Gone Dark...

DH here. Sorry for going dark. We've had a few very busy days and we're all adjusting to the time change. That means we're sleeping in until 6 AM most days now. :) Our latest adventure is climbing the Great Wall. Bear made it all the way to the top! Luckily, DH and Grandpa survived the climb.

This morning we fly to Zhengzhou. The flight arrives at 12:00 PM. It's an hour ride to the hotel and then we go to the bank to change money. Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!

Everyone is up now and we need to start packing. More to come in the next few days. Pray for us that everyone continues to hold up and Bear shares some of her boundless energy with Grandpa and I.

6 Month Post Adoption Report

(Yes, I am well aware Joseph has been home for almost 8 months now. I am late, again. The report was only a little late, the blog post about it is really late.)

It is amazing to me how quickly these months with Joseph have flown. The busy-ness (the birth of Gabe, my sister's healing heart, learning to run a house that has expanded quite quickly, etc.) of our early days with him make that time seem surreal. I'll never forget pulling the van up to the curb of the airport to greet an exhausted little boy not sure what to make of this next stop in his journey. An almost two-year old boy who had known too many homes, too many caregivers, and not enough love.
He responded very similarly to Juliana and in many ways shut down. Dh was remarking how serious his countenance was in almost all the early photos we have of Joseph. These first six months with him, he has come out of shell. He smiles often now, he laughs, he wants attention. It is amazing to think of how much he has changed in such a short time. Being with him each day, and watching this gradual transformation, it hardly seems like it has only been six (ok eight) months. Then, looking back at those early pictures, he hardly seems like the same little boy.
He has also gained so many skills to go along with his budding personality. He now helps get himself dressed. In the early days, dressing him was painful. He was limp and we would have to push his arms and legs into his clothes. Now, he looks forward to pushing his arms through, and the only trouble is getting him to be still. He especially likes trucks, cars, anything with wheels, and he loves to see these machines on his clothes. He even has a favorite pair of truck jammies and sleeps with a toy truck in hand.
He also has learned to run and jump. This is good when at the park, not so good at evening prayers. He has learned to use a fork, sometimes. He eats like a champ and has now taken to pointing to others' plates when he is finished with his own, hoping to be given their leftovers.
Perhaps my favorite early memory of Joseph will be how much he loves to go to Church. The minute the van pulls up and he recognizes where we are, he laughs and has a look of pure joy. He tugs and pulls on our hands to get in as quickly as possible. He smiles at everyone he passes and tries to shake hands with anyone he meets. He especially likes the holy water fonts and as we pass each one (typically we pass four on the way to our pew), he earnestly submerges his entire hand into the font, splashes a little, pulls out his hand, and does his version of the sign of the cross. Inevitably, he ends up quite doused in holy water. I would like to say his behavior during Mass is just as sweet, but we are talking about a two-year-old rambunctious little boy. We do our best, and it is getting better, but dh usually leaves Mass feeling like he had been in battle.
Yesterday someone commented on how much Joseph was growing. I told her he was getting taller and monkey-er, and that pretty much sums up his first six (eight) months with us. What a blessing to have this little monkey and the infectious joy he brings to every one he meets.

2 Weeks, 12 Months, and U.S. Citizenship

Can you believe this little one is already two weeks old? It seems like just yesterday (especially with the lingering surgery pain :) ), and yet it seems little Gabriel has always been part of our family. It is amazing how newborns change the space time continuum.

This little one had her final (12 Month) post adoption report finalized this week, of course it was a little late. This should mean that all of the paperwork for her adoption is finally finished.

And this little one, who has been here not quite 3 weeks, has a court appointment scheduled for next week that will make him a U.S. Citizen and add me to his adoption decree. The process has been different since I was unable to travel to pick him up.

The older girls are enjoying their new brothers and the new Wii they got for Christmas...

All My Bags Are Packed....

I'm ready to go. (Notice I can quote the lyrics to "Leaving On a Jet Plane" and still not feel compelled to post a picture of a jet. Dh would not approve.)

