where Is the TA?

Been told it's to be expected shortly. That was last Thursday. I have been expecting this elusive approval since September 20. Does no one realize that this is taking too long? I am a complete nutjob waiting for this. I predict 2 more days before I totally lose it.

So the word is........still no word. However, our agency has a travel group leaving in a month......We.better.be.on.that.plane.

Sent from my iPod

One.......more........step closer. (Read like struggling to climb steps)

I had emailed my favorite Social Worker to find out if our paperwork, which was due to be picked from the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China and forwarded on to the China Center for Adoption Affairs in Beijing, was taken care of.  IT TOTALLY WAS---ON MONDAY!!!!!

We are now officially waiting for Travel Approval. Fwuuuuuu.  (Large sigh of relief mixed with anxious excitement.)  We are ready to go anytime.  It's just that pesky paper we need in order for our agency to coordinate appointments for us to get Jadyn and complete the adoption paperwork.

The upside is....this is our last paper to wait on.  The downside is......we are approaching a very difficult time to travel to China.  October 1-5, Friday-Tuesday, is the National Holiday, offices are closed.  Then the Canton trade fair in Guangzhou (our exit city) most of the middle of October - November 4th---travel is possible, but more costly then.  The Asian Games are in Guangzhou November 12-27th also, making it more costly, but possible to travel.  So......I have heard rumour that agencies like to avoid travel groups during these times, but I am hoping for the best!  God has a plan! 

I think I said it before, there is a group from Bethany Christian Services going the end of October, but we would need a miracle to make that one.  I believe in miracles!

Today, I found a stroller at a great price and a great coupon on top of it. Yesterday my cousins graciously offered for us to borrow their crib mattress (thank you!!).  Things are shaping up, gear-wise. 

Travel-wise, we have borrowed luggage, thanks Mom.  I would love to use airline miles to upgrade on the way home, but don't know how that works, just yet.  Plently of clothes for Jadyn, baby care essentials, a few toys.......got an email from someone I met online who just returned from Wuhan adopting their daughter from the very same town Jadyn is from.  I have already picked her brain.  So why can't we leave tomorrow?  Oh yes, Travel Approval, plane tickets, hotel reservations..............details!

Travel Visas

Yep, we got them this week.  For those not aware, you need to apply to the Consulate of the People's Republic of China for permission to travel in their country.  The long and short of it is, you need this sticker in your passport. You cannot just show up, and it's not free. 

We hired a service: There's Always Hope to do the legwork for us. Denise Hope is an adoptive parent and provides visa and document authentication services.  She came highly recommended to us, and I also now highly recommend her.  She does other countries too, not just China.  Keep her in mind!

Please pray for our paperwork to be picked up on time next week so it can be filed with the China Center of Adoption Affairs to issue our LAST STEP.  The Travel Approval.  These have taking 7-21 days to be issued--here's to hoping for 7!!

Please Consider

Dear Family and Friends,
As we prepare for the arrival of Jadyn, we have learned that while decorating the room and stocking up on baby essentials is important, even more important is the emotional health of our baby. In her short life, our daughter will have gone through more changes and life altering experiences than most adults could handle. Imagine how much harder the changes will be for her. While she may not consciously remember the events, she will still experience immense loss, including feelings of grief and trauma. She's already experienced the loss of a birthmother and will soon experience the loss of familiar and comforting caretakers as well as the sights, smells, and language of her birth country. Her world will turn upside down. She will struggle with feeling safe and secure and may lack the ability to trust that we will meet her needs. Keep in mind, she may not be in the best place right now, but it's HER WHOLE world.
We have prepared to meet her emotional needs so that she will learn that we will always take care of her and we will always keep her safe. We need your support. In order to form a strong and healthy attachment we may allow her to regress so that she has the opportunity to go through all of the emotional stages with us despite her chronological age. Although it may appear that we are spoiling her, we have been advised that it is best that we meet every need quickly and consistently. Until she has learned that we are her parents, we will need to be her primary caretakers at all times. It is essential that we always hold her, feed her, and do all of the nurturing. You may wonder how long this will take, but the timeline is different for every child. We will follow her lead and trust our instincts as her parents rather than worry about what society expects. It could be a few weeks, days or even months--attachement is not a destination, but a process.


We have all been waiting anxiously for Jadyn to arrive but she has not been waiting for us. She may show her grief and confusion in many ways and we are prepared to help her through it and prove that we are her family and this truly is her last stop. We trust that, as our family and friends, you will help us to do what is best for our daughter, and we thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

This letter was taken from a wonderful source on parenting a toddler. We took their recommendations and modified the above letter to fit into our situation.  Sometimes this kind of stuff is easier to read than to hear.  I am so willing to answer any questions you may have. 

We are prepared for a very difficult transition, but are hoping for a very smooth one!  Keep us in your prayers.  Thanks!!

Another Step Down (or up?)

I received word today that our documents were dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou (pronounded gwahn-joe, fka Canton)!!  There is a standard processing time of 2 weeks before they are ready to go on to the next step, which is to Beijing to issue our Travel Invite.  It's just the process, no speeding up or slowing down, it is what it is. 

We applied for our travel visas.  I dropped them off at the home of an adoptive parent who started a business that takes care of paperwork for families adopting and also offers travel visa service, authentication for other countries too.  Here's her link:  There's Always Hope.  She lives in the suburbs of Joliet and a quick trip down I80 for pickup and delivery is quite worth the fee she charges, and the peace of mind.  We should get those back next week.

This is the car seat I purchased yesterday because Target had a fab price on this Britax.

I figured saving $150 and getting this one was a great decision.  Britax has a reputation for being one of the best on the market, so that sold me--along with the many recommendations from some of my forum friends, plus it's just cute. 

Another great email I got this morning was a picture of our 2nd care package to Jadyn.  This will be delivered in the next few days.

Disposable camera, panda, blanket, translated letter and a box of Mooncakes.  Hopefully we will get some pictures of her daily life.  They will be so precious to her when she is older.   The Mooncakes are for celebrating the Moon Festival.  I will do a post on that soon.  There is so much tradition and symbolism in the Chinese culture and while we don't embrace superstition and ritual type things, we do plan to celebrate, culturally, Jadyn's heritage. 

Time to go fix the dishwasher, and then start my Great Wall Training Program (aka-Swallow Cliff Steps).  There a few things in life that we know we do or don't want to do.  One thing I am sure of is, when touring the Great Wall--I DO NOT want to say that I was too out of shape to climb to my heart's content!  This is the Great Wall of China, people!  Not trying to be judgemental for those of you who chose not to make it as far as they could--just a personal goal.

Happy Tuesday!