Itinerary and Travel Journal Link

Here's our itinerary.  We meet HuiLan on Sunday the 9th.  It's Sunday in China right now so that means I am only ONE WEEK away from finally having her in my arms..  Well, I say 'finally' (and anyone who has read the blog knows my struggle with adoption impatience) but honestly, looking back now this process has been somewhat of a whirlwind.  It just seems like forever when you don't know when you are going to meet your child and you have no control over choices being made for them and you aren't there to comfort them. I think the reality of not traveling to China has hit Jeff a little.  It's very bittersweet to meet our daughter without him being there.  I know it was the best choice; though of course not perfect.  I have started a travel journal at You Belong.  It's youbelong.net/loosclan  I've been having technical difficulties with my journal, so I may just use the blog to update.

Here's our itinerary:


Thursday, October 6th: Leave for China!

Saturday, Oct.8: Fly from Seoul to Xi’an

Sunday, Oct.9: Meet child at Civil Affairs Bureau.

Monday, Oct.10: Conduct adoption registration paperwork and notarization formalities.

Tuesday, Oct.11: Apply for Child's passport.

Wednesday, Oct.12: Free time.

Thursday, Oct.13: Sightseeing in Xi’an.

Friday, Oct.14: Fly to Guangzhou.

Saturday, Oct.15: Have child’s visa photos taken and go through the physical examination in the morning.

Sunday, Oct.16: Sightseeing in Guangzhou: Safari park.

Monday, Oct.17: Check TB test result.

Tuesday, Oct.18: At 10:00am, family goes to US Consulate to submit orphan visa petition documents and do oath-taking ceremony.

Wednesday, Oct.19: Family goes to US Consulate to pick up visa in the afternoon.

Thursday,Oct.20: Leave for home.

Our family is growing again!

On Saturday, Cameron and his girlfriend Charity went to Fall Creek Falls where he proposed.  She said YES!  We are so thrilled for them both.  Charity is an amazing girl and we could not have asked for a better person for Cameron to spend the rest of his life with.  God is good!

The Room

We are finally getting HuiLan's room together.  EXCITING!  Now I have a place to go and touch her things and dream about having her here with us.  Weird, huh?  It's just something I do.  I remember going into Allie's room when we were waiting for her and pulling her little outfits out of the closet and rearranging them.  It just made me feel close to her.

This was the room last Monday morning...

This is Monday afternoon.  Whoa, a little brighter on the wall than I expected. 

On Monday night and Tuesday, I worked on the crib and on Tuesday night Jeff deep cleaned the carpet.

On Thursday, I put together the bookshelf and then I opened the dresser box to find that there were no instructions.  After four very long calls to Target.com, we were nowhere.  They don't carry the dresser anymore and don't have any manuals to send.  I just bought the dresser last month!  Thankfully, God blessed me with a mechanically minded son (who is newly engaged!  WOOT!)  that was able to figure out how the 8 million pieces of the dresser fit together.  So here is the room this morning.  We still have work to do but I am not sure much more will be done before we leave.  I want to get a wall decal for behind the crib but I am not sure what I want it to say.  I've seen a few things that I would like to try and make for the other walls, so you can expect them to be done about the time she starts Kindergarten high school.  

I even packed a little this morning.  Ten days until Cameron and I leave and I am starting to get EXCITED!

Beyond Blessed

We sent some questions about HuiLan to the orphanage.  Here are their answers...

What's the meaning of her name and why was it chosen for her?
There's no special meaning to her name; we all call her HuiLan

Is she close to anyone?  Does she have a best friend?
We have shifts here due to the nature of our work, so HuiLan is close to her nannies.  She plays well with other kids, no special best friends.

What's her personality like?
Her personality is quite vivacious.  (UH OH)  She loves to play and loves to laugh.

Does she have a favorite food?
Nothing special.  She's not picky.  (Hallelujah!)


What's her favorite activity?
She likes her aunties playing toys with her and holding her hands walking around.

How does she like to be comforted?
She likes to be held and hugged. (AWWWW!)




and the best part of all.................


Is she crawling?  Is she able to stand unassisted?  If so, has she taken any steps?
She can crawl, can stand and can walk. (God is so good!)


I am so ready to go get her!

Flights are booked!