My bags aren't packed and technically I am going nowhere, but I have managed to finally finish packing dh and Banana. Before dawn tomorrow they will be off to bring home our son, our newest family member. It has been quite a ride this week. It seems if it could go wrong, it did. As if booking last minute tickets, packing essentials for 19 days in two suitcases that can't weigh more than 40 lbs, gathering every essential document, and rounding up medications for whatever ailment Joseph may have or ailments dh and Banana might incur, were not enough we had a host of other things that demanded attention.

My sister has been having more complications and is back in the hospital. The dog has some sort of bowel issue that I hope dh has taken care of. The van door started acting up. Then last night Bophie woke me up in the middle of the night with an ear ache. I spent today trying to tie up all these loose ends, finish laundry and packing, and carting four girls to the doctor and three different stores.

I think the addition of some boys will be good for my house of girls. There were lots of tears tonight as everyone was sad at the thought of missing one another. Banana is excited, but already missing her mom and sisters. Bear and Bophie are sad about Dad and Banana leaving, and Juju just cried because we put her to bed. Poor dh has seen quite a few tears already. I am trying to keep my hormonal emotions in check, with some success. However, I just don't have it in me not to shed a few tears myself. The femininity in this house is overflowing. Almost three weeks without him. Three weeks when I am just over 36 weeks pregnant. We are crazy.

When I really get worried or anxious, I look at this little face and I know we are doing the right thing. It will be a long few weeks, but in three weeks when we are all united again as a family, with the blessing of Joseph's presence, we will quickly forget tonight's fears and anxieties.
Please pray for the safe return of my travelers and our newest family member.

** I am trying to convince dh to post during his trip. He is worried about time and such. Please let him know he needs to update at least a few times so we can hear how it is going. Banana may even be able to put up a post or two with his help. We did invest in a new mini laptop for this trip. It should get some use, right?

Almost Wordless Wednesday

If only it were this peaceful around here today...

Unfortunately, today has been anything but peaceful. Dh is frantically trying to book tickets to China. Not an easy task considering we have 6 days notice. I am trying to figure out how to get them packed in less than a week. Normally this wouldn't be that bad, but being nine months pregnant, I move slow and I can't concentrate.

My sister is back in the hospital after a very rough morning. They are running some tests now, but I know she was really hoping to avoid going back. I think the way she has been putting it lately is "It is easy to get in, but impossible to get out." The ten-year old son of my step sister is also in the hospital on a ventilator and feeding tube.

I have this terrible pit in my stomach from worry, anxiety, and being overwhelmed-- either that or the bazillion Christmas cookies I keep eating with all this stress. With all I have to do, I still just want to go to bed.

Counting Down the Days...

This evening we received a call from our adoption agency. They expect our TA (travel approval) to arrive any day now and believe dh and Banana will leave around Epiphany and be home around January 22. Nothing is definite, we can't book tickets yet, but things are starting to take shape. The fact that the agency called to make sure our ducks are in a row is a good sign things are moving forward. My c-section is currently scheduled for January 29, so barring going into labor early dh should be home in time for the birth.

I have been so anxious to bring Joseph home. I came across the following video this morning. It reminded me how fortunate we are. In a few days my children (and dh and I) will be showered with gifts. We will eat thousands of cookies because my sisters and I were silly enough to bake thousands. We will adore our Lord in one of my favorite Masses, we will sing, laugh, eat, play, and feel the love of a family. It will be just another day for Joseph, he will still be in a place he doesn't know well, with no family to shower him with the love every child deserves. While he won't be here for Christmas, I am so happy he will be home shortly there after.

God's Timing and His Blessings

Friday was dh's birthday, and what a day it was...

The last few weeks a lot of what if's and second guessings have been floating through our house. It seems we are on the final countdown to welcome our little boys and that has caused some anxiousness. On Thursday I had an OB appointment where we scheduled the January 27th delivery of our littlest boy. I am amazed it is already time to get it on the hospital calendar (I have scheduled c-sections because of a previous rupture). I also now have to go in for check-ups every two weeks. These milestones seemed to come so slowly in past pregnancies, I am amazed at how quickly they have arrived this time around.

I also found out on Thursday that my sister's heart transplant process is speeding up. The original plan had been to start the final testing to move her to the top of the list in February. The transplant team at the hospital decided those tests should be moved up because of the recent complications she has had. She has a heart cath this Wednesday and it is expected she will move to the top of the list after the holidays. This means she will be on call for a transplant the month of January.

