We made it!!!

 After about 24 hours of traveling, we made it to Beijing China at about 4:30 a.m. Colorado time. (7:00 p.m. Beijing time)  We were so exhausted!!!  Lenea only slept about five hours on the plane, and Jay and I only slept about two.

After a much needed good nights rest, we heeded to the Great Wall of China with our to tour guide Angela and a few other family's.   The Great Wall was simply amazing!!

Ridding the toboggan down the Wall

The scenery here is beautiful

China Itineray

Here are our plans for China. We leave in just 5 days!!!






Wednesday, November 16th:
United Flight 8:09 AM to San Francisco-short layover and land in Beijing, China 4:45 PM on November 17th




Thursday, November 17th:
check into Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven hotel in Bejing


Friday, November 18th:
Tour with a couple of other families we met on internet, going to The Great Wall- plans to ride a chair lift up the mountain and ride a toboggan down! (Yippee!) Peking Duck lunch and shopping in the afternoon with our tour guide, Angela.


Saturday, November 19th: Try to tour a little on our own- Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Tiananmen Square. We plan to take the subway, as we here it is easy to navigate, although very crowded. We think Jay's height will benefit us in this department.


Sunday, November 20th: A little more shopping if possible on our own and in the evening take a flight to Wuhan, Asher's province.
Wuhan hotel is called White Rose.


Monday, November 21st: Gotcha Day for Asher! I can't wait for this day. plan to shop for some of his needs- formula, shoes, bottles, diapers, etc. whatever we don't have that he needs once we meet him.


Tuesday, November 22nd: Apply for adoption registration/Notary. Then free, probably will rest, I imagine.


Wednesday, November 23rd: Apply for Chinese Passport and tour the city of Wuhan.


Thursday, November 24th: Jay and Lenea fly back to Beijing and home- to arrive about 10 PM our time at home. I will do some shopping if possible and rest some more. Happy Thanksgiving.


Friday, November 25th: Pick up Asher's passport and in the later day fly to Guangzhou, to stay at Victory Hotel.


Saturday, November 26th: Medical Exam/photo shop around Shamian Island- lunch at a park with other adoptive families I met on the internet.


Sunday, November 27th: Free day, hoping for shopping- may check out the church on the island.


Monday, November 28th: 8:30 AM Consulate Appointment (this was the big day we had to wait for to plan our travel around once we got TA).


Tuesday, November 29th: Get Visa for Asher to come to US!! 
Meet friend at her hotel as I will be taking the train along with them and staying in Hong Kong at same hotel with them. We take the train that afternoon, (hopefully not evening), then taxi to  the Empire Hotel Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Wednesday, November 30th: Take taxi to airport and leave on United at 12:30 PM, headed back to San Francisco, 3 hour layover then head home!!!


Prayers are so appreciated. That Asher's heart will be opened to our love and we would not get sick while traveling. That we will be safe as well. And for our children who are staying home.
This will likely be my last post until we get home. Makenna might be able to put up some photos for me from home, not sure how those internet details will work out.

Part 1: We have an update.. and Part 2: Faith Like Children

Update:

So after 2 weeks of not hearing anything back from our agency, regarding the questions we asked about Asher, I asked if they could check again for us.
They got back to us 2 days later with the answers...The blue are my questions and red is their answers.

.

1． Please give Height and Weight and Foot Size.

Height: 84 cm; Weight: 10.5 kg; foot 14 cm 

 

This translates to 33", 23 lbs and size 7 toddler shoe. Which means he will wear about a size 24 months, mainly because of his height. He really will be a thin from the sounds of it. I have had babies that were 23 lbs at 6 months! So this should be interesting. Once again, I am bringing overalls and one piece warm suits for him in China.

 

2．What name does he like to be called or what does the foster family call him?

He likes other people called him "Quan Quan".  His foster family calls him "Quan Quan".

 

I have an idea on how we will say this, but I plan to ask the guide what their pronunciation is for their dialect.

 

3. What comforts him when he is upset?

When he is upset, you can just give him new toys, take him out for a walk, or go shopping, it will calm him down.

 

 This sounds simple enough.

 
4. Is he toilet trained?

The foster family trained him to sit on the portable potty, but he would just sit and no result.  He likes to squat down and potty.

 

I am thinking this means does the position,but goes in the diaper or maybe he likes the squatty potty? Anyway, we will be bringing diapers.

 
5. What does he dislike?

He does not like furry toys.

 

And we bought and sent him a panda bear? Oh well, maybe he will change his mind. 

 
6. What does he enjoy?

He likes new toys.

 
7. How often and long does he sleep?

He sleeps twice.  Nap from 1:00 pm to 3 pm.  Sleep at 9:30 pm to 7:00 am.

 

He will hopefully learn to go bed a lot earlier here, we put our kids down at 8 or earlier at that age. But I am sure all sleep will be a big adjustment. Since he will be sleeping with us, I know this will be different anyway.

 
8. Does anything particularly scare him?

He is afraid of thunder or fire cracker etc. loud noise things.

 

This sounds typical..however could be sensory issues, as well as the not liking furry toys.

 
9. Does he live with other children? What are their ages and gender?

He lives with one other child.  She is a 1 year old girl.

 
10. Which family member is he closest to?

 He is close to his foster father.

 

 

Faith Like Children

 

On that same day my kids all day had been telling me they knew that God was going to send TA that day. They stated and were adamant that they were praising Him for sending TA, as they checked the email through out the whole day. I don't think 15 minutes went by that one of us did not check the screen. I am a realist at heart and while I knew that God would be sending it soon, I just haven't been that forthright in my prayers like my children were. I would say the same things, but then an hour later take it back into my hands.  Really, children have such big faith. It amazes me and inspires me to see and learn from them.

