Our Adoption Journal: The journey to our daughter (and now sons!)in China

2011-07-11T09:30:00.031-04:00

Yesterday we went to the Safari Park. It was- amazing! There were so many animals I had never seen in person before- kangaroos, pandas, koalas....and I certainly have never been so up close and personal with most of these animals. Part of the park consists of a driving safari, where you can ride through the park by car or aboard the park's vehicle (kind of like a train, but not on a track). All of our kids even fed the giraffes. They loved it! Disney's Animal Kingdom has nothing on this place. Aside from the really dangerous animals- i.e. bears, hippos, tigers and lions, there were NO barriers. Even the rhinos walk up to the cars. You can even pet the zebras if you want to. What a great day!

Tong enjoyed the park, but wanted nothing to do with being in pictures while we were there. This is why there aren't many pictures of him in this posting. He did like the park, though, and he had a banner afternoon, playing and snuggling with us and with his sibs and watching Ultraman back in our hotel room.

I am also posting a pic of the boys at the computer with their Daddy. They have both taken to starfall.com, a website that teaches the alphabet, words, etc. Many other parents recommended this site and I have to agree. Tong is so smart and already knows so many words. And our little guy, Hujie is so smart too, and has a real affinity for figuring out puzzles.

So that sums up yesterday. Today was a free day for us, so we spent a good amount of time in the pool. I didn't get any photos of our pool time, since both boys love holding the camera (ok, they are camera obsessed), and we were pretty sure that the camera would somehow find its way into the pool. :) Anyway- Hujie is like a little fish, and had such a great time splashing around. Emily and Dylan both loved the water, as they always do, and Abby had a great time relaxing on her Tinkerbell inner tube. Tong seemed to love the water too, though he was a little more careful, as it was his first ever time in a pool (the boys weren't allowed to swim until their TB tests were read, and our last hotel's pool didn't have a shallow end, so this was our first time in). Anyway, it was a great day, and I am sure we will swim again tomorrow.

Overall, things seem to get a little bit easier each day. It will be a while before everyone feels completely secure, but we are getting there. Each day brings more smiles. The boys really seem to like each other a lot and have become good buddies. Emily also gets along great with the boys. I don't think I have ever heard so much giggling. Abby loves Hujie, but absolutely ADORES Tong (he loves to take care of her and feed her- and of course Abby does not object to any of this-haha), and Dylan loves to follow his brothers around and try to copy everything the big kids do. :)

I also am posting a pic of Abby and Dylan. We have two strollers here (one that we purchased, and one that we are borrowing from a local shop). However, Abby prefers to have Dylan sit on her lap, and Dylan prefers it too. Two partners in crime- haha.

2011-07-07T20:02:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a great day. The boys had their visa photos, followed by their medical appointments for their visas- and NO ONE CRIED during the PPD (TB Test)!!!! They were just happy to get their candies. :) Hu Jie became upset about two minutes after the fact when he saw he was bleeding a little bit, but became happy again when I unwrapped his candy for him.

After the medical appointment, we went to a local park here in Guangzhou, which had a beautiful lake, some rides for the kids and a playground. Everyone had a great time.

Hu Jie is doing great with the transition, but he is very fast and we need to keep a constant eye on him. He likes to touch everything that is new to him- EVERYTHING- whether clean or dirty, safe or unsafe. He is a very sweet boy- very affectionate and pretty happy-go-lucky. We just need to watch out for his own safety, as he is self-sufficient and will run off on his own, even when there is traffic- yikes. He is absolutely adorable, and has this really cute raspy little voice which sounds like Charlie Brown's voice. We have been trying to get him to say "good grief". Hahaha. :)Oh, and did I mention- he likes to EAT! A lot!!!

Tong had a banner day yesterday. He is getting along very well with his new brother. They decided that they wanted to sleep next to each other at night, and they are very cute- whispering to each other and giggling until they fall asleep. We put them in the bathtub together and they had a great ol' time, splashing and laughing.

Anyway, as I said, Tong had a great day yesterday. A lot of smiles and very few meltdowns. The only place where he becomes anxious is if we have to go out into large crowds. Otherwise, things have been going great. He is very, very funny and outgoing. Our guide told us that he is always thinking. He has told us that he either wants to be a policeman, a doctor or a movie star. He is so, SO smart that I have no doubt he will be whatever he wants to be. :)

2011-07-05T20:49:00.001-04:00

On Sunday, we had a free day, which we mostly spent in our room. This seemed to do a world of good for Tong Tong, who has been feeling a bit insecure. He is very attached to Mike, and likes to be mostly carried around by him. In fact, he even drew a family picture, which showed his two sisters, me pushing Dylan in the stroller and his Baba holding him. It was really sweet.

As I said, we mostly hung around the hotel room, venturing out for a little while to check out the pool and fitness room. Tong had fun in the fitness room, showing us how good he is at situps. He is actually a very strong little guy.

I (Kate) left the room a couple of times to navigate the food stands and shops outside the ground floor entrance to our hotel. I picked up some great dumplings, fried rice, drinks, a “traditional American” club sandwich-hahaha- complete with fried egg and smoked salmon, and some yummy desserts (cooked vanilla flavored dough with chocolate swirls). We went to bed pretty early (around 8:30), because we knew that Monday would be a big day. Overall, as I said, a happy day for Tong and for our whole family. Dylan and Abby absolutely LOVE their new older brother and they follow him everywhere and try to imitate EVERYTHING he does.

On Monday, we woke up pretty early and had breakfast at the hotel's buffet. We hung mostly around the hotel room, but ventured out for a little bit to check out the local shops. We had another dumpling and rice lunch and then went back to our room to gather our things for our big day. At 1:45 we met our guide (Grace) and hopped aboard our van to ride to the Civil Affairs building to meet our son, Hu Jie for the first time. It was about a 25 minute ride and we were all so excited, except for poor Tong, whose heart was beating so fast. We were a bit nervous about how the meeting would go, because Tong has been feeling very insecure, thinking that we will not have our attention or love if there is another child in our family.

Anyway, we were supposed to meet Hu Jie around 2:30. As we all sat on the couches at Civil Affairs, we immediately met the orphanage director (around 2:05), and then about 5 minutes later, we saw two women walk Hu Jie through the doors and then into another room. He was absolutely adorable, in a green striped shirt and some very baggy jeans. :) At 2:30, Hu Jie was brought to us, by one of his ayis (nannies) and his social worker. Mike held Tong the whole time, and kept reassuring him that we love him. I kneeled down and hugged Hu Jie and told him in Mandarin that we are his parents. He looked a little shy and scared, but within a few seconds, he hugged me and stared at me with his beautiful big brown eyes and gave me the sweetest smile. He is so adorable and- TALL. He is not much smaller than his 7 year old brother (and he is only 5). He seems quiet and gentle natured, and did I mention how beautiful and sweet his smile is? :)

We were very proud of Tong for how he handled the meeting. We know he was terrified, but he handled it all very well and actually seems to like his new brother. In fact, he even asked Grace why we only have 5 kids, as we should have 7- LOL. Talk about a 180!

Emily and Hu Jie hit it off right away, and they held hands on the way back to the van and for the whole ride to the hotel. We gave Hu Jie his own camera, and just like Tong, he took immediately to taking pictures.

When we got back to the hotel, we dialed for pizza and had it delivered to our hotel. We enjoyed a pizza dinner, and then it was like one big party. The kids were playing and giggling and having a great old time. Hu Jie had a remote control car with him, that we had sent to him in a care package. The kids all played with that together. As time went on, instead of getting tired, the giggling and energy level seemed to only increase. Little, shy, Hu Jie, became comfortable very quickly, so it didn't take long for him to come out of his shell. He is a very, very sweet boy. He is also very curious, touching and experimenting with everything, and he is FULL of energy. Mike and I just sat back for a moment and said, “Oh boy- 5 kids- this is our future.” Hahaha. In all honesty, we feel so incredibly lucky.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we completed Hu Jie's adoption, signing paperwork and getting our family photo for the adoption decree. On our way back to the hotel, our van brought us to Shamian Island, where we grabbed some Starbucks and dropped off our laundry (we were just about out of clean clothes).

Later in the afternoon, we walked from our hotel back to Shamian Island for dinner. Overall, the kids get along great, but there was quite a bit of acting out from Tong yesterday (jealousy). At breakfast, when Hu Jie left the table to go to the bathroom, Tong put salt in his drink. :( He also screamed and cried and insisted that he be pushed in the baby stroller when we were in Shamian Island. Tong is very funny and outgoing and SMART, but he likes to be the center of attention- all of the time. According to his caregivers, he always has (even prior to the adoption) liked the spotlight (which is fine), but does not like sharing attention at all. Hopefully, as time goes on and he realizes that we love ALL of our kids, no matter how many there are, he will become more secure.

2011-07-02T18:27:00.001-04:00

On Thursday, we went to Daming Lake, a local park in Jinan. We walked around and then took a boat ride. It was really nice. Here are some pictures. Missy told me that thereis a famous story about this lake. A long time ago, there was an Emperor who visited the lake. While there, he met a beautiful woman, and they fell in love. However, their love was forbidden, as he was an emperor and she was a common girl. During their time together, he gave her a fan and wrote a poem on it, declaring his love for her. Due to their love being forbidden, he eventually had to leave and go back to his palace, and leave his love behind. Little did he know that she was pregnant. She was left behind to live a life of scorn for being an unwed mother, and she became very depressed. On her death bed, she told her daughter all about her father, the Emperor. She told her daughter to go and find her father. The girl did find her father. At first, the Emperor did not believe that she was his daughter, until.....she presented him with the fan that he had given to his mother all of those years before.

Tong is having a VERY difficult transition. On Thursday, his sadness changed to anger, and he has been angry ever since. Angry at everything- at us, at life. This is all pretty much a “textbook” reaction to the major changes happening in his life right now, but it is hard to watch him go through all of this. We have been mostly keeping to the hotel room, as emotions seem to escalate when we venture outside. We left Jinan yesterday (Saturday) to come here to Guangzhou. He did pretty well on the plane, and seemed to actually really enjoy the takeoff and landing, but the airports were a different story altogether. He is struggling with a lot right now- leaving his foster parents, coming to a new family who speaks a new language, leaving his position as youngest baby of the family and only child in the home to come into a family with a lot of kids.

On Friday, we called his foster family on Skype, and he was grinning from ear to ear. We have no idea what he said to them or if he called us every Chinese swear word in the book (LOL- quite possible, since Missy has told him on several occasions not to use “bad words”), but the call made him happy, and that is what is important. He seemed a lot less angry and much more peaceful after the call- but then our trip yesterday seemed to set off these emotions again.

It will get better. We know that, as many people have walked this road before. As I said, Tong's reactions to an extreme set of circumstances is to be expected. He is hurting right now. It is just hard to watch him go through it. In between these moments, we see glimpses of a very happy, outgoing, funny, bright, sweet and affectionate little boy, and we know that over time, we will see this boy more and more.

It is now 6 am and the kiddos are asleep. We have a free day today (no obligations at all), which I think is exactly what we all need. Will keep you posted.

Pictures from Daming Lake:

2011-07-01T00:13:00.002-04:00

Farmland on the way to Qingdao and the playroom at the orphanage:

2011-06-30T23:48:00.005-04:00

Qingdao:

2011-06-30T23:43:00.000-04:00

On the train to Qingdao (Wednesday):

2011-06-30T23:37:00.002-04:00

Finally- Photos from Day 2 (Tuesday):

2011-06-30T20:31:00.001-04:00

Sorry, but it has been very difficult for us to update our blog while here. I am not sure if it is our slow internet connection or if Blogger is down, but it just hasn't been working.

On Wednesday, we took a 2 and a half our train ride to Qingdao, to the orphanage where Tong spent the first year of his life. We met the associate director and some of the caregivers, who gave us a tour of the orphanage. It is really nice and colorful, with many photos on the walls. They showed us a photo, as some of the children take Tae Kwan Do at the orphanage. Tong has been coming back to the orphanage for Tae Kwan Do class, so they showed us his picture in the collage. The associate director gave us some gifts: a plaque, some blue angel stuffed dolls as the angel is a symbol of this orphanage. They also gave some stuffed animals to each of our children, and then treated us to lunch at a local restaurant. It was honestly among the best meals I have EVER eaten. My favorite was the dumplings filled with egg, fresh chopped scallion and I am not sure what else- but it was GOOD!!! The bean curd was also quite tasty. Apparently, Dylan is a huge fan of Chinese food too! And yes, we did even get to each enjoy a glass of Tsingtao beer. :)

As for Tong, Wednesday was a day of grieving. He was ok when we were visiting the orphanage and having lunch, but he sobbed on the way to Qingdao, asking our guide how we can be his parents if we do not look like him and if we speak a foreign language. He also said that he was afraid that if we saw any of the other kids in Qingdao, we wouldn't love him anymore and Emily would want to play with those kids instead. :( Most of all, he misses his foster family. He cried and he cried hard. It was heartbreaking, but I am glad that he is able to express what he is feeling.

Yesterday (Thursday), we went to Daming Lake, a beautiful park with a lake here in Jinan. It was beautiful but HOT!!!!!! Missy said that it has been relatively cool (compared to the usual summer weather here), but it was easily 95-100 degrees. I think we are in for some serious heat in Guangzhou!
We enjoyed walking around the park and we took a boat ride across the lake. It was really nice.

After the park, we came back to the hotel and had a low key afternoon. By about 5 pm, everyone was hungry, so we decided to take a walk to find something to eat. We took a walk down a beautiful traditional Chinese street across from the hotel and checked out all of the food stands and open air shops. Eventually, we found a chicken fast food place called Dico's. We really want to try some more local food, but are nervous with Mike's allergies as we can't always tell what is in each dish. Anyway, Dico's was fine, except for that they apparently have a Dico's song sung by children that plays in an endless loop while you are dining- I think we heard it about 75 times in a row, LOL!

