Approved!!!

Yeah God!

I received a phone call on Monday morning from an NBC officer telling us that our case would be expedited. She wasn't kidding. Only God could have hooked us up with this particular officer, Ms. J, who happened to randomly answer the phone last week when I called immigration.

She put everything into place on Monday and we got our I800A approval Wednesday morning. This included a homestudy addendum which our agency got out on Tuesday and our fingerprints done on Tuesday. We found out that in our state we would NOT have been able to walk in early and would have had to wait for our fingerprint appointments in MAY. But Ms. J made a phone call and allowed us to go on Tuesday. AND she was willing to do all this through e-mail so our agency got our approval yesterday as well. No waiting for USPS.

Getting our fingerprints was quite a trip. All 6 younger kids were with us. We had to go through security and Kloey was whispering very loudly, "Is that a real gun?" Yes, dear, it is! Climbing on chairs and getting a little antsy they were as we waited. It was hard to explain the solemnity of the situation. And 15 minutes later, we were fingerprinted.

Basically, the United States said it was okay for us to adopt a special needs child under the age of 10 from China.

Just what we wanted and asked for.

Yeah God.

Miracles Boggle My Mind

The red thread is boggling my mind.

* The missionaries that stayed at my parents house, from China. Fluent in Mandarin and had lived there many years. We were able to skype and ask lots of questions.

* The money that showed up after we joked about adopting a kid from China.

* A doctor's appointment within 2 days with a pediatric cardiologist, at a satellite office 20 minutes from our house.

* The project that Bob was asked to work on in the SAME city as our child.

* AND today, I was talking to someone at our church who had been to China last fall. I asked her where she had gone? She said Hangzhou, the SAME city. Come to find out her son lives there and works in banking.

* A woman in our church is Chinese and fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese and is willing to help us when our boy comes home.

* VBS at our church this year is about panda bears and where do they live? China.

* A blog friend lives not too far away from Hangzhou. How cool is that?

Are you kidding? China is a huge country. Humongous.

Too many signs for me to ever believe in coincidence again.

My daughter said I should stop being surprised.

I marvel at miracles.

I can't help it.

Amazing God.

China in the Fall

Adoption update:

Our I800A form went to immigration on March 28, 2011. We received notification of receipt on April 5th at 1:37 am. Bizarre. Didn't know they worked in the middle of the night. Our agency called immigration to ask for our case to be expedited and forwarded some information to us.

Only cases that are aging out or have medical urgency are expedited and that is rare. I immediately called our pediatric cardiologist who has the best office manager in the world and they got a letter out which was strongly written requesting high priority based on the medical condition of our guy.

I e-mailed the letter and an explanation to immigration last night as instructed.

We are PRAYING that our fingerprint appointments come in the mail on Monday or Tuesday as we will be driving right by the place on Tuesday afternoon. Wouldn't that be only GOD if that all fell into place? After that, people will be in several different places at different times and we won't be able to get them done until May.

Please pray that our case will be expedited so our dossier can go to China very soon.

11 of our documents are back from the Chinese consulate in NY and they are waiting for one more from Houston, the Oklahoma birth certificate. Three guesses who that is?

Our dossier is close to ready.

And he is waiting!
I am having strange dreams and thoughts. Chalk it up to "pregnancy." It is odd having a child on the other side of the world.

Of course he isn't actually ours yet but don't tell my heart. It's too late.

I was reading another blog and was quite comforted when I read that someone else felt like they were in suspended animation during the adoption process.

Feels like everything else has stopped or is a struggle.

There is such a thing as adoption pregnancy. It has just as many ups and downs as biological pregnancy. There is no escaping the sacrifice.

We know the end result is worth it!

Weekend Visitor

Look who is visiting this weekend?

The three musketeers rule the house again!

I have been waiting all week.
Her smile is infectious.
We get to visit for the whole weekend.

The boys are thrilled.

A Spoonful of Sugar

I looked over and Erika was getting creative again.

This is how she got Micah to take his medicine tonight.

Sometimes they love her more than me!

She will be a wonderful mother someday!!!

Little Man

We had our IFSP meeting for Micah-do today.

We updated and revised our goals with the Speech therapist.

His vocabulary is voluminous.

He.is.smart.

He will graduate the program at age three.

My heart swells.

Right now he is perfecting the fake cheesy smile.
At 2 years, 8 months, Micah is small for his age according to the charts. In fact he is at risk for short stature they tell me. He loves being the youngest and we love him being the youngest. He is the only child that ever slept in bed with Mom and Dad. When Micah gets mad he says, "I don't like you," which makes you laugh and gets him madder.

