Our love for Gabriel grows deeper each day. The Chinese people continue to be excellent hosts, but we're still longing for home. Each day is a little different, so we have tried to establish some evening routines. About three days ago we noticed that Gabriel really relaxed during a stroller ride after dinner. Each night we let him point to the stroller, then put him in pajamas, turn on his Chinese lullabies, turn down the lights, and walk down all four hallways on our floor. When we return, Gabriel is calmer and we walk into a gentle environment.
Today that didn’t help. It took him two hours to fall asleep! Once it worked instantly, once it took him 15 minutes, but not tonight. When he did sleep, though, he still looked precious to us.
Before our walk, we skyped with Howie's mom and dad. Erin and Elliot (two of Gabriel's cousins) were visiting and everybody woke up to see Gabriel. At one moment, Erin and Elliot were playfully wagging their tongues at Gabriel and they got the biggest kick when he wagged his back at them. He has such a personality!
I don't know if we have new pictures to post, but tomorrow we go to Shamian Island, which was part of The Amazing Race last season. We will be sure to get new pictures there. (written by Howie)
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Monday, June 30, 2014
Day 6 in China
Hi everyone! It's day 6 for us in China and day 3 with our beautiful, sweet son, Gabriel. Today is our first free day with him, and boy are we glad. Yesterday, we spent eight hours going from hot building to hot building doing paperwork on the China side of things. By the
end of the day, we were all worn out, and Gabriel was bored to tears. We learned our lesson. Always bring toys, food, and water when travelling with kids--but we had no idea it was going to be a day long affair either.
Gabriel has had a much better day today. He has had many smiles , which we love to see, But when he gets tired, off go the smiles like a switch and on come the tears that only a nap can cure, and he is sticking to the orphanage nap schedule even when we think we have other plans, so we adjust.
We love him so much. Here are some of the moments that we will treasure forever from our first few days with him. Day one, we met him at the hotel. He was in the lobby with the other little ones, and it was about nap time. As Howie signed some papers, an orphanage worker gave me a biscuit cookie so I could hand it to Gabriel. He ate a little bit and then offered the rest to me. That was so sweet. I handed it back to him, and he continud the ritual until he was done with the treat. Then, since it was nap time, his legs turned into noodles, and he began to moan a little bit. I tried to console him by holding him, but he just reached out for the orphanage worker who was there. She and I then went to the little fish pond further away from everyone else in the lobby, and he stood there calmly watching the fish with us for several minutes. While he was focused on that, the orphanage worker sneaked away and left the two of us together. A little bit later, he became cranky again from the commotion of the day and his tiredness, and then Howie came by and took over while I went to sign the papers. When I returned, Howie was holding our son, patting his back, and chanting a little song that he had made up for him. He soon succeeded at getting our son to sleep. At that point, our hotel rooms were ready for us, and Gabriel slept for about two hours before we had to get up and do the start of the official adoption work. That night, we Skyped with our families and Gabriel sat in my (Jenn's) lap and just smiled and laughed, esspecially when I tickled him. We also went out to dinner that night and had to ask for a baby high chair and order food and ask for safe bottled water at a restaurant that was celebrating its grand opening. We received some help from a man at the table next to us, thank goodness. The Chinese people have been very kind to us everywhere we have gone. After eating at the restaurant we asked the waiter to take a picture of us in front of the name of it. He did, and then a couple of babas who were holding their young daughters in their arms came up to us, handed the waiter their phones and had him take a picture of all of us together. LOL!! Yesterday was kind of a wash because of all the busyness, but a lot of people came by to admire our son, and one gave his cheek an affectionate little pinch.
This morning, Gabriel woke up, and we finally saw some morning smiles out of him. He found out how he could spritz his face with his sippy cup, and he thought that was just hilarious. We thought it was cute and funny too. He also played with his phone and loved hearing all the different sounds it made. When he handed it to me, I would say , hello? And he would laugh. Howie has had fun playing with him too, but when Gabriel wants to be consoled or held, he always wants his baba. No one else will do. He adores his daddy, andI love seeing the bond between them. As of now, he seems to be bonding to both of us, which is nice.
Well, I imagine he's going to be up pretty soon, and then we'll have a small, late lunch so that we can have dinner on time and have him back to his night time sleep schedule. Tomorrow is another busy day, but we get to visit his orphanage, which will be interesting.
I will leave you with some pictures of our sweet son.
end of the day, we were all worn out, and Gabriel was bored to tears. We learned our lesson. Always bring toys, food, and water when travelling with kids--but we had no idea it was going to be a day long affair either.
Gabriel has had a much better day today. He has had many smiles , which we love to see, But when he gets tired, off go the smiles like a switch and on come the tears that only a nap can cure, and he is sticking to the orphanage nap schedule even when we think we have other plans, so we adjust.