Anyway- on our way back to the hotel, Tong had a bit of a meltdown (more like a rage), which lasted the whole way back to the hotel, and then some. For all of you who know Dylan, Tong gives Dylan's lungs (and vocal chords) a run for his money. Of course, given the situation and all of the major changes in his life, this is to be expected. He is leaving his country, his language, and all of the people who he has known for 7 years. He is having a very difficult transition, going through the textbook stages of grief, but we are encouraged that in between these moments, he is a happy and fun little boy who loves to receive and give affection. We know that over time, when we are home and things are more structured and more predictable, it will get better.

2011-06-28T17:13:00.002-04:00

More KFC and hanging out in the hotel room playing with the DS:

2011-06-28T17:04:00.003-04:00

More pictures from Day One:

These photos are of our trip to get Tong's photos and of our dinner at KFC. As you can see,he seemed tentative and serious at first. Once at KFC, his personality started to really shine. Uncle Dru, you will be especially proud of the photo where Tong is wearing his kids meal pig toys as earrings. Reminds me of you and the napkin rings at my parents' house. LOL! :)

2011-06-28T16:29:00.005-04:00

Pictures from day one, including our first glimpse of Tong Tong in the lobby of our hotel. Click on the photos to make them bigger. :)

2011-06-28T16:28:00.001-04:00

Second Day with Tong Tong

Today Zheng Tong officially and legally became our son, as his adoption was completed. We applied for his passport and also received his adoption decree. His passport will be ready sometime on Friday, and then we will be able to head to Guangzhou to meet his brother.

Overall, Tong is doing very well given all of the major changes in his life over the past couple of days. He did experience some heavier grieving and some meltdowns today, particularly during transitions in and out of our van, in and out of changes of clothes, and in and out of the busier (and more overwhelming) government offices. He has really taken to Mike, and likes to be carried around by him a lot. Sometimes he will try to imitate Dylan's crying to get Mike to pick him up. We are encouraging him to use the word “up” to ask to be held, as we want him to know that he doesn't have to pretend cry or whine to be picked up. He seems to respond well to this, but let's just say that Mike is getting his exercise. :)

Despite the grieving and how difficult this all must be for him (he asked our guide why we all speak a foreign language), he has been doing well and is smiling about 60-70 percent of the time.

Mike has an application on his phone (Talking Tom), where an animated cat listens to you and then repeats everything you say. Well, Tong thought this was the funniest thing EVER, and it really was a lifesaver during some of the more overwhelming periods of the day. When he seemed to be on overload, he even talked to us and to the guide and answered some of our questions through the cat.

After taking care of the legal adoption and passport stuff, we came back to the hotel and decided we wanted the rest of the day to be nice and low key. Mike walked to the Starbucks across the street and got some sandwiches, which we ate in our room. We blew up a beach ball and the kids played some catch. We then watched some Pleasant Goat and Big Wolf and then put on some Phineas and Ferb music and did silly dancing. When Tong saw my silly dancing, he laughed so hard he almost fell over. Tong has rhythm and is a good dancer! :) After dancing, he went over to our suitcase and proceeded to try on all of my (and Mike's) outfits and check himself out in the mirror. When he put on my clothes, he put his hands on his hips and tried to walk like me I suppose. :) When he put on Mike's clothes, he made eyeglasses fingers to by looping his fingers around his eyes to complete the look.

For dinner, we ordered room service (pizza) which was actually really, really good. It had olives with smoked ham or bacon and sausage. Tong LOVED this and kept saying Xie Xie (thank you) Mama and Baba. This boy likes food!

A little while later, we decided to walk around the hotel. We checked out the pool, and then came back upstairs to get swimsuits on. When we got back to the pool, we realized there was one issue. The pool did not have a shallow end. It was deep the whole way across. None of our kids can swim (except for Emily, but not well enough for a really deep pool). So the kids dangled their feet in and we splashed each other. Tong enjoyed kicking his feet in the water.

Then we came back and got ready for bed. Tong put on his DS to let it play a song. He then started doing a fun interpretive dance, balancing the beachball on his head, then on his hand while balancing on one foot, then on his back. He is really so cute and his smile can light up a room. At the end of his dance, we had him take a bow and then we cheered for him. :)

Here some things that we have gotten to know about Tong:

He loves food. And he loves to share food.

He loves sweet things- candy, ice cream, etc.

He loves the bathtub.

He loves to brush his teeth.

He is incredibly smart and tries to copy everything we say (and does a darned good job).

He is very outgoing and funny. When he first met Missy (our guide), he basically gave her a full interview (How long have you worked in this job? Where did you go to school? Did you ever get in trouble with your teacher?) He seemed to be satisfied with all of her answers. :)

He loves to sing and dance.

He loves to draw.

He loves cartoons, especially Pleasant Goat and Big Wolf.

He loves bubbles.

Well he is excited about something, he squeals and/or jumps up and down. If he doesn't like something as much, or if it is “just ok”, he will just say “ok” with a less than enthusiastic shrug.

Emily and Dylan are doing wonderfully with this trip. Emily has always been a great traveler, but we didn't know what to expect with Dylan, as it is a major break from his routine. Well, he likes China! And he loves the view from our room. He toddles over to the window and just stares at everything outside. He had lost one shoe at the airport, so he was without shoes for the first day. When we went to Walmart, we got him a new pair, not realizing they were squeaky shoes. Well, he LOVES them and dances and stomps around at hyperspeed to make the shoes squeak. It is really cute.

As for Emily, she has been and continues to be an amazing kid and an awesome big sister. She has been so loving and so patient with Tong, and so good with sharing her toys, etc. This is a big change for her too, and she has been so great with all of it. We keep telling her that we are so proud of her, and we truly are.

As for Abby, well......this has been a rough trip for her. She doesn't do well with routine changes and this is a major break from her routine. Unfortunately, she has had quite a few meltdowns since being here, and has thrown herself on the floor of every airport, every plane and every government office that we have entered. She does not do well when separated from Emily, as she is very attached to her sister, so we knew that we could not bring Emily to China and not Abby. She would be miserable. But the change in routine has made her miserable too, I'm afraid. :( Thank goodness for Missy! It really helps to have another set of hands, and Abby has taken to her.

Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 7 am to take a two and a half hour train to Qingdao to visit Tong's orphanage. We will drive around the city and see some places that have personal significance for him.

Meet Zheng Tong!

2011-06-27T19:17:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was busy, but wonderful. I (Kate) couldn't sleep the whole night before, as I knew that we would soon be meeting Zheng Tong. We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant (which is wonderful, by the way), with its assortment of baked goods, noodles and other traditional Chinese dishes.

After breakfast, we walked around to explore our street. We went to a couple of different stores. Jinan is a really nice looking and modern city, but a couple of blocks away from our hotel is a really charming traditional Chinese street, with all kinds of open air shops and restaurants. We hope to explore it tomorrow.

At 12:15, I met our guide (Missy) in our hotel lobby and walked with her to the local bank, as I did not have any RMB. I knew that Zheng Tong would be arriving to our hotel at 1 pm, so my heart was pounding the entire time. Every time I saw a little boy on the street, I looked to see if it was him.

We returned to the hotel at about ten to 1 and I ran upstairs to our room to get Mike and the kids and Zheng Tong's backpack (which I filled with a few Ultraman toys, snacks and a kids' digital camera for him). When we all got to the lobby, he was there, with a caregiver and an official from Qingdao. He looked absolutely adorable, in a Mickey Mouse baseball cap. He was also in shock/overwhelmed. Both of the women with him were so incredibly sweet with him. Mike and I introduced ourselves to Tong in Mandarin. The two women then gave Mike and I a life book/photo album full of photos of Zheng Tong and captions under each photo (in written Chinese). A lot of love went into this book.

I then showed Tong his new Cars backpack and pulled out the digital camera. He became so excited, and must have jumped up and down for a straight 5 minutes. The women accompanying him told me that he loves cameras and taking pictures, and that he wants to be a photographer. Wow, who would have thought that this gift would go over that well? Tong then took pictures- of everything. Our family, the women behind the bakery counter in the hotel lobby, the indoor plants, the couches, the desserts. In the meantime, Mike and I signed some papers, granting us guardianship.

Tong and Emily are two peas in a pod. Within minutes, they were holding hands and laughing. Emily was jumping up and down with a big grin on her face. She has been looking forward to this for so long.

In general, Tong did fantastic with the initial meeting. When he seemed to become a little overwhelmed, he would focus on his camera and taking pictures. He enjoyed showing us all of his photos.

We then went to get his passport photos and photo for Tong's adoption decree. Then our driver came to take us to Walmart. Dylan lost one of his shoes on the plane, so he was without shoes, so we got him a new pair. We also picked up plenty of drinks to keep in our hotel room. Then we went to the boys section and tried to figure out Tong's size, so we could get him some new shirts and shorts. At this point, Tong's memory card was full. Since this camera was his safety object to retreat to through the transition and all of the changes, he became very overwhelmed and we knew it was a good time to leave the store and go to someplace less overstimulating.

When we were driving, Tong noticed that there was a KFC near our hotel. He became VERY excited and even moreso when we said that we would go there for dinner. Again, another 5 minutes of jumping up and down. :) We then dropped off our things at our hotel room and headed to KFC- just Tong, us and Missy. During this meal, Tong relaxed quite a bit and he and Emily spent most of the meal giggling together and playing with the pig toys that came with their meals. In fact, Emily and Tong held hands from a couple of minutes after our first meeting through the rest of the day.

After dinner, we took a little walk to a local park. Tong became very excited when he saw kites in the air. He LOVES kites and asked if we can make a kite. He also got very excited when he found out that we live near a beach where people fly kites. We promised to fly kites when we get home.

We sat over by a large fountain with a lotus statue in the middle and little lotuses throughout. There was a little boy with a water gun that could shoot water almost across the entire fountain. He was there with his grandma, who said that Tong could use the water gun. Well, he loved that!!!!!! He shot water at dragon flies that were hovering above the water of the fountain. He also challenged people across the fountain to a water duel. :)

While we were walking, Tong kept reaching for Mike's watch. Our guide said "He wants Mike's watch." We told him that it would be way too big for him and that we would get him a watch that is his size. Later, we asked Tong if he likes Ultraman, which is incredibly popular here with children aged 5 and up. His answer was, "Yes, I like Ultraman, but I like Dad's watch better!" Hahaha. He was very curious, asking 1. Why our family is so big and 2. Why there are no pots and pans in our hotel room. We explained to him that we love our big family and that the hotel is not our permanent residence. :) When he was singing a song, he also asked our guide why he is not famous on tv yet. :) This boy is very outgoing and definitely has the personality to be a celebrity.

On our way back to the hotel, Tong tested us a little bit, as he insisted on walking very close to the edge of the road. He sat down on the ground and refused to walk when we asked him to stay with us and hold our hands. I think he expected us to get mad, but Mike picked him up, told him that we care about him and do not want him to get hurt. He then grinned when Mike was holding him and was happy all the way back to the hotel.

We then went back to our hotel room, where we started the nighttime routine. Tong took his first bath ever (he always took showers) and his was soooooo excited, shouting "Look at me, look at me! I'm swimming, I'm swimming!" in Mandarin. I didn't think he would ever get out of the tub, but he did when we told him he could take another bath tomorrow. :) Since the toilets in China are different, he also became very fascinated with the toilet and flushed about 5 times to watch the water go down. :)

Missy then left and Emily and Tong played for a while, until it was time to go to bed. Tong gave me a hug and a kiss and called me Mama. It was a good day. A very good day. :)

Will post pictures later. Right now, it is time for breakfast!

We are here!!!

2011-06-26T16:12:00.001-04:00

After a long trip with about a zillion potty breaks and at least 5 emergency clothing changes (for the kids- not us), we are HERE!!! Are we tired? Yes! Are we excited? Infinite yes! Missy, our guide / translator has been awesome, helping us to get us to our hotel and to our room. Tomorrow, we get to meet the older of our two new sons, Zheng Tong, and (not surprisingly), we are unable to sleep right now from the anticipation. Stay tuned!

2011-06-24T18:33:00.005-04:00

Here We Go Again (x 2!)

I know, I know. It has been a while. For those of you who lost hope that I would ever blog again, well..surprise! :)

Mike and I (and Emily, Abby and Dylan) are so incredibly excited to tell all of you that we are leaving tomorrow morning for China. It is finally almost time to meet our boys!!!

A little background story....

Last Spring, we were hanging out on our adoption agency's Yahoo group when we learned that they were holding a Hope's Journey camp in Guangdong Province. There was one little boy in particular at the camp who had a smile that melted both of our hearts. Well, to make a long story short, this wonderful little guy is our 5-year-old son, James Hu Jie!

A few months later we learned of another special little guy who the agency had nicknamed "Scotty" at a subsequent camp in Shandong Province. He loves to sing and has a huge personality. :) We are so happy to be traveling to bring home our 7-year-old son, William "Will" Zheng Tong!

Now- about our trip...We are ALL going! I have a feeling that Dylan and I will be making many laps up and down the aisles of the plane. Somehow I don't see an 18 month old staying in one spot for that long.

We are so excited that we are leaving for China in the morning. And this trip will be so special because 1. We will finally be able to meet our two sons and tell them how much we love them and 2. We will be able to visit both orphanages and possibly meet with our sons' foster families on this trip. I am looking forward to meeting and thanking all of those who have loved and taken care of our boys.

We will update the blog as soon as we can and let all of you know that we have arrived safely. Thank you so much for everyone who has been there for us through this wait (which hasn't been THAT long, but yet felt like an eternity!) :)

2009-12-21T14:03:00.001-05:00

We have moved. Please check out our new website at www.ourhomelifejournal.blogspot.com.

