Home Again

Three weeks home already, and I haven't even posted regarding our homecoming.  I guess I've been a bit busy!

We got home around midnight Friday night, and the next day Mom and Dad brought the kids.  The first meeting between all five children was happy, albeit chaotic.  Katie Mei did wonderfully and has gracefully moved into the role of big sister after having been the baby of the family for almost 3 years.

All of the older children have been indispensable in helping around the house and playing with Joshua and Sarah.  Sarah's delays have made for some difficult days, but we're coming along.  I am so thankful that the older kids are fairly independent and are able to step up when I need them to assist.

Here are a few photos from the first meeting of siblings.

Last Few Days in China

We didn't do very much our last three days in China.  It rained on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the only significant thing we had to do was our consulate appointment on Wednesday.  We were not allowed to take photos, so I have nothing to show for it.  Eventually we'll get the kids' Certificates of Citizenship in the mail, but as usual the whole process was uneventful.

We enjoyed a final dinner in Guangzhou with our guide, Lily, and one of her friends.  She chose the food and it was quite good.  We had sweet and sour pork, which tastes so much better in a Chinese restaurant in China than in a Chinese restaurant here.  We also had beef and noodles, seasonal vegetables, and a chicken and peanut dish.

On Thursday the four remaining families in our travel group packed up in three small vans and began our journey to Hong Kong.  We did not have our guide with us, and had to rely on our non-english speaking driver to get us there safely.  Sarah is not a pleasant traveler, so the four hour trip was pretty annoying, and the fact that she had to sit on our laps made it that much worse.  She hates to be confined.

We spent our last night in Hong Kong, which by the way is a beautiful place.  I would love to go back there one day and see more of it.

We flew out on Friday morning, and experienced one of the worse flights I have ever had.  We had a two hour delay which caused our us to miss our connecting flight in Chicago.  Sarah screamed and cried for most of the 14 hours we had her, and she slept on the floor for about 1.5 hours.  The flight attendant was very unhappy with us for putting her on the floor and made Jay pick her up.  We had purchased a seat for her, but she refused to be in it, and would not lie across it to sleep.  Jay really did take the brunt of the torture on that trip, because he held her and kept her contained for most of those hours.  Fortunately, Joshua was pretty good.  He slept quite a bit, and was willing to spend some time with distractions.  It was a long trip for a two-year old to stay in one place, but he did.

Once we arrived in Chicago we sailed through customs and immigration (the staff must have changed since our last trip because we were treated so nicely, and everyone just slid us on through.  Thank you O'Hare Immigration Services!).  However, the United Airlines employees left much to be desired.  We were reassigned to a flight leaving an hour later and were assured we could make it.  So we dashed through the airport, made all the trains and shuttles, got through security, and got to the gate with about 10 minutes to spare.  Then the gate personnel told us we couldn't get on the flight because it was overbooked and the next flight was four hours away.  Needless to say, despair was at an all time high.  A young pilot who was standing near me waiting to fly to Albany (his home town) asked me if I was all right.  I dumped on him without being rude, and pretty much told him I was disappointed in the way United treated us, and why would the ticket agent tell us we could get on this flight if we couldn't.  I also let him know that we had accumulated at least seven hours in delays on this round trip.  He went to the gate agent and had some words, and spoke with the pilot of the aircraft, and within a minute the gate agent asked us if we could hurry and get on the plane.  That young man was an angel, and I was so glad to have the opportunity to thank him once we got to Atlanta.  People like him are few and far between.

Still on the ground

Well, we had expected to be in the air by now, but we've only made it to Chicago.  Our flight to Beijing was delayed for a few hours, so we are enjoying our five hour layover by getting to know two of the families traveling with us.  So far we've met Jacquie and Erich, and Robin and Bryan.  They are all first-time adoptive families, so I've been bombarded with questions and have enjoyed some of the reminiscing over our past three adoptions.  It's been a few hours well spent.  Helps the time go by.

I have found this time around has a completely different feel to it than our previous adoption trips.  When we went to China to get Katie Mei, there was a sadness because I felt like it was probably our last adoption and she would be our last child.  I was somewhat nostalgic thinking that that would be our last trip to meet a child.  I guess I really wasn't ready for it to be over.

This time I have such a good feeling that this IS the last time around and I am ready for it.  I don't know if it's just a personal thing because five is enough.  But I have a feeling its more along the lines of God just giving me that peace that this is what He intended and we've met His goal for our family.  I'm happy,  and know I won't be holding these children for the first time with the same sadness I felt when I met Katie Mei.  It's a very good feeling.

So now I sit and wait, and just enjoy the fact that we're almost on our way.  Looking forward to that yummy fish for breakfast we'll probably get on the flight to China.

Bags are packed!

Well, after printing up more passport photos than I originally thought we'd need, stuffing my suitcase and putting everything else in Jay's suitcase, and filling a carry on, I think I'm almost ready to go. I'm ten pounds over the limit for China Southern Airlines, but we'll just have to suck it up. I cannot go with anything less. Packing for two children has been a challenge. But I'm ready to get this show on the road and don't want to ponder my luggage situation any longer.

The crib is set up, the house is fairly clean, and whatever is not in order yet is just going to have to stay that way. I miss my kids and I just want to hurry and get home again.

I will send posts to Mindy along with photos, and she'll be updating the blog from here on out. Thank you Sweet Friend! I'm going to miss you!

See you all on the other side!

Love,
Petrie

Travel plans

We have received our itinerary and I've come to the the stage of trying to pull myself together and actually plan for the trip. I've done this enough to know that once the travel approval comes everything spins out of control, so I should be able to prepare for that, yet I never do.  I have spent almost a week trying to gather paperwork, get the kids packed and ready, prepare schoolwork for my absence, and get baby items purchased.  And I have completed none of that.  I still don't even know what size diapers I should buy.  When you don't start out with newborns, there's always a bit of chance involved in choosing sizes for everything.  With Merrilee everything was too big, and with Katie Mei everything was too small.  With two kids, I'm just stuck.  I love it, but it makes planning much more difficult.

