Over the moon

What a day!  What a day!

But I must back up to last Thursday.  That's when the tide started to turn.  After getting nowhere fast with the passport call center (again), I hung up the phone pretty steamed and practically in tears.  I decided that for the umpteenth time, I would search the house again for Madeline's passport, in case we never gave it to them in the first place.  Only this time I decided to look in places it shouldn't be.  And what do you know?  There it was....mixed up with Patrick's business docs.  Yep, it was under our noses the entire month, and we didn't know it.  The last four weeks were extremely stressful, and I wouldn't want to relive them.  But I'm grateful to have Madeline's Chinese passport in my possession, even if we did have it the entire time.  Big big relief!  Now we can apply for our visas.

Also on Thursday, I decided to give our immigration officer call.  Remember, the one whose name escaped me?  She informed me that our applications had just come across her desk that day and that I should call her back Monday afternoon, as she would likely have us approved by then.  Great.  I'm on it.

Then we had the cake we ordered for Havi...oh a month ago.  We still hadn't received the photos, and it had us worried.  Other families adopting from the same orphanage waited days to receive their cake photos.  We were waiting almost a month.  I expressed my concern to Ann at Red Thread China.  On Saturday, she told me she was finally able to communicate with the orphanage, and that she would try to get us the photos on Monday.  Well, it goes without staying I started checking my email like crazy Sunday night and Monday morning.

Sure enough, right in the middle of our school lessons this morning, I saw the email.  So Caleb and I made a mad dash to the computer to pull them up.  And here they are!!!  And yes, for those of you who know your Chinese cartoons, that is Pleasant Goat on her cake!

Then this afternoon, as I called our immigration officer to check on the status of our applications, I could barely get a word in before she told me that she approved us this morning!  So...that means the approval will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC) where the approval notice will be cabled (electronically delivered) to Guangzhou, where the immigration interview will take place in China.  It should take about a week to ten days to get the approval cabled.  Then Havi's visa application (Article 5) can be dropped off.  Two weeks later it will be picked up and then delivered to CCCW@ when we will wait for our Travel Invitation (or Travel Approval, TA.)  TA will come 2-3 weeks later.  So, we should definitely be able to travel in June, following Madeline's dance recital.  

Today was truly an amazing day.  To see our daughter smiling and laughing...that's priceless.  To jump over one more paperwork hurdle...icing on the cake (couldn't resist saying that).

I do promise to give another update soon.  Life just has us busy.  A good busy, but still busy.  I'll get those iPhone snapshots up soon.

Two + one = love!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that two more feet will be running around our house some time this summer!

We have recently accepted a referral for our daughter Havalah.  And now that we have PA (pre-approval from China), we're sharing the incredible news here.  She is 14 months old and hails from the Shanxi province in China.   That's about all we can really say without getting too specific.

Since we accepted her referral late one evening, we had to wait until morning to tell Caleb and Madeline.  Patrick wanted to be there for the big reveal, but he didn't think it was fair to the kids to keep the news from them all day.  So I printed out her photos and videotaped their reaction.

Aren't they precious?!  Oh, the references to Micah are for their younger brother.  Now we don't know if we'll be adopting a fourth child  or not.  I mean, we're still working on #3 here.  lol  But Micah will be his name if we do.  In the meantime, the dumplings will keep holding out hope. 

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing in our joy.  We are still pinching ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming.  We are over the moon in love with her!  

We love you Havi!!!

Our Havalah

Dear Precious Little Havalah,

We feel so blessed to be called your family. We don't know who you are yet, but we know that Lord has hand-picked you for us. And us for you. We have been praying for you for quite some time now:

that peace fills your precious little heart, that your mind rests in the knowledge that you will one day have a family of your own, that your nights aren't so lonely or cold, that a gentle hand wipes away your tears when they fall, that your boo boos are kissed and bandaged up, that you know the love of your caregivers until we arrive to bring you home.

Yes, precious girl. One day, when you least expect it, your world will be forever changed. You will be taken from all you have ever known and then begin your life with us, your forever family. You will be sad and traumatized, and we recognize that. How you cope with this transition, only time will tell. Our prayer is that God will equip us to help you the best way possible. One thing we know for certain, we will be there for you...to be patient, kind, and, most of all, loving to you. In fact, we already love you because God has called us to be your parents. We are so blessed to answer His call. We pray also for your birth parents, that God may give them peace and comfort to know their daughter will be loved and cared for by her forever family.