I was starting to really get overwhelmed with all that lay ahead in our family the month of January. It seriously will be one for the record books. I was a little worried how we would get through. I had been trying to be a trooper, but I felt as if this was asking a little much.

On Friday we were once again shown God's faithfulness. Our adoption paperwork had been at the step that has the most variance in time. We were told this step(called an I-5 authorization) could take anywhere from two to six weeks. The due date of baby 6 is such that if this step took six weeks, dh would be in China during the delivery or we would have to postpone his trip. We were really struggling with this decision. Banana, being the sweet girl she is, suggested we pray a novena for God's timing in their travels. She even downloaded a novena to St. Therese and was in charge of bringing it out at our family prayer times. Just a few days after finishing our novena, and 14 days after beginning this step, we received our authorization Friday afternoon. This hopefully means that dh will be leaving in early January and should be home in time for the delivery.

Thanks be to God.

The Next Step

Yesterday we received our 797 Provisional Approval for little Joseph. While I know this is the next step in our paper chase to travel to Joseph, I am still not sure it brings us any closer to determining travel dates. Our next set of paperwork was sent off last night to Guangzhou and we now wait-- again. This wait though, is the most variable. We really need it to go quickly if we want dh to have traveled and be home with Joseph by the time baby is born. If this wait is slow, we will be faced with some tough decisions. Do we postpone his trip so he can be here for the birth? Do we send him anyway, knowing Joseph needs to be home? We can only pray that God's will be done. He is total control of this timing.

My sister has been back in the hospital with some complications. Please keep her in your prayers. I know it cannot be fun to have to spend weeks at a time in the hospital. I also know it would be especially difficult to have to spend Thanksgiving there.

A Response to Questions about Joseph

Joseph is currently 19 months old, he is about a month and a half younger than Juliana. There will be about 21 months between him and his baby brother, we are still deciding on little brother's name. The update we received said he is not quite 25 lbs and about 31 inches. This is actually a little bigger than Juliana. Receiving those measurements reminded me I really need to get moving on getting things together, especially for dh's trip to pick him up. I am close to an expert on little girl clothing, shoes, and accouterments, but the boy thing is a whole new world.

Joseph was found when he was a few months old. He was taken to an orphanage in the province of Henan. His cleft lip and palette made feeding him very difficult and he was soon sent to a foster home in Beijing that was better equipped to deal with his special need. He has been at this foster home for over a year now, and seems to have received absolutely wonderful care. At the end of October he had surgery to repair his cleft lip, which seems to have been very successful. He will have to have his palette repaired once he is home.

Because Joseph is in a foster home, it will be necessary for him to return to his original orphanage before he is placed with us. Dh will have to travel to his province (Henan) after he arrives in Beijing. Then the orphanage workers will most likely bring him to dh. Dh is planning to visit his foster home in Beijing, even though there is a good chance he will not be there. We do not know the timing of his transfer back to the orphanage, but would appreciate your prayers for him in the coming months. I can't imagine how difficult it will be for him to leave the only home he has known to return to an orphanage he cannot remember, only to turn around and be placed with a family he has never known. All this for such a little fellow.

Wordless Wednesday-- A New Picture of Joseph

Signed, Sealed, Soon to be Delivered

Yesterday we waited and waited for our package from the adoption agency containing our LOA from China. It was overnighted to us on Friday and we needed to sign it and get it in the mail overnight back to our agency. Time is of the essence for us if we want dh to travel and be home with Joseph before the birth of our next child. At 5:00 the package had still not arrived. We had two packages last week which both arrived at around 2:00 so I was baffled as to why it was nowhere to be found.

Dh started calling. We had rearranged all our afternoon and evening plans to get this thing out the door, and it wasn't here. Turns out the delivery man left it two or three doors down the street. Thankfully, the neighbor across the street saw him at the wrong house and let me know. I was able to traipse down the road and see the package on a neighbors doorstep. I didn't think anyone was home, so I just grabbed it and ran home-- if you can call a pregnant lady waddle running. I would not make a stealthy thief, I can assure you of that!

