Today is the Day!

We fly out of Boston this afternoon and have a long layover in Chicago. Then it's off to Beijing for a CRAZY week. But we will have LilyBeth on Friday the 24th! That means Thursday night back home. So please keep us in your prayers as we try to navigate the most confusing adoption yet!!

Totally Freaking out!!!

I can't believe we are leaving in less than two days!!!

This is me--totally through and through. Please pray for sanity as we travel to meet our newest baby girl!

Tea Party Hat

As I pack for our trip to China, I am also working on planning a Victorian Tea Party for our church. It is so much fun! I am disappointed that I won't be here this year, but I'm happy that Gracie can go without me. She will have a "big sister" take her.

So, she and I grabbed our glue guns, and a bunch of silk flowers and went to town. Above is my creations. It's WAY too big for me, but hilarious anyway.

Our 14 days in China are scheduled to be very chaotic. We get in Thursday night, get LilyBeth Friday morning, visit New Day Friday afternoon. We have the weekend off--sort of--church on Sunday. Monday is the adoption, and then sight-seeing for three days. Friday we pick up a her passport and head to GZ! 6 days in GZ and then home in time for her 2nd birthday!

Wow! It's only a week away!

We meet our daughter in 7 days! I can't believe it has already been a week since we got TA--where did the time go? Oh yeah, planning and prepping for travel.

I have most of our stuff packed (except for my clothes), donations set aside, plane tickets purchased, and hotels reserved. Our daily itinerary looks good--busy but good--and we are only 5 days from getting on a plane!

I will miss my kids so much, too much according to Mike. I'm praying that they will all be safe while I'm gone. I trust the sitters and definitely my husband, but I will miss them and worry nonetheless. Well, it can't be helped. I have to go to China to bring our daughter home. I wish I didn't have to travel, but Mike can't.

Anyway, I am so HAPPY to be meeting our daughter so soon. We have had her photo on our refrigerator since November--7 months ago. But soon, she will be in my arms and then home with her brothers and sister.

Travel Dates!

• The Two Jennifers and I will be leaving from Boston on 6/22 and arriving in Beijing very late on 6/23.
• 6/24 Gotcha Baby Girl!
• 6/25 and 6/26 we tour Beijing--Great Wall, Forbidden Palace, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven
• 6/27 Adoption Finalization!
• 6/28-6/30 Visit New Day Creations
  
• Lots of appointments over the next several days
• 7/1 Fly to Guangzhou
• 7/5 Consulate Appointment
• 7/6 Fly to Beijing
• 7/7 7 children home forever

Waiting for CA

Who knew there would be more waiting after TA? I had forgotten all about it. But we have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to get our confirmed Consulate Appointment date--then we can purchase tickets. What's crazy is that I have no idea how much tickets will cost, hotel, in-country fees, etc.

Some of the Details

Yesterday I was beside myself waiting for TA. I knew that if we didn't have it by end of business Monday, we would have to wait until the end of July to travel. I've been following the Rumor Queen for a couple of weeks now very close. So when I saw that some families were getting TA's yesterday I couldn't bear to wait any longer and called our agency. The agency said the mail had already come and our TA was not in the mail. I was so bummed and didn't know how I could possibly wait two more days. Then I got an email from our agency caseworker that went something like this:

"Sharon, you have only been waiting for TA for two weeks. We do not like to contact CCCWA about statuses until you have been waiting four weeks. Since we have already checked once for you, it would be inappropriate to bother them again so soon." Major bummer! I thanked her for getting back to me and then sat on the couch to have a pity party. Mike was fine with the news and "encouraged me" not to be like Jonah but to accept it willingly. Pfft! As if I could rejoice in this news! I know that's what God wanted me to do, but I just couldn't right then. So I did what I needed to do--went out and bought chocolate ice cream with crunch coat. That helped a lot.

Then I went outside with the kids and tried to get over it. Then I got an email from my agency in response to my thank you email. It said:

Guess what, your TA just came in! We will request the consulate appointment for you. You will make it to the end of June travel if we get the consulate appointment. The plan is to have you arrive province (Beijing) on June 26th, I will try to request consulate appointment for you on July 5, otherwise we will try for 6th or 7th for the next option.

Then I jumped up from my beach chair and ran into the house! I tore up the stairs and burst into the bedroom. I was screaming and jumping up and down like a mad woman!! Mike looked at me and clearly was confused, then he said, "Oh, we got it" all calm. WHAT?! That's your reaction? Are you CRAZY? We are going to China to get our baby girl!!!!!

After that I was so full of energy I decided to mow the lawn with the push mower. About 3/4 through the mower kicked up something hidden in our jungle, otherwise known as the lawn, and shot the projectile through the side of our pool! When I saw the fountain erupting from the side my thoughts almost shifted from TA to the pool, but not fast enough. I ended up spending the rest of the evening looking for underwater patch kits! I can't leave the kids for two weeks in Summer without the pool.

That's our story. I will post more next week when we have a confirmed CA and I can buy plane tickets.

TA

Love the Rumor Queen!

