We got our itinerary this week and had a group conference call with our adoption agency. The most exciting news for us though was that we will be handed our daughter Grace on Sunday, September 6 in the afternoon. That means that when you are waking up on Sunday morning, we will have had our daughter for a few hours.  We also learned that because she is in Foster Care, the orphanage usually swings by the foster homes and picks up the babies before making the 2 1/2 hr drive to the hotel where our group is staying. That's going to make for an exhausting day for Grace to be shuttled from person to person to person and not getting her nap in the process.  We'd appreciate your prayers concerning her transition on this day.

This big day in the adoption community actually has a name -- it's called GOTCHA DAY.  Many people have tried to rename it and come up with something that sounds a little less. . .shall we say. . .crude.  But when it comes down to it, this is our moment when we can finally say "Gotcha!" Or if you want to hear the real words, "We've got you sweetheart. You'll never be alone again because you're part of our family now. You actually have been part of our family since before you were even conceived because you've been in our hearts and in our prayers since before then. And most assuredly, God's perfect plans included that  you be part of our family. Yes, dear Grace, we've got ya and we're never ever going to let go!" 

Today we got a US Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou and the green light to purchase tickets!   We thought it would be an easy thing to get tickets but it became an all day process. We ended up working through a wonderful travel agent who was recommended to us by our agency and the process got much less complicated at that point. She was familiar with all of the nuances in purchasing a lap ticket for Grace, and getting us a timely connecting flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. If the connecting flights to the city you are flying home from are longer than 12 hours apart, you don't get the international baggage allowance.  And I'm certainly counting on that 2 bag/person allowance to bring home some goodies for us, family, and Grace!  With only  a few flights home it was like a puzzle that had to fit masterfully together and we are happy with the results.

Of course, how happy can you really be when you know you will be traveling for 25.5 hours home with a baby on your laps who you love dearly but who will most likely struggle with that flight as much if not more than us!  We'll be flying into Hong Kong and then home via Beijing. Our travel group has to meet in Hong Kong so unfortunately we won't be able to tour all of the wonderful sites in Beijing - including the Great Wall, Tiannamen Square, and the Forbidden City. We could have come early but it just got too long and complicated to be away from our boys and we really don't feel badly at all. This trip is about Grace and we'll enjoy touring Hong Kong instead which we've heard is a beautiful city!  We'll save Beijing for another year, hopefully on a return journey with Grace to see her homeland.

Then it will be on to Nanchang (within 3 days), which is the capital city of Jiangxi Province where we will pick up Grace. We'll spend about a week there with the Chinese side of the adoption before flying to Guangzhou to handle the American side of the adoption where we will spend our final week. There will be lots to see, lots to eat, and lots to do, but honestly, all we're really excited about at this moment is getting our Grace Lu!

Today in the mail we received the document that has probably brought to us the most consternation over these past 4 years - our I171H. It is called "THE" paper to Adoptive families because of it's importance. This was the same documentation that we sought to have amended to include the wording "healthy or special needs" because you never know what they might find on your little one at the last Dr. visit. If they feel in any way she has or has had a minor correctable problem, your plans to travel home could be delayed by another 2-4 weeks (or more) while you wait for this inclusion of language in your I171H. Little did we know when we set out to add that language that we were working with an I171H that had a clerical error and was invalid to begin with!  So today 2 birds were killed with one stone by getting the one fixed and the wording included on it.  When I saw that manilla envelope in the mailbox my heart skipped a beat. Then I saw the return address of Homeland Security and my heart skipped 2 beats! I ran inside waiving it and saying "Department of Homeland Security!"  I took a deep breath and saw our longed for I171H inside but didn't feel the relief of joy until I had checked over every date - from processing to the inclusion of our fingerprint expiration dates. It was all there and it all looked great!

Sharon

We've been waiting for 4 weeks for news of Travel Approval from China and it finally came!  I'm not really sure why we need this extra approval. Afterall, we got our Visas and isn't that approval from China? It has something to do with the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs confirming that everything is good to go for our little girl -- but again -- shouldn't that have been part of the matching process? I don't understand it, I just know we needed it! 

Meanwhile, we are waiting on our immigration paperwork to be corrected. We did hear from the Raleigh office of USCIS that they sent it out TODAY.  Thankfully, none of that "mess" has kept our adoption agency from requesting a consulate appointment for us which is the next step in the process. Of course, we don't exactly know what the consulate will say when they look at our invalid immigration paperwork but our adoption agency is telling us they will most likely just need for us to sign a waiver that all will be in order when we are present at the appointment.  If I can at least have the approval in my hot little hands I will feel better!