2008-08-03T19:29:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your summer. We are having a great summer so far. We just went to Pennsylvania for a week, on a camping trip. We stayed at a cute place, called Lake-in-Wood Camping Resort, right in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

We weren't sure how Abby would respond to camping life in the popup, but she LOVED it. In fact, her favorite thing to do was to climb up onto the bunk wing and roll off onto the bed below, and crawl back up to do it again and again.....endless entertainment! Not to mention that her PT would have been proud to see all that climbing. We sure were! :)

And Emily had a great time, too. Her favorite things about the trip were visiting Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park, having campfires, eating s'mores, and OF COURSE whoopie pies (which you can only find in Pennsylvania)...yummmmm....She liked the whoopie pies so much that she even made up a song about them...an ode to the whoopie pie, as sung by a 4 year old. :)

We tied this trip into an informal reunion with some of my college friends. We met up at the college, with all of our kids in tow. It was so nice to introduce Abby to everyone. And it was great to see Elizabethtown again, and to see all that has changed (which is a lot) and all that has remained the same (which was, in it's own way, comforting). I sincerely love my college friends, and am so grateful that we have continued to keep in touch throughout the years, making a point of getting together at least once a year. I think we are even thinking about a group camping trip to Knoebel's for next year. Should be fun.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our camping trip. Our campground had a gnome theme, which explains a couple of the pictures. Anyway, enjoy! :)

2008-07-18T12:26:00.004-04:00

The pictures in the last post were at my parent's house. Here is a bonus picture. It was taken at our house, in the playroom, with the girls at Emily's art desk. Emily is quite the artist, always working on something new. After she is done with her latest masterpiece, she tapes her work up on the wall. Then we have walk-through art exhibits, usually videotaped, where she interprets her art work for us, as some of it is definitely abstract. :)

2008-07-18T11:27:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone! I know, I know, it's been too long! We've just been busy, enjoying our newly expanded family. Abby is doing GREAT! Physically, she has made so many new milestones and will be caught up to her peers before we know it. Her latest feat.....climbing the stairs! And quickly! Now that she has accomplished this, it is all she wants to do.

For the 4th of July weekend, we went up to my parents' summer place in Vermont. Their house is on a lake, and the girls had a fantastic time swimming and playing in the sand on the little beach. In fact, Emily enjoyed the water so much that we thought she was going to turn into a fish, sometimes staying in the water for 7 hours at a time, only coming out for the occasional meal or snack.

The following Tuesday, Mike, Abby and I came home and Emily stayed behind with her grandparents for a week of bonding with Grandma and Pop Pop. She was so excited, but it was hard for us, since we had never been separated from her for more than a day. Anyway, she had a wonderful time...something she will never forget. And it was good for us too, as we had never had time alone with just Abby. And the week of just the two of us with Abby really helped her bond even more closely with the her Mommy and Daddy.

Abby's therapies finally started this week, and she has been doing great! The PT is amazed by how quickly she is catching up, and says that Abby is very motivated to learn. She is also quite the daredevil, and likes to show off. (i.e. the PT will ask her to do something, and Abby will do it...only head first at top speed and with no hands! Aaaggghhh!) The speech therapist has been teaching her (and us) some baby sign language to help ease her transition into the English language, and Abby seems to be picking that up quickly. There's no doubt about it...she is VERY smart and the wheels are always turning. We call her our "Chinese firecracker". She is so funny, but definitely has a spitfire personality. Sounds like another little girl we know. :) :)

Anyway, I will be posting some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Princess Abby....

Abby wears her sandwich well...

More Abby...

Artist Emily.....

Emily the Fish....

Emily and Pop Pop on the hammock...

2008-06-17T11:35:00.003-04:00

Hello all! This week, Abby had some more medical tests. On Saturday, she needed to get bloodwork done, since she hadn't had any bloodwork done yet here in the states. OMG!!! It was HORRIBLE! She has teeny tiny little veins and any time she would squirm at all, they would lose the vein and have to start over! :(

Then today we had Abby's follow-up appointment with the neurologist. So the results are in and...............drumroll please....................Everthing is NORMAL. Abby has a good, healthy brain. She doesn't appear to have a seizure disorder. Apparently, the seizure was a one time fluke. The neurologist said that small children can have a seizure even when there is no seizure disorder...from a fever or from other "triggers". Hooray!

2008-06-13T09:47:00.005-04:00

So Abby had her PT evaluation yesterday. It went pretty well, but he thinks (as do I) that she can definitely benefit from OT. He said she will probably totally catch up to her peers within a very short period of time. Sounds good. :)

The speech therapist and teacher that came on Wednesday were also really nice. The teacher was a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker, which helped in getting a better picture of Abby's verbal skills. It turns out that she's been using quite a few Mandarin phrases/ requests that we did not understand, such as "Pick me up." and "I want to take this." The speech therapist said that Abby's receptive skills are good and she can follow verbal directions in English quite well, but speech therapy will help her to catch up to her peers with her speaking skills.

Emily's also doing great. She had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago and had a great time (though she has decided she would rather try a different activity next school year, instead of dance class). I was sort of sad about this, but for totally selfish reasons. She looked adorable up on that stage. But I won't force her into anything. Right now she seems interested in either karate or gymnastics, so we will likely try one of these out.

I am posting some recent pictures of the girls and Emily's recital (below).

2008-06-12T11:35:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry I’ve been such a slacker with this blog lately, but things have been really busy!!! The jet lag is long gone and we have definitely settled into our routine. I had no idea how much of an adjustment it would be going from a one child family to a two child family. Abby is on the move….ALL THE TIME! :) :) I think I forgot how energetic toddlers are! But things have been great! Emily’s been such a great sister and the sibling jealousy episodes have been few and far between. Emily loves to help with everything and one day pronounced to me “I am sooooo happy. I LOVE having a baby sister in the house!”

As for Abby, she is making incredible gains each day. Yesterday,Abby was evaluated by both a speech therapist and an EI teacher (to get an overall developmental assessment). This afternoon, the physical therapist comes to do his evaluation.

On Tuesday, Abby had her MRI- which went smoothly. She had to be put under general anesthesia, which wasn’t fun (as Abby HATED the I.V. and fought with everything she had), but we made it through. Last night, we got the results back (the neurologist called), and it turns out that her brain looks NORMAL!!!!! The only thing they saw is called benign external hydrocephalus. Basically, there is a little bit of extra fluid in her skull. The neurologist said that this usually resolves on its own by about 2-3 years of age....and that this is no cause for concern/ is fairly common. No intervention necessary. They will just do check ups on her, from time to time. Whew!!! Sometimes kids with this are prone to seizure, but it could be that once this fluid goes away, she will never have another seizure again. Well, I guess we'll have a better idea after the EEG.

As for her progress, I have to laugh…because since requesting her early intervention evaluations 3 weeks ago, Abby has met many of her developmental milestones on fast-forward. By the time the therapy is set up, she might not need it anymore. LOL!

Today Abby (at 21 months):
-Crawls by herself
-Independently moves from lying down to sitting AND sitting to standing
-Has good sitting balance
-Walks by herself (no support), forwards, backwards , side to side, in circles, etc
-multitasks (walks while doing something else…i.e. playing with toy, clapping hands, etc)
-Can bend over (from standing position) to pick up object from floor without losing balance
-Can drink from cup, bottle, straw, sippy cup etc.
-Can feed self finger foods
-Is trying to climb onto furniture
-And when she does fall (which is becoming rarer all the time), she knows how to fall on her butt or knees (appropriately), and can usually even catch herself and regain balance
-pushes rolling objects while standing (doll strollers or play shopping carts, etc)
-Is trying to walk up stairs

It is AMAZING. She has done met YEAR’S worth of milestones in the past few weeks. I am so excited to see what a few more weeks will bring…..maybe cartwheels or headstands? Heehee. :)

2008-05-17T01:23:00.004-04:00

We are home (our flight came in at 10:30 pm on Wednesday, but by the time we got home and settled in, it was 2 am Thursday by the time we got to bed). Boy did it feel good to finally be on solid ground after 20 something hours in the air! I think it will be a while before we decide to get on another plane again, for anything.

We are soooooooooooooo jetlagged. It is unbelievable! I felt drugged all day...couldn't string a coherent sentence together.... and now here I am, at 1:30 am on Saturday, as wide awake and wired as can be. I figured that while I'm awake, I might as well add some more photos of the sights we saw it Guangzhou (our favorite locale during our adoption trip). We will definitely go back to Guangzhou (or "Canton", as we Westerners know it)....just no time soon...heehee. As mentioned above, it will probably take quite a while to get over such a long plane ride...or to even want to think about getting on a plane again.

Guangzhou has always been a popular home for artists. We saw art and sculptures all over Shamian Island in Guangzhou (where we were staying). Here are some examples:

There were beautiful gardens all around, like this one:

And beautiful buildings everwhere:

I hate to admit it, but after 10 plus days of withdrawal, we broke down and visited the local Starbucks. But it was a really nice Starbucks....unfortunately, just as expensive as in the States. Grrr...

But, staying in a 5 star hotel didn't hurt either. Here is a picture of the inside of our hotel...the White Swan Hotel. There was a beautiful waterfall inside with koi ponds below. Emily and Abby both loved looking at all the fish, and the sound of the waterfall was soooo peaceful:

Aaagghh. I miss Guangzhou!!!

2008-05-13T11:44:00.007-04:00

Hello everyone! This will be our last post from China, as we are leaving for the U.S. early in the morning..............really early (leaving the hotel at 5:45 am China time)....yikes!

Anyway, on Monday I spent 3 hours in a meeting with our group (led by our guide, Connie), gathering, reviewing and filling out paperwork needed for our consulate appointment. By the time the meeting was over, we were STARVING. We, along with of our friends from the group- Kim, John and their kids Sebastian and Naomi (Emily's best friend here) decided to try out a local Thai restaurant for dinner. It was EXCELLENT and we really had a great time.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a pretty low-key day. It was the day of our consulate appointment. Connie took all of our paperwork (completed on Monday) and went to the consulate interview/ appointment on our behalf...so we were not required to go. However, we needed to stay in the hotel room from 10-1:00, just in case the consulate had any questions and needed to call. We took that opportunity to start packing for our trip home Wednesday (although, admittedly, we were not that productive)...heehee. We spent most of the time watching Chinese VH1/MTV equivalents and Chinese soap operas. In the evening (at 5:45), we met up with some of the group and went for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The ride was AMAZING. All the buildings along the river are lit up beautifully at night and there are lights along either side of the river, leading the way. It really was a beautiful cruise and a beautiful night. We had a great time with all of our new friends. There was music playing inside the boat and Emily and Naomi spent a good part of the ride running around the boat doing their own interpretive dance. Abby seemed to enjoy herself too, although she had a few cranky moments, as she is teething (getting a couple of molars)...but overall, she had a great time and spent most of the ride practicing her walking....first holding on to one finger on each of my hands, then letting go and just standing by herself (but making sure that Mommy stayed nearby). There was a cooler filled with ice cream novelties, and Abby kept running over to it and staring at the big picture of an ice cream cone on the side of the cooler. After the cruise, since none of us really ate anything, we were starving and decided as a group to go out for ice cream. There is a little deli/ shop next door to our hotel that sells homemade ice cream....really smooth and DELICIOUS...like gelato. We ordered 3 cones, one each for Mike, Emily and me.....I really should have ordered an extra for Abby, as she ate three quarters of my ice cream. Did we mention that Abby has a ravenous appetite.....? This kid eats more than Emily and I do combined. When we first met her a week ago, she had obviously been taken care of, but was the first baby we ever saw with ZERO fat on her at all. Now, only 9 1/2 days later, after many good-sized meals, while she is still small, we have nicknamed her our "happy Buddha". The "happy Buddhas" are the ones with the cute round bellies. :)

Anyway, last night, we stayed out with the group til about 10:30 or so, before returning to our rooms. I don't know if it was the ice cream or what, but Abby was WIRED! She just kept cruising in circles, giggling and walking laps around our bed until she finally conked out after midnight.

Today, was our infamous "red couch photo" and a trip to the US consulate for our "swearing in ceremony". This was it. Our last adoption step. Abby has her visa to enter the US and we are all set to come home. While we are happy to return home, we do feel a bit sad about leaving Abby's homeland. We have had such an amazing journey here...a truly incredible experience....and it is a bit sad to leave. We know that this adoption is a happy thing...that we have gained so much and are so lucky to have this beautful new daughter, and that on the flip side, Abby has now been united with her "forever family". However, we do get sad when we think that she is leaving behind this country when we board that plane for the U.S....her culture and her native language which will leave her all too quickly.

Abby fits into our family so well. It's like she has always been with us. "Adopted" or "biological" doesn't matter. She is ours, plain and simple , and she has already brought so much joy to our lives. We look forward to watching her grow up.

We will be leaving for the US really early in the morning tomorrow (Wednesday), so this is our last travel posting. However, we will keep this blog going after we come home, with regular updates on the life and times of our family post-adoption. See you all soon!!!!!! :)

Pictures taken on the Pearl River dinner cruise:

Our "red couch photo". Some of the kiddos from our group are missing from the picture, as not everyone liked the red couch. It is a tradition of adoptive families staying at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou to have a photo taken of the groups' children on the red couch...for good luck, as red is a lucky color in China.

And here is a photo of our travel group:

2008-05-12T21:19:00.002-04:00

We are fine! No effects from the earthquake at all here in Guangzhou. I will post more updates from our trip after breakfast. Thanks for all of your concern. It means a lot to us, but it seems as though our area of China was the only area NOT affected by the earthquake. We didn't even know about the earthquake until we watched the news. Our hearts really do go out to all those affected, though, and we count ourselves as very fortunate.

2008-05-11T09:45:00.002-04:00

Like father, like daughter. We both spill things when we eat!

Reunited!

Sisters

Happy Mother's Day

Under an ancient Banyan tree

I'm having too much fun to go to sleep!