The package consisted of two letters in English and Chinese. We basically just had to write in, "We accept Hu Hui Cheng" and sign our names. It all comes to that. Such simple words, with an eternal impact on our lives.

Amazingly, we still got it in the mail and it will be delivered to our agency sometime this morning. They in turn will send it back to China, and other documents to Immigration. We will wait.... again.

We received our LOA

For those not in the international adoption community, LOA means our Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter. It means we have been approved by the CCAA to adopt little Joseph. It also begins to bring into focus our travel time frame. Our agency estimates travel will occur in the next 10-13 weeks.

Today, I am 26 weeks along in this pregnancy. Add 13 to 26 and you can see that it seems that this little one from China will be here about the same time as our little one in utero. January is going to be quite busy around here. What a way to usher in 2010, two new little boys.

Not at all Wordless Wednesday*

* but a good picture nonetheless.

Today, I was elated to finally get a post-surgery picture of Joseph (now isn't the time, but we are rethinking the name, is that wrong?). He looks amazing, doesn't he? I'm no doctor, and I know it is only one picture, but I still am so thankful at how successful the surgery seems to have gone. His palette was not repaired, which we fully expected, but one surgery down.

I can't tell you how odd it was to find out the child we are praying for, preparing our home for, who in many ways is already a member of our family, has had surgery and we couldn't be there to offer support and comfort. I am eternally grateful he seems to be very well cared for. The foster home works very hard to take undernourished kids and fatten them up before sending them for surgery. This certainly seems to be the case with our little one.

Now if only we would get some word from China... We are waiting on our LOA (letter of acceptance), this means another round of paperwork before our TA (travel approval) which allows us to travel to pick up this cutie. Each milestone Juju crosses, each new word, each new bond that is established, each kiss she offers, reminds me of the milestones we are missing.

Today, Banana's Literature lesson introduced the phrase, "All in time." I submit this process is "All in God's time..."

Surgery for Joseph

“Love is unselfishly choosing for another’s highest good.”
– C. S. Lewis

I know it isn't Friday, so the quote is a little premature. I found it tonight as I was waiting for dh to finish a phone call. The quote is from the end of a letter from the couple who runs the foster home/orphanage where Joseph is currently living. It was an update about the comings and goings of the home during the month of September.

I was more than a little surprised to hear that our little Joseph had his cleft lip repaired this week. We knew there was a possibility of this occurring, but since we had not heard anything from our agency or his foster home, we assumed that he would have to wait until after his adoption. The foster home is aware we are paperchasing to bring him home.

I was also amazed to read that someone donated the funds to pay for his surgery. Truly choosing "another's good." I don't know that we will ever be able to thank this donor. Certainly there is little we could do to show our gratitude even if we knew who she was.

Today I am praying for little Joseph's recovery. I am imploring the saints (particularly St. Therese), the Blessed Mother, and his siblings in heaven, to watch over him-- especially until he has a family to care for him. If only this could come more quickly. I am also praying for his anonymous benefactor.

It had to be done...

We finally felt we had to let our adoption agency know about our pregnancy. The more dh crunches the numbers, believe it or not he enjoys doing this in his spare time, the more we worry that dh will travel after the baby is born. We are required by law to inform our home study agency and adoption agency within 24 hours of any life changing events. One of those listed is the birth of a new child.

In order to avoid any chaos that might occur if we wait until the next round of paperwork, yes there is of course more of that to finish, we thought it best to find out how the process might be changed. Since all of our information has already been sent to the Chinese government, the birth will primarily change how things with the U.S. are handled. That was somewhat of a relief for us.

How will this effect our adoption? The end result should be the same, there may be a week or two in a time delay, other than that the adoption continues as planned. However, no big surprise here, we have more paperwork and several hundred dollars more in fees to pay. We are still holding out hope that our paperwork will be processed more quickly than anticipated and we can bring little Joseph home before the birth of our little one in January.

Continue to keep him in your prayers. The picture is one from an update we received from his foster home recently. He is almost walking. I am so sad to miss out on these milestones, but thankful he is progressing.

From my Inbox This Morning

Congratulations! Your dossier has been delivered to the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

Now we wait... hopefully only a few more months.

