Ready to be Mommy and Daddy Again

Abby

2011-10-19T18:42:00.001-07:00

Abby was brought to our hotel room by a SWI nanny, the SWI director, a driver and the driver's mother in addition to the four of us. Our room was full!

Abby had been car sick on the trip, which was 5+ hours long. So, not only was she upset about being given to complete strangers, she was dehydrated, hungry and exhausted.

Lucky for us everyone loves Emma.

Lanzhou

2011-10-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

We had the whole afternoon to fill before we met Abby, so we walked around Lanzhou.

took some photos

pig skin rafts

The Yellow River

waterwheel on the Yellow River

It was Mid Autumn Festival, so everyone was at the temple.

incense smoke at the temple

Chinese characters on the sidewalk

Datong

2011-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

We took the bus from Taiyuan to Datong the morning of the 9th.

The Great Wall on the way to Datong.

Our view from the bus.

We checked into our hotel, ate lunch, then went to the Social Welfare Institute.

Emma and her foster mother.

Emma's foster mother was waiting for us when we got to the SWI. We sat and talked for about an hour before she had to get back home. We asked a lot of questions about what Emma was like as a baby and found out she is pretty much the same. Emma was born a singing, dancing, talkative girl who likes to be the center of attention. We also learned that Emma went into foster care when she was about two months old, which was different than we had been told earlier.

Emma's foster mother's main concerns were if Emma was happy and if she was able to walk now. Since both answers were yes, her foster mother seemed happy.

After our meeting with Emma's foster mother we had a quick tour of the SWI. Most of the children and staff were gone for the holiday weekend, so it was pretty empty.

September 7th-8th Travel Days

2011-10-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

We left for the airport dark and early on the 7th. From Atlanta we flew to Chicago. We had a two hour lay over in Chicago then flew to Shanghai. We had a three hour lay over in Shanghai, which was good, because we flew into the international airport then we flew out of the domestic airport which are about an hour apart from each other. Then from Shanghai we flew to Taiyuan.

We spent the night in Taiyuan.

Emma did GREAT!

China Itinerary

2011-09-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

September 7, 2011

Leave Atlanta at 6:25 am

September 8, 2011

Arrive in Shanghai

Fly from Shanghai to Taiyuan

September 9, 2011

Take the bus from Taiyuan to Datong

Meet Emma's foster mother at the orphanage

September 10, 2011

Tour Datong

September 11, 2011

Take the bus from Datong to Taiyuan

Fly to Lanzhou

September 12, 2011

Get Abby

September 13, 2011

Paperwork

September 14, 2011

Tour Lanzhou

September 15, 2011

Tour Lanzhou

September 16, 2011

Fly to Guangzhou

September 17, 2011

Abby's doctor appointment

September 18, 2011

Tour Guangzhou

September 19, 2011

Consulate appointment

September 20, 2011

Tour Guangzhou

September 21, 2011

Drive to Hong Kong

Fly home

Santa Train

2009-12-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread Train

2009-12-14T22:14:00.001-08:00

Seattle Children's Museum

2009-12-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

2009-12-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

The zoo by our home has a holiday light display every year and Emma and I went last week. There were a few stations where children could do activities. One station had a reindeer that you could get your picture with. Emma did not like the reindeer at all. I hope this isn't an indication of how she reacts to Santa.

Fourth of Four Halloweens

2009-10-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

No pictures from the third Halloween. It was at her Little Gym and there were a lot of people in a small space, so she was a little overwhelmed. I ended up holding her most of the time.

After swimming today we went out to lunch with Grandpa. All of the waitstaff was dressed up in costumes. Our waitress was a witch with dark make up. Emma first commented on her hat then told her that, "No color on your face, color on paper."

We started our trick or treating by going to downtown Puyallup with two families from Emma's old childcare. Emma quickly caught on to the concept of saying "trick or treat" then receiving candy and was so happy each time she got a candy. Emma loved the bouncy house and band playing at an empty lot. Two things Emma loves, jumping and music. She was rocking out.

After dinner we went around the neighborhood. Again, she got so excited when someone gave her a candy. She was very good about taking only one candy. One man told her to take a handful after she took one, so she took one more. As we were crossing the street his wife came running our of their house with a huge handful of candy and said that she was so cute and that she should have more candy and pretty much filled Emma's bucket up.