We love him so much. Here are some of the moments that we will treasure forever from our first few days with him. Day one, we met him at the hotel. He was in the lobby with the other little ones, and it was about nap time. As Howie signed some papers, an orphanage worker gave me a biscuit cookie so I could hand it to Gabriel. He ate a little bit and then offered the rest to me. That was so sweet. I handed it back to him, and he continud the ritual until he was done with the treat. Then, since it was nap time, his legs turned into noodles, and he began to moan a little bit. I tried to console him by holding him, but he just reached out for the orphanage worker who was there. She and I then went to the little fish pond further away from everyone else in the lobby, and he stood there calmly watching the fish with us for several minutes. While he was focused on that, the orphanage worker sneaked away and left the two of us together. A little bit later, he became cranky again from the commotion of the day and his tiredness, and then Howie came by and took over while I went to sign the papers. When I returned, Howie was holding our son, patting his back, and chanting a little song that he had made up for him. He soon succeeded at getting our son to sleep. At that point, our hotel rooms were ready for us, and Gabriel slept for about two hours before we had to get up and do the start of the official adoption work. That night, we Skyped with our families and Gabriel sat in my (Jenn's) lap and just smiled and laughed, esspecially when I tickled him. We also went out to dinner that night and had to ask for a baby high chair and order food and ask for safe bottled water at a restaurant that was celebrating its grand opening. We received some help from a man at the table next to us, thank goodness. The Chinese people have been very kind to us everywhere we have gone. After eating at the restaurant we asked the waiter to take a picture of us in front of the name of it. He did, and then a couple of babas who were holding their young daughters in their arms came up to us, handed the waiter their phones and had him take a picture of all of us together. LOL!! Yesterday was kind of a wash because of all the busyness, but a lot of people came by to admire our son, and one gave his cheek an affectionate little pinch.
This morning, Gabriel woke up, and we finally saw some morning smiles out of him. He found out how he could spritz his face with his sippy cup, and he thought that was just hilarious. We thought it was cute and funny too. He also played with his phone and loved hearing all the different sounds it made. When he handed it to me, I would say , hello? And he would laugh. Howie has had fun playing with him too, but when Gabriel wants to be consoled or held, he always wants his baba. No one else will do. He adores his daddy, andI love seeing the bond between them. As of now, he seems to be bonding to both of us, which is nice.
Well, I imagine he's going to be up pretty soon, and then we'll have a small, late lunch so that we can have dinner on time and have him back to his night time sleep schedule. Tomorrow is another busy day, but we get to visit his orphanage, which will be interesting.
I will leave you with some pictures of our sweet son.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Quick Update-Day Two in China
Hello, everyone! We are in Beijing! In one more day, we will get our son!!!!!!
So far, we haven't done anything that we had originally planned on doing. Why, you might ask? Well, the very thing that I was concerned about did happen. Fortunately, it happened at the end of our very lonnnnnng flight, which took us to Beijing. Our plane began to descend, but all at once, it went back up again--and my ears decided that they didn't want to go up with the plane, and they filled with fluid. Yesterday after the plane flight, I could not hear as well, and when I talked, I heard my voice as if it were in a tunnel. But by this morning, it was much better, but since Beijijng has the best hospitals (no typical doctors' offices here), we ended up going to a large Beijing hospital to their international dept. Before that, my parents contacted my ENT doctor in Indy to ask for her advice. She said Prednisone would do t be trick, so our guide communicated that to the doctor after I was examined. At first, she said that there was no such medicine there. However, after our guide explained a little more, the doctor looked it up in a Mandarin to English dictinary, and she discovered that they DID have the drug! Soooo.. I start that today and will actually finish my doses of it in the states, since I have to taper off of it. Please pray that this does the trick. Also, I wanted to mention how supportive Howie was through all of this fiasco.
We did get to do some other things later yesterday as well. We did a little urban exploring and window shopping around our hotel. We enjoyed a delicious meal in a fancy Chinese restaurant. We were amused by the english translations of Chinese slogans posted in the shops. I will post pictures of the signs we saw. If you look in one of them you will see our reflection in the funhouse mirror-like elevator doors. Today we will visit the Forbidden City and Tian'an Men Square!
So far, we haven't done anything that we had originally planned on doing. Why, you might ask? Well, the very thing that I was concerned about did happen. Fortunately, it happened at the end of our very lonnnnnng flight, which took us to Beijing. Our plane began to descend, but all at once, it went back up again--and my ears decided that they didn't want to go up with the plane, and they filled with fluid. Yesterday after the plane flight, I could not hear as well, and when I talked, I heard my voice as if it were in a tunnel. But by this morning, it was much better, but since Beijijng has the best hospitals (no typical doctors' offices here), we ended up going to a large Beijing hospital to their international dept. Before that, my parents contacted my ENT doctor in Indy to ask for her advice. She said Prednisone would do t be trick, so our guide communicated that to the doctor after I was examined. At first, she said that there was no such medicine there. However, after our guide explained a little more, the doctor looked it up in a Mandarin to English dictinary, and she discovered that they DID have the drug! Soooo.. I start that today and will actually finish my doses of it in the states, since I have to taper off of it. Please pray that this does the trick. Also, I wanted to mention how supportive Howie was through all of this fiasco.
We did get to do some other things later yesterday as well. We did a little urban exploring and window shopping around our hotel. We enjoyed a delicious meal in a fancy Chinese restaurant. We were amused by the english translations of Chinese slogans posted in the shops. I will post pictures of the signs we saw. If you look in one of them you will see our reflection in the funhouse mirror-like elevator doors. Today we will visit the Forbidden City and Tian'an Men Square!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Ready... Set...