In other news, Missy's surgery went well, but she is in for a long recovery. The next two to three days are especially important. Please keep those prayers coming.

We are on day 3 of our new school year. My expectation is just to survive this year, there is so much going on that I don't anticipate it will be one of our better years. So far days one and two reflect that. I already need some motivation-- even with my low expectations.

Another Round of Certifications

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. We had just enough fun outings to stave off the temptation to attempt to finish some household project. The only goal we had was to send off our dossier documents to the various consulates for authentication.

Dh has already made two trips downtown to have our various documents certified by the County Clerk and Secretary of State. That means braving traffic downtown, scrounging change for meters, waiting in endless lines, then trying to keep all the paperwork straight. He had to make two trips because he forgot two documents the first time.

So Friday morning I had the daunting task of assembling all the documents and determining which consulate to send them. You would think they could all go to the same one, but that would be much too easy. In order to truly confuse PAP's (Potentially Adoptive Parents), you have to send documents different places based on where the document originated. So dh's birth certificate has to go to a different consulate than mine. Then we have the documents we've created and our marriage certificate. It really gets difficult to keep it all straight.

So when I sat down to assemble the documents, I realized that dh had forgotten to notarize and certify our physicals. He had to scan them and print them the night I assembled the other documents and as a result, they were in a separate bundle in the folder and he forgot about them. Needless to say he was more than a little unhappy at the thought of yet another lunch break spent downtown with more documents.

All that being said, tonight we hope to send off the documents for authentication. One step closer to finishing this seemingly endless paper chase. Little Juliana at my feet right now reminds me it is all worth it in the end.

I do have a rant post in the works. I have become increasingly annoyed at how difficult (and expensive) the adoption process is. I can't imagine the outrage that would come from various organizations if we made those procuring an abortion jump through even one tenth of these crazy hoops.

An Update on Round 2

When dh and I talked about the difference in the adoption process when choosing a special needs child, we knew the most difficult thing for us would be to have a child matched with us and have to be waiting for the paperwork. It turns out this is exactly what we have been asked to do. We have seen little Joseph's pictures, we know a little about him, and we know he is just waiting for us.

One consolation has been that he is in an absolutely amazing foster home in Beijing. His local state run orphanage transferred him there so that he could prepare for cleft repair surgery. It turns out the surgery was cancelled because of an outbreak of chickenpox, but he remains there awaiting our adoption trip. Another advantage to him being in this home is that they have a great website where I could take a virtual tour and keep up with what is happening at the home. Somehow it makes me feel a little closer.

Please keep Joseph in your prayers. This weekend we filed our petition to adopt a foreign child with the U.S. government. Once we get this approval, we can get our dossier prepared and sent to China. In the meantime, Joseph is waiting for us...

Adoption Milestones

This week we crossed off two important adoption paperwork items. First, we received our home study. We are still waiting for one more police clearance to come in, but it is written and ready to go as soon as the clearance is received. This means we can send in our application to adopt a foreign child and put together the rest of our dossier to China. It also means that the paper chase is almost finished for us. The rest of the process means minimal paper work and lots of waiting.

We also received our preapproval from China this week. This is just a short message letting us know they received our Letter of Intent and will expedite our dossier for consideration once it is received in China. The goal is to have it there in less than three months. More importantly, the preapproval means we can finally post pictures of our little Joseph.

Blog world-- meet Joseph...

Peace

Since receiving the news of little Joseph things have been hectic. There is so much paperwork to be done on top of the business of life with four children. There are times I get a little anxious about how we are going to do this. None of my girls have even had stitches, will I really be able to deal with surgeries? I read message boards and start to get a little overwhelmed.

In one of those anxious moments, while searching for more information about our little one, I came across this quote on the web page that announced the arrival of our child into the foster home where he is currently receiving care:

“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
– Mother Teresa

A quote from Mother Teresa published by the people caring for our little child! It just shows the hand of God in this adoption. It is another reminder for me to put my hope in the Lord. He has already given me a beautiful sense of peace about this adoption. This quote was just another instance of Him reminding me how much He is guiding this process. I am thankful for this little consolation on an anxious morning.