As soon as CCAI receives a consulate appointment for us they will give us firm travel dates and give us the green light to purchase tickets.  Right now they are saying it's going to be Sept 3 - 18 which is just music to our ears!  Our hearts are skipping beats, I'm nesting big-time, and we're whirling around getting everything done in order for our trip to go smoothly AND for the time at home with the kids to go smoothly with their Mom Mom.  That means meals to make, lunches to prepare, schedules to coordinate, carpools to arrange, and packing to be done!  Not to mention getting the house ready for Grace with stations set up with baby toys, diapers, and wipes and being sure to have some formula on hand.  So much to do but quite frankly, we would leave today if we could! We are eager to scoop her up in our arms, tell her we love her, and begin our new life with our baby Grace!

Sharon

 

We had a crazy mixed up day filled with emotional highs, lows, and in betweens! The best news we got today was from our adoption agency that if Travel Approvals arrive at the end of this week or the beginning of the next (which seems very likely), they believe we would travel on Sept 3!! That's 2 weeks sooner than we thought!!!  Wow!  I keep smacking Pat on the arm and saying "September 3! Honey -- can you believe it? Sept third!"  I'm glad he has a big strong arm!

On the low end of things we found out yesterday that there is a clerical error on our I171H document (immigration approval).  They apparently put in the wrong date and so for all intents and purposes, we now have invalid immigration status.  When our Travel Approvals do arrive and they request consulate appointments, ours can be denied.  This morning we high-tailed it over to our local USCIS (Dept. of Homeland Security) office in Durham to try to get it corrected.  We only were able to meet with an information officer who immediately saw  the clerical error and said she would bring it to the attention of the adoption adjudicating officer upstairs. She was unwilling to provide us with either a name or an email address to follow up with him. She assured us that she would ask him to make it a priority and they would probably get to it late this week or next week.  When this is something we needed "yesterday" this was not good news.   Once it gets done, that document has to be sent snailmail to the National Visa Center and then snailmail to the consulate in Guangzou China -- time we don't really have on our side.

We came home and penned a letter with the details to an adoption emergency USCIS email address and would you believe that in just 45 minutes we got a response?! We got an apology and a promise that it would be prioritized.  The only delay now had to do with our amended homestudy that we did recently (remember that mess?!).  They have to re-adjudicate on the homestudy to make sure that it addresses all of the wording requested on our new I171H. I'm hoping that we hear within the next few days that this situation is resolved and on its way!

And lastly, the in-between news was an update on Grace!  We learned that she has NOT been at the orphanage longer than several days. Rather she has been and is currently in Foster Care.  I'm thinking that Foster Care is generally a good thing in China.  That's why it is a mixed bag -- we think that means more hugging and holding and generally less attachment problems but it also may come with its own share of problems. Perhaps she will grieve more deeply when we get her. We will see.  Oh - and she is sitting and standing when holding onto something but not walking or talking yet :-)

All of that added up to a pizza night. That's when this mother is discombobulated by either emotions or activities.  So pizza it was! I think there are going to be other pizza nights in the days to come!

Sharon

I've been searching the internet to find pictures of Grace's orphanage and of the place on the complex's grounds called the Sr. Center.  I've come across a few pictures here and there but not until today did I find a significant cache of photos that give a good overall look at Yifeng Social Welfare Institute (what the Chinese call orphanages).  And not only did I find pictures or the orphanage (inside and outside), of the current director and his business card, maps of the area and of the complex, I also found the most significant picture of all - a photo that was labeled Yifeng Sr. Center.  It was here on an early morning on November 29, 2008 that an orphanage worker discovered our little girl. Did she know how much that little girl had been prayed for?  Did she have any idea how loved that little girl was even in her abandonment? Did she see the unseen angels hovering over her in safety?  Instead, she saw a little girl in a yellow jacket with red floral print wrapped in a blanket who just that morning had been placed where someone would find her.  When looking at the complex I am struck by how far in someone had to venture to get her to that particular building. And why not the orphanage? Did the mother or father hang around near by to watch for their little child to be picked up as we have heard about in stories?  Was Grace cold or crying? These are questions we never may have answered but I know this. I know that at that moment, God was working out his plan in our Grace's life to bring her to safety and ultimately to her forever family. 

Yifeng Orphanage appears to be a very small orphanage  nestled in the Misty Mountains of Jiangxi province.  The view is quite serene but we have read that it comes with its fair share of bugs.  The interior shots show a very small washer and dryer, a few crude wooden potties and a row of walkers. The babies sleep quite bundled up with their heads propped by pillows.  There is a photo of the Director in 2006.  It is very likely this is Zhang Yeuming,the Director who named Grace. There is also a photo of the Assistant Director holding one of the children in the playroom. We've heard from others in our group who discovered that their children were in Foster Care. On the one hand, this is a smaller orphanage so there probably would be more personalized care for the children. But my heart hopes that we discover that Grace, too, has been in Foster Care.  It doesn't mean it is without its problems, but she would have escaped some of the bleakness of these surroundings and gotten more 1:1 time with holding and bonding time.  We're sending a letter via redthreadchina.com to the orphanage. They will translate our 20 questions and we hope to glean a little more insight into Grace's first 7 months of life.  We've even asked if they'd circle the exact place she was found, and give us a few more details about her primary caregivers.  We can only pray that some of the answers find their way back to us. If not, we know that God will give Grace all she needs in her journey ahead.