The last few days have been crazy. Our plane ride out of Nanchang was delayed for two hours due to storms AFTER we boarded the plane. Needless to say, Abby was very scared and cranky since she had never been on a plane before. Actually, I was quite cranky too since, as you know, I am not very good about sitting still. Arriving in Guangzhou brought a great sense of peace when we met up with our new guide Connie and the other families. The following day, after passing out in the hotel room, we had a long series of appointments with doctors who had to verify that our children were healthy enough to travel back to America with us. This was very stressful because the doctors were considering having Abby stay in China longer because she does not walk as much as the typical child her age. Luckily, Connie was able to explain to them that we understood this before we adopted her and were planning on making sure that she would have plenty of physical therapy when we returned home.

The rest of the day, after a great deal of sleep, was very peaceful, yet strange. No matter what city in China families meet up with their new children, all families must stay in Guangzhou before they can return home. As a result, out of the 28 floors in the White Swan Hotel, almost every room is filled with adoptive families from the U.S. So, here we are on the other side of the world, in a completely different culture, and yet I have heard English spoken more than Chinese. This city is 2,000 years old and yet is unbelievably clean, modern, and just plain beautiful, full of gardens. I'll take some pictures tonight or tomorrow. Nightime was fun as we had a little time to walk through the markets. We picked up a pair of "sqeaky shoes" for Abby--shoes that squeak whenever you step down. She loves them and is now stomping just to hear the sound when we practice walking with her. Afterwards, most of us met up at "Lucy's American Diner"--I have been very good at sampling as much local food as possible, but I must admit that it was quite refreshing to have a good old American cheeseburger.

Emily the Celebrity. There were a number of students learning English walking around the streets of Guangzhou with their teachers. They would walk up to us, practice their English, and ask us to write our names in their autograph books. Emily was their favorite. They then sang some really cute songs for us using the words they had learned.

This tower behind me had nine floors, symbolizing the nine levels of Buddhism.

Other than meeting Abby for the first time, our trip to a Buddhist temple was a highlight for us. It is a tradition for adoptive families to go to this temple and have their babies blessed by a Buddhist monk. Connie explained to us that about 80% of China practices a form of Buddhism. Even though our family is not Buddhist, I was very moved by the ceremony, and despite things looking so different from our own religion, I noticed many similarities in terms of the intentions of the people. As I listened to the monk's musical chant, I felt peace for the first time in a few days. Hopefully this peace will carry through to tomorrow. Right now Mrs. D is at a meeting filling out paperwork for Abby's visa (since no one can read my handwriting) and tomorrow is an interview with the American consulate. See you soon. . .

~Posted By Mike

2008-05-08T18:03:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, Thursday 5/8/08 was a pretty low-key day. We had breakfast at the hotel's buffet and met our guide Monica in the lobby at 10 am. She hailed a cab for the five of us and it took us to the local Wal Mart. I needed to get new pants as I ruined several pairs. I tried hand washing some of my clothes and one of my pairs of capris (which was blue) had dye that bled all over my khaki pants and capris....grrr.... So I went to Walmart and got my "big fat American" pants...heeehheee. That's what I call them, because I am an American size 8 in pants, which is considered XLhere. Anything size 10 and up is "plus-sized". Not too good for the ego, but that's ok. We also picked up a couple of bibs for Abby. Anyway, the Walmart is fun and HUGE....3 floors....with some merchandise unique to here (i.e. plastic training "squatty potties" for toddlers, as opposed to western-style, different foods, a huge rice steamer/ wok section, etc, and an entire grocery floor. I know little things excite us, but they had an escalator that, instead of being like stairs, was more like a hill/ arch that you could take your cart on with you....with merchandise displays on either side of the escalator handrails, so you could add items to your cart on your descent.

After the Walmart, Monica led us (by foot) to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi province is famous world-wide for its porcelain. We bought two teasets (one for Abby and one for Emily). They were both handcrafted and BEAUTIFUL. Emily has expensive/ upper crust taste and chose the pattern which was a personal favorite of Chairman Mao. For Abby, we bought a teaset which is blue and white with all of this intricate detail which is made using a technique only found here. It was important to us that, since she is from this province, she should have a momento from here which can't be found anywhere else in the world.

After shopping, we took a cab back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off in the room and went out to lunch with Monica. She has been such a great guide, so we told her we would take her out to eat. She was very resistive at first (not wanting to impose), but we insisted. She took us to a popular local restaurant. The place was giant (3 huge floors in this restaurant) with something like a 60 page menu. Everything was served family style and the food was GREAT! So much better and so much more authentic than the food in the hotel. This province is known to be one of the three spicy provinces in China (the 3 are Jiangxi- here-, Hunan and Sichuan.) They use a lot of red chile peppers here. Monica ordered 5 dishes for us which were all great: Spicy beef (with a hot dipping sauce), pork (which was more of a sweet bacon)...came with a hot sauce to dip in, green beans with chiles and garlic, dumplings (which were a cross between wontons and potstickers....looked like wontons, but had more of a vegetable potsticker interior), and an egg dish, kind of like a big omelet with mushrooms (I swear Abby ate half of the pork and eggs....she has quite the healthy appetite). Yes, Abby likes to EAT and I can't feed her quickly enough. It was pretty hysterical, really. While still chewing, as I was cutting/ putting food on a spoon for her, she would reach over almost in a panic, grab my whole arm and bring my arm with the spoon to her mouth and shovel it all in. I couldn't keep up with her pace. One of her favorite foods here, which we've been pushing a lot to hydrate her (since she doesn't drink) is pronounced "she- gwa"....(watermelon). Emily also said "I love she gwa. She gwa is my favorite." So cute. Anyway, they served lots of she gwa at the restaurant, so that was good.

After lunch, we returned to the hotel and started packing up for our flight to Guanzhou (Friday), while the girls napped. At 3:30, Monica stopped by with Abby's notary documents (which we will bring with us to the consulate). Tomorrow Monica will be picking up Abby's passport for us, and then we will fly to Guanzhou to meet up again with the rest of our travel group (and all of their new additions). Emily can't wait to see her friend Naomi again. :)

Today was such a great day with Abby. She and I (mom) really had some nice bonding moments. She kept wanting for me to pick her up and she would nuzzle her head into me. I would kiss her on the forehead and she would keep putting her head near my mouth to be kissed. She also kept sticking her hands through my shirt arm holes while I was holding her and would rest her head on my shoulders. Also, in her crib she likes sticking her legs up in the air and resting her feet on the side of the crib. I will then tickle whichever foot is up in the air. She then giggles, takes her foot away and then puts it back up to be tickled again. Very cute...and she has the most infectious little laugh....just like her big sister.

2008-05-07T19:45:00.006-04:00

Hello all. Our internet connection (specifically with blogspot/blogger.com) has been a little shotty since arriving in Nanchang. Anyway, here are our posts for the past couple of days. Our connection should (hopefully) be better when we get to Guangzhou tomorrow.

TUESDAY, 5/6/08

Today was our official day of rest….no plans, just hanging out at the hotel and bonding with Abby “Jin Jin”. We are still calling her by her Chinese name, as this is what she is familiar with. And she is already dealing with so many changes….like a whole new family, for example! We spent most of the day at the hotel, just hanging out, but did manage to venture out onto the streets of Nanchang once by ourselves, heading to a local supermarket (about a 5 minute walk away). Getting there was easy, minus the real-life version of “Frogger” that you play as a pedestrian when crossing/ navigating the streets. The supermarket itself was quite an interesting experience. The grocery stores here are huge! This one is considered a smaller store and is only two stories. Unlike at home where you only have the cashiers and a few workers scattered throughout the store, in China each section of the supermarket (i.e. candy section, baby food aisle, etc) each have several workers manning that “station”. The shopping experience was a bit surreal, and we found ourselves in a dream-like trance, floating through the aisles in a blur of vividly colored packaging, filled with all kinds of goods- some so very different and some very recognizable (i.e. oreos)….all the while listening to “What the world needs now, is love sweet love” sung in Chinese on the store’s overhead “musak” station.

But our exciting shopping trip pales in comparison with what we experienced back at the hotel. As you know from my earlier postings, we adopted our Abby Fu Jin through our agency’s special needs program. She has had some developmental delays, specifically with regards to weakness in her legs/ inability to stand or walk independently. Well, today we had the best surprise when Abigail took her first steps, right before our very eyes. We were walking in the hallway (with Mike holding on to both of her hands), when she decided to break loose from her Daddy’s hands and walk 4 steps by herself. We then put Emily in front of her and asked her to walk to Emily, and she walked 6 steps to Emily. Then she did 12 steps in our room. She is still very unsteady/ weak, but we completely expected that and we knew going into this adoption that she would require extensive physical therapy. We never expected to be able to see her first independent steps while we were still here in China. We are so thrilled and proud of her. Of course, now that her walking is starting to improve, that is all she wants to do (with our help). So we have spent most of the day doing laps with her up and down the hallway and around the room. Now she hates sitting still and fusses when Mommy or Daddy tries to sneak in a break.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Today we explored Nanchang with our guide, Monica. We all hopped in a cab and drove to the Tengwang Pavilion. This pavilion has been built and destroyed and rebuilt many times since 653 AD, when it was first built by Prince Teng. Much famous poetry was written here. The Prince loved the arts, so the top two floors are set aside for the arts…one for performance and another for dancing. We got to see a live performance of traditional Chinese dance. Many of the floors now serve as a museum, with famous murals and other pieces of art.

We then wandered the grounds of the Pavilion, which were very nice and peaceful, with beautifully landscaped greenery and koi ponds. After the pavilion, we then hopped in another cab and went to the August 1st Park. It was a beautifully landscaped park, where people practice their tai chi exercises among the trees and peaceful setting. As we walked through the park, we came to a section with a playground. Emily had a great time trying out all of the playground equipment….no rubberized flooring or wood chips here, by the way- just concrete…so we made sure to stand close by our daredevil of a daughter (and future Olympian gymnist, apparently).

As we ventured further through the park, we came to another section which is a little amusement park, with about 10 rides. Emily and Abby went on the carousel with mommy and daddy. Then I (mom) took Emily on a mini-roller coaster train ride. Emily then went on a solo ride, which looked like a motorized rickshaw, where she was being bounced around and pulled by the monkey king!

We had a fun time, but by the time we left the park, Abby was asleep and Emily was having a major “I’m exhausted” meltdown…she didn’t want to leave the park.

Tomorrow we are heading out with Monica to do some shopping.

Here are some pictures from today:

Abby is adjusting pretty well and seems to be bonding with us well, but we have had a few issues as we try to figure out her likes and dislikes. So far, here is what we know:

Likes:
Food, and lots of it
Movement
Noise
Walking around constantly (with help)
The safety of her crib
Being tickled
Being chased by and/or chasing her big sister around the room

Dislikes:
Sitting still (except for in her crib or high chair, when she is being fed)
Being held while sitting down….she much prefers being held when we are standing up.
Cars/ buses (terrified of these)
Bathtime
Brushing teeth
And the big one….drinking.
Yes, the last one has been a real challenge. In the orphanage, she did not take liquids from either a cup or bottle. Instead, she got all of her liquids via her meals (congee, soups, etc). When we first met her, she was pretty healthy, but her skin and hair was soooo dry. Keeping her hydrated has been a real challenge for us, especially when we are venturing out of the hotel. She pushes all bottles and cups and juiceboxes, etc away…sometimes even with both hands. The jell-o is very watery here, and she likes it and will take a cup of it, via spoon of course. It is so watery that it comes with a straw, but Abby wants no part of drinking it….just eating it like soup, with a spoon. Luckily she loves watermelon, so we have been giving her a lot of it at mealtimes, again to hydrate her. Hopefully, as she continues to feel comfortable with us, she will learn to transition to a bottle or cup. Hopefully.

2008-05-05T21:59:00.007-04:00

A bonding moment at dinnertime

Sisters at last

Telling Secrets

Girl's Club

Yesterday (Monday) was very busy. Monica, our new guide, met us at our hotel room and took us to a number of places to finalize our adoption of Jin Jin (Abby's nickname given to her by the orphanage director). It was a bit stressful, not because of any of the tasks, but because Abby would not be ours until we received a certificate saying so. After we filled out paperwork in our room, Monica took us to a notary.

Then we all hopped in the car (Abby is terrified of cars and screamed for the first 5 minutes every time we had to get in the car)- and we went to meet with a government official who interviewed us about our intentions for Jin Jin's future--that we would give her the same opportunities in life as Emily and that her education was very important to us. The official presented us with a gift for her, a beautiful piece of pottery. Monica explained that this province of China is very well known for its pottery so it will be a nice reminder of her homeland for Jin Jin. Jin Jin's orphanage director, who herself had given us a commemorative coin with a little booklet teaching us about where Jin Jin grew up, met with us again to also fill out papers and answer any questions we had.

We asked her what Jin Jin's first words had been, and she explained (through Monica's translations) that they had been : Ma Ma (mom), Ba Ba (dad or poop, depending on how it's pronounced), and Mahn Mahn (I want to eat). She was also able to tell us the name of Jin Jin's best friend, who, it turns out, is not only in a video that we have of her, but we also know her new mother in America. Perhaps one day they will get to meet each other! Leaving was difficult because we could tell how important Jin Jin was to the director, how tightly she held her and how sweetly she communicated with her. Upon our departure, we were presented with the official adoption certificate stating that Jin Jin is officially a part of our family forever, even though we have felt that she was ours from the moment we first saw her picture the day before Thanksgiving 2007.