Here we are... ready to go.... Well, almost! We still have some child locks to put on things, some last minute cleaning to do, and PACKING to do!! And I currently need to get well. Tomorrow I will be heading to the doctor for an antibiotic. No matter how hard I tried to fight it and how many medicines I took, I can now officially declare that I have a sinus infection-- NOT ideal for flying, but I think with all the medicines and a bit of Afrin before take-off, I'll make it. We'll take all the prayers we can get, though. I've had to have ear drums lanced once after a painful flight; I don't want that to happen in China. I just want to focus on our child!!
Here are some pictures of Gabriel's room and bathroom-- all ready for him! You won't see a crib in here yet. His crib will be in our bedroom until we feel like he's ready to move to his own room. :)
Wednesday we'll be off to Beijing!! After being there for a few days, we'll travel by bullet train to Jinan. We're really looking forward to the train ride there, and that same day, we'll get our son, Gabriel!!! :) In fact, we learned today that he will be brought to our hotel. We can't wait to finally hug him, hold him, and tell him we love him. It still seems kind of surreal at this point. Seriously, a few days from now we'll be in China, and several days after arriving there, we'll be parents?! Wow!!
We'll spend five days in his province with him, and then we will all fly together to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption! Guangzhou is where we will also likely buy a traditional outfit for Gabriel to wear at his adoption registration/finalization, and we will buy some souvenirs for our family back home. We'll spend several days in this province, as well, and will likely have some free time to visit the zoo if Gabriel feels up to it.
Once all of the paperwork is completed, we will travel by car to Hong Kong where we will spend the night and fly out the next morning. Any and all are welcome to meet and greet us at the airport on the evening of July 9, but if you choose to do so, please let my brother, Michael, know. He'll give you the details of where you'll need to be. Also, we have to get a list of people coming in case Gabriel is sick or would not be up to a crowd for whatever reason. If you can let Michael know your name and phone number, he'll give you a call with plenty of notice in case we're unable to meet you there. His cell # is 317-938-2503. Our family members will be there no matter what, but if Gabriel's not doing well, we'll have you over to meet him at a different time. Hopefully, we'll be able to see everyone there!! :)
Please pray for our health-- Howie's, Gabriel's, and mine as well as a smooth transition as Gabriel is welcomed into his family. We are beyond excited to meet him and bring him home!!
The next blog I send will be from China when I have a chance to write!
Blessings to all of you,
Jenn and Howie
Here are some pictures of Gabriel's room and bathroom-- all ready for him! You won't see a crib in here yet. His crib will be in our bedroom until we feel like he's ready to move to his own room. :)
Wednesday we'll be off to Beijing!! After being there for a few days, we'll travel by bullet train to Jinan. We're really looking forward to the train ride there, and that same day, we'll get our son, Gabriel!!! :) In fact, we learned today that he will be brought to our hotel. We can't wait to finally hug him, hold him, and tell him we love him. It still seems kind of surreal at this point. Seriously, a few days from now we'll be in China, and several days after arriving there, we'll be parents?! Wow!!
We'll spend five days in his province with him, and then we will all fly together to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption! Guangzhou is where we will also likely buy a traditional outfit for Gabriel to wear at his adoption registration/finalization, and we will buy some souvenirs for our family back home. We'll spend several days in this province, as well, and will likely have some free time to visit the zoo if Gabriel feels up to it.
Once all of the paperwork is completed, we will travel by car to Hong Kong where we will spend the night and fly out the next morning. Any and all are welcome to meet and greet us at the airport on the evening of July 9, but if you choose to do so, please let my brother, Michael, know. He'll give you the details of where you'll need to be. Also, we have to get a list of people coming in case Gabriel is sick or would not be up to a crowd for whatever reason. If you can let Michael know your name and phone number, he'll give you a call with plenty of notice in case we're unable to meet you there. His cell # is 317-938-2503. Our family members will be there no matter what, but if Gabriel's not doing well, we'll have you over to meet him at a different time. Hopefully, we'll be able to see everyone there!! :)
Please pray for our health-- Howie's, Gabriel's, and mine as well as a smooth transition as Gabriel is welcomed into his family. We are beyond excited to meet him and bring him home!!
The next blog I send will be from China when I have a chance to write!
Blessings to all of you,
Jenn and Howie
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers and mothers-in-waiting!
We are still waiting, as well, and have no idea when we will travel. It will be either June or July, because of the biggest small mistake that USCIS (immigration) could possibly make. Our immigration officer approved our immigration documents but made a little mistake on each approval. A two-letter mistake, even! Our address on each approval had us living in Iowa instead of Indiana. So what... big deal, right? Wrong! Wrong because these approvals were sent to my agency, which shipped them off to China. Wrong because they were shipped to the NVC (National Visa Center). And wrong because we were the last to receive them to potentially at least prevent the agency from sending them to China.
