Heading to China

Got our bags packed! Although I ended up changing what
luggage we actually took.. Paranoid about carry on restrictions.

It has been almost a full week since we first left Texas and headed into the unknown. We really didn't know what we were getting into with adopting an older kid. Then again, adoption is full of the unknown! These kids have a history we may never fully know, a background that will never be uncovered. Adoption, for us, isn't just to have a family, although that is the biggest bonus of all. No, it's all about them; to give them hope for a future, love, and the security of a family. 

It seemed like we had already been flying forever!!

So there we were.. 2 months of turning our lives inside out and spending a crazy large amount of money that was miraculously just handed to us by friends, family, strangers and churches. All for a kid, a teenager, that we knew nothing about except for snippets of information from people who had met him, from the orphanage (which is known to usually be less than accurate) and a tiny handful of pictures. We boarded a plane with our sometimes unpredictable child, stayed in the air for over 24 hours, and landed on foreign soil. All for a kid we didn't know!

Little Mr. Plane-rider

The first city we landed in was Beijing. We were so tired we left one of my bags at the airport with all of my makeup, all of my power cords, my favorite blankie, and computer mouse :( I was sad but grateful that it wasn't anything too important. Our next stop was in Lanzhou, the city of our new son. I'm unsure what time we arrived, except that it was dark. We found our guide immediately. He loaded us up in a bus with all of our belongings. He explained that it is unsafe to leave our luggage underneath the bus because people just grab bags and take off. 

After what seemed like 10 minutes, our guide was waking us since we had arrived at the hotel. We were standing at the check in counter when he told us to just go up to the room. The next day I thanked our guide, named Tom, for taking care of us and getting us checked in because we were barely aware of what was going on at that point. Tom said that we were barely conscious when we arrived and that now he understood we had been traveling for so long. When we left Lanzhou, the airport was nearly an hour away. I asked him if it was the same airport, and indeed it was. We literally passed out on the bus!

The next day we met Liam. Stay tuned for more on that!

Lady Bug Adoption Life

Sorry if this is so long, but I have a lot to say and a lot to remember!

This week I've noticed a lot of talk on adoption groups about spotting lady bugs, that seeing a lady bug in the adoption world is a very good sign. Say what? I'm an adoption world person, why don't I know about ladybugs?!" I smiled at the cute "good luck signs" and scrolled on. Well today, I couldn't help but notice all the lady bug stickers I kept spotting today. I was at Hobby Lobby, so it's probably not that miraculous, but I did take note. Would you believe that not only did we get our passports back today with our VISAs, but I got an update from the orphanage on Liam?? Well, maybe there is a little something to lucky lady bugs after all.... who knew!

As soon as my husband walked in the door I was shoving him to the computer to look at the new pictures we got of our son. He was happy and getting excited. Once I showed him the VISA stamps in our passports, he had to sit down. In an emotion-choked voice, the sound that we've both succumbed to more and more the closer it gets, he said, "Oh my gosh, this is real. This is happening. Oh my gosh". And he was smiling :)

Earlier that day, I stood in line, filled out confusing mailing slips and picked out the most expensive box at the post office (by accident!) to mail Liam's things to him. I meant to take pictures of what I was sending, but my brain has gotten more elusive here of late. I blame it all on the massive amounts of paperwork that we have been flying through over the past 6 weeks. In his box was a large bag of Starburst, a large bag of fruit chews, a disposable camera, a hardback photo book about his new home complete with Chinese captions and a letter written to him, in Chinese, about how we long to have him in our home. It is guaranteed to be delivered on Monday. ON MONDAY! On this day, Liam will learn about us and his new home! I can't even comprehend what will be going on in his head. What must he be thinking?! I hope upon hope that he is happy and excited, just as we are. What a big deal. I love it.

Lastly, today I bought up the rest of the gifts for officials, guides, etc. I bought bags of Starbucks Coffee, bandanas with Texas as its design, and Texas magnets, cinnamon toothpicks and huge chocolate candy bars depicting the Victorian age and stickers of various Texas or American culture.. I think I made a pretty good selection this time around. 

I also bought myself some instant coffee. All I have to do is pour it in a cup, add some hot water: done! I just need some of those little creamers. LOTS....of creamer.

We got some new (to us) furniture for the living room so that it will have matching pieces for once. Not really what either of us wanted, but it's decent and will get us by until our finances aren't so tied up. Clearing out Liam's room was a huge headache. That particular room has been empty for at least three years, and by empty I mean no human soul has dwelt there, but all our crap has. There were things I haven't seen in years! It is all moved out, and his room looks great. Take a look!

 Nevermind that junk in the hallway. Pay no attention to the junk behind the curtain! (Wizard of Oz reference)

And of course, there is Sinbad. That chihuahua stalks me tirelessly. 

 His bedroom is very blue. I hope he likes that color.

Oh lookie, he even has his own little chair in the corner!I wonder if he likes to read books..

So Liam's room is all ready for him. Unfortunately, all the stuff that was in there had to go somewhere. A lot of it went to Goodwill, but other parts are stacked in different rooms, out of place, with no home. Time is very strained for me, so getting around to finding homes for miscellaneous items is just something I don't have time. While normally sentimental and a holder-on-to-things, I'm now throwing things away. Trashing it! If there isn't room for it, it's outta here. I have more important things to worry about!

Sunday, after church, we meet with a few couples about our adoption situation to see if they would be willing to give us a grant to complete our adoption. We only joined this past Sunday as for-real members, and they have scrambled to make this meeting happen for us to help us out. Now that is something, right there. These people don't even know me! Definitely in the right place for my family. 

That's all the update I have for now. We fully expect to be in the air by next Thursday. That's a week and one day. W O W ! ! !