Our final stop was the local police station where they took Abby's picture for her Chinese passport which will take a few days to be ready. One thing I must note is the method of travel. One person in our group mentioned that there is no such thing as traffic rules in China, only suggestions. Cars, bicycles, busses, motorcycles, and pedestriants all moved randomly on different sides of the road--often at each other--at the same time. For some reason, I did not panic as the driver seemed perfectly calm. Anyway, after the passport is ready, we will journey on our next flight to get her visa and have appointments with doctors who will verify to the visa people that she is healthy enough to travel. In the mean time, Monica showed us how to get around the local streets near the hotel before she takes on a tour to learn more about Chinese culture for Abby on Wednesday. We can't wait!

Meanwhile, we are enjoying every second of our time with our daughters. Abby is adjusting well. She is so alert and has a great sense of humor. We play a game with her called the "up / down" game (I'm sure you can figure out the rules). She laughs hysterically and is starting to say the words up / down when she wants to play it again. She is forming a bond with us very quickly, crying if Kate goes into the next room to get something for her. She is starting to call me "da da," to get me to come over to her. When I go back to where I was, she smiles and says it again. And, of course, she loves playing with Emily and tries to mimic her--the two of them are so cute together.

~Posted by Mike

2008-05-05T18:06:00.011-04:00

Once the home of emperors, the common person was not allowed to venture into the Forbidden City. As we walked across Tiananmen Square, we see the outer wall / building known as the heavenly gate. Now, ironically, anyone can tour this place and buy souvenirs too!

Within the first set of walls in the Forbidden City. Much like the Great Wall of China, every time we thought we had made it to the center, there was an additional ring of buildings.

Take a look at the background. A modern city mixed with millenia old buildings.

Chen, our amazing guide who speaks both Mandarin (Chinese) and English, taking a break to play with Emily and her new best friend Naomi.

Other families we are traveling with. At the end of the day, we all got on separate planes to fly to the cities where our children are.

Presenting . . . Abigail Fu Jin Dlugozima!

Last night (actually Sunday night--the network was down) upon our landing in Nanchang, our new guide brought the director of the orphanage and our Abby Fu Jin to our room. Everything happened so fast . . . We checked in, weary from our tours in Beijing and the plane ride to Nanchang, and before we knew it, there was a knock at the door. Of course, the batteries on our camera died, but luckily we had the video camera with us too (we will turn the video into still pictures after we get home). The director was so nice, explaining our new daughter's likes, dislikes, eating habits and other helpful information. Then we gave her some gifts (for her, the orphanage worker who came with her, and for the nannies). We also gave them some clothes and blankets for the children still waiting for their forever families. How can you ever show true appreciation for someone who has dedicated her life to taking care of children? After bathtime (which was definitely NOT Jin Jin's favorite), it was bedtime. Needless to say, we were all up all night just staring at our new daughter. More to follow . . .
(And thank you all again for the kind comments.)

2008-05-03T09:24:00.008-04:00

So, today we got a really early start...when Emily decided that 2:30 am was "waking up time". :) We are all still pretty thrown off by this jetlag. Anyway, we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant/ buffet at 6 am and left on our tourbus at 8:30 for a day of group sightseeing with our wonderful guide, Chen Chen. Emily opted to sit with her new buddy, Naomi, who is traveling with us and is also 4. They were so cute together, and for the whole duration of the bus ride, all you could hear was little girls talking and giggling to each other.

For our sightseeing adventure......First, we stopped off at a jade factory, where we saw how jade is carved and polished to make jewelery, fine art, etc. We also learned how to distinguish between real and fake jade. It was pretty interesting and there were some really elaborate pieces of jade carvings/art on display. We took a picture of this massive jade carved ship (below).

We then picked up two pendants (one for each of our girls). The are beautiful, each with different Chinese characters in the middle- one that means "fortune" and the other "happiness". It was here at the jade factory where Emily and I also experienced our first "squatty potty". Instead of being raised like western style toilets, these are flat/even with the ground with a place for each foot on either side of the bowl. You stand with your feet on the designated areas, squat and try to miss your pants....heehee. It was pretty clean, just different.

As we were leaving the jade factory (to head on to the Great Wall), the skies opened up and there was a torrential downpour. Of course, this didn't stop us from climbing the wall (which was AMAZING...they don't call it "great" for nothing), but we were all completely soaked through....especially Emily, and the poor kid was shivering (I felt so bad). The one good thing, though, was that our next stop was lunch and that the restaurant was attached to a big store with tons of traditional Chinese merchandise...silk outfits and other Chinese apparel, etc. So we bought a traditional pink silk outfit for Emily so that she could be nice and dry. It really is a beautiful outfit and I hope to pick up more in Guangzhou for both of the girls.

After lunch, we came back to the hotel and rested for a while, until it was time to meet up with the group for dinner. And now it is time for bed. :) I am beat! So were Mike and Emily, but they are asleep already. :)

Tomorrow, we are off to Tian Men Square and the Forbidden City. And then we fly out tomorrow evening to Abigail's province, where, per our guide, we will meet her most likely tomorrow night at the hotel shortly after arrival(instead of waiting until Monday, like previously thought). We are getting soooooo close now! Can't wait to meet our baby girl!

2008-05-02T08:55:00.005-04:00

WE MADE IT TO CHINA!!!!!! Yay! And let's start by saying that this was no easy feat. Here is the rundown-

On Wednesday, 4 hours before we were scheduled to depart from our house to the airport, Emily started complaining about pain in her throat and tummy. I took her temp and she had a low-grade fever. The pain then became severe with vomiting and we rushed her to the doctors' office. They did a culture and found out she had strep. They then prescribed some medication (requiring refrigeration) and said that the infection should clear up within 24 hours, and that she would start feeling better almost immediately, so they cleared Emily medically for our flight. Our flight was scheduled for 6 am, but we were supposed to check in by 3:30 at he latest. Anyway, right after Emily got home from the doctor's office (and right after she took her first dose of the antibiotic), Emily's vomiting became severe, she couldn't keep any food or liquid down and she was lethargic/ dehydrated. We rushed her to the hospital ER. They put her on an iv fluids, gave her anti-nausea drugs and pumped her full of iv penicillin. She started to stabilize very quickly, but they still weren't satisfied with her progress as of 3 am. I then contacted the adoption agency and told them the situation and said that there was no way that we would be able to make the flight...we had only 3 hours to go before takeoff and Emily was still in the ER. The next available connection to Beijing wouldn't get us to China until days later, which would cause us to miss our travel group. Just when it seemed that we had no option but to split up and have only one parent travel to China and one stay home (even though every one of us would have been miserable in that senario..........at 3:50, the doctor stabilized Emily and now Emily was rehydrated, keeping foods and drink down and her fever broke. And, due to the high-strength iv antibiotics, Emily was no longer contagious. Hallelujia! But I still didn't feel right about traveling so quickly with Emily. And then Emily cried and cried to me that she would miss China and it broke my heart. We threw her medicine in a small cooler, rushed to JFK and prayed for the best. We arrived just as our plane was boarding, but still had to jump into the security checkpoint line. It was immense and slow. And once we got to the checkpoint, we had to wait an extra 10 minutes as the security guy was holding our laptop/case for further inspection. Our plane was leaving! Just then, an airline worker from our flight came out and was looking for us. She was not happy and began screaming and cursing at us (right in front of Emily, mind you) that they were holding the flight for us and that we needed to move NOW, with our without the rest of our luggage that the security guy was holding. Mike said very calmly, "Excuse us, but we just rushed here from the ER". Just then, the security guy finished his inpecting, gave us our luggage and we ran like crazy for the plane. It took about 4 hours for those jitters to go away. As for Emily, she was fine. The fever/ vomiting was gone and did not come back and her appetite even came back. And The doctor at Stony Brook was a miracle worker who just kept saying to Emily "I will do everything I can to get you well and on that flight." And she did!
Emily slept for the majority of the first flight (6 hours) from JFK to San Francisco, and by the second flight (12 hours from SF to Beijing), she was putting on the airline headphones and dancing, saying "Mommy, this music is sooooo cool!" So, after 20 hours of travel, we all made it China in one piece. We managed to get some sleep on the plane, but are still incredibly tired. We arrived to Beijing Airport at 2 pm Friday (China time), where we waiting for (and met up with) the rest of our travel group and our guide. We then hopped on our bus and were taken to our hotel (Chang An Grand Hotel), which is very nice! There is an big fish tank with koi and a tank with a seal (both of which Emily loved). The group then took an hour to check into the hotel and get settled before meeting back up to go to dinner together at the hotel restaurant. Emily met a new friend, Naomi who is a 4 year old in our travel group (also becoming a big sister). They played My Little Ponies together, played hide and seek and danced together in the hotel lobby. It was cute. There are a lot of big brothers/ sisters in our group. Seven families in all, three of whom are adopting boys and four are adopting girls.
On our trip to the hotel, our guide Chen Chen (who is extremely nice) talked to us about the massive construction that has been taking place, as the city of Beijing has been modernized. Some of the skyscrapers are more like works of art and some are very unusual. One building was nicknamed by locals and dubbed "The Big Pants". I've inserted a picture,, taken off the internet from when it was being built. Anyway, tomorrow we are off to see the Great Wall, a jade factory, and a Chinese acrobatics show. Right now, it is 9:36 pm on Friday (China time) and we are dead tired! Off to bed..........

2008-04-30T00:18:00.003-04:00

24 hours until we leave for the airport! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! :) This all seems so surreal. We have waited so long. It felt like we would never get to this point. It will probably hit me that we actually finally went to China two weeks after we get home...LOL!

2008-04-26T23:06:00.004-04:00

Ok, only 97 hours until we leave for the airport and I am totally freaking out!!!! "Excited" does not even come close to describing how we are feeling right now!!! I honestly have no idea how I am supposed to get any sleep between now and then. By this time next week, Abigail will be in our arms. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhh! I don't know exactly how to describe the energy in our household...I guess very excited plus a little nervous and a touch of paranoia (about what, we don't exactly know). I think we just really want everything to go smoothly. We have to be so diligent to make sure that we bring every last form that is needed in China plus necessary copies. I am just so afraid of forgetting something.

Anyway, on a positive note...here is our official travel itinerary:

May 1- Thurs- Departure- The beginning of our journey, although, technically we will
be leaving for the airport in the middle of the night on Wednesday night

May 2- Fri- Arrive in Beijing and go to our hotel, meet up with adoption travel group

May 3- Sat- Sightseeing (The Great Wall)

May 4- Sun- Sightseeing (Forbidden City / Tian An Men Square)
Depart for Nanchang (in Abigail's province of Jiangxi)

May 5- Mon- Nanchang/ Meet your child! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! Registration, adoption
paperwork at Civil Affairs. Applying for Abigail's passport.

May 6- Tues- Notary

May 7- Wed- Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 8- Thurs- Rest/ Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 9- Fri- Receive passport, Depart Nanchang for Guangzhou (in Guangdong Province)

May 10- Sat- Visa Physical for Abigail

May 11- Sun- Sightseeing

May 12- Mon- Visa Interview at US Consulate

May 13- Tues- Take oath and receive visas

May 14- Wed- Leave Guanzhou for Hong Kong and US

So, as you can see, it will be an action-packed 2 weeks! :) I can't wait!!!!!!!

2008-04-25T22:01:00.002-04:00

Oh my gosh! This is really happening! Only 5 days and a couple of hours to go until we head off to the airport. I can't even believe how close we are getting. This week we completed the final steps needed to finish our basement so that the girls will FINALLY have the playroom that we have been working on for the last 2 years! I am so excited. Other news....We officially have 2 carseats for each car! Emily moved up to a big girl car seat this week, leaving the toddler seat free for Abigail. And as we drove Emily around the neighborhood for her "test drive" with her new pink seat, it really hit us. Looking back at the two car seats side by side, we could really picture ourselves driving around 2 girls! :)

2008-04-14T21:27:00.002-04:00

Only a little over 16 days to go til we leave for China....but who's counting, right?!? Heehee! Today I spoke to Lillian and Meg from our agency (CAWLI) for our official "travel meeting". I think they were both in total shock at the lack of pre-travel questions that Mike and I have. But, let's face it, in the two weeks since finding out that our travel date was set, I don't think that either Mike nor I have had a full night's sleep. We are just too excited to sleep. And, to pass the time we have read our agency's "travel information packet" cover to cover MANY times, and have spent many an hour online, visiting adoption internet groups and reading blogs of people who are currently in China for their adoption trip (hence, the lack of pre-travel questions). We are SOOOO ready for this. Actually, we have been for quite a while. Abigail's room is ready. She has a dresser full of clothes and a closet full of toys. My job hours have been rearranged and notice has been given to Emily's preschool, since I will be staying home for a while. We are DEFINITELY ready! The only thing that is missing......or should I say, the only ONE who is missing.....is Abigail.

Anyway, the travel meeting went well. Lillian (the director of our agency) and Meg (the social worker) are both so nice, and I am truly grateful to them for all of their hard work in helping us get to this point, where in just a couple of weeks we will travel to bring our precious daughter home.