Another woman said that she was so cute and took her picture. Luckily Emma doesn't truly understand the power she has over people.

Second of Four Halloweens

2009-10-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

Today Emma and I went to a pumpkin patch with another Army family. The weather was cool and dry, which was nice since our weather has been pretty wet lately. And Emma got to see animals, which she loves.

Emma liked the goats. She didn't want to feed them or touch them, she just wanted to watch.

First of Four Halloweens

2009-10-19T15:41:00.001-07:00

My dad and I took Emma to a Halloween event at the zoo. As you can see, she is a doctor. When we were choosing her costume we were looking at her options. The girl costumes consisted of bugs and fairies. She doesn't like bugs and doesn't know what a fairy is, so she didn't like those options. The boy options were community helpers such as police, doctors, firefighters. Since she has the most knowledge about doctors, that is what she chose.

Emma loves to "look amals" (look at animals) and she got to ride a camel. She was so excited.

She also liked the shark tank. My dad called them fish and Emma corrected him, "Shark, silly Gagu."

Swimming Lessons

2009-09-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Emma has started taking swim lessons by herself. (She had been taking Parent/Tot classes with Jake.) She did great! Emma loves mimming, as she calls it.

She also loves riding her tricycle. Actually, she has outgrown it and needs a bigger one, but I think we will wait until Spring time so she doesn't outgrow it during the Winter.

A long overdue update.

2009-08-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

Since I am sooooo behind at updating I will just do a review in pictures.

June

gymnastics show

July

Life is so rough! ;-)

at the zoo

our cutie

August

Emma's first manicure. (She chose the colors.)

At the beach with friends.

another day at the zoo

Snoqualmie Falls

Four Month Anniversary

2009-05-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Emma has been home for four months! We celebrated in Florida with Jake. Emma and Baba had so much fun together in the sun and sand.

Just some of Emma's great milestones:

Emma has completed physical therapy. She had physical therapy for a whopping six weeks. She will have a check up in three months to make sure she is continuing to progress.

Emma has grown a little over three inches and has gained four pounds since she has been home. We have had to buy a completely new wardrobe since she has outgrown everything. Luckily I don't buy her expensive clothes. But, I think she is about to have another growth spurt. All she has wanted to do the last few days is eat and sleep which is exactly what happened before her last growth spurt.

Emma started speech therapy two weeks ago. She is doing great and we have very high expectations since she did so well in physical therapy.

Since Emma turns three on May 20th, I met with the school district last week to see if we should write an Individual Education Plan for her. The Speech/Language Pathologist was impressed with her progress and concluded that she is a English Language Learner and does not have a speech delay. The school district Physical Therapist said that since Emma's private Physical Therapist says that Emma doesn't need therapy anymore she obviously doesn't qualify for the school district. We were given the option of having Emma be a "model" in the classroom. The school has a couple model students in each Early Childhood Special Education classroom to model for the children with special needs. This is a way that Emma can participate in preschool in a much more cost effective way and we can keep an eye on her proress. Now Emma just needs to be completely potty trained and her language needs to be closer to age appropriate. We have four months, so I am not too worried.

We feel so blessed to have Emma in our life. How could you not love this girl?

Easter

2009-04-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

We had a busy Easter.

Emma had her first egg hunt on Saturday. Then at church on Sunday Emma had her second egg hunt. Then grandma, grandpa, Sara, Mark, and Great Aunt Charlie came down to our house for brunch and Emma had her third egg hunt to herself. By about 5 o'clock Emma was so tired she was delirious. She was just aimlessly running around, silently. She is almost never silent!

Doesn't she look so big!?!?

One of Emma's Favorite Things

2009-04-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Emma loves pudding. About once a week we make a batch of pudding and she knows exactly how to make it. If she was strong enough to hold the measuring cup and the milk carton she probably wouldn't need me at all.

3 Month Anniversary

2009-03-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted since our two month anniversary, but better late than never!

Emma is doing great! Every week she has more and more words and she is growing like a weed. She is currently experiencing growing pains, she is sleeping a lot and her temporary prosthetic doesn't fit anymore.