We are leaving on October 27 from Atlanta and will be flying into Beijing on the 28th.  We will be traveling for about 18 hours, which is remarkably short compared to other trips we've had.  We will spend Saturday the 29th touring Beijing and on Sunday will fly to Gansu province to meet our children. This is a big change from our previous three adoptions.  We have always had two days to tour Beijing, so I don't know what will be left out of our trip.  I'm almost disappointed that we won't get to go to all the usual places, especially the international church service we're used to enjoying, since I know this is our last adoption trip.  But I'm also excited that we'll have our babies by Sunday morning back home, and will hopefully be able to share those photos with everyone before they go to church.

Our Civil Affairs appointment will be on Monday, October 31, when we will officially be made the parents of Joshua and Sarah in the eyes of the Chinese government.  Then it's three more days of appointments (passports, notary offices, etc.) and sightseeing in province, before we head out to Guangzhou on Friday, Nov. 4th.

The remaining seven days will be getting the children's medical exams, doing paperwork for the American portion of the adoption, and more sightseeing and shopping.  Our Consulate appointment is on the 9th and we depart Guangzhou for Hong Kong on the 10th.

We will leave the morning of the 11th from Hong Kong to return home, and will arrive the evening of the 11th in Atlanta.  It's going to be a very long day.

Merrilee, Jacob, and Katie Mei will be staying with my parents while we're gone, and I'm already starting to miss them terribly.  It will be a little over three weeks without them, and my heart is having a hard time already with the separation.  The last time we were apart for very long was while I was in the hospital with Katie Mei for her surgery, and it was so difficult for me then.  Please pray for all of us as we muddle through such a long span of days.  It's hard on the children as well, but I'm so thankful that right now they're very excited to go see their grandparents.  They've been talking about it non-stop for days.

September Catch Up

I don't know where the month went, but it's almost over and we're through the paperwork.  Our Article 5 was issued on September 7, and our Travel Approvals on September 28.  So I was pretty close to where I expected to be.  I did not, however, expect to have a full month to wait for travel.  Our travel dates are October 27 to November 11.  The earliest Consulate appointment we could get was November 9th, so we have more than a two week stay in China.  I'm not too happy about that, but since it's our last time there for awhile, I will make the best of it.

In the middle of getting travel approval and making arrangements, we also got an update from the orphanage with new measurements and photos.  I'm happy to share them, and cannot believe how much Joshua has grown!  He is now a little over 30 pounds and 33.5 inches tall!  Sarah is quite delayed and only weighs about 17.5 pounds and is around 27 inches tall.  She is about five months older than Merrilee was when we got her, yet she is a couple pounds lighter.  She also only has two teeth at 18 months old.  There is no way of knowing if the delayed growth is nutritional in nature, or due to her spina bifida.  We will just have to wait until we bring her home to see a doctor before we know what is going on with her.  I was glad to see some growth, though, even if it was small.  Her height and head circumference have increased slightly, so that is progress.

I will try to post more often as we get closer to the date of departure, but there really won't be much more adoption news to share, other than maybe some clothes shopping!

Here are the newest photos of our babies.

Joshua looks like he's got a killer smile.  Hope he's as happy a little guy as he seems.  Sarah does not smile in any of the photos.  I look forward to the day we get a grin out of her.  I'm getting excited to get over there and gather them up into my arms.  They've both gone too long without a family!

Readjusted dates

I'm already off by a few days.  We did not receive our NVC letters until last Friday, August 19, so our paperwork did not go to China until yesterday, August 23.  Ten more business days until our Article 5 will put us at September 6th.  Then it's a two to four week wait for TAs.  Hoping for sooner rather than later.

Another Approval

We received our provisional approvals from the Department of Homeland Security last Friday, August 5.  One more hurdle cleared!  So now we wait another week for our notification letter from the National Visa Center so our adoption agency can submit our paperwork to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.  This Hague process has made the adoption paperwork more of a logistical nightmare than anything else, but from what I hear, the good part is that we won't have the burden of paperwork to do once we're in China. Although I think I'm going to miss our paperwork parties....  Those were kind of fun.

I am told by our travel coordinator that about ten days after our paperwork is submitted, we should get what's called an Article 5, and two to four weeks after that we should get our travel approvals.  So, as is typical of me, I'll take a shot at predicting the last of our milestones.

August 5- provisional approvals
August 17 (wild guess, since they told me "in about a week")-NVC letters
August 18-Paperwork submitted to Consulate in Guangzhou
August 29-Article 5
Sept 12 to 26-TA
Travel around October 7

We'll see how much of my prediction is accurate, but I tried to be conservative.  Would love to travel sooner than later.

Letters of Approval!

After 76 days of waiting, we received our letters of approval to adopt Joshua and Sarah Irene.  I can now share photos!  So glad to be able to post these.

Sarah Irene Xiao Jie, DOB 3/22/10
She had surgery at two months. Because of the position of her spinal cleft, we did not expect that she would be able to walk.  Four days ago we received new photos and the good news that she can stand!  She appears to have bilateral inversion in both feet (otherwise known as club foot, which is common with spina bifida), but it can be treated by serial casting or surgery.  We are so excited with this good news!

In chronological order, except for the passport photo.

Joshua Fu Ning, DOB 8/5/09
He has had no surgery, and was diagnosed with SB due to a very small bulge on his back which has since become nothing more than a blue spot.

And our most recent photos of the two of them together, taken in late May.