Letters to China

Today is the day I write the all important letter to Liam.

The purpose of the letter is to introduce ourselves to him and get him used to the idea of being adopted. I can only imagine how frightening it could be, knowing that your whole life will change. Not only leaving the only "home" he's ever known, but moving to a foreign country, with foreign people.

It's a pretty big deal.

We have a small care package ready to mail to him as well. When we mailed a package to Chanz, he did come to us with the bag we sent and the film from the disposable camera, but nothing else. The toys were likely absorbed somewhere in the orphanage. So, we are sending packaged candy for him to share, a disposable camera and our letter.

This is very important. I hope I was able to clearly speak love and family to him in a way that he can accept.

As far as fundraising, I have no idea how it is all going since I have left it in the capable hands of my friends. I just do not have the time to follow up on them but I am grateful for friends that are willing to step out for us. The garage sale didn't do too well, but it at least puts money in our hands for spending money that goes along with travel (hotels, food, etc). People are sharing our Facebook page "Racing to Wesley" to hopefully attract generous donors with a heart for orphans.

Not much news from the agency, still waiting on VISA paperwork to go through, then we can find out our travel dates and prepare to move forward.

I will update as soon as anything new pops up!

Donation Triumph

Wow!! Our RR fund has jumped! With only weeks left before travel, this is very, very good. 

LOA /LSC

Today we received our Letter Seeking Confirmation (letter of acceptance). This is where the roller coaster sits at the top of the hill just before flying down!

We can now send him a letter and gifts to the orphanage!

So excited!

You want an update?

Here's your update.


PAPERWORK.



        .and this is how I feel about it.

Those VISA apps can just.. just.. go 
somewhere that isn't nice!

Finishing up the dossier

As usual, I try to document the whole adoption process and end up getting buried alive and never getting to it! Here is what I have so far.

This has been.... brutal.
I'm not saying that in a despondent, dragging my hands behind me on the floor, feel-sorry-for-me kind of way, it's just what it is. I remember it being a challenge to get things done last time because we worked full time and couldn't get everything done the exact same day, but I can do that now.

AND THANK GOD.
Because PAPERWORK.

On Monday, we traveled to the capital to get the state seal on some documents and that sucked up an entire day. We drug through the door at 10 p.m. where I found emails that needed answers yesterday, so I stayed up another 2 hours to get that done.

And it continued the next day

A few days later, on Thursday,  it was back to the capital in Austin, then down to Houston where we would hit the Chinese consulate the next day. Bright and early. We were like, 3rd in line. I drug my mom with me this time since my husband couldn't make it. She said she would go which was great because Chanz has no clue of personal space and "Do Not Enter" signs. She was able to keep him wrangled while I took care of the paperwork part.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was right downtown and a short few miles from the Chinese Consulate. It had an indoor swimming pool but most importantly: a hot tub. It was Chanz's favorite. I joined him and felt my muscles just relax and release from all the stress and driving. Complete bliss. I slept very well that night.

The next day, we awoke early, got dressed and enjoyed a nice breakfast then headed to the Consulate. We arrived shortly before 8:30, dropped off the paperwork and arrived back at the hotel by 9:30 where we took a breather. We met up with another family we had traveled with for our first adoption and had lunch at this Chinese food restaurant that was sooo good. Here's Chanz and Julia looking all cute and stuff, getting a lot of attention.

.We had another hour to kill and our hotel gave us tickets to the Houston Science Museum so we went and watched a neat planetarium show narrated by Tom Hanks about the universe. It was pretty eye-opening, but not so for Chanz; he fell asleep almost immediately.

As soon as the show was over, we rushed to the car, headed straight for the consulate on an empty tank of gas, and I got the paperwork picked up! I was ecstatic! I was so afraid that something would be wrong. Like the rest of this adoption process, it went on without a hitch.

We headed to Walgreens to get some drinks and snacks for the road so we could high-tale it HOME. I cleaned out my car while I was there :D

And then, there was traffic. Lots and lots of T R A F F I C from the pits of traffic hell. Thankful we had drinks and snacks! We drove and drove and drove. My mom started digging out her camera muttering something about a statue. I saw the signs to see the statue of Sam Houston, so we took a little detour to stretch our legs.

 Chanz was a little scared of the big head. 

He touches his nose then ran away

Me and Chanz looking so tiny!

We got back on the road but soon had to pull into a McDonalds for some coffee because my lids were getting heavy. We finally rolled into town around 7:30 p.m. Whew!

2 DAYS LATER

Back on the road. Headed to Dallas with my little family of 3 to jump in line and get our fingerprinting the next day. Although our appointment wasn't until July 24, we hoped they would let us in early. We stayed at another Holiday Inn Express. Comfy beds, but no hot tub :(

The next morning, same routine: up early, dress, breakfast, hit the road. We were the first in line.

When they opened, we presented our paperwork and never pointed out the dates. They didn't seem to notice, so we anxiously waiting to get fingerprinted. I was the first fingerprint of the day, Tim second. Then it was done! With so much relief, we got back in the truck and began the trip back home. 

Aside from all the paperwork and logging countless hours at my computer and hitting the pavement over and over, this adoption has done something to me... FOR me.
I have met and connected to the most AMAZING people! People with hearts for God, hearts for orphans! People like us. I've never felt so full of life and love! I feel beyond blessed. The support for this adoption came out of nowhere, we can't even comprehend it all. Even more important, I feel like I've finally found myself.  I finally feel like I have found my place. Orphans. I can't adopt them all, I wish I could, but I have found myself submerged into a strong, supportive community that advocates for these kids with everything they have. I've decided to join them. I'll fight with all I have for these kids without families whether it be through adoption or prayer. It feels good to make a difference. It feels like it's the right thing to do. I'm amazed every day. What a life!