Last week she had an appointment to get her permanent prosthetic, but it was way too big around, her swelling is almost completely gone, so they made a new mold of her leg and she has another appointment tomorrow. Let's hope this one fits better. We don't want her to have two prosthetics that don't fit! She is so ready to run plus Emma started physical therapy and it would be great if they could work with her in her permanent prosthetic.

Emma's vocabulary is growing as fast as she is. The body parts that she knows are; hair, head, eyes, nose, teeth, ears, cheek, neck, tummy, belly button, leg, knee, foot, arm and back. She is starting to say three word phrases more regularly, and is great at saying please (peas) and thank you (tea tea).

Emma loves to cook! We make pudding every week, we have baked banana bread muffins, she helps me cook dinner a couple nights a week and today we made strawberry smelling playdough (one of her favorite things to play with).

Emma also loves books. She likes to look at them herself, wants me to read them to her, she has even started retelling the stories that we have read. Every night we read Goodnight Moon, Go Away Big Green Monster, Peek a Who?, Goose on the Loose, Jamberry and Clap Your Hands.

Here is our big girl...

Two Month Anniversary

2009-02-24T21:14:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we have been a family for two months. What a whirlwind! We have thrown so much at Emma and she always comes out of it smiling her mega watt smile and laughing.

Emma's surgery was February 3rd, she has had a cast with a rubber heal for the last two weeks, she now has a temporary foot and will get her real prosthetic in about three weeks. After each change she adapts and figures out how to walk again.

I know all parents think their child is smart, but Emma really is. I promise. She completes four puzzles at once, can show you how to buckle her carseat and kitchen booster seat, she can put on and take off her shoes and socks, brushes her own teeth (of course I go back and help when she is done), washes her own hands, is potty training, reads books to herself (turns the pages appropriately, identifies objects in the illustrations and says "all done" on the last page) and cleans up and puts things away in the correct location when asked to clean up.

Yesterday Emma had her speech evaluation and the speech therapist said that she is speaking at a 20 month old level. She has gone from 0 to 20 months in 2 months! The therapist also said that there is a three month wait before she can start therapy and that Emma could be at age level by that time.

Emma's favorite thing in the whole wide world is her teddy bear. It is ALWAYS with her. Teddy Bear is how she processes and practices new concepts. Emma wipes Teddy Bear's nose when he has boogers, puts Teddy Bear on the potty and wipes him when he is all done, sometimes Teddy Bear has potty accidents and Emma say "oh no" and wipes his bottom with a wipe, Teddy Bear wore one sock when Emma had her rubber heal and wore only one sock, after Emma gets upset and needs some snuggle time to calm down she will re-enact the scenario with Teddy Bear, she has even given Teddy Bear a "lecture" about going poo in the potty after I had "talked" to her about using the potty after a few accidents. I am VERY aware of what I say to her.

Jake and I feel very, very blessed to have Emma as our daughter. We could not have asked for a better, smarter, cuter little girl and have learned a lot from her.

Emma and I went to the park last Friday and Emma really enjoyed climbing and sliding.

A Big Update

2009-02-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

On February 3rd Emma had her surgery.

The hospital was great about helping Emma not get upset. They had a playroom in the general waiting room and another playroom in the surgical area. They provided a Mandarin translator, showed her pictures of the room she would have her surgery and let her decorate her face mask. They also put smelly Lip Smacker chapstick inside her mask and had her practice smelling it before she went into the operating room.

I took her into the operating room at about 7:30 am and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Emma did not cry at all. I was able to see Emma in recovery just as she was waking up at about noon.

We found out that medication wears off on Emma quicker than average, so the first twelve hours were hard on Emma and me. Once they figured out her med schedule, though, she was back to her old self. Unfortunately that was at about midnight. I feel bad for the family sharing the room with us. Emma would start getting loud then would shush herself. She is so funny.

The requirements for her to leave the next day were that she could keep food down, that she was off morpine and that she would take her oral meds. She ate dinner that same night, so that wasn't an issue, she stopped taking morphine first thing the next morning and started taking her meds with no problems, so we were ready to go.

We took it easy the next couple of days.

On Sunday Jake's mom came into town and stayed until Tuesday. It was great to have her out and get to meet Emma.