We can't wait for the day that we can finally hold you in our arms and kiss your sweet face. Some day soon, as the Lord has designed it, our hopes and dreams will be realized. In the meantime, our love for you, precious one, will only grow. We love you, dear Havi.

love,
Daddy, Mommy, Big Brother Caleb, and Big Sister Madeline

Our precious kiddos

I love the sound of that....two of them. Two precious children that God has entrusted us to care for and love...one in our arms and one still waiting for us in China. This morning, the Lord poured out His goodness on us, as we received these much anticipated photos of our precious Madeline. Finally finally finally, she is not wearing a wintercoat, and we can see some of her missing arm. If you look closely in the second photo, you can see that she's been crying. Not big tears, but it was Caleb who first noticed and asked me why she was crying. My son is soooo perceptive. It is also great to finally see her in PINK.





Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since we've been waiting for TA. A few families have gotten their TA in record time, like 4 days!!!! And while I certainly wouldn't mind joining them, we still have to get our passports back with our travel visas before we can board that plane. So I'm leaving all in the Lord's hands and am trying (not so successfully) to trust Him with our final preparations and plans.

On another note, you know that I have been sharing lately how much Caleb really enjoys baseball. He loves to play it in the front yard most days, depending on the afternoon rainstorms we have here in Florida. So here is a shot of our precious little t-baller who can't wait to play on a team in the fall.

Updates on Madeline

She's the incredible shrinking child....well, not really. But this week we finally received some updated measurements on Madeline. And as we suspected, she must have been heavily clothed when they last took them in January. She has grown one inch and now stands 34.5" tall and without her winter coat now weighs 26.5 lbs, which is just a little less than the 27lbs she supposed weighed in January. Her head, chest and foot all "shrank" too by an inch or so. I thought Madeline's suitcase was good to go after I made Leah try on at least a dozen outfits this past weekend. But now armed with the latest measurements, I have to repack and simply find all the smallest clothes I have...which isn't much. I have mostly 2T and 3T in brands that run big. I did this on purpose so that she would get some wear out of them. I have just a few 18-24month and even those might be big, as those brands run big too. Oh well. We'll beef her up just as soon as we can.

Also today, Madeline's dear friend, Iris, was united with her forever family. My heart is filled with such joy to finally see this family together. Melissa was kind enough to ask the orphanage staff if Madeline was potty trained and found out that she isn't. I am so thankful that my sister will be picking up the little travel diaper caddy thingie that I'm going to need. I also had to ask my sister what size diapers I'm going to need and what brand is best. LOL. Diapers....wow. We never needed them for Caleb. So this is all new. I just about drove off the road when my sister told me 5-7 a day. LOL. Anyway, the good news is that Melissa said Iris is going in the potty when she takes her. So hopefully this will be short lived. She also told me that Madeline is still getting formula and to bring a bottle!!!! She's 27 months old tomorrow. I was like, WHAT? But okay. I know we'll have to keep her on it for the sake of her little GI system. So it's totally fine. But wow, I was thrown for a loop.

This morning I also mailed off our travel visa applications. Yep....I procrastinated big time on this one. But we finally got them all off. We should get them back with plenty of time to spare though because we likely won't get TA for at least another 1 or 2, likely 2. And then consulate appointments are filling up. So I don't think we'll get to leave when we want anyway. We are hoping for early to mid July at this point, which is fine with us. We still have lots of loose ends to tie up with Patrick not working for 2 weeks. So it gives us the time we need to be ready once we get the green light.

Anyway, although I wish we were traveling with Melissa and Joel to bring our daughters home, I am nonetheless thrilled to be following their trip. It warms my heart to no end to finally see this family together.

New photos of both our kiddos!

Ni Hao, Madeline!




I am stunned to have received these updated photos so quickly. I just asked our Ch*in@ coordinator for some updated measurements on Tuesday, and today I received 2 new photos of the most precious little girl, desperate for some pink in her wardrobe! Of all the wintercoats she's been photographed in, this one seems to be the most popular.