2008-04-07T23:04:00.002-04:00

Only a little over 23 days to go until we leave home for China! We are heading to the airport at about 2:30 am on the morning of the 31st, for check in at, yikes, 4 am).....Not that we're counting the days and hours or anything! And only about 26 days to go until we have Abigail in our arms! :)

To all our family and friends: Please feel free to post in the comments section or under the guestbook while we are away, as we will be checking in and updating the blog each day with our travel journal. Due to the tremendous time difference between here and China, this blog is the easiest way for us to keep in contact with everyone. We will be reading the posts and responding to as many as we can. This way, it will feel almost like you are all with us each step of the way as it is happening. :)

2008-04-02T22:31:00.005-04:00

Sorry I didn't post sooner. Things have been a whirlwind around here. Yesterday at 11 am, we found out from our agency that our consulate appointment in Guanzhou had been set and that our travel dates to China were finalized...5/1-5/14. Within an hour of this notification, we received another email that our flights had already been booked and our travel itinerary was available for viewing online(talk about fast!) As you can imagine, we are sooooooo excited. In a little over 4 weeks, we will have our Abigail in our arms!!! :) Of course, once we received word of our travel dates, the insomnia officially set in. I was up almost all night last night thinking about the checklist of things that need to be taken care of before we go. Mike and I (and even Emily) have been walking around in a constant daze, as it has become very difficult to concentrate on anything else but Abigail and our upcoming meeting....and all the things we need to do before we go to China. Emily and I have spent the last two nights taking turns sitting and standing on bags full of clothing while using our food vacuum packer sealer thingy to suck every last bit of air out of the bags, resulting in a hard, brick-like mass (to make the most out of our available suitcase space). It has been an adventure! Emily thinks the vacuum pack machine is the coolest thing EVER! She loves pushing the button! Well, looks like she'll have lots of fun times ahead, as our packing is FAR from over!!!! LOL! :)

2008-03-31T18:59:00.002-04:00

WE RECEIVED OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL FROM CHINA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our tentative travel dates are 5/1-5/14. We will find out for sure in a day or two. I am not too fond of the word "tentative", and I know we will all breathe a little more easily when the dates are set in stone.

Last Monday (3/24), we went into Manhattan (to the Chinese consulate) to get our travel visas! It was an adventure! We walked more than half of the city by foot (I'm not even exaggerating here, which is scary), so you can imagine that on Tuesday, every joint ached and we were TIRED! But we were so happy that another item was checked off of our list. :)

Yesterday, we went to Babies R Us and did some shopping for our trip. We will have a virtual pharmacy on wheels. We had to get all the essentials: bottles, antibacterial wipes, grooming items, all the non-prescription meds a baby could possibly need, disposable washcloths (with built-in soap), a sippy cup, and enough Gerber snacks to feed a baby army. :) I also just ordered two baby/toddler carriers (for Emily and Abigail). That way, after the girls get tired from running around, we can carry them on either or backs or fronts....they are made by patapum (view them at www.patapum.com).

Anyway, we are happy to finally have our TA, but really wish we could have traveled in April. I know it's only one more week, but at this point we have been waiting for so long.....we just want to hold Abigail already! :)

Just keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes smoothly and that we get official travel dates that are as soon as possible.

2008-03-04T15:19:00.002-05:00

Ok, here is the latest update on our travel plans:
The Canton Trade Fair (in Guanzhou) is the largest trade fair in the world and is held from April 15-30th. During this time, there are no adoption consulate appointments taking place in Guanzhou (our last stop in China before we can come home). As a result, unless our travel approval (notice of consulate appointment) comes in immediately, with a consulate appointment before the trade fair (which really is impossible), there is a good chance that we may have to wait an extra 7 weeks until the end of May to travel. However, our agency just said today that if our travel approval comes quickly enough, with a consulate appointment IMMEDIATELY after the trade fair ends, there is a good chance that we may be able to travel to China on April 24. Since our first week is in Beijing and then Abigail's province of Jiangxi, by the time we arrive in Guanzhou, a week after departing NY, the trade fair will have JUST ended. Of course this will only happen if everything moves like clockwork (no more delays, our travel approval coming in really quickly, etc). Please pray for us that we can travel in April. I know it sounds silly, but waiting an extra 4-7 weeks to travel is very difficult to handle, especially when it isn't due to anything in our control or anything adoption-related, but rather a trade fair. PLEASE JUST KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR US. WE CAN USE ANY AND ALL PRAYERS RIGHT NOW....and April 24 sounds pretty darned good! Thank you!

2008-03-03T17:13:00.003-05:00

We have great news! Mike and I received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) today, meaning that we have officially been approved and invited by the Chinese government to adopt Abigail Fu Jin. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! The only glitch is that, even though normally we could expect to travel to China 4 weeks from this date (allowing us to travel by April 1st), it looks like we will have to wait til May. There is a trade fair going on in China in April, which will make travel to China during this time almost impossible. So this, along with other factors per our agency, will most likely cause us to have to wait until 2 months from now to travel (May). I was on cloud nine when I first heard about the LOA being here, then I felt kind of down in the dumps about having to wait one more month to meet our little girl, and now I'm excited again that we at least know officially that we ARE traveling.

2008-02-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

We got an email today from Ann at redthreadchina.com. She is the very kind woman who we ordered our care package for Abigail from. Anyway, Ann wrote to let us know that the care package was sent to Abigail (Fu Jin) at the orphanage a couple days ago. Ann will send us another email with delivery confirmation after it has arrived to our daughter. Anyway, here is a picture of our care package, including a translated letter, a pillow with our picture on it, a book, a stuffed panda, a digital camera (so hopefully, we will get more pictures of Abigail with her friends) and some candies for the children and orphanage caregivers. We are absolutely THRILLED at how the care package came out and are so excited that Abigail may be snuggling with us tonight in her crib (well, at least a photo of us). :) :) :)

2008-02-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE JUST ADDED A TON OF DECEMBER AND JANUARY PICTURES TO THE OLDER POSTS (BELOW)

So today I ordered a care package from Red Thread China to be delivered to our Abigail Fu Jin. The woman, Ann, who runs the company, lives in China and is as sweet as can be. Many people have ordered care packages and Chinese culture-related merchandise from her and have been more than pleased. I will be adding her website to the list of links on the right.

Anyway, right after ordering the care package, it started to snow here. I went outside to get the mail and noticed some interesting-looking tire tracks in the snow, right in front of our driveway. I guess a few people must have made three point turns, but the tracks somehow turned into 4 PERFECT hearts. You may all think I'm nuts, but I take it as a positive sign from God that, just like that "family" of 4 hearts, soon we will have our own family of four. We love you, Abigail. Mommy, Daddy and big sister Emily will be coming to get you really soon!

2008-02-12T17:11:00.000-05:00

This post is long overdue, but I am now just getting a chance to upload photos from the camera. On January 11, my big girl turned 4. Sigh. And get this.....she even has a serious boyfriend named Danny. On the 12th, she had her birthday party at a local place called Maze Craze. She and her friends all seemed to have a great time. Here are some pictures from the party.

2008-02-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

I came across this poem that I really like:

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.© Author Unknown

2008-02-09T16:27:00.001-05:00

Here are some photos taken from Christmas. Sorry it's taken so long to post these here.

And here is a shot of Emily trying to stay up to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve.

Hi everyone! Just wanted to write a quick update......ok, maybe not so quick. LOL! First off, over the past week and a half we had quite a scare. You may have seen on the news that China has suffered some snow/ice storms. Millions of homes have been without power and millions of workers were stranded and unable to return home for the Chinese New Year. In addition, the storms caused an inability for coal (the main source of fuel/heat) to be delivered across the country. Unfortunately, the orphanages were not spared by these storms. Many have been without power and heat for 2 weeks and orphanage caretakers are struggling to keep the children warm. Our daughter's province of Jiangxi was, unfortunately, hit pretty hard. However, thank goodness...we have learned that the orphanages power/ heat has been restored and the power company has pledged to keep the orphanage power supply going (even if that means temporarily cutting power from other areas.....including the orphanage director's own private house, which as of this past week was still without power). The caretakers really love the children of the orphanage and have done an excellent job of taking care of them during all this weather craziness.

On a happier note, it looks like we should be traveling to bring Abigail home in April. For a while, it looked like May was more realistic, but all of the other parents who had their letters of intent in to China before us have already received their official letters of approval back from the CCAA and will be traveling in March. We are only a few weeks behind them, so April seems very realistic now. :) We are so excited! We've even started looking up sample packing lists. We also have the girls' bedroom all set up now. Even though we have a couple of other bedrooms, Emily INSISTED that she wants Abigail to room with her. We think this may be better for Abigail as well, especially in the beginning, since she is used to sleeping in a room with many other children. It may be disconcerting to come to a new country with a new family and all of a sudden be expected to sleep completely alone. So.....Disney Princess room it is! And, if I say so myself, everything looks really adorable. Emily has a twin bed on one side, and Abigail has a toddler bed on the other. Emily's been so excited to move from the toddler bed to her big girl twin bed, but she has already told me that she thinks the room will be better when Abigail is in it with her. She said that at night, she stares at Abigail's empty bed and prays that she will come home soon. This wait has been really hard on all of us, including Emily. The other day, she said "Mommy, I'm beginning to lose my patience. I can't wait anymore." Well, at least April isn't too far away!

Eventually, I'll get around to posting pictures of the new Princess room.

We got the ok from our agency to send a care package to Abigail at the orphanage, so she knows who her Mommy and Daddy are before we go to pick her up. We are buying one (including a translated letter) from redthreadchina.com. I know many people who have been very happy with their services, and I can't wait for Abigail to read (or rather, be read to) how much we already love her and can't wait for her arrival.

I just notified work about our April departure, so they have time to find a replacement for me in the schools. I'm going to just keep my evening homecare, so I can stay home with Abigail and Emily (who is currently in preschool, but I'm going to switch her from full-time to part-time preschool). I can't wait. April can't come fast enough!

2007-12-22T13:06:00.001-05:00

Many people have asked me where little Abigail Fu Jin is currently residing in China. She is in Xinfeng County in southern Jiangxi Province. I am posting a map of China (below). If you click on the picture it will come up larger. The outlined Province is Jiangxi and Abigail is living near the southern tip of this province, so she is really pretty far south. Supposedly, the food there is some of the spiciest in all of China, as they like to use chili peppers in their cuisine. Mike, as you all can probably imagine, is quite excited about this fact, as he has a steel-lined stomach when it comes to spicy foods. :)

Here is a map of just Jiangxi province, so you can see just how far south Abigail's orphanage is in Xinfeng.

2007-12-17T17:40:00.001-05:00

2007-12-17T17:38:00.001-05:00

We got a video of Abigail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) Here are the latest photos (taken from the video). :)

2007-12-04T18:38:00.001-05:00

WHAT A BLESSED THANKSGIVING, INDEED!

As you know, our dossier was logged in at the CCAA in China in February of 2007. We were told to expect another 3 year wait, due to improved economic conditions in China and a new domestic adoption program within the country. So we figured we'd be spending another few Christmases without our Chinese daughter.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (11/20/07), Mike happened to have insomnia and checked his email late at night, only to discover a surprise. Our agency had sent us an email asking if we were interested in looking at any of the "waiting child" files that they received from the CCAA. The "waiting children" are children who China considers to have "special needs". These "special needs" are much different from what we in this country would consider a special need. In China, you are classified as a special needs/ waiting child if you are slightly older (over 2 years), have a birthmark, scar, correctable congenital dislocated hip (like I was born with as an infant) or other minor correctable conditions such as ptosis, clubfoot, etc. As sad as it is, these children, who are healthy and lovable children, are considered less adoptable in China, so they are placed on this waiting child list.

Anyway, there was one little girl named Fu Jin who caught our eye. She is 15 months old. She has been at the orphanage since she was 1 day old. The caregivers at the orphanage were concerned about her, because at 9 months, despite meeting her milestones, her legs seemed a little weak- she would walk "slowly" in her walker, compared to the other kids. The doctors did all kinds of CT scans and assorted tests, decided that she must have had some kind of trauma during her birth and they sent her for therapy. She went to a rehabilitation facility for therapy, and upon her release, came back to the orphanage much improved. At 15 months she is now standing steadily, is much stronger and is talking (mostly about food...she knows the word for "meal", for instance...Ha! She'll fit right in here!).

We were in love from the minute we saw her, and knew that there was no way we could say "No". But the agency, being the reputable agency that they are, told us that they would put the file on hold for us until we consulted with doctors/ specialists, etc and made an informed decision. Again, there was no way we were saying "no". But, we did what they wanted and spoke with the specialists and on Wednesday, 11/28/07, we officially told our agency that we wanted Fu Jin to be our daughter. On Thursday we wrote our formal Letter of Intent to send to China (our letter petitioning to adopt her and outlining how we will address her needs once she comes home), on Friday we made final changes to the letter, and on Saturday the LOI was in the mail on the way to our agency. From what we've been told, it will probably be about 4 months until we travel to get her (so April of 2008). On Saturday, we received her original file from China (before that, all we had was copies). Our agency even sent us mailing labels so we can start sending her care packages soon.

THIS IS FINALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are over the moon with excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!! Abigail Fujin Dlugozima, we're coming for you soon. :) :)

2007-12-04T15:22:00.001-05:00

Here is a quick summary on our journey thus far:

Mike and I have been married since 1999, and always knew that we wanted to adopt. In 2002, we spotted an advertisement at church asking married couples to consider adopting from China. I called to inquire, but was told that we were too young, as both parents must be over 30 to enter the program. In 2004, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter Emily. When Emily was a year old, in 2005, we decided that we wanted to add child #2 to our family, and that now was the time to pursue our adoption dream. We were still too young to adopt from China, so applied to a Russia adoption program. After almost a year, after our Russia paperchase was complete, the program became very unstable and we decided it just wasn't for us. By now, I was almost 30 and almost old enough to apply for an adoption from China. Chinese adoptions have a history of being one of the most stable programs for adoptions, and just really felt right to us. So, thus begins our China adoption story.

In the summer of 2006, we began our China paperchase (homestudy, immigration paperwork, gathering together documents for our dossier to go to China, etc.) By February 2007 we were "logged in" to the program in China. And so began the wait. Initially, we were told 10 months, then 16, and then (due to an improved economy and new domestic adoption program in China), we were told to expect 3+ years. This was good news for the children of China, but a litte sad for us. As much as Mike and I are eager to expand our family, Emily is just as anxious to have her sister home. We just didn't want her to have to wait until she was 6 years old to finally have the sibling she always wanted.

And then everything changed. I found out I was pregnant in the beginning of July 2007. PERFECT. We figured that now we would have our daughter in China and this new baby, and we were finally getting the big "insta-family" of our dreams. Unfortunately, this excitement did not last, as our hopes were once again dashed. The pregnancy was not meant to be. After 11 weeks of pregnancy, and after seeing our baby's heartbeat (just when I thought all was safe), I lost the baby and had to have a D and C on August 23, 2007. Our baby angel Sarah was with us for such a short time, but she will never be forgotten.