On Monday Emma had a check up and got a new cast with a rubber heal so she could walk and she did. By Wednesday she walking all by herself! Unfortunately her cast fell off on Saturday and her new cast has a much more angled knee bend so she can't walk by herself anymore. How frusterating for her. But, she gets her prosthetic foot on the 23rd and she should be up and running again.

One Month

2009-01-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, Emma has been home for a month! She is so amazing.

The English words she knows are;

Mama

Baba

Emma - "Mema"

up - "uppa"

down - "dah"

yea

bye-bye (with a wave) - "da da"

yum

night night - "no na"

noodle

Her favorite things to do are;

play dress-up, especially accessories. (hats, necklaces, bracelets)

playing with junk mail (she is constantly putting paper in and out of the envelopes and figuring out what fits into each envelope)

playing with cars (she even makes the car noices)

coloring and balancing crayons on their ends

and climbing, climbing, climbing.

Emma's surgery

2009-01-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

Emma's surgery is scheduled for February 3rd. She will have her foot and ankle amputated and her femur and tibia straightened.

I am very nervous. She is so strong and resilient that I am sure she will bounce back, but I don't want my baby to be in pain.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Little Miss Pretend Play and Independent

2009-01-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

Emma's pretend play is getting very elaborate and it is so fun to watch.

Tonight we were playing up in Emma's playroom and I gave her a yogurt cup and a spoon. She automatically started pretending to eat from the cup. She then went over to the little table and sat down to eat some more. She pretended to put something into the cup, mixed it up then ate some more. She put one of her babies into the play high chair and another baby onto the second chair and started pretending to feed them. She then started going to the refrigerator and getting more containers. She gave one cup to each of the babies and a few for herself. She was getting up and down off of the chair by herself and walked around on her knees to get things.

She is starting to get frustrated that she cannot walk. She tries to walk, but since her legs are so different in length it is just too hard. She can side-step while holding onto something, but for any real distance she has to crawl or walk on her knees. This is why we are looking for her to get her surgery sooner rather than later. Not being able to walk is very hard for our little independent girl.

Speaking of independence. The last couple of weeks Emma has started wanting to do everything herself. She wants to wash herself in the bath (so much so that I have to hide the soap after awhile or she will use the whole container in one bathtime) and today she wanted to brush her own teeth. Considering that I don't think she had ever brushed her teeth before we got her, this is big. She hated toothbrushing for quite awhile.

You know, I say awhile a lot, but Emma has only been a part of our family for 24 days. Not even a month. Hard to believe.

Here are a couple of pics I took tonight.

A photo I took the night before Ba Ba (Daddy in Mandarin) left. We miss him a lot.

A Great Day

2009-01-02T20:23:00.000-08:00

Emma had a great day today. Yesterday she was a little cranky all day, but today she was so happy and interacting with everyone she met.

We had our first appointment with a pediatric orthopedist this morning. We got lucky and a nurse squeezed us in so that Jake could be at the appointment before he goes back to school. We have a second opinion appointment next week. It went a lot better than we thought. We were worried because Emma's right femur is shorter than her left. From the pictures we received with her medical info we thought it was just her fibia and foot. The doctor said that what she has is the most common malformation and bone bending is common. He would be able to straighten the bones and would only need to amputate the ankle and foot. Yeah! She even flirted with one of the doctors! This is the first time we have seen her flirt and she chose a doctor, she aiming high, good girl!

We also met with an in-home childcare provider today. She is only licensed for 6 children which is great because we think Emma will do better in a small group. The provider has a couple of babies and one other two year old. She will start when Jake goes back to school next week. And she literally lives three minutes from our house.

Emma has been trying new things and found out today that she can climb up onto the speaker in our living room. I had to take pictures.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday

2008-12-31T21:17:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a happy new year!

Jake and I are justing relaxing together tonight, Emma did not sleep well last night and we are tired. Lets just say we did an emergency load of laundry.

And happy birthday Honey. Jake is 31 years old today. I will miss you when you go back to school.

We're Home

2008-12-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

We arrived home on Christmas Eve. Emma slept most of the flight and played the rest of the time. We are so thankful.

Leah's Mom, Dad, sister and brother-in-law came down for lunch on Christmas day then Emma opened Christmas presents. Thank you Kim!