I also can't wait for the weather to warm up for her so she can move her left arm more freely. I'm sure that jacket is so thick they can't even roll up that sleeve. Her poor arm looks like it's just hanging there by her side.

It looks like her hair has grown in a smidge since her birthday chop. I sure hope they just let it grow out for the next 2 months. If not, it's okay too. It's only hair; it'll grow back.

I'm thrilled to have these photos because I didn't even ask for them. I just asked for updated measurements because I am starting to pack for Madeline. Thanks to my niece, Leah, I am able to make some good guesses at what sizes to bring. But it sure would be nice to get a new weight and height, so I feel better about it.

And to give a brief update on our I-800A/I-800 situation...

Our SW was able to overnight our new updated home study the other day. So instead of receiving it today, I received it yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't get Patrick to sign the paperwork. So when the home study arrived a day early, that meant I had to drive 40 minutes to his office to get his signature and then head over to FedEx office to ship it. It chewed up a good bit of my afternoon yesterday. But I am happy to report that it has been successfully delivered to the immigration lockbox in Texas this morning. Hooray. Two little pieces of good news this morning. I like the trend we're starting.....


***I'm also adding 2 photos of Caleb dressed up as the flower boy for Lily's wedding.

So serious

And always so silly

He's growing up so fast and getting more handsome by the day!

Precious baby girl

We recently requested, and just yesterday received, Madeline's finding ad. For those of you who don't know about finding ads, I'll explain. When a little one is found without their parents, they are brought to the local police department before being handed over to the local orphanage for care. When the orphanage receives the child, they place an ad in the paper describing when and where the child was found in the hopes that their family will come to claim them. This is just really a formality because it is illegal in C*hina to "abandon" a child. Before we adopted Caleb, we were able to locate his finding ad. And now, we have been fortunate enough to receive Madeline's ad as well.

Madeline's ad is so special to us because it is actually the "headshot" of the oldest photo we already have of her. Since she is missing her left arm below her elbow, a close up photo of her arm was taken upon admission to the orphanage. We knew this photo was "older" when we first received her file to review, but we had no idea how old it was until very recently. The photo itself is time stamped "24 2:55pm." But just a few weeks ago, I looked at the EXIF data (info about the photo file stored when it is taken) and noticed it was 3.24.08. This is the date she was actually found...when she was approximately two weeks old. We requested to have her finding ad translated. And it notes that she was found with a flowered quilt. Well, in her finding ad photo is the very quilt in the "arm" photo we received long ago. So now we have a photo of the precious 2 week old face that has a been such a mystery. It is so amazing to piece these two photos together to come up with what our daughter looked like at 2 weeks old. We're simply amazed. Her finding ad also indicates that she was found with a note! I am really hoping to receive the original note or a copy of it from the orphanage when we travel to China to bring her home. I am now quite curious what her birthmom had to say. We can only imagine the anguish she experienced as she decided it was better for someone else to care for her daughter. But to know she had some parting words for her little girl makes me want to do all that I can to find out what they are.

A birthday haircut for Madeline?

I knew it wasn't a matter of if but when....when would my precious little girl get her hair chopped? I've heard of birthday haircuts, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. LOL.





Even with a chop like this, my little girl is STILL as cute as a button, oh my! But I guess keeping bangs on her (and all the other little ones)was too much for the orphanage staff. It seems they all got their hair chopped recently. In most of the photos we have of Madeline, her bangs are hanging low & in her eyes. So I'm not surprised by this at all. I guess I'm just a little sad for her that her birthday photos have her hair super duper short. No doubt, I'll be putting her in dresses in C*hina so there is no confusion about her gender. LOL.

I am so happy to receive these photos because the smile on Madeline's face is PRICELESS! I was told that she had a lovely party with her friends. What more can a mom ask for?

A belated Zhu Ni Shen Ri Kuai Le, Madeline!