I can't even begin to describe the heartache we felt. As bad as this wait had become (waiting for our adoption from China to come through), it now became a million times harder. After suffering such a devastating loss, there was no way that we could possibly survive 3 more years of heartache. And then God answered our prayers......

2007-05-02T19:47:00.001-04:00

I don’t even know where to begin with this posting. I am just feeling really sad (down in the dumps, so to speak) this week. There have been so many recent delays within the China adoption program that it seems like we’ll never get there. At the start of our journey, everyone said our wait would be about a year, then 14 months, then 16 months, then 18 months, now 2-3 years (maybe more). China is only done matching children to families who had their documents logged in up until November 1, 2005. Yes, that’s right…2005. Our dossier was only logged in February 2007. Emily might very well be 6 by the time she becomes a big sister. I find myself crying for Mike and I, and also crying for her. It’s just very frustrating and disheartening. We started the adoption process in December 2005 (with Russia)and switched from the Russia program (after 7 months) to China, because Russia became too complicated and unstable….and China seemed like a smooth, predictable program. It seems like as soon as we switched countries, all of the delays in China started. Why does this black cloud seem to follow us wherever we go? Our documents have already been redone by us 2-3 times, and will most likely be done 4-5 times by the time this process is over.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like to complain. I have a great husband and daughter and am grateful for my family beyond words. I just really want this adoption to work out. “Why don’t you just get pregnant?”, you ask. Well, because we know our daughter is in China. We are adopting by choice (aka it is not a second choice for us)…we know that this is what we want and what we are meant to do. I won’t lie, though. It does make it more frustrating at times to know that, if we chose to, I could give birth to 1, 2 or even 3 kids in the same amount of time as this adoption will likely take.

So…I guess what I’m asking for is that all of you who read this just keep us (and our sanity) in your prayers. It’s going to be a long road.

P.S. I added a link to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) website, so you can watch with us (or cry, as the case may be), when CCAA posts their progress (with processing families' paperwork/ matching children with families) on the website.

2007-04-08T19:41:00.000-04:00

I know, I know…it’s been so long…I’m a horrible blogger! :) But there are reasons why I’ve been out of touch. Things have been crazy around here, to say the least. In February, we went on a family trip to Disney World. Emily had a blast! Actually, we all did! Emily got to meet all of her favorite characters, including her favorite princess of all-time (Cinderella). All three of us had much-needed, quality, uninterrupted family time together…this was great…so great that it was really hard to come back to the real world. February/ March is the craziest time of my working year. I work in the school district (as an occupational therapist). I have to do standardized testing and write a huge annual review report on each of my kids one time per year. Unfortunately, all 30 something of my kids had these due between February 27th and next week, so things have been busy. So, pretty much the real world smacked me over the head with a hammer when we came home from vacation. But on a positive note...from April to June it will be smooth sailing, as all of the paperwork will be done. :) :) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On the homefront, we are in the process of finishing our basement....to turn it into a playroom for Emily and daughter #2 (to be named…for now, we will call her “Mei Mei”, meaning “little sister” in Chinese). Mike, my dad and my brother-in-law, Dru worked for the past several days on finishing the basement and on adding a cupola to our roof, above the garage. My dad built the cupola and it came out beautifully. I know he put in a lot of time on this, and we are so grateful for this. Emily is doing great. :) She's growing up really fast. She really enjoyed Easter, and of course, all of the candy too...yikes! :) She also can't wait for her playroom to be done...she keeps pitching us her decorating ideas. :)
The adoption process is moving along at a snail's pace...we probably will be traveling to China sometime next summer as it is currently about a 16-18 month's wait. Of course, this means we may be traveling there right in the middle of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing!

2007-02-17T01:34:00.001-05:00

WE ARE LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Thursday we received word from our agency that our paperwork was logged-in by the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on 2/9/07. So we are 1 week into our official wait, and China actually knows that we exist now! Yay!!! All that’s left to do is sit and wait until they match us with our baby. :) If the wait time sticks to around 15 or 16 months, we might even be in Beijing during the 2008 Beijing Olympics!

2007-02-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

Last night was a momentous occasion. We went to our first FCC-LI (Families With Children From China- Long Island Chapter) Waiting Families meeting. It was great. First of all, this chapter serves all of Long Island and get this…..they hold their meetings at OUR church right here in Sayville! How convenient is that?!?! We were so excited when we first found that out. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I was really nervous at first, meeting all of these new people….especially when, after we got there, they asked everybody to stand up with a microphone and introduce ourselves. But we survived…and guess what- it was really nice. We got to hear stories from a few couples who just returned from China with their new babies. They were all so beautiful. We also met a lot of couples who are going through the process for the first time, like us. We also spent some time talking with a woman and her husband, who just received pictures of their daughter in China. When the woman (Carmen) got up to speak at the microphone, she started to cry, because she and her husband were so happy about receiving their referral. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place when she was speaking. She showed everyone the baby’s pictures. Of course, the baby was absolutely gorgeous and perfect with these cute little chubby cheeks and big brown eyes. Mike and I also spent a good amount of time speaking with a woman who adopted two girls, one from Viet Nam and one from China. Emily got to meet a few new friends too. This one girl, Jillian, who is 3 and was adopted from China as an infant, invited Emily over to the table to color with her and her friends. It was really sweet. Now we really can’t wait to go to the FCC-LI Chinese New Year Party and see everyone again!

2007-02-08T07:28:00.000-05:00

And so we wait. Not much news to report. Actually, there’s no news to report on the adoption homefront. It looks like we’ll be waiting for quite a while (1 ½ years or so), as this is how long it is currently taking China to match babies with prospective parents. The next step is for us to receive our LID, or Log-In Date. This usually takes about a month from DTC, so we should be logged in within the next week or so. In the meantime, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy- like that’s ever a problem with a 3 year old in the house :).Work’s been crazy lately (especially mine), so we’ve decided to take a much-needed break, and will be going on a Disney World vacation in February. Emily is so excited. She can’t wait to meet Cinderella. And Mike and I are excited to have some quality family time, just the three of us.

2007-01-16T18:27:00.000-05:00

WE ARE PAPER PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to announce that we are DTC today (meaning that our dossier, or all of our documents, were sent to China today)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited that all of the paperwork is done and there is really nothing left to do but wait for the call that we’ve been matched with our baby. Unfortunately, this probably won’t be for another 15 months, but we are just so excited to finally have our file sent to China! Yay!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-13T20:41:00.001-05:00

So on Thursday (the 11th), our baby girl turned 3 years old!!! It’s so hard to believe. It seems like just a day ago when Emily was 2….and 3 days ago when she first came into this world. And yet, so much has happened in the span of 3 years, so many major milestones and first moments (for all of us). So on Thursday, in between fighting back tears about the fact that our baby girl is no longer a baby, and finding ourselves in awe of the fact that she has almost instantaneously transformed from toddler into a beautiful little girl, we celebrated by going out to Chuck E. Cheese. Emily had a great time playing all of the games and riding on the rides. She even met Mr. Cheese himself! Earlier in the day, Emily also had a birthday celebration with her friends at preschool, complete with chocolate chip cupcakes and “My Little Pony” party hats, plates and napkins. Her teacher, Miss Dani was so nice that she even made Emily her very own purple birthday crown, knowing that purple is her favorite color! I’ve included some pictures of the days’ events (below).

2007-01-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

DISPELLING THE ADOPTION MYTHS

As you may or may not know, China has changed some of the rules regarding adoption. I just listened to a National Public Radio show about the Chinese adoption process. It was a very good radio show. My only argument is actually not with the show itself. On the radio website they highlight Chinese adoption as a popular means of creating a family for New York's infertile couples. Don't get me wrong...many couples with infertility issues do adopt, which is wonderful. However, not all adoptive couples are infertile. Mike and I are fully able to have biological children, but have decided on Chinese adoption as a means of growing our family...For us, it IS NOT a second choice....quite the opposite. We look at Emily and see that she is a well-adjusted, happy almost-3-year-old with a family who loves her. We feel that all children deserve the same chance. We want another child, and there is a child out there who needs a family and who is meant to be ours. This is a perfect fit for us....and seems as natural as giving birth. We've wanted to adopt since before we were married. And I know that a lot of people feel the same way. A large percentage of the couples who adopt from China also have biological children.

Secondly, it's fairly common for the general public to use phrases such as "They are adopting, instead of having their OWN kids"...or "Do you also have children of your OWN?" or "What happened to her REAL mom and dad?", "Her REAL mom couldn't take care of her, so she was adopted.", etc., etc.... These comments are not made with malicious intent at all, but I know that I will be this child's REAL mom and she will be my OWN child. :) :) She will know that Mike and I love her with all our hearts, in the same way that we love Emily. A REAL mom or dad is someone who loves and raises a child, whether added to the family by birth or through adoption. I do not love Emily BECAUSE I was pregnant with her. I love her because over the past 3 years we have developed and nurtured our mother/daughter bond. We have shared in her first accomplishments, her first laughs, her first words....and I have been there to wipe tears and cover boo-boos with Band Aids. This is what being a parent is all about- not biology. :)

Sorry for my rant. :) But this is what having a blog is all about...right? :)

2006-12-27T18:36:00.000-05:00

Today we received an email from the agency...pretty exciting (and overwhelming), huh? :) Everything sounds fine, except for the 15 month wait to be matched with a baby.... :(

Congratulations we have received your USCIS approval! You are approved to adopt internationally!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!

1. In about 10 weeks after receiving your USCIS approval, both the American Consulate Office in Guangzhou, China and the National Visa Center will send you a package that contains the following items: a cover letter containing a case number, forms I-600, I-604, I-864, 230, and a physical form for the child. If after 10 weeks you still have not received this package, don’t worry! We will be able to give you one at the time of your referral! These items are very important, so put them in a safe place. We will need the case number from you when you get your referral in order to make your appointment with the American Consulate. We will not ask you for this number until you are preparing to travel. Please put these packages in a safe place with your other important adoption documents. We will go through them again before you travel to China.

2. Your dossier for the China Center of Adoption Affairs should be complete. I will be in touch if we are missing any of the documents required for your dossier. Otherwise we will begin the authentication process of your documents. It takes us about three to four weeks to finish the certification and authentication process and another 7-10 days to express mail the dossier to CCAA. The arrival of the package from the American Consulate in Guangzhou does not mean your dossier has arrived in China. Someone from our agency will contact you when your dossier has been sent. The date we express mail your dossier is called DTC date(Dossier to China). We will inform you of this date. We appreciate that you mention your DTC date and your last name when you call the office with any questions and concerns.

3. The date the Chinese government register your dossier is called Login Date. We will let you know of this date as soon as we get them. CCAA does assignments according to the login date. At this time, it’s taking approximately 15 months from the time your dossier arrives in China until you receive a referral, and another 6-8 weeks from referral to travel. There are many factors that determine how quickly you travel after your assignment is accepted. These include visa appointments at the American Consulate, CCAA Official Notification, flight availability, etc. Please know that referral time is always subject to change. We will keep you updated on any and all changes!!

4. It is our recommendation that you start the Hepatitis A and B immunization series NOW, since they take a few months to complete. There are no required immunizations when traveling to China; however, the agency recommends the Hepatitis vaccinations. Please consult your doctor!

We will contact you regularly from now on to update you. Please feel free to call us at any time during the wait!

Best wishes,
CAWLI

2006-12-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Mike and I are pleased to announce that Christmas came early for us this year. Yesterday we received in the mail our I171-H and today we sent it to our agency via Priority mail (with tracking, OF COURSE!). We are DONE. Now we just wait for CAWLI to review our documents and send them to China. Within about 4 weeks, China should have all of our documents, and we will be able to officially call ourselves “paper pregnant”. On Tuesday, Mike and I will go to the police station to get new letters of good standing (background checks). We’ve already had this done, but they will be close to expiration by the time our stuff goes to China, so we will get new ones just in case we need them. Nothing else is even close to expiration (thank God), so there really is NOTHING left to do except wait, wait and wait. I can’t even tell you how excited and relieved we are to have this paperchase over with and to finally be “in process”!

Hope all of you reading this have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

2006-12-15T19:52:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of Emily giving Santa a Christmas card that she made. As you can see, she was very excited!

2006-12-15T19:35:00.000-05:00

No word from immigration yet…. We are still waiting for our I171-H (the document that gives us permission from the US government to adopt an orphan from abroad). Without this document, we can’t send our dossier (all of our documents) to China, in order to be matched with a baby. This is the only thing we are waiting for. Everything else is done. Mike and I are going to go back to the police department this upcoming week to get new letters of good standing (background checks). We’re doing this, because the letters can’t be more than 6 months old when sent to China. Our last ones were done on 8/1/06, so we are cutting things close (as it looks like it will be at least another month before our dossier is sent to China, since it takes the agency 3 weeks or so to review everything and send it over after we get the I171-H). This is a bit frustrating, as this will be our 3rd time getting letters of good standing from the police department (since our paperwork stage of this adoption has taken so long). Oh well. Every day I come rushing home from work to see if we’ve received our I171-H yet. Maybe we’ll get it for Christmas….? This would be a great Christmas gift. What’s sad is that even once everything is sent to China, we still have about a 14 month wait.
I would be feeling really down right now if it weren’t for the fact that Emily keeps us both so busy, and keeps us smiling a lot. She is so looking forward to Christmas. She met Santa Claus last night and LOVED him! She even drew a card for him. Emily is so excited for Christmas that her teacher, Miss Danni told me that she woke up suddenly from nap time the other day, ran over to Miss Danni and exclaimed “Miss Danni!...Miss Danni! It’s Christmas! It’s Jesus’ birthday!”
Emily is also so excited about the idea of dressing up for Christmas. She’s turned into quite the girly girl. She’s already told me (and Santa) that all she wants for Christmas is a purple necklace and a purple bracelet. Purple is her favorite color. She likes all things pretty. In fact, so much so that while I was doing laundry the other night, she managed to get her hands on some lipstick and tried to give herself “pretty lips”. Below are some pictures of her makeover.