Since we have been home Emma has been great. It is almost like she knows that she is home and we are all more relaxed. She plays with me all day long and is so giggly. There are a few lasting effects of her past, but we are amazed at the progress she has made so far. She has even started to imitate some words.

Unfortunately, Jake seems to have mutated what Emma and I had in China. We spent a long time in the ER this morning to find out that he has the beginnings of pneumonia. He is all drugged up now and hopefully starts to feel better soon.

Sorry for the Delay

2008-12-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

We are now in Guaongzhou where the US Consolate is. At the medical exam, a requirement for the US Consolate, they found two ulcers in her mouth. We were given some herbs to help them heal, but Emma won't drink it. So, she is just eating bland food until her mouth is better. Her temperature finally broke right before we flew here. She is feeling better, but is still not 100%. She has finally got her appetite back also. She went almost 24 hours without eating.

We are very happy that she is feeling better so now we can focus on her opening up to us. She has been snuggling with us the whole time, which we love, but she hasn't tried to talk to us/babbling and she hasn't showed us her crawling (she has thrown herself at me).

Here are some photos...

A sick day

2008-12-17T15:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Emma was feeling pretty bad so we decided to stay in our hotel and let her rest. Here are some photos from the lake here in Taiyuan. We walked around the lake while waiting to meet Emma on Monday.

Yesterday was so much better than we ever imagined

2008-12-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Jake and I had discussed so many times the different ways Emma could react when we got her. She could cry for days, she could shut down and show no emotion or sleep to avoid the whole situation. But instead we got a happy, smiley, laughing girl.

This is what we know so far about Emma...

*she loves chocoloate chips cookies

*she does not like to share said cookies with other children and will let them know

*she likes to sing and sings whenever we walk

*she is very observant and likes to watch other children

Today I think the excitement from yesterday has taken its toll. She woke up with a slight fever and has been exhausted the whole day.

Tomorrow we are planning a trip to a temple just outside of town.

Here is what you have been waiting for, pictures...

2008-12-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

A little about Taiyuan...

Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi province. It is a city of 3 million people and its largest industry is coal mining. The weather is sunny, but there is an obvious haze in the sky. This area has the highest cancer and black lung rate in the country.

Yesterday we went shopping at the open market. We bought some odds and ends for cheap. We are going back today with Emma (so exciting!) to get some clothes for her.

We are scheduled to get Emma at 3pm today. Our goal is to stay as busy as possible until it is time to go get here. The only problem is that it is 4am now. That is a long time to fill!

Here are some photos of the city last night.

Our hotel

Christmas decorations

flower lights at the city park

bicycles

gifts for the orphanage Director and nannies

Emma's crib

December 12th & 13th

2008-12-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

We are in Taiyuan (where we get Emma)!

Our "day" started at 4:00am Friday when we checked in at Sea Tac and ended at 9:30pm Saturday night when we landed at the Taiyuan airport.

Today we are going shopping to get last minute stuff and hopefully meet up with the other family that is adopting the same day we are.

I need a nap.

A Good Cause

2008-12-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Robeez, a company that makes shoes for infants and toddlers, is donating up to $250,000 in shoes to the organization Kids in Distressed Situations. All you have to do is go to www.seasonofgiving.robeez.com and send e-cards to friends and families. You will also be entered into a drawing to win a shoes and socks set, which would look great on Emma.

I do not like cold!

2008-12-06T07:09:00.001-08:00

It is supposed to be 28 degrees when we arrive in Taiyuan. We will be in Taiyuan for 6 days then we move onto Guangzhou where the weather is sunny and 75 degrees. Can you say packing dilemma? How do you pack for a 50 degree difference?

Any suggestions?

2008-12-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

We are FINALLY going to China!

Here is our itinerary...

December 12th - Leave Seattle at 7:30 am

December 13th - Arrive in Shanghai at 5:45 pm (Spend the night in Shanghai)

December 14th - Leave Shanghai at 10:35 am and arrive in Taiyuan at 12:30 pm

Try to relax!

December 15th - Get our daughter!!!!!!!