His favorite sayings:

Mom, is that your bib? (He calls all bras and those corresponding body parts - bibs).

Is that your seatbelt? (He calls belts to hold up the jeans - seatbelts).

Favorite word: "Ay" short for Trey.

Swimming lessons are not his favorite but he LOVES baths and has never minded water in his face or over his head.

Best cuddler, great youngest brother, terrific older brother to Rosy and twins, delightfully mischievous, determined to the point of stubborn, gentle in spirit, and a little spoiled.

Micah, we love you!

Signs of Spring And 9-1-1

Oh blessed spring!

Rabbits need to live outside now. Not on the porch.

Look what the bunny laid?

Just kidding.
The kids got my camera again.
Hutches are well under way.

Rabbit condos should be ready for move-in by Saturday.

Weather permitting.

Lent.
12 days until the empty tomb.
He has risen, indeed!

Counting the cost!

Remember when I said there might be some anxiety around here in anticipation of a schedule change? Yes, it happened. We had our first ever, in 21 years of parenthood, "accidental" call to 9-1-1. The police came and talked to the offender who is completely out of whack now, if you know what I mean. I didn't even think of taking a picture of Office D. talking to said child. What kind of blogger am I? He was very kind and we had a teachable moment. The officer said sometimes the best lessons learned are the ones we learn the hard way. Oh boy.

Lindsey was cleaning the mudroom last weekend and said,
"We have become a family of boots."
My keeping it real picture of the week.
This is how it looks most of the time,
unless you come over.

Cora jumped in because she knew that
Erika was taking blog pictures.

Personality plus!
She is a riot.
That is enough randomness for a Tuesday.

Panic / Adoption Prayers

Last week I panicked.

Some.

Not really.

Maybe a little.

Are we really adopting a sweet boy from China?

Whose idea was that?

Am I actually getting on an airplane with six kids by myself?

Oh my!

Am I leaving my oldest child to fend for herself?

Left behind.

The four youngest have never flown and it is apt to be an interesting week as we count down to our vacation, going where there is no snow. Some of us are bound to be a little wound up in anticipation of the big event.

I am emotionally preparing myself (praying hard) for calmness and good humor.

I am over it now.

Excited to spend a week with my six youngest exploring another part of the country. Watching my kids see and learn new things is incredibly fulfilling. I love it when the eyes get big and they experience things for the first time.

Adoption Prayers:

We have to meet certain criteria for USCIS to expedite our case. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we feel we can prove life threatening medical conditions. The doctor is writing us a letter which I hope will be be enough proof for immigration to bump up our process by close to a month. Every day counts. We are praying for favor.

China has changed the rules for post placement visits and reporting on the children that are adopted. While these are good changes for the children, doing so for those of us mid-process means more money than we had planned. God has provided so far. We trust in Him.

Somebody said, "Stay focused on the end result of the process."

We are.

Makes You Think

Springing Forth

I went outside yesterday. Since having the three babies (figuratively), I have become a bit of a couch potato. Or maybe I am getting old. Anyway, I have been jealous of all the blogs showing crocuses and green grass. It's going to be awhile before we see anything green in our yard.

Here is what is sprouting as the snow melts.

And we find lots of these type things lying around.

Cora went on a trash walk.
Amazing how much stuff falls out the cars all winter long.
Embarrassing actually.
We found someone's third grade science paper from school.
Not from our car!

Still lots of white!

The kids dragged the basketball hoop out as soon as we could see the driveway.

The swings recently became available.

The climbing rock is waiting for spring time fun.

The square foot garden bed is peeping out.

The bunnies are out for a run.

Keep up, Kloey!

Trey rides his bike from the side. Legs need to grow another inch or two.
He delights in pushing it up and down the driveway, fast!

Boys find puddles wherever they go!
Cute boots are a must.

Micah-do!

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Snakes

Due to the snow, we ran a few minutes late getting back for a 4-H meeting.
The snake guy came to visit.

They wear their snakes well.

Thanks to the 4-H leaders who organized an excellent speaker.
Erika said he was missing a few fingers but not one wanted to ask why......

Paperwork Field Trip

We needed to get to the state house for the adoption paperwork and back home by 1:00pm. I got 6 kids out of the house and on the road by 8:00....or so. In these moments, I wonder how I would EVER get everyone to school if that was what our life looked like.

No one was in a hurry and I followed various "angels" all the way down.