2006-12-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post a beautiful picture of China that a friend of ours took over the summer. Click on it for a larger view.

2006-11-29T18:51:00.000-05:00

Hello. I know, I know…long time no post! There’s been a lot going on. Lets see…first of all, Mike and I had our fingerprinting appointment back on 11/14 at 8 am in Hempstead (about 30 minutes away). We overslept (Mike accidentally shut the alarm in his sleep), so the morning started out with a big rush. We didn’t even have time to drop Emily off at Mike’s parents’ house, so we ended up bringing her with us to the appointment in her P.J.s! No biggie. Everything went pretty smoothly. The one thing we learned is that appointment times don’t really mean anything at the Homeland Security office. About 300 other people had the same appointment time as us, but things still moved along pretty quickly (took us about 2 hours from start to finish). They no longer use ink to fingerprint you with. Instead, you place your hands (one at a time) on what looks like a supermarket cashier’s UPC code scanner. It was hot in there (with all the people), so my hands kept sweating, so they kept having to re-scan my fingers. Thank God the woman was patient with me! Mike and I kept getting the same error message when they did our prints “Match warning, match warning”…..No biggie….I guess there are just two serial killer psychos out there in the world who have the same prints as us (hopefully not!).
This week, Emily got sick with a fever and a very yucky, blistery throat (kind of like strep). The doctor said “With a throat that looks that bad, if she doesn’t feel better within 3 or 4 days, she probably has mono.” However, thankfully, she recovered within about 48 hours, so it turned out just to be a regular, yucky virus (no Mono…yay!) My mom was kind enough to come down to Long Island to watch Emily while she was on the mend. I think they both enjoyed their time together.
I came home today for lunch to find blood all over the floor (Ruby the dog was sick). I brought her to the vet, who checked her out and prescribed 10 days of antibiotics and a bland diet of just chicken and rice. Poor Ruby!
Otherwise, no real news on the homefront. Thanksgiving was really nice. It’s hard to believe that it’s almost Christmas….and then shortly after that, my baby girl will be a big girl of 3 years old….Waaaaaaahhhhhh! Hopefully, we will have our approval from immigration/Department of Homeland Security well before then, so we can get our documents to China before the new year. That is the big goal! :)

2006-11-06T07:38:00.001-05:00

So, on Saturday I officially turned 30- and what a birthday it was. First off, some of my friends treated me to a morning at the spa (massage and pedicure), which was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!! Then I came home to a warm birthday welcome from my husband, my parents, my sister, Mike’s parents and brothers, and several close friends. About an hour later, when the mail arrived, Mike and I were both racing to get to the mailbox first. (Of course, Mike let me “win”---it was MY birthday, after all! Heehee!) And when I got there, there was great news inside. We received our fingerprinting appointments for immigration. So we are all set to get fingerprinted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 8:00 am. It was great to have our families right there to share the great news with! So, after we get fingerprinted, we will receive our clearance from the government several weeks later, and then all of our documents can go to China!!!! We are almost there!

2006-10-26T00:28:00.000-04:00

I added a short video to this blog (below). It was made by a couple who adopted twin girls from China. Mike and I thought that it was a really sweet video, and decided to add it to our blog (courtesy of You Tube). This way, whenever we feel down and frustrated by the wait, we can watch this film as a way to remind us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that this couple also used the same adoption agency as us (China Adoption With Love in Brookline, MA....otherwise known as CAWLI).

2006-10-25T17:55:00.000-04:00

2006-10-25T16:39:00.000-04:00

Yay! I just checked the United States Postal Service's website, and our paperwork was received by the NY City Immigration office just before noon today! Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we will recieve a speedy fingerprinting appointment. :)

2006-10-24T19:15:00.000-04:00

Woohooooo!!!!!!!! Last night, Mike and I finally received in the mail our completed home study (for Immigration). Within 30 minutes, we had the I600A form filled out and all necessary copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate, as well as our original homestudy ready to be sent into the Department of Homeland Security (aka USCIS- Immigration Services). Today, first thing in the morning, I went to the bank and got the $685 money order to be mailed with our paperwork to Immigration (in New York City). So, today our paperwork was officially mailed to Immigration. From here, it will take approximately 2-3 weeks to receive an appointment card from them, for our federal fingerprinting appointment. After we have our fingerprints done, it will take another few weeks for our fingerprints (and for all of our paperwork) to clear through Immigration, and we will receive in the mail our I171-H (approval from the government to adopt an orphan abroad). Once this I171-H clearance is received, all of our paperwork (called our dossier) will be sent off to China, so that we can officially start the waiting process to be matched with our baby. :) We definitely met a milestone today (as we have done everything paperwork-wise that there is for us to do), so Mike and I will have a glass of bubbly tonight to mark the occasion.
Some other news on the forefront, Emily has announced to us (at the age of 2 ½) that she is going to be a teacher when she grows up “So I can teach my kids.” Needless to say, her daddy (also a teacher), was thrilled with her career choice. She also learned how to open and close large buttons by herself for the first time yesterday. She was grinning from ear to ear with pride. :)

2006-10-10T15:43:00.000-04:00

Nothing too much to report, unfortunately. We are still just waiting for the final draft of our homestudy, in order to set up an appointment for our federal fingerprinting, get USCIS approval and finally get our paperwork to China. Mike called the homestudy agency today and they said that our social worker is on vacation until Thursday. However, they also said that the homestudy had been completed and was sent to CAWLI (our agency) for review. Mike called CAWLI today to confirm whether or not they have received it. Hopefully, when he comes home today, he'll have some good news....

UPDATE: Mike just called and CAWLI has received our homestudy draft from Family Focus (Thank you Sandra!) Yay! They said that within the next day or so, they will be done making any necessary changes/corrections, and send it back to Family Focus to finalize. Stephanie (the social worker from CAWLI) also said that Family Focus is excellent at writing home studies for China, so there probably won't have to be any corrections. So, by next week, we should be in posession of our final homestudy and should be able to send in the I600A to USCIS. We'll start filling out the I600A tonight so we are prepared to mail it out when the time comes.

2006-10-05T07:46:00.000-04:00

We are all done with the adoption paperwork (and everything has been submitted to our homestudy and adoption agencies). Yay!!!! The ONLY thing we are waiting on is the finalized draft of the homestudy from our social worker. Without this, we cannot proceed. The social worker needed my CPA letter to finalize the draft (which we sent in to her last week). Even though it has only been a week since the SW received our final paperwork from us, it seems like an eternity that we've been waiting for the homestudy final draft (In case you haven't noticed, I am not very good at waiting). The reason why it feels like so long is because this is the only piece of paper holding up our whole process. Without this draft, we can't apply to the Immigration office for the government's permission to adopt an orphan abroad (the process of getting this approval alone can take about 8 weeks). And without this approval, we are unable to send our documents (dossier) to China. And without our documents in China, the Chinese government doesn't even know we exist, and we can't even begin the waiting process for a baby..... So, as you can see....everything hinges on getting this homestudy draft. What is so nerve-wracking is that we are no longer in control of our paperwork....Not that we're stressing out, or anything!!! :) For all who read this message, please pray that we receive this homestudy soon, so that we can sleep at night again! Did I mention that I don't like not being in control of our paperwork? Did I mention that I don't like waiting? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

2006-10-03T08:16:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened over the past week. On Wednesday, I got my CPA letter (showing that I am working as an independent contractor OT), so that is one major hurdle that we are finally done with! On Friday, we had our physicals redone at the doctor's office. (We had to get these redone, as our original physicals expired...they can't be more than 6 months old at the time that they are sent to China). We also took all kinds of photos of the house (inside and out) as part of our dossier requirement.
Of course, with all of this work, we needed some down time....so on Sunday, we took a family day trip to the North fork of Long Island to go apple picking! We've included a couple of pictures here. We all had a great time, especially Emily!

2006-09-25T17:32:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Things have been crazy..............work, work, work!!!! On the adoption forefront, we completed the final financial paperwork for our homestudy agency (we filled out and gave them our financial statement showing our assets and liabilities, and gave them Mike's letter from his employer verifying his employment/salary). So all we have left to do is to get my letter of income verification (since I am an independent contractor OT, my letter has to come from a CPA). This has proven to be incredibly difficult as we did not have our own CPA. We must have contacted a hundred CPA's who all replied in the same way....."Sorry, but we cannot write this letter for you, as you are not a client, and we did not prepare your taxes....But, good luck anyway." Grrr. What made us mad is that we have all of our 1099s and W2s and tax returns to prove my income, so this really should not be that difficult. We even offered to pay the CPA's to reprepare our 2005 taxes, just so we could get this letter....nothing. We then promised all the CPA's that we would use them to prepare our taxes in 2006, just so we could get the letter...nothing. Then I promised to use their financial planning service and have them prepare our taxes.....finally, I got a bite! So, the CPA will be drafting the letter for us for $250....a bit pricey, but whatever it takes to bring home our baby, right? He said it should be ready by tomorrow....hooray! After this, we need to get our physicals redone (we have appointments on Friday), send our completed homestudy to Immigration, get fingerprinted, send our papers off to China....and we're done and onto bigger and better things (the waiting game for about a year until China matches us with a baby), but our paperwork will be done. The wait will be hard, though, especially since Emily asks us every day when we are going to get her baby sister from China.

2006-07-22T14:31:00.000-04:00

So...over the past week, Mike and I have been running around like someone lit a fire under our butts. Between Saturday and Sunday (7/15-16), we looked over our the intake package that the agency sent to us and managed to complete all the forms necessary for CAWLI to begin our file (service agreement and multiple policy and procedure forms, letter of application and committment to China, etc, etc.). We also made copies of lots and lots of forms (3 years of income tax returns, our birth and marriage certificates, copies of our passports, etc). We also put aside any forms which need to be completed by our homestudy agency (Family Focus) for them to forward to CAWLI (adoption agency).
On Monday, we went to Costco and got our passport photos taken (China requires two passport-sized photos of each of us to be sent with the dossier).
OnTuesday morning at 10 am, we had our agency's intake meeting with the social worker over the phone, while sitting on the front stoop of our house. After the meeting, I had to go to work. But after I came home from work that afternoon, we took a walk to the park. Emily learned how to ride a tricycle this week and was practicing her pedaling skills. This was both trying and comical at the same time, as Emily would become easily discouraged, saying "Hmmf...I can't do it. I give up", crossing her arms in the way that only a toddler can. The funniest part is that she would say it as she was successfully moving forward on the tricycle. Mike and I tried to encourage her by saying excitedly "Look, Emily. You did it! Look how far you moved!" And she would say "I didn't do that." So, needless to say, it took a little bit of convincing. :) But she was so darn cute on that tricycle, and we did eventually make it to the park! :) :) When we got there, Emily decided she wanted to go on the swings and the slides. This is when we realized that this was a perfect photo-op (as part of our adoption requirement, we are supposed to send our agency family photos). The only tough thing was that we didn't have anyone to take the pictures of all 3 of us, so Mike set the camera up on the platform above the slide and set the camera on a timer.
On Wednesday, we went to police headquarters to get our new letters of good standing (as the ones we did originally had expired). Emily had a great time, and entertained herself and those around her by playing peekaboo with the clerk and all the people waiting on line. In fact, she was laughing so hard that the rest of the staff came out from behind the desk to see who the giggling little girl was. After we got home, we had our last homestudy visit with Sandra, the social worker from Family Focus. We had lost power for a chunk of the day, due to heavy thunderstorms the night before. Even though we regained power before the homestudy visit..by this point, cooking dinner was not an option. So we ordered Chinese food (which was actually quite appropriate, given our country choice). We joked with Sandra that we were trying to educate ourselves on the Chinese culture through our culinary choices. The meeting went well, Emily was a ham, and Sandra said she was very happy and excited for us.

2006-07-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Today was an exciting day. We had Mike's parents and his younger brother Danny over. We took them all out for a movie and then hung out at our place. It was during this time, over pizza, that we made the grand announcement that we have switched countries to China. They were very excited for us, which just added to our joy. In fact, they were so excited that they called us again just after they arrived home, to tell us again how happy they were for us! :)

2006-07-13T20:55:00.000-04:00

Today was an awesome day! Not only did CAWLI (our agency) contact us to say they received our application, but they emailed us the official "intake package". So, we officially are in process!!! Yay!!!!! The agency also scheduled an over-the-phone "intake meeting" with us for Tuesday 7/18 at 10 am (where the social worker will walk us through the paperwork and provide us with a chance to have any initial questions answered). I am so excited! We are offically on our way to becoming new parents again! :)

2006-07-12T17:17:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Kate. I have a wonderful husband, Mike, who I married in 1999. Mike and I also have a beautiful 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Emily, who is the light of our lives. The reason why I decided to start this blog is that Mike and I have begun a very special journey. We have begun the adoption process to bring home our baby girl from China (and much-awaited baby sister for Emily!).....hopefully by the end of next year (2007), as the process takes about a year or so.
Originally, it was our plan to adopt from Russia...but, after some serious consideration and research, we decided to switch gears and head to China instead. So, here is where we are.....We officially applied to the adoption agency yesterday (7/11/06)....woohoooo!!!! We have the first draft of our homestudy done, but the social worker needs to visit us at home one more time (as China requires one extra visit vs. Russia). So, the next step is to gather all kinds of documents to be compiled into our dossier (which goes to China). We also have to apply to immigration to get fingerprinted and to gain the U.S. government's approval to adopt.