I told our immigration officer of the mistake, which meant that she had to reissue each approval-- our I-800 A approving us for adopting a child with the special needs that he has-- and our I-800 provisional approval, which proves that as long as he has a VISA, he can be adopted and enter the US as an American citizen. Our agency was able to contact the person to whom they had sent the incorrect documents, and she will try to take care of that in China. However, no one at the NVC is aware of what has happened, or if they are aware, they have ignored my emails and failed to send a response. We cannot fill out our very last piece of paperwork for the adoption until we know that they have the new approvals, and we've been told that it can take them up to 10 days to process those, so we are really not sure what to do. We should learn more Monday... we hope. Our fear is that the NVC will be confused if we send our last big of paperwork to them before they have the new approvals and that something else will delay us-- so any and all prayers are appreciated! I write about this so that you know what we are going through and that we continue to persevere and to rely on God to take care of our little one in the meantime. MOST people do not end up going through this many hurdles in their adoption. It just so happens that we don't fall into the "most" category. However, we would go through this all over again if it meant that the end result would be uniting with our son, Gabriel. In a sense, this is what all good mothers do, isn't it? We love, make sacrifices, worry about our children, pray for them, and ultimately have faith that God will lead us and them through life.
While waiting, it is important to know that, as much as we think about our son, his biological mother may very well be thinking about him. It is a tragedy that she was not able to care for him. We know that she loved him and did what was best and what would get him the medical attention that he desperately needed to live past his first few days of life. On this Mother's Day, we give thanks to her for risking her own life in order to help him get this care. We thank her for giving her son the gift of life, and we pray she is doing well and hope she somehow knows that her son is alive and well and will be going to a good home. We will never be able to meet her to thank her in person, but we hope that she knows that her son is loved. We will always honor her on this day, as all mothers, both biological and adoptive, should be honored.
We are still waiting, as well, and have no idea when we will travel. It will be either June or July, because of the biggest small mistake that USCIS (immigration) could possibly make. Our immigration officer approved our immigration documents but made a little mistake on each approval. A two-letter mistake, even! Our address on each approval had us living in Iowa instead of Indiana. So what... big deal, right? Wrong! Wrong because these approvals were sent to my agency, which shipped them off to China. Wrong because they were shipped to the NVC (National Visa Center). And wrong because we were the last to receive them to potentially at least prevent the agency from sending them to China.
I told our immigration officer of the mistake, which meant that she had to reissue each approval-- our I-800 A approving us for adopting a child with the special needs that he has-- and our I-800 provisional approval, which proves that as long as he has a VISA, he can be adopted and enter the US as an American citizen. Our agency was able to contact the person to whom they had sent the incorrect documents, and she will try to take care of that in China. However, no one at the NVC is aware of what has happened, or if they are aware, they have ignored my emails and failed to send a response. We cannot fill out our very last piece of paperwork for the adoption until we know that they have the new approvals, and we've been told that it can take them up to 10 days to process those, so we are really not sure what to do. We should learn more Monday... we hope. Our fear is that the NVC will be confused if we send our last big of paperwork to them before they have the new approvals and that something else will delay us-- so any and all prayers are appreciated! I write about this so that you know what we are going through and that we continue to persevere and to rely on God to take care of our little one in the meantime. MOST people do not end up going through this many hurdles in their adoption. It just so happens that we don't fall into the "most" category. However, we would go through this all over again if it meant that the end result would be uniting with our son, Gabriel. In a sense, this is what all good mothers do, isn't it? We love, make sacrifices, worry about our children, pray for them, and ultimately have faith that God will lead us and them through life.
While waiting, it is important to know that, as much as we think about our son, his biological mother may very well be thinking about him. It is a tragedy that she was not able to care for him. We know that she loved him and did what was best and what would get him the medical attention that he desperately needed to live past his first few days of life. On this Mother's Day, we give thanks to her for risking her own life in order to help him get this care. We thank her for giving her son the gift of life, and we pray she is doing well and hope she somehow knows that her son is alive and well and will be going to a good home. We will never be able to meet her to thank her in person, but we hope that she knows that her son is loved. We will always honor her on this day, as all mothers, both biological and adoptive, should be honored.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Pot Holes
Hello, again!
I know most of the blog posts you've seen from me have been positive ones, and for the most part, this has been a very positive adoption journey, especially when compared to the journey that some of our other friends have faced/ are facing.
However, that's not to say that there haven't been some pot holes along the way-- those bumps in the road that make you say, "Ouch!" Sometimes you keep on going and hope that it didn't do any damage, and sometimes you get a flat tire.
Well, the past couple of weeks, we've hit a couple of pot holes-- one that is an ouch (although for us, a big ouch), and one that required a flat tire to be changed.
First, the big ouch. Many of you received our eight updated pictures of our child several weeks ago. Everyone remarked on how cute he was, and he is cute, no doubt about that. However, this mama didn't think this child had the same face as the child we saw in the video that we received at the time of referral. I thought, "Not the same face, he grew a LOT in three months, and why do the reports state that he is walking with assistance and only standing for 30 seconds on his own, but he is doing a little gymnastics move in one of the pictures?" Howie and I looked and looked to see any hint of a similarity. "How about the ears? Are his ears the same? Yeah.. looks like it. Oh, his hairline! Now, not many kids have a hairline like that; that must be our child. You know, maybe the video wasn't as recent as the orphanage and our agency said that it was. That would explain the huge change." After two weeks of tossing these questions around in our heads, we finally asked if it was possible that a mistake had been made. The woman on the China team looked at his pictures, at the reports, back to the video, and concluded that these eight pictures were not of our son. They were pictures of a boy who was referred to another family about the same time as our son was matched with us. So... then began the process of trying to get those eight pictures out of our minds. The China team profusely apologized for the mistake and promised updated pictures of OUR son soon. We have yet to receive them. We're not the only ones with our agency waiting to receive pictures of our children, either, so we have no idea when or if we will get them. That's a big ouch for us waiting to see how our cute son is doing, how he's growing, etc.