December 16th - Interview with Civil Affairs and Justice Dept and apply for Emma's passport

December 17th - Tour of Taiyuan and shopping

December 18th - Pick up our notary documents

December 19th - My birthday! Pick up Emma's passport and fly to Guangzhou at 4:00 pm

December 20th - Emma's medical check up

December 21st - Guangzhou Zoo

December 22nd - Interview with US Consulate

December 23rd - Pick up Emma's visa

December 24th - Free Day

December 25th - Leave Guangzhou at 8:00 am

Arrive in Shanghai at 10:00 am

Leave Shanghai 1:45 pm

Arrive in San Francisco 8:00 am

Leave San Francisco 10:30 am

Arrive in Seattle 12:45 pm (yeah home)

We are going to go get this cutie!

The end is in sight

2008-05-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

I spoke with our woman at the adoption agency yesterday and we should be traveling in about two months!

Now all of those things that I said I wanted to do before she arrives, I really have to get started on.

Here is my list (This way it is written for the world to see so now I really have to do them)

1. paint and add a pad to the top of Emma's toy chest
2. refinish the rocking chair (it is the one from when I was a baby and is 1970's dark brown)
3. paint Emma's room and put it all together
4. finish her blanket (I just need to put the finishing touches on it)

And put the rest of our new house together. Oh by the way, we've moved.
Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.

Thank you so very, very much!

2008-04-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

I received almost 120 fabric squares for Emma's quilt. Thank you so much! I just finished figuring out the placement for the squares and we will, hopefully, sew it all up this weekend. I will definitely post the quilt when we finish.

It was very exciting to see people really getting into the process and writing wonderful wishes & prayers for Emma.

On the timeline front, it seems that it is getting pushed back. I don't know if things are slowing down or if the Olympics are messing with things, but depending on who I speak with at the adoption agency we will be able to travel sometime between June and September. We'll see.

We are staying busy though. We need to move closer to Ft. Lewis for Jake's new job in the Army, so we have put an offer on a house in Fife. Yes, Fife. We decided that it would be better to move before Emma comes home so we are trying to get everything in order as soon as possible. So, if you know of anyone looking to rent a house in Kenmore. Send them our way.

As soon as all of the papers are signed for the home, I'll post pics. It really is very nice. I think it will take awhile to get used to the idea that I live in Fife. I am such a north-end snob!

It's nice to get away.

2008-03-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

I went on vacation last week with my mom, sister and brother-in-law to Hawaii. It was very warm and we were very lazy, which was nice. We saw lots of waterfalls and went to a botanical garden full of beautiful tropical flowers. And I ate many, many cups of shaved ice.

Have you ever seen berries like these before?

And look what I came home to!! I love my husband.

Some of you may know that we were having problems getting our I-171H form. This was the last form that we needed to get before our paperwork was sent to China. We were given the run around for over a month, but while I was on vacation Jake drove over to Yakima and asked them in person for the form and they completed it for him, then and there. We were told we weren't supposed to do this, but desparate times call for desparate measures. We are already on a pretty tight timeline with Jake going to school and this month long delay did not help matters. Again, I love my husband.

Thank You!

2008-02-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

I have already received almost 30 pieces of fabric. Thank you very much!

All of the pieces are so different, just like the people who have contributed. And some of the notes are so sweet. I really appreciate you guys so much. I am excited to start putting it all together. If you haven't sent a piece yet, don't worry, you still have two weeks before my Mom and I get started.

When I finish, I mean when my Mom and I are finished I will post the finished project.

Thank you again.

Here is a photo of the fabric Jake picked out to represent himself. Yes, it is pink and purple Superman fabric.

A Project

2008-02-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

I went forever with no adoption updates and now I have projects and things to share. How exciting.

First off though, there is a non-profit organization that assists Social Welfare Institutes (orphanages) in China and they are asking for help. This has been a very hard winter in China and many SWIs have lost electricity. If you would like to help, here is their website http://www.halfthesky.org/.

Now for my project. It is tradition in nothern China to make a Bai Jia Bei or 100 Good Wishes Quilt to celebrate a new life. The concept of Bai Jia Bei is that 100 friends and family members of the child and their parents contribute one square of fabric which will be sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy and good wishes from everyone who contributes.

A book is also made from the good wishes and prayers each person sends with their square of fabric. I am in the process of sending out invitation cards to friends and family with instructions on how to participate. If for some reason you do not receive a card and you would like to participate please let me know. I would really like to get 100 participants.

Thank you very much!

Here is what the invitation cards look like. Keep an eye out for it in you mail box.