Sharon

Today we were thrilled to get updated pictures and info on our little sweetheart from Ann at redthreadChina.com!  She is smaller in that little chair now than when they put her in it 5 months ago! It's like falling in love all over again with a new baby because she looks so different.  But when we look closely, it's those same sweet eyes, soft eyebrows, and bow-shaped lips.  At 8 months she is 17.6 pounds, 26" in length, and she has 4 teeth (2up/2down)!

We also received her story afterCCAI translated from her file.  She was discovered at the entrance to the Yifeng County Senior's Home by someone who worked at the Yifeng County orphanage (one of several buildings in the Yifeng County complex). She was wearing a yellow jacket with a red floral print and was wrapped in a blanket and was just 2 days old. Soon after, she was brought over to the Children's Department where the Director "consulted a dictionary and named her".  He said she “had a pointy face, thick hair, and fair complexion. She was 6 1/2 pounds and 15" long.

The Director wrote "she looks very cute with a likeable appearance. When she was 2 months old, she was extremely adorable and would smile upon meeting someone."  At 3 months “. . .she was clever, lively, active, liked to listen to music, and when given a picture or toy would touch it and make an “o,o” sound.  She would play quietly by herself or fall asleep after being fed and changed."

They refer to her several times as Baby Biao Biao and so we now know what name she will be used to hearing and will enjoy saying it to her as she gets used to her new name of Grace. 

We're hoping and praying that our Travel Approvals will arrive soon because every day we are more and more eager to go scoop this little bundle of joy into our arms, cover her in pink from head to toe, and shower her with kisses!

Sharon

We spent a good amount of time at church today with friends of ours who just returned from China with their little bundle of joy.  Her smiles were a balm for our aching hearts.  The boys were all smiles, and as we we crammed our family of six into the small saturn (our van broke down the other day and is in the shop) there was a palpable excitement.  Sharon turned to us as we pulled out of the parking lot and said, "I want one of those."

We are currently in a bit of a holding pattern as we wait for China to approve our travel.  Following their approval we will send away for an appointment with the US consulate.  The adoption will be finalized during our trip in Grace's home province of Jiangxi, but she officially becomes a US citizen at the consulate office in the Guangdong Province.

During the short wait - yes, short! - we are busy with a load of activities to ready the boys for school.   Sharon has also been busy buying the load of medical supplies and baby supplies that we will be taking to China with us and that we will need during the first weeks or months we return.    To make room for the travel supplies, don't be surprised if EVERY picture of me for the 16 day trip is in the same outfit.  Ha!  So glad the pictures won't be "scratch and sniff."  All kidding aside, this would be a minor sacrifice for my daughter.

I was impressed today at church with the realization that we have been waiting for Grace - praying for her and her biological parents - for four years - almost two and a half years before she was even conceived.  What a wonderful, albeit dim, parallel to our savior's love for us.  He chose us before the foundation of the world, died a substitutionary death for us even before we drew our first breath, and has been praying for us for thousands of years (John 17).  As adopted children of the King of Kings, we have so much for which to be thankful.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement - and especially for your ongoing prayers. 

(Pat)

We discovered this wonderful woman in China who will send out care packages to our daughter's orphanage and translate a letter for us.  We decided that what was most valuable to us and to Grace would be pictures of her or where she has been during these past 8 months and pictures of us for her to begin to recognize these strangers who will soon be her family. We sent Ann 8 pictures of us and she labeled all of them (Mother & Father, Family, Brother Adam etc). We were going to send these things out by ourselves but we also discovered through other people who will be traveling with us that when they did this, within a few days they received updated pictures of their little girls. Now that would be worth the cost of going through redthreadchina.com and Ann's services. We also might get updated info on her weight and length and maybe a few other details!  We decided to "go for it!".  We also thought it might help grease the wheels if we gave the Nannies some cookies. Perhaps Grace and her little friends will be able to share a special treat as well.  My mother upon seeing the package thought all of these cookies were for Grace and remarked that we're already grooming her to be a Fitzpatrick because we sure do love our treats!

Sharon

Today Adam and Pat set up Grace's crib and her room is now all ready for her to come!  But first that old crib needed to be scrubbed clean and freshly painted. When we took it down from the attic yesterday it was as if magical stains had appeared and all of the bite marks from the babies who had come  before (Adam, Ryan, Ethan) were gruesomely evident.  As Adam set up the crib I got warm fuzzies thinking about how he had been in the very same crib he was setting up for his sister.  Perhaps one day they will set it up for their own children. . or. . .maybe not :-)                  

Sharon