Then this week came the flat tire. We had hoped to send immigration paperwork out early this week. I had posted on Facebook that it was ready to go. I had a couple more things to do and print off at that point, but that was all. We received our addendum from our local adoption specialist, and it had two incorrect pieces of information on it. We informed her about the mistakes, and then she realized that some of the information that we spent weeks collecting didn't even need to be on there. Weeks wasted on that, delaying our trip to see our son. The information required her to delete-- not add-- items to it. We're on our third day of waiting for the fix, and hopefully-- though no promises-- we'll be able to pick it up today and mail these immigration documents that are organized, copied for our file, and ready to go.
So... there is part of the bumpy road part of adoption. Everyone faces it-- or something like it-- during the process. We've had other bumps that I haven't written about, but one of my friends urged me to write about this. It's a journey. It's our reality at this moment. We still trust that God will get us through it. He will help us change this flat tire, and we'll keep going, though it may take us longer to get there than what we had originally hoped. It may cost us some money to get a replacement (home study update). However, He will use it for His purpose. We will make friends in China-- other couples who are adopting at the same time-- and maybe that's why. We'll find out further along the journey.
At this point, we welcome prayers for an updated, corrected addendum that immigration will accept and a smooth, fast-moving process of our documents at immigration. As always, we welcome prayers for our little Gabriel.
Thanks for being there with us through it all!
Jenn and Howie
I know most of the blog posts you've seen from me have been positive ones, and for the most part, this has been a very positive adoption journey, especially when compared to the journey that some of our other friends have faced/ are facing.
However, that's not to say that there haven't been some pot holes along the way-- those bumps in the road that make you say, "Ouch!" Sometimes you keep on going and hope that it didn't do any damage, and sometimes you get a flat tire.
Well, the past couple of weeks, we've hit a couple of pot holes-- one that is an ouch (although for us, a big ouch), and one that required a flat tire to be changed.
First, the big ouch. Many of you received our eight updated pictures of our child several weeks ago. Everyone remarked on how cute he was, and he is cute, no doubt about that. However, this mama didn't think this child had the same face as the child we saw in the video that we received at the time of referral. I thought, "Not the same face, he grew a LOT in three months, and why do the reports state that he is walking with assistance and only standing for 30 seconds on his own, but he is doing a little gymnastics move in one of the pictures?" Howie and I looked and looked to see any hint of a similarity. "How about the ears? Are his ears the same? Yeah.. looks like it. Oh, his hairline! Now, not many kids have a hairline like that; that must be our child. You know, maybe the video wasn't as recent as the orphanage and our agency said that it was. That would explain the huge change." After two weeks of tossing these questions around in our heads, we finally asked if it was possible that a mistake had been made. The woman on the China team looked at his pictures, at the reports, back to the video, and concluded that these eight pictures were not of our son. They were pictures of a boy who was referred to another family about the same time as our son was matched with us. So... then began the process of trying to get those eight pictures out of our minds. The China team profusely apologized for the mistake and promised updated pictures of OUR son soon. We have yet to receive them. We're not the only ones with our agency waiting to receive pictures of our children, either, so we have no idea when or if we will get them. That's a big ouch for us waiting to see how our cute son is doing, how he's growing, etc.
Then this week came the flat tire. We had hoped to send immigration paperwork out early this week. I had posted on Facebook that it was ready to go. I had a couple more things to do and print off at that point, but that was all. We received our addendum from our local adoption specialist, and it had two incorrect pieces of information on it. We informed her about the mistakes, and then she realized that some of the information that we spent weeks collecting didn't even need to be on there. Weeks wasted on that, delaying our trip to see our son. The information required her to delete-- not add-- items to it. We're on our third day of waiting for the fix, and hopefully-- though no promises-- we'll be able to pick it up today and mail these immigration documents that are organized, copied for our file, and ready to go.
So... there is part of the bumpy road part of adoption. Everyone faces it-- or something like it-- during the process. We've had other bumps that I haven't written about, but one of my friends urged me to write about this. It's a journey. It's our reality at this moment. We still trust that God will get us through it. He will help us change this flat tire, and we'll keep going, though it may take us longer to get there than what we had originally hoped. It may cost us some money to get a replacement (home study update). However, He will use it for His purpose. We will make friends in China-- other couples who are adopting at the same time-- and maybe that's why. We'll find out further along the journey.
At this point, we welcome prayers for an updated, corrected addendum that immigration will accept and a smooth, fast-moving process of our documents at immigration. As always, we welcome prayers for our little Gabriel.
Thanks for being there with us through it all!
Jenn and Howie
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Gabriel Song Fischer- Next Step- Immigration!
