WE GOT TA!!!

Can you believe it? A smidge faster than the present timeline schedule. Our agency rep figured it would be about August 5th, and we got it July 26. Yesterday actually. This is my first chance to get on the blog. Yesterday I was a bit numb from the news, and today I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Not this Chicken

Today's Run Around:

1. I had to Fed Ex our 4 Visa applications to Chicago. For those of you on this adoption process, we used Denise Hope in Illinois whose business name is There's Always Hope - document and visa courier. Our agency rep recommended her because she can go to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, where it is less busy and has a quick turn around time. Our visas should be back here by next week, August 5th.

2. Before sending off the Visas, all 4 of us had to get more passport photos taken. We went to Walgreens, and they all came out really nice. Dave and I both said we wish those pictures were the ones in our passports. Boy, do we have some unflattering shots in our passport books. I hope we don't scare anyone when they open them up at Immigration. :-0

3. After passport photos, we went to Dr. Ness's office. We were there just last week when Nathan was diagnosed with strep. But I was feeling poorly with a terrible ear ache, so we all went back to be tested for strep. Dave was the only one who tested + for strep. Dr. Ness thinks my ear pain was from an infection in my gums where I had a tooth extracted.

Lovely.

Anyway, 3 out of 4 of us are on Amoxicillin.

4. I finally finished the little photo album we made for Jade-Rose, and I really wanted to get it in the mail today so *HOPEFULLY* she will have it before we get to China. She has a couple of pictures of us now, that I sent last October, and tonight I will be sending some to our China Facilitator by e-mail who will send those on to her as well. I was procrastinating a bit with the photo album because I didn't expect TA so quickly. I think it came out really cute. Inside the album, on one side is a plastic sleeve for a picture, and on the opposite page a place for you to write things down. We typed in simple words in a Chinese translator, so the description, opposite the picture that I put in there, is in English, Chinese characters and Pin Yin.

I only took a picture of the cover of the album. I literally had to race to the post office before it closed by 5. The outside of the album has Disney Princesses on it, with a little plastic heart. Inside the heart are little tiny beads which move around. It's really sweet. Here's hoping it arrives before we do.

That's about it for today. I'll tell ya, it felt like alot.

Two New Pictures of Jade-Rose

A very nice adoptive parent sent me these latest pictures of Jade-Rose/Chenjie that she took when she was at her SWI. She looks so cute.

I heard from another Luan parent today as well who met Chenjie and said she was smart and happy and an expert at playing Legos. That will be a great activity for her to share with her brothers in China!

Here are two pics:

Made a new decision

Hello to anyone who is reading our adoption blog! (I hope someone is)

In previous posts, I have discussed how our wonderful friend Pam had offered to take care of our twin boys while Dave and I go to China to get Jade-Rose. For the longest time, we thought that decision had been made and decided, and that was that, and we felt blessed by her offer. However, after much discussion last week, Dave and I decided to bring the boys to China with us. SURPRISE! Well, it is a surprise for us.

So.. last week, we talked to our physician and he looked at our boys shot records (I do a much slower schedule than the standard AMA recommendation), and he felt the boys were covered for most everything. The only shot they received was for Hep. A. Dave and I finished up our rounds for Hep. A and B., which were the last ones that we needed before travel. Since I am not a vaccine lover, let's change the subject....

Dave called our agency today, because we still hadn't heard anything after our papers were delivered to the US Consulate in China. We were told they were going to picked up and delivered to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) next Monday. That is the last step before TA.

This could go on for a few more weeks. UGH.

However, Dave and I have written a letter which we are having translated into Chinese tomorrow. We are hoping, because Jade-Rose got accepted into the School of Arts and Sciences for August admission, that the officials at the CCAA will grant us a quicker travel approval for the sake of her education. That's what we are praying for anyway.

Since we have decided to bring the boys with us to China, so that the whole family can adopt Jade-Rose, and not just the parental figures, I thought I would post some pictures of the boys. They are very excited about having a sister and they cannot wait to teach her the ABC's and numbers! It is the opinion of many BTDT adoptive parents, that having children with you during the adoption process helps the new child to adjust easier within the family. It makes sense if you remember that for the last 5 years, she has been surrounded by children, living with children, eating and sleeping next to many children. I am hoping that with her new brothers there, she will feel less frightened then if it was just Dave and I. Two strangers that don't look like her or speak her language.

We are also thinking about our future as a family and family history and family memories. I think in the future it will be important to everyone, Jade-Rose and Alex and Nathan, that they were all together when our family of 4 became a family of 5.

Here are the world traveling 6 year olds...

Nathaniel

Alexander