Anyway, 2 o'clock came and went which was 15 minutes later than when we heard about our LOA. I went to put Lenea down for her nap and about 20 minutes into our routine I have 4 children coming to the door, barging into the room, and quietly whispering, with much excitement "IT'S HERE! WE GOT TA". My heart dropped... Really?? I could not believe it. God really did bring it on the day my children ALL declared we WOULD be eating Chinese food for dinner. (We promised to buy Chinese food for a treat when it came, since we don't get it too much due to cost.)

As soon as I was finished with Lenea, I rushed to the computer to see that- Yes, INDEED we had it. No other news but that they would be in touch with us soon. Wow...what a wonderful feeling. The last step we have been waiting for, the hardest step really, is done. 

The next morning the agency sent an email telling us we had a Consulate Appointment for November 28th. Do you know what that meant? It meant that we got to travel on November 16th, which was the date I was figuring in my head and praying for the last 3 weeks! God is so amazing.

I proceeded to spend the next several hours that day searching for the best flight deals. It is a puzzle since while Jay, Lenea and I are all traveling the first portion of the trip, the end looks different. We will be flying from different airports and on different dates. But we found one from Todd Gallineck, a recommended travel agent in the adoption community. So now tickets are purchased. Now I am looking at hotels for the outskirts part of the trip and a guide to help us tour a little bit of Beijing. And we need to purchase some In-China flight tickets from Beijing to Wuhan (Asher's province).

I will update soon with our itinerary. 

The TA waiting...and waiting...and waiting..

Our Article 5 was supposed to be picked up last Thursday, October 13th. Now, we sit and wait (not so patiently) for our very last step before we get to buy some plane tickets to China. 

This process, once we decided on China and picked our agency, was a little over 9 months ago. We were matched within a week of signing our contract with our agency. It feels like I am way over-due with a pregnancy (not unusual for me!).

We have daily prayed for our little boy Asher, and his care-givers. We have watched (in a few photos) him grow from a baby into a little boy face. I imagine he is still "baby" in many ways, but it is hard to know that we missed all that part of his life.

 I was telling my children today that I believe these last 3 steps (I800, Art 5 and now TA) have been the hardest for me. I think it is because we are so close, but still don't have a definite date as to when we get to meet him and bring him home.

I felt a tinge of envy when I saw on a China forum I read, that several people with the same LOA date and even a few with an LOA 4 days later than us, are already 2 weeks ahead of us and making plans to leave in a week! I pouted a few days thinking, "That could be us!"

For reasons, unknown to us, God has allowed our adoption to be a different time frame. I am okay with it today. But I have to admit I am checking my emails 10x more than normal, hoping for a subject line of "TA!!!". I know it will eventually come. I know God has already walked this path for our family and brought us to this little boy. I was thinking, "He may be holding back a little making sure we really are ready to do this." The longer we wait, the more our hearts do attach to little Asher.

I promise to post as soon as we hear and as soon as we have travel plans. IF we get TA next Monday, which seems to be a big TA day, we could be flying out 2 weeks after that, or maybe later. Only God knows. I rest today knowing, our lives are in His hands. Because I also know I would surely mess it up!
 

New photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woke up today with these adorable photos in our email. Remember the care package we sent with the bear and photo book? See him with them? I am so excited, my heart melts when I see him looking at our pictures.

We love you Asher, we are coming very soon.
We also asked some new questions which we have been told the orphanage is still working on. Hope to share some new information about him soon.

(We still don't know our travel date, hoping to hear in the next few weeks).

Approved for I800

Heard from our officer this AM that yes, we were approved and should get our notification in the mail soon!! Even though this was only 3 weeks, it felt like forever. Probably because we are just getting so close.

The next step is getting a pdf in email from the National Visa Center (NVC) that they received the approval from immigration and have put our information into the system for the US Consulate. This is so our son can get his Visa to come into the United States.


This will take about a week. Then I need to get that letter to our agency, who then gets it to the US Consulate in China. Waiting for Article 5 (that is what this is called for Asher's Visa) takes almost exactly 2 weeks.


 Following Article 5, the information from US Consulate in China goes directly to CCWAA in China. This is the Chinese organization that handles adoptions. These are "the" important officials for our adoption. Once they receive Article 5 for Asher's Visa they begin issuing our Travel Approval (TA). Again, this step varies in time (the average being 3 weeks). They will issue our TA back to our agency which gives us approval to go to China and get Asher, it is good for 90 days. But of course, we will want to go as soon as possible to get him! 

Daydreams- (as we are still waiting on USCIS approval)

Things I look forward to when meeting our new son (In China):


1. The first time we meet- even if he is scared and untrusting (which will actually give us information that he is progressing normally with bonding to his last caregivers).

2. The first time I get to hold him and look into his eyes with big smiles. I want that first impression to be just like it was with my newborn babies.

3. His first smiles for us. None of the photos we have him is he smiling. We are partly thinking it is the culture, but maybe he isn't used to getting pictures taken, maybe he is a sad. I have heard from many other adoptive families that their children did not smile in photos either, but that it quickly changed once they became more comfortable with them.

4. Hearing his sweet little voice. He is already talking, although because of his cleft issues we aren't sure how much can really be understood by this toddler.

5. Seeing him in his cute little boy clothes. Every photo we have so far, he is dressed in pink.

6. Feeding him a bottle and snuggling him. We so pray he will allow us to do this.

7. Seeing him interact and play with Lenea. She can't wait to meet him and be a big sister to him.

8. Trying to speak Chinese to him and getting a laugh out if his confused expression. Our attempt to learn some phrases is going very slow!

9. Learning about his culture and seeing where he came from, with him by my side.


10. Seeing his daddy love on him and learn all of the above with me. Jay is probably more excited about this little boy than even I am.