Dear Madeline,

Yesterday morning we woke up knowing that, for you, your birthday was almost over. But over here in America, it was just beginning. Although mommy was still feeling very sick, we still headed out to the bakery to pick up your 2nd birthday cake. We couldn't wait for daddy and Caleb to return from a party so that we could celebrate your birthday together. Caleb was so excited to sing happy birthday to you. We made a little video of our celebration that we'll be able to share with you some day. While we are sad that you are not home with us this birthday, we hope you enjoyed the cake and the gifts we sent you. We hope and pray you had lots to laugh and smile about on your special day. We love you so much, and we can't wait to finally hold you. Happy Birthday, Madeline. Zhu ni shen ri kuai le!

love,
Mommy, Daddy, and Caleb

Clothes for the children & birthday wishes for Madeline

When we donated money for the New Year party for the Jingmen orphange, we hoped to have enough money left over to buy some new clothes for the children, and fortunately, there was. Well, today, I received photos of the children wearing the new clothes. It just warms my heart to see this.

Iris (far left) and Madeline standing next to her, with 2 other precious children

With none of them looking at the camera...ah, the joy of photographing 4 little ones...too cute
I also wanted to share with you the care package Madeline will receive tomorrow for ther 2nd birthday. We are sending her a jacket, blanket, books, toy, camera, hair clips, and candy (and bag to put this all in when we travel to bring her home.) We also donated some pajamas to the orphanage.





As I type this, Madeline has been tucked into bed the night before her birthday. When she wakes up, we hope she will be delighted to receive her package and cake. We pray those around her will celebrate her birthday with joy in their hearts, knowing she has a family half way around the world that loves her dearly and can't wait to hold her in their arms. Happy Birthday, precious Madeline!!! Women ai ni! (We love you!)

Beyond Blessed

After many agonizing weeks of no news about our transfer LID, we finally learned today that our new LID is 3.5.10. I am praising God for this news because it means we are not lost in the system somewhere. Our paperwork has been processed, and we can now wait for the next step....which is our Letter of Acceptance (LOA.) We should get our LOA in the next 2-3 months, barring any catastrophies (like the one we've already experienced LOL). If we hold to the law of averages at this point, we can expect to travel in August or September. I sure wish it was sooner, but I am happy and relieved at this point just to know we are nearing a travel timeframe. We'll still have a bit of summer here in Florida to splash and swim in the pool, so I'm happy about that.

On another positive note, I received some adorable photos of Madeline from another family adopting a girl from Madeline's orphanage. They sent their daughter, Iris, a cake for Chinese New Year and just recently received some photos. These were taken about a month ago. Thanks, Melissa, for these precious photos of our girls!

Madeline, left, making faces while Iris, right, enjoys a bite of cake

Iris enjoying her cake

We also received confirmation from Ann at Red Thread China that Madeline will received her birthday cake and care package on her 2nd birthday, which is this Friday, March 12th. We are sad she will be celebrating apart from us. But at least she has her friend, Iris, and her foster family. We should receive some pictures from her birthday party in the next few weeks.

While the blessings are rolling in, I should note that we finally got word from Brian Stuy that he has located Madeline's Finding Ad. I am thrilled about this because I had asked him back in December, and he hadn't located it yet. I can't wait to see this precious ad.

And finally, to round off the week full of blessings....

...we had a wonderful mini vacation with the Mouse, Mickey Mouse that is. Patrick had a meeting in Orlando. So we decided to take in a little fun. We started off our vacation with a fun, but very cold, trip to Tampa to catch the opening day of Spring Training for the Yankees. Caleb had a blast, despite the cold temps. He was very intrigued by the bull pen. And Yanks pulled off a win in the bottom of the 9th!

We spent the next day at Epcot. Patrick picked up a few things for Caleb for his next Gotcha celebration in "China." We also had lunch with the princesses in Norway. Caleb's favorite princess was Cinderella, although Snow White tried to make a plug for herself with a huge smooch on his forehead. I will add photos to this post when I get a chance. I also got to spend the day alone with Caleb at the Magic Kingdom. It was such an awesome time alone with my precious son. We had a blast riding on the raceway and saving Buzz from the evil emperor Zurg. Caleb also enjoyed making mama dizzy on the teacups. And he actually rode the merry-go-round 3 times!

I had actually received an email from our C*hina coordinator on Friday telling me she had no news of an LID for us. And for the first time ever on a Friday, I didn't throw myself a pity party. I just wanted to enjoy the day with my son, and that's what I did.