Hi everyone,
It has been a busy past week here at the Fischer household. We received and signed our LOA (letter of acceptance that China issued, approving us to adopt our son), and then we had to gather updated background checks from a total of three cities and counties. Now, we're waiting for some of those background checks to be run (which can take a week and half before they might reach our agency). Then our adoption specialist will draw up an addendum to our home study so that we can send in our immigration paperwork, and from that point, more paperwork will follow!
Plans have been made with the travel agency that our adoption agency uses, and we will soon fill out the information that takes care of the in-country travel in China. We have decided to take the optional (but highly recommended) tour of Beijing before we go to the next province, Shandong, to adopt our son. We will need time to adjust our body clocks, since China runs 12 hours ahead of us. We'll want to be well-rested before we become first-time parents!
The highlight of the week, though, was that we received updated pictures of our son! We have been told to be extra cautious about whom we share these pictures with, so Howie and I have decided to not show them on the blog. However, I will describe them to you so that you can imagine. :) The most recent picture of him shows him sitting backwards in a line of chairs that other kids are sitting on, as if they are playing some kind of game or pretending to ride on a bus or something. He has the biggest smile you've ever seen on a kid-- and a dimple, too!! That is my favorite picture. Some others show him a little younger, and in those, he's concentrating on a water bottle with crayons in it, playing with large beads with a caretaker, and finger painting with purple paint. He's very serious when he's doing these things. Then, we have some other ones (not sure how old he was in these), in which he is being silly. He looks like he's doing a gymnastic move in one of them and the other one (in the same location) shows a pretty good close-up of him with kind of a crazy hairstyle-- shaved all over with a big chunk of hair in front, which just adds to the cuteness. Finally, the last picture shows him in an oversized coat, playing with a caretaker who is holding some snow up to him. Very cute!! We were so relieved to find him looking healthy and happy. And... he is just adorable!! We can't wait to hug him! Orphanages are not a substitute for a parent, but we think he's in one of the best orphanages that is in China, and for that, we are very thankful.
We've also been learning more about his special need, which involves digestive issues. There's a Facebook page specifically designated for people who have adopted kids who have his specific condition, and we have gained a ton of information from these sights. Nothing beats reading advice and hearing about the realities of his condition. We still have some things to learn that can only come from experience, but we know we have support out there, and we even know whom his doctor is going to be. Even the people on that page give him their highest recommendation.
Finally, we've started working on communication, which will be a biggie when we get there. I've looked at some you tube videos on sign language for babies, and it is amazing how signs can help babies and toddlers communicate their needs well before they can speak-- or speak English, in our case. He isn't quite two yet and can say several small words in Chinese, so the transition to English should happen very fast for him, but we'll want to be able to communicate with him before that happens. For when we're in China and maybe for a little while at home, too, we purchased a book and CD of common phrases in Chinese that are helpful for adoptive parents to know. We hope this will help him feel more comfortable, even though our accents will be very heavy, I'm sure.
Are we busy? Yes we are! Add that to trying to get a washing machine fixed, doing taxes, and trying to keep up with our grading homework from school, and sometimes, we are just plain exhausted. It's all good, though. He is more than worth it!!
We'll keep you posted! Thanks for following us on our journey, and please keep the prayers coming!
Blessings,
Jenn and Howie
It has been a busy past week here at the Fischer household. We received and signed our LOA (letter of acceptance that China issued, approving us to adopt our son), and then we had to gather updated background checks from a total of three cities and counties. Now, we're waiting for some of those background checks to be run (which can take a week and half before they might reach our agency). Then our adoption specialist will draw up an addendum to our home study so that we can send in our immigration paperwork, and from that point, more paperwork will follow!
Plans have been made with the travel agency that our adoption agency uses, and we will soon fill out the information that takes care of the in-country travel in China. We have decided to take the optional (but highly recommended) tour of Beijing before we go to the next province, Shandong, to adopt our son. We will need time to adjust our body clocks, since China runs 12 hours ahead of us. We'll want to be well-rested before we become first-time parents!
The highlight of the week, though, was that we received updated pictures of our son! We have been told to be extra cautious about whom we share these pictures with, so Howie and I have decided to not show them on the blog. However, I will describe them to you so that you can imagine. :) The most recent picture of him shows him sitting backwards in a line of chairs that other kids are sitting on, as if they are playing some kind of game or pretending to ride on a bus or something. He has the biggest smile you've ever seen on a kid-- and a dimple, too!! That is my favorite picture. Some others show him a little younger, and in those, he's concentrating on a water bottle with crayons in it, playing with large beads with a caretaker, and finger painting with purple paint. He's very serious when he's doing these things. Then, we have some other ones (not sure how old he was in these), in which he is being silly. He looks like he's doing a gymnastic move in one of them and the other one (in the same location) shows a pretty good close-up of him with kind of a crazy hairstyle-- shaved all over with a big chunk of hair in front, which just adds to the cuteness. Finally, the last picture shows him in an oversized coat, playing with a caretaker who is holding some snow up to him. Very cute!! We were so relieved to find him looking healthy and happy. And... he is just adorable!! We can't wait to hug him! Orphanages are not a substitute for a parent, but we think he's in one of the best orphanages that is in China, and for that, we are very thankful.