He is a great traveler. No trouble at all.

The big city.
We are not used to traffic lights.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Austere.

We all trooped in for a notarized marriage certificate.
Most visited the bathroom while we waited.

Can you believe that it snowed on the way down? On April 4th?
Every adoption event/meeting we have had with a social worker
has been marked by a weather event.

Once we got the marriage certificate, we were off to the
State House for certification by the Secretary of State.

The kids were asked if they home schooled.
We all crowded into the office and made a bit of a stir.
Said package represents 2 months and countless hours of work.

I was glad that the kids were part of the paper chase.
It never hurts to check up on your own government.

The Mouths of Babes

Bloggers do "Keepin' It Real Posts" and I figure if my friend, Sandra, can blog about not letting her son go on a preschool field trip as a consequence (admiration kowtow here) then I can give you a snapshot.

Conversation between me and my daughter.

Read on....

I said, "Please go and clean off the kitchen table so we can watch the movie." See, I balanced a task with a reward.

She said emphatically, "No! I don't have to do what you say because you are my fake Mom."

Me: Burst out laughing. Pregnant pause.

Me: "If I'm fake then who is your real Mom?"

She: "You know what I mean, the woman who had me."

Me: "Oh, you mean your birthmom. Well if she is real and I'm fake, then where is she?"

She: "(Can't tell you what she said)!"

Me: "Looks like I'm all you got. GO over and CLEAN off the table, please!"

(Mind you no one is yelling although there is still some whining going on.)

She: indignant now, "Well, you only adopted me so I could do all the work."

Me: Laughing out loud, unusual for me... "Oh, yes that is true. But if we hadn't adopted you, there wouldn't be any mess to clean up 'cause you are the messy one."

She: "Moooooommmmmmmm!"

Finally a smile and a giggle.

How'd I do?

Lord, help me.

Of course there were lots of little ears tuning in.

Today on the way to the city, we talked about adoption.

The real kind of adoption.

When God adopted us as His own.

"We talked about that in Sunday school yesterday."

"Hey, that means we are all adopted."

"Yeah, and that means some of us are adopted twice!"

Brilliant!

Dinner tonight:

Her earnestly: "Mom, you know I am your daughter in law."

Me: "Actually, you are my daughter in love."

Her: "No, law like the court."

Me: "You are my daughter and just because you didn't grow in my belly doesn't mean you didn't grow in my heart."

Her: "Did your heart know about me when I was born?"

Me: "I'm not sure but I know that God knew.... and had a plan."

To Be Continued.......

Humbled

God has a way of humbling us.

I have been doing a lot of reading about international adoption. What I am learning is more about adoption in general. Adoption like I thought we already experienced. Apparently, we have only just begun, leaving me feeling naive and vulnerable.

Because I thought I knew. Nine years of foster care and sixteen kids through the doors, along with five adoptions ought to count for something. We seem to be doing pretty well with the average bumps in the road. We have learned about transitions, attachment sensitivities, trauma, PTSD, label, label, label, ....importance of birth parents, stages of grief, Maslow's pyramid, depression, genetics, dependence, racism, mad means sad, being a mother/father and being a parent are two different things,.....

and finally, something I read on Holly's blog today:

"It isn't your fault, but it IS now your problem." So I can stop blaming myself for things past and outside of my control and start asking the Lord, "What should I do with this problem Lord?"

Amen to that.

I am grateful for this road to China, inching along the red thread. My eyes are opening to the realities around me as we navigate the path of international adoption. I never imagined this is what it would take for me to look at adoption differently, to become more sensitive to where my kids (all my kids) are at in their own journeys. To help them along the way to finding their place in this world is an incredible honor and I thank God every day for giving me the hardest job I will ever LOVE.

Multiplication

What's with the big ball of fluff?

Beware of bake sales.

Children may come home with non-edible things.

Actually, that depends on your opinion.

The edible part.

Meet Otis.

What's the point of rabbit club if you don't have a rabbit.

Kids that don't complain, get what they want, around here.

If they all figure that out, we might be in trouble.

Or not.

Did I tell you that Otis is staying in Tulah's hutch?

Um, Tulah didn't make it.

Through the cold hard winter.

Some of us learned a hard lesson about responsibility.

Along came Otis to fill the cage.

We needed the rent money.

My vegetable bin is in serious jeopardy.

Speaking of cages, this is rabbit hutch weekend #1.

The condos are in full swing.

Pictures to come.

Moral of the story:

Bunnies do multiply.