I guess we are going to China!!!  Cameron and I leave on Thursday, October 6.  That's 24 days if you are keeping count.  We'll get to Xi'an a day early (early am on Saturday 10/8), but that's the best situation the travel agent could work out.  We don't have our in country itinerary from ASIA yet, but from what they've told us, we should meet Cecilia on Monday, October 9th.  Four weeks from today!  On one hand, it seems so close and on the other, it seems so far away!  I.can't.wait.

Coralie has something to say...

Patience & Faith

I need to read this EVERY DAY until I go to China to get Cecilia.  Every.  Day.

Source: myconcretesky.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Coralie Day!

note: I was with Brady at the hospital on the official anniversary of Coralie Day so this post is a few days late.





I can't believe it's been a year.  This first year with Coralie has gone by so quickly.  I can't explain to those who don't know Coralie what a special child she is and to those who know her, I don't have to.  If I had been able to tell God exactly what we wanted in our next child, we could have never come close to the actual child we were given.  She is amazing.  We are so blessed.  Once again.

On the day we met Coralie, we were one of the first families to get to the Civil Affairs office.  We were the very last to meet our child.  they brought Coralie in amidst the chaos and joy of other families being formed.  She was whisked into another room.  

Our first glimpse..



then they brought her out, but not really TO us...

She was NOT impressed with her new family. AT ALL.  She walked around the room trying to get as far away from me as she could.  I had to bribe her with a yogurt drink to get her to come near me.

She was quite devastated by the entire experience.  My heart broke for her.  It also fell hard for her.  I was madly and deeply in love from the moment we met.

The first few days were really hard.  She rocked constantly and beat her head against the wall.  She screamed something in Cantonese that mean she didn't like what was going on.  She grieved her life at the orphanage.  It was all she had ever known.

Our little shell shocked baby girl.  I thought she might never be happy again.  I felt guilt for taking her away from the life she'd known.  I questioned whether we were doing the right thing.  

Then we visited her orphanage.  We saw a glimpse of her true self chattering away with her friends.  She was like a little rock star when we were there.  The kids were so happy to have her back.

We met her little friend Pei and I realized that Coralie could be heartbroken because she left or she could be heartbroken because she was left behind.  

After the orphanage visit, we saw a change in Coralie.  

Maybe we weren't THAT bad.

and then it happened...

and we've been stuck like glue ever since.

We love you Coco!

Little Man has Surgery...again!

My little trouper had a fistula repair on Tuesday.  We were told to get to the hospital at 9:00am but they didn't get him into surgery until after 4:00pm.  Poor little guy was starving!  Whenever he has surgery, I bring along a bag of fun stuff for him.  This time I threw in a new game for his DSi.  It was our saving grace.  Without it, he would have been climbing the walls after lying in that bed all those hours.  He was so good.  His surgery lasted about an hour and a half.  The doctor was pleased with the result.  I may be crazy, but it really seems that his speech is more clear and less nasally already.  We came home early on Wednesday and Brady was back to 100% almost immediately.  He can't go back to school until next Tuesday and he is bored to death all day while Allie and AnnaClaire are at school.  He asks constantly when Ryan and the girls will be home.  We go back to the doctor in October to see how the repair is healing and see where we go from here.  Hopefully, he'll get a break from surgeries for a while.  Two in four months is a lot for a little guy...unless you score a DSi game each time.  :)

Do you know what this is?

This is a big brother leaving for college.  This is how much his sisters (especially) and brother (a little!) will miss him.  This is LOVE.

I've read and heard many times of people who are interested in adoption but worry about how it will affect their biological children.  This is a picture of how it will affect them.  They will be loved and adored and they will love and adore in return.  I've seen no greater love in my life than the love my bigs & littles have for each other.  

Do it Anyway

I love this!

      People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

            If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

            If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

            What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

            If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

            The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

         Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

         In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Back to School

The middles (and Ryan) started back to school on Monday.  Here are the obligatory 1st day of school pictures.