We've also been learning more about his special need, which involves digestive issues. There's a Facebook page specifically designated for people who have adopted kids who have his specific condition, and we have gained a ton of information from these sights. Nothing beats reading advice and hearing about the realities of his condition. We still have some things to learn that can only come from experience, but we know we have support out there, and we even know whom his doctor is going to be. Even the people on that page give him their highest recommendation.
Finally, we've started working on communication, which will be a biggie when we get there. I've looked at some you tube videos on sign language for babies, and it is amazing how signs can help babies and toddlers communicate their needs well before they can speak-- or speak English, in our case. He isn't quite two yet and can say several small words in Chinese, so the transition to English should happen very fast for him, but we'll want to be able to communicate with him before that happens. For when we're in China and maybe for a little while at home, too, we purchased a book and CD of common phrases in Chinese that are helpful for adoptive parents to know. We hope this will help him feel more comfortable, even though our accents will be very heavy, I'm sure.
Are we busy? Yes we are! Add that to trying to get a washing machine fixed, doing taxes, and trying to keep up with our grading homework from school, and sometimes, we are just plain exhausted. It's all good, though. He is more than worth it!!
We'll keep you posted! Thanks for following us on our journey, and please keep the prayers coming!
Blessings,
Jenn and Howie
Monday, February 17, 2014
Winter Excitement
Greetings, everyone!
After all the waiting, we have some exciting news to tell you, but even though the post is titled "Winter Excitement," this has absolutely NOTHING to do with all of the winter weather we've been having! We have much more exciting news than that to post about!
We have been matched with our little one! We cannot give away details yet until we receive our LOA (letter of approval) from China, but we can tell you this bit of news.
It all began back in December, just before Christmas. We saw our little guy on our agency's site, and immediately inquired about him, not knowing his specific special need at the time. The agency responded and told us what the need was. Because we were unfamiliar with it, we initially declined looking further into adopting him.
However, we didn't stop thinking about him. One day in late January, I caught myself looking into his mini bio on the agency site again. The next day, I saw Howie doing the same thing, and this time, there was a video. We watched him and fell in love. He immediately said, "Can't we do something?" I then saw him go into research mode, and I have never seen him research like that before (and we've done a lot of adoption and adoption-related medical research). On a message board, he found a woman who had two sons with the same condition as ours. We went from there to her blog, and we made contact. She was wonderful! She gave us the name and email address of the world specialist on this condition, and we found out that he's in Ohio-- not too far from us. She assured us that the condition was manageable and explained in detail what her sons went through to manage the condition. Howie and I read about it and said, "Yes, we can definitely do this!"
Shortly after this, we made contact with our agency again, and within ten days we were officially matched! We are THRILLED!!! This past weekend, we sent in our Letter of Intent to Adopt.
Here's a picture of the proud daddy-to-be signing the letter of intent.
After all the waiting, we have some exciting news to tell you, but even though the post is titled "Winter Excitement," this has absolutely NOTHING to do with all of the winter weather we've been having! We have much more exciting news than that to post about!
We have been matched with our little one! We cannot give away details yet until we receive our LOA (letter of approval) from China, but we can tell you this bit of news.
It all began back in December, just before Christmas. We saw our little guy on our agency's site, and immediately inquired about him, not knowing his specific special need at the time. The agency responded and told us what the need was. Because we were unfamiliar with it, we initially declined looking further into adopting him.
However, we didn't stop thinking about him. One day in late January, I caught myself looking into his mini bio on the agency site again. The next day, I saw Howie doing the same thing, and this time, there was a video. We watched him and fell in love. He immediately said, "Can't we do something?" I then saw him go into research mode, and I have never seen him research like that before (and we've done a lot of adoption and adoption-related medical research). On a message board, he found a woman who had two sons with the same condition as ours. We went from there to her blog, and we made contact. She was wonderful! She gave us the name and email address of the world specialist on this condition, and we found out that he's in Ohio-- not too far from us. She assured us that the condition was manageable and explained in detail what her sons went through to manage the condition. Howie and I read about it and said, "Yes, we can definitely do this!"
Shortly after this, we made contact with our agency again, and within ten days we were officially matched! We are THRILLED!!! This past weekend, we sent in our Letter of Intent to Adopt.
Here's a picture of the proud daddy-to-be signing the letter of intent.
And here is a picture of the mommy-to-be doing the same.
We hope and pray to soon receive our LOA from China, which will let us know that we are approved and will travel sometime this summer to pick up our little boy whom we will name Gabriel Song Fischer. :)
Thank you all for your prayers, and we hope you will continue praying with us as we prepare for our trip to China!
Blessings,
Howie and Jenn Fischer
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Still Waiting...
Tonight I thought I would take the time to update this blog, which hasn't been updated since September. The reason it hasn't been updated is because we're kind of at a standstill in the adoption process at the moment. It's the moment of waiting for a referral. It's a very long moment.
However, we have to remind ourselves that things are happening-- things that we can only imagine and cannot see. Our little Gabriel, when he first arrived at the orphanage, first had to wait while people searched for his birth parents. After a certain period of time passed and they determined that his birth parents couldn't be found, he had to be placed on an in-country adoption list for a few months. After that, paperwork had to be done to make him eligible for international adoption. So... we're assuming that he's in the paperwork stage of the process, and we're both just waiting for that paperwork to move through so that he can make it to what is called "the shared list" and we can be matched.