We have so much to be thankful for....a son who blesses our socks off daily and a daughter waiting for us in China who will celebrate her birthday with friends and her foster family. We are thankful that we can finally see a light at the end of this tunnel.

***Be sure to check back for updated photos***

Edited to add: Caleb's video with the princesses

Madeline's New Year party

This year I helped organize the Chinese New Year party for Madeline's orphanage. A young woman, Jiaoli, who used to live there, returned to Jingmen City to celebrate the New Year with her family. She visited the orphanage and arranged to have the children visit a local park and have lunch at a restaurant. The park had a bounce house area and bumper cars. The children had so much fun. Then they all enjoyed a delicious lunch. She also went shopping to buy the children new shoes and clothes.

She has shared with me photos of the celebration. And I have to say, that it just warms my heart to no end to see the children having so much fun. To protect the privacy of the children still living in the orphanage, I cannot post their pictures here. However, I am sharing the photos of Madeline, as well as another little girl, Iris, who is also being adopted by an American family.

The timing of these photos is just perfect. I have been in a funk for the last few weeks, as we have made NO progress with our paperwork. However, the Lord knew what I needed and exactly when I needed it. These photos are priceless. And while I want to hop on a plane tomorrow to bring my girl home, I am happy to see her doing so well. I know she is being taken good care of while we wait to bring her home. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we have.

***side note*** In a lot of the photos, I counted 5 layers of clothing on Madeline! Wowie!

Madeline playing in the bounce house







On the merry go-round and lovin' it!



Getting ready for lunch & a phone call

Jiaoli holding Madeline

Iris "teasing" Madeline, no really it looks like she's sharing...too sweet

New Photos of My Happy Girl

I'm in utter awe at the kindness of a young woman who used to live in my daughter's orphanage. Just last week, she sent me updated measurements on Madeline. No sooner did she do that, I hit the clothing shops and fabric shops for my sweet girl. It was the kind of "pick me up" I needed as we wait to get our new LID and then LOA. Well, again tonight, we received 2 new photos of our precious, happy girl. In all of the pictures we have of her so far, she is either not looking at the camera or not smiling. So you can imagine how my heart skipped a beat tonight. The Lord is so Good and He hears our hearts. And today, I started to make a precious little sundress for my Maddycakes. She was on my heart all day, and now I know why. I am one happy mama tonight. These photos were taken in her foster family's home.





On another note, I know I still have lots of catching up to do. But I do want to at least say that yesterday, I FINALLY sent my passport off for renewal. It expires at the end of April. I should get it back in about 4 weeks, which, unfortunately, is plenty of time before we travel...which at this point, is looking a lot like June.

Madeline Got Her Cake!

Well, I finally received my cake pictures from Ann at Red Thread China. They were not at all what I was hoping for....and for several reasons. First I'll share the photos with you...

Madeline checking out her cake


Getting help eating her cake


A cropped version


An even tighter crop of the same photo


And now the reason for my sadness.

Reason#1: I was thrilled when I saw the email finally make it to my inbox. Although Patrick had gone to sleep, I woke him up so we could see the photos together. When I opened the email, I found 5 photos, one of which was of another little girl in Madeline's orphange (so I will be sending her parents a copy). So that left me with 4 new photos of my precious girl. Well, it turns out that 3 of the 4 photos are the same photo but cropped two times. So I really only got two photos. When we sent Caleb a cake, we received 6 unique and precious, updated photos of him. We were thrilled. Most adoptive parents will received about this number. So to only have 2 photos is such a let down.

Reason #2: My little girl is not looking at the camera AT ALL, nor is she smiling. This is truly heartbreaking. I would've loved to see her interacting with the person taking her pictures or the other children eating cake with her. But nope. She seems so sad. And it just makes me want to hurry up and get on a plane...like yesterday.

Despite this major disappointment, I am going to try to remain upbeat. For starters, Madeline's hair is growing! I am praying big time that they don't cut it before we get her. I was hoping to see her wear the hair bows we sent. But I know that was just wishful thinking. I tried. Oh well. Also, she looks like she's eating well!!!! I am still hoping to get updated information on her, like height and weight measurements. So, we'll see. Well, after this not so successful attempt at new photos, it looks like I'm going to have to hit up Angela at Ladybugs N Love for additional photos, at the very least.