Good Things

2008-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

There wasn't much to report on for awhile, now there is a lot.

#1 The most important!

Jake and I switched from trying to adopt from Viet Nam to China. More accurately, we have switched back to China.

We had originally looked at China, but since Jake wasn't 30 yet and I know the Viet Namese culture more we decided on Viet Nam. But then stories of corruption surfaced and the future of adoption in Viet Nam is shakey so we were uncomfortable with the situation. Since Jake was so close to turning 30 we talked to our agency which also works with China and we ended up looking at their Waiting Child list, which means that the children have special needs and we fell in love. Jake is completely and totally smitten.

We sent a letter of intent to adopt to China at the beginning of December saying that we wanted to adopt this specific child and today we got the authorization letter from China saying that she is ours!!!

We should be traveling in 4 to 6 months. Which is great because Jake is leaving for Alabama in 6 months, so he should be able to travel to China with me. Which brings me to #2.

#2 Jake is going to Alabama

Jake is changing his MOS or job in the Army. He has been a medic since he joined and now he will be going to EOD school in Alabama for 2 1/2 months then on to Florida for 6 months. Which means that as soon as we get home from China with our daughter Jake will be leaving for school for 9 months.

#3 Leah is going to school also

I have been accepted into a program that is sponsored or funded (I'm not exactly sure) by the state for leaders in early childhood education. It is a six month program that is mostly on-line, but I have to attend three three day trainings around the state during that time.

#4 And if that wasn't enough

I will be sending out invitations to participate in a project that I will be starting soon. It is a Chinese tradition to put together a 100 wish quilt before a baby arrives. I will be starting this in about a month or so.

I cannot post a full picture of our daughter yet, since she is not officially our daughter until we sign the paperwork in China, but here is a glimpse. If you email me privately, I will be able to send a full photo to you.

Vancouver BC

2007-11-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Jake and I went to Vancouver over Veteran's Day weekend. We took the train, which was beautiful going up. Coming home was a completely different story though. Vacouver is very walkable and we walked everywhere. There was a little taxi boat service that got us over to Granville Island and that part of town, but we walked the rest. The weather was pretty cold, but I hear it was worse here at home so I can't complain.

Here are some of the photos I took from the train.

We went to China Town on Sunday and most of the stores and restaurants were closed, but we went to the Asian Garden and walked around there for awhile. When we walked in it was kind of disappointing because all of the photos that I saw online were obviously taken during the Spring and Summer when everything is in bloom. A couple was getting married there when we got there. We also saw the skinniest building in Canada or the world, I don't remember. It is one room wide.

A Beautiful Fall Day

2007-11-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

It was so nice today, I finished up some yard work that I had been putting off. This is the first year that all of my plants have flowered. Yea! And with the weather so up and down they are very confused and still flowering.

Yea!

2007-10-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Jake is coming home late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning. He has been in California for the past month training in the desert.

It seems that his schedule is one month away, one month at home, one month away, one month at home. Hopefully this pattern stops. He should be home all of November and all of December at least. I say, as long as he is in the country I'm happy. Well, not really happy, but happier than if he was in Iraq.

I problem with Jake being gone so long is that I go shopping when I'm bored. I have officially cut myself off from buying anymore fabric for the nursery. I have more than enough now. But in my defense, Jo-Ann Fabric keeps sending my 50% off coupons. I can't let them go to waste.

Weddings and more weddings

2007-08-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I'm going down to California to attend two weddings on Saturday. That's right, two weddings on the same day. These are two totally unrelated people who are just happen to plan their weddings on the same day in the same area. And lucky for us, one is in the afternoon and one is in the evening.

Jake is not going down with me. I'm traveling with my sister, her husband and my dad. Jake is trying to save up all of his vacation days for when we travel to adtopt and after we get back.

Nothing new on the adoption front. We are just waiting. I got my first baby present though the other day. A very nice woman in my aerobics class made a blanket for me, well for the baby.

4th of July/Our Anniversary

2007-07-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

As of three days ago Jake and I have been married for four years. It's nice to end our anniversary each year with fireworks. We went to the fireworks display in Kenmore for the first time this year and they were pretty good. We usually watch the ones downtown, but really didn't want to deal with the traffic this year.