What are we doing in the meantime? Besides doing the tons of work that teachers do, we are reading blogs, articles, and books, and watching countless videos about attachment mostly, which is the most important thing to focus on when we finally get our little guy. We're also learning about how to deal with discipline issues and when to worry if our child has a sensory processing disorder caused by his time in the orphanage. We're learning a lot, and these are videos that we will likely watch again before we travel-- which will likely be six months after we accept our referral. Yes, more waiting, but also more paperwork on our end, and a care package to get together for our little one.
We've also been able to meet with a couple who has experienced an international adoption. Their adoption was from Bulgaria. We have so enjoyed meeting with them and spending time with their sweet little guy and look forward to more outings soon. It's shown us how much kids can really grow and learn over several months. It's neat to see such a transformation happen.
Another couple whom we met through our agency is in the process of waiting just as we are. However, in their case, they met their little guy in person while they were serving in China with their church. They have been waiting for over a year for his paperwork to come through, and their hope is that once he makes it to the shared list, our agency will be able to lock him in immediately for them. We're hoping this will happen soon. His orphanage indicated that it should be soon, so we'll see if they're right. This couple has also been great to communicate with. We've shared our concerns, our celebrations of receiving grants, and our desire to stop waiting. We also have a lot more in common. We started dating our spouses at about the same time, we were married on the exact same date as they were, and we like doing the same types of things, such as playing board games. Our hope is that our sons will be able to meet each other and be great friends once they are both home and are adjusted to family life.
So, yes, we're still waiting and trying to make the wait count as much as we can. We're still trying to get something together at our church, too, so that we can help widows and at the same time raise funds for orphan care, and we're still learning a lot about how to make that happen.
There isn't a day that goes by that we don't think about our son, wonder what he's doing, hope he's safe and warm and is getting enough to eat, and hope he feels loved by someone whom he sees every single day. Thank you to all who have said prayers. Please keep those prayers coming! God will match us in His time. We remain confident in that.
Oh, and for all of you who shop Amazon, please shop Amazon Smile-- it's the exact same Amazon that you know, but you can pick a charity to benefit from the sale of what you buy. Pick Show Hope or Orphan's Treasure Box if you would like to do something that will both provide for the care of orphans and help other people like us receive grants to help in their adoption.
Thank you for reading, and may you all have a blessed 2014! We'll keep you posted. :)
Jenn and Howie
However, we have to remind ourselves that things are happening-- things that we can only imagine and cannot see. Our little Gabriel, when he first arrived at the orphanage, first had to wait while people searched for his birth parents. After a certain period of time passed and they determined that his birth parents couldn't be found, he had to be placed on an in-country adoption list for a few months. After that, paperwork had to be done to make him eligible for international adoption. So... we're assuming that he's in the paperwork stage of the process, and we're both just waiting for that paperwork to move through so that he can make it to what is called "the shared list" and we can be matched.
What are we doing in the meantime? Besides doing the tons of work that teachers do, we are reading blogs, articles, and books, and watching countless videos about attachment mostly, which is the most important thing to focus on when we finally get our little guy. We're also learning about how to deal with discipline issues and when to worry if our child has a sensory processing disorder caused by his time in the orphanage. We're learning a lot, and these are videos that we will likely watch again before we travel-- which will likely be six months after we accept our referral. Yes, more waiting, but also more paperwork on our end, and a care package to get together for our little one.
We've also been able to meet with a couple who has experienced an international adoption. Their adoption was from Bulgaria. We have so enjoyed meeting with them and spending time with their sweet little guy and look forward to more outings soon. It's shown us how much kids can really grow and learn over several months. It's neat to see such a transformation happen.
Another couple whom we met through our agency is in the process of waiting just as we are. However, in their case, they met their little guy in person while they were serving in China with their church. They have been waiting for over a year for his paperwork to come through, and their hope is that once he makes it to the shared list, our agency will be able to lock him in immediately for them. We're hoping this will happen soon. His orphanage indicated that it should be soon, so we'll see if they're right. This couple has also been great to communicate with. We've shared our concerns, our celebrations of receiving grants, and our desire to stop waiting. We also have a lot more in common. We started dating our spouses at about the same time, we were married on the exact same date as they were, and we like doing the same types of things, such as playing board games. Our hope is that our sons will be able to meet each other and be great friends once they are both home and are adjusted to family life.
So, yes, we're still waiting and trying to make the wait count as much as we can. We're still trying to get something together at our church, too, so that we can help widows and at the same time raise funds for orphan care, and we're still learning a lot about how to make that happen.
There isn't a day that goes by that we don't think about our son, wonder what he's doing, hope he's safe and warm and is getting enough to eat, and hope he feels loved by someone whom he sees every single day. Thank you to all who have said prayers. Please keep those prayers coming! God will match us in His time. We remain confident in that.
Oh, and for all of you who shop Amazon, please shop Amazon Smile-- it's the exact same Amazon that you know, but you can pick a charity to benefit from the sale of what you buy. Pick Show Hope or Orphan's Treasure Box if you would like to do something that will both provide for the care of orphans and help other people like us receive grants to help in their adoption.
Thank you for reading, and may you all have a blessed 2014! We'll keep you posted. :)
Jenn and Howie
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