Family	Province	Art 5 Issued	Days waiting on TA
greyhoundmama	shanghai	05/11/11	29
cm2010	sichuan	05/19/11	21
bearpeile	henan	05/19/11	21
baily	hainan	05/19/11	21
katie8025	hebei	05/20/11	20
sdcesq	beijing	05/24/11	16
patientboysmom	hebei	05/24/11	16
ikOH	henan	05/26/11	14
mikeandmarie	shanzi	05/31/11	9
raisingarizona	yuman	05/31/11	9

TA Process Info

While waiting for our TA, I realized that I had some questions about how the process works from the CCCWA side, as well as from our Agency's standpoint. I have to say that I am very impressed with the timeliness of ASIA's responses to ALL my crazy questions. Here are the questions I had for our agency and their responses:

1. Does ASIA call to tell us when travel approval is received or email? We usually email the family and let them know the TA is here and that we have requested a date for the consulate appointment.
2. Will there be another travel packet coming, or other paperwork? There won’t be more paper work. You will receive 1 package containing your TA and couple of ASIA luggage tags. As your travel arrangement is finalized, we will email you your in-country itin, cost breakdown and your statement. The only paper work I can think of is the vaccination waiver if you haven’t done it yet.
3. Does ASIA get advance notice when CCCWA sends out TA's or do you just get them in the mail? We don’t , we will just receive it when it comes. We do check with them regarding our families periodically and they will let us know if it has been or has not been issued yet.
4. Does CCCWA issue TA's in batches, like once a month, twice a month, etc.? Or do they issue them daily? They do it in batches but not necessarily once a month or with a schedule, they just do a bunch when they get to it. We do know for a fact that CCCWA has been very busy lately and haven’t been issuing too many TAs-- as far as we know, they have not issued yours.

So, while I am disappointed to learn that CCCWA has not issued our TA yet I am happy to learn how it works. It helps to know that TA's are issued in batches, because that means I don't have to check in until I learn of other TA's out there. I don't expect to travel in June (which is what we were hoping for) but we will likely travel in July. That's very important because CCCWA is changing the rules as of August 1st. The fees change and the post-placement reporting schedule changes (more often--which means more fees on our side too.)

Hope this helps some of you.

Waiting for TA and update

Today is the two week mark! We have been waiting for our travel approval for two weeks now. I know it's coming soon so I'm not horribly anxious yet. (Notice I said "yet". That's because all waiting mamas know that our emotions can change on a dime and go from patiently waiting for the baby to crying and fretting in a split-second.) Getting updated pictures last week helped a lot. I got to see our little girl standing up--our other pictures have her propped on a toy and laying on the floor. She looks healthy, and to me that means a lot. So now we literally "wait for the call", the call that will tell us we can start making travel plans.

You'd think that with things this close (4-6 weeks from traveling) I would have already packed LilyBeth's suitcase, ordered money, and purchased donations for the orphanages, right? Not this mama. I like to procrastinate until the last minute when I will be in full-blown travel mode. That way I don't get my hopes up about a quick TA only to look at a fully-packed suitcase and wonder if I'll ever get to use it. When that call comes, you can bet I will a completely crazed woman! (I'm just giving you the head's up.)

The update:

As you know we've been waiting for the IRS to process our refund. I'm convinced we won't receive the refund until October at the earliest. Anyway, Mike and I have been praying that God would show us how He will provide for this adoption. Every time I log on to the IRS website a little voice in my head (God) says, "you're looking in the wrong place." But I look anyway--because I like to learn the hard way. Mike and I knew that God had planned this adoption all along. We haven't had to do much in the way of fundraising because God keeps providing the money. Well we learned last week that God was providing yet again! It's almost enough to complete the adoption without that IRS refund! We are so grateful to God! Now, bring on the TA!!!!

UPDATED PICS!

Oh My Goodness!! I thought we were never going to get updated pictures. Our only pictures are from March of 2010 when LilyBeth was only 8 months old. Now our little baby is nearly 2 and we are so close to getting our TA! Here she is! I can't wait to see her in person and see her smile! Mommy's coming LilyBeth!

A little humor

A little humor to lift our spirits:

You might be adopting from China if:

16. You own new children's clothing in 3 sizes, for all four seasons, for a child you've never met.

15. You know that waiting for China has nothing to do with dishes.

14. You've been "expecting" way more than 9 months.

13. You start weighing your clothes.

12. You're as hormonal as a pregnant woman without the weigh gain--well, maybe with some weigh gain.

11. You've been fingerprinted four times and have never committed a crime.

10. You practice squatting while going potty to perfect your aim.

9. You practice strapping large amounts of cash to your body without wrinkling it.

8. You have a crazy obsession with Skype, Blogger, red bags and tissue paper.

7. Letter combinations such as LOA, LID, TA, CA, PA, DD, DS, DH, SWI, CWI, SW, WS, SN, NSN, and RQ are part of your everyday vocabulary.

6. You can stock a small medical clinic with the "just-in-case" medicine and first aid supplies that are in your suitcase.

5. You know that I-800 and I-171 are NOT highways.

4. You scour store shelves looking for "stacking cups" because you think China won't let you adopt without them.

3. You know who the Rumor Queen is....and...you DON'T know who she is.

2. You study Mandarin phrases like a college student cramming for finals in hopes you will have something to say to your daughter.

and

1. You love someone you've never met with all of your heart.

(This is a compilation of two different lists I found in the blogging world.)