On the adoption front, we are just waiting. When we started the process in February they said the wait was 12-14 months. Now they say the wait is 10-12 months. Hopefully the trend stays in the right direction.

I have started buying stuff for the nursery. But I am buying a little at a time. Right now I am working on a cross-stitch blanket and on finishing the toy chest my grandpa made.

Yea, an update

2007-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

We just received our I-171, so our paperwork is complete. Our agency will send it the the Vietnamese Consolate then it is onto Viet Nam. Our official waiting has begun. Our agency has started partnering with a second orphanage and is working on a third, so hopefully the wait time shortens.

This would be good news because Jake's deployment to Iraq has been pushed back to May 2008, so it could be possible to receive our referral and travel before he leaves. That is our hope anyway.

Work has been crazy for me the last month or so and I am really hoping the summer brings some down time. I'm sure Jake would like that too since I have been so tired and cranky.

I have started looking for furniture for the baby's room to fix up, so if anyone has an old dresser, the shorter, wider kind that they want to get rid of let me know.

Things are moving, not necessary forward

2007-04-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Army News
Jake has been assigned to an engineering unit. Engineers in the Army blow up land mines. Jake is one of the medics who rides with the engineers in case something goes wrong. The unit is scheduled to go to Iraq at the beginning of next year. His biggest worry is not being able to go to Viet Nam when it is time to travel to get our daughter.

Adoption News
We are sending our updated forms to our adoption agency and our USICS (INS) form. Our homestudy should be at the agency. Hopefully we will get our fingerprinting appointment in the next few weeks then we will be official. That's when the official waiting begins.

Other that that, I'm on spring break and being as lazy as possible.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2007-03-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted and quite a few things have changed.

Jake is going back into the army. Working full time for my mom and going to school full time was a little too much and he needs a break, so he's going into the military. It makes sense?!? He has one more week before he has to drive down to Ft. Lewis everyday. He will probably have to go to Iraq for awhile with the surge. How much longer until Bush is gone????

With Jake's new job we need to refill out some adoption paperwork. We need to get a letter from his employer, would that be George Bush?, and we need to fill out a new financial info form since he will be making a different amount of money.

We also met with our homestudy guy last weekend at our house. We went over the paperwork that we had filled out before and talked a little more indepth about some stuff. Then he did a quick tour of our house. I guess we didn't really need to deep clean our house, but it needed it anyway. He has already done our background checks. Now we just need our references and our doctors to get back to him then he will send us a rough draft. (If any of our references is reading this stop and go write our reference letter.)

My mom has decided to do the three breast cancer walk and she has asked if I want to do it with her. My sister just happens to be going to Hawaii on vacation during that time. I haven't decided yet, it is for a good cause.

And, Jake and my anniversary of our first wedding is this Friday. He said that it is up to me where we go to dinner. I should get on that since I won't get home tomorrow until 9:00 pm.

Photographs

2007-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

We have to send photos of our home with the adoption paperwork and I realized that most of you have not seen our house. So, here are some of the photos.

February 23, 2007

2007-02-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the adoption agency and turned in most of the paperwork. We still need to write a letter of intent which states the age and gender of child that we want and that we promise not to abuse or abandon the child and we are still waiting on Jake's birth certificate.

We also received some paperwork that we need to fill out for our home study person. Once we send it back to him then we can set up a time for him to come to our house and make sure it is adequate for raising a child and that we are not crazy.

It is amazing how many times we have to do the same things over and over again. An example: We went to the King County Sherrifs Office to get a police clearance, which means they did a background check. The home study person does a background check on us through DSHS. And we have to get fingerprinted and the FBI does a background check on us once our paperwork gets through INS. But, both Jake and I have already had background checks done. I have to have one because of my job and Jake has had one through the Army.

Oh well.

I will try to up date this blog when something new happens.

Here we go!

2007-02-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

Well, we have started the adoption process.

We have decided to adopt a girl from Viet Nam. So, we have been filling out paperwork, figuring out where to get certified copies of documents and scheduling appointments. We are trying to get as much paperwork done as possible by next Friday and turn it in to our adoption agency. A couple of the documents need to be sent to the federal government and processed before we can move on to the next steps.

Next week we will also be starting the Home Study and hopefully get our police clearance.