Allie's first day of 3rd grade:

 AnnaClaire's first day of 1st grade:

Brady's first day of 1st grade:

and Coralie's 'you got the camera out so you must want a picture of me' picture:

I almost didn't post them because...well, they stink.  I usually take first day of school pictures on the front porch, but the sprinklers were running and I literally had 2 seconds before we had to leave to drive to school, park a mile away and hike to their classrooms before the bell.  So the steps were a quick option 2.  Not a really good option now that I see the ginormous shadows, but I guess that's more operator error than the location.  I just wasn't blessed with the photography gene-either getting a good shot or actually remembering to take pictures of important events.  We were at the beach last week.  I took 2 cameras and about 14 pictures.  None of which were on the beach.  Actually, I think all 14 pictures were taken in the room.  Seriously.  I need help!

Guess what???

I have good news. :)  Here are a few hints...

Any guesses?  

We've been cabled!!!

It took 12 days, which is above the average and I may have a few extra gray hairs (and enemies at the NVC) to show for it.  We also received the .pdf of the letter by email so we were able to send it to our agency.  They said they will be dropping off our DS230 tomorrow and our Article 5 will be picked up August 31st.  After that, we will officially be waiting for TA.

I still have so much to do!  

School? Already???

Funny how our wait for LOA seemed to take such a long time, but in actuality the summer flew by.

Yesterday Brandon headed back to college.  Last year we helped him take all his stuff up to campus and took it all up to his room for him.  This year he headed out on his own while Allie sobbed and I wiped away a few tears.  Why do they have to grow up so fast?  It seems that we were butting heads over 2nd grade homework not too long ago.

 Tomorrow the middles (With six kids, we had bigs and littles.  Now with Coralie and Cecilia added we have bigs, littles and middles.) and Ryan start their school year.  We went on Friday to meet AnnaClaire's and Brady's teachers.  In typical fashion, Brady buzzed about his classroom touching everything and AnnaClaire stood silently with her head down in hopes no one would speak to her.  It's hard to believe they are starting first grade.  They were my babies just yesterday.

Where the kids go to school, they have Primary and Intermediate schools.  Primary is K-2 and Intermediate is 3-5.  That means Allie will start a new school this year and won't be at the same school as AnnaClaire and Brady.  That's like a big fat exclamation point on the fact that she's growing up.  Way.too.fast.

So right about the time that I finally convinced Coralie that it's okay to get more than 10 feet away from me and play with her siblings, they'll be gone.  All day.  I'd drown my sorrows in some chocolate but I also start my diet tomorrow.  Yep, I like to torture myself all at once.  That's just how I roll.

Birthday Pictures!

I was just headed to bed and decided to check my email one last time just in case we got some birthday pictures.  Jackpot! 

 

 This is the exact same look I get when I eat cake...Yummmm...

 Yeah, this cake stuff is alright...

 Cake is pretty much a favorite around here, too, baby girl.  You are going to fit in just fine.  :)  LOL at the little hand coming in from the left.

I800 APPROVED!

We are moving right along and I am so excited.  Our USCIS officer was out of the office all week and won't be back until the 8th.   I thought that might cost us some time but another officer was working on our officer's  caseload and she approved us today-16 days after mailing!  Not bad.  Now we wait to be cabled.  Hopefully that will happen in a week or so.  As exciting as it all is to make progress, it may not matter that things go quickly for us due to the way our agency travels.  They travel in groups the last weekend of the month.  With the first of October being a holiday, the September group will go early so we can't make that group.  With the trade fair in October, they may not send a group so we'd have to wait until the end of November (shoot me now).  I really hope we can go the end of October.  That would put us meeting Cecilia on Halloween.  I hate to miss Halloween with my littles but there's nothing more important right now than getting CeCe home with us!  We are getting closer!

Right now in China...

there is a beautiful little girl turning two years old.  It's the morning of August the 3rd in China and Miss Cecilia is now TWO!  This is the first time we've missed a birthday that we've known about.  We had Allie and AnnaClaire home before their first birthdays and we were matched with Brady and Coralie shortly after their birthdays and had them home before the next.  We sent CeCe a birthday cake through Ladybugs n Love so hopefully in the next few days or weeks we will have some new pictures of her.  If nothing else, we know that she'll never have another birthday come along that she isn't celebrated.  Next year she'll be surrounded by family as she opens the way too many gifts that she'll receive.  We love you, Cecilia Faith and we wish you were home to celebrate with us but we know that you are right where God wants you to be today and we find comfort in that.  Enjoy your cake, baby!

A Beautiful Girl with a Beautiful Heart

9-year-old girl’s clean water wish takes off after her death

 

Charity: Water