Ridiculous number of taxis at Hong Kong Airport!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Too Tired to Blog...
So I'm officially the worst adoption blogger ever... Life is moving so fast over here. I think I'm keeping up with Facebook updates ok since they are easier, but the blog is being sorely neglected. Below are some pics from the plane ride and our Hong Kong stay and the visit to "The Big Buddha" yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some photos of our expanded family. For now... They have all been asleep for an hour already and I need to be there with them... Till next time... God bless y'all...
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Arrived in Hong Kong!
Exhausted but in pretty good shape!
We're Here!
We have arrived safe and sound. Well actually we have about 3 hours left, but I figured I would use this time to update the blog. Those of you who really know me, understand why I think I may as well be productive! LOL
So...as I'm writing we are flying but I can't send it till we land, so when you are reading this, we really have landed! :-) I'm listening to my classical music on my Kindle Fire HD which I got for my birthday. LOVE it!!! I'm enjoying some Chinese tea and even just treated myself to a small macademia nut cookie.
All is going/went well with all of our travels today except for a slight bump at O'Hare when Emmy was randomly selected for a spot check. Because she's a child they use the parent for the check. They took my kindle and swabbed it and then ran the swab through the computer. It was checking for traces of chemicals. No big deal really. This flight was really long but uneventful, which is a good thing. :-)
The service on Cathay Pacific Airline is fantastic! The attendants are very good! I even wrote a letter for them bragging on them. Mars is my favorite. That's his nickname for his full name, Marcus, which is really cool since that was Ian's file name when we were first introduced to him. Mars very nice and sociable and excellent at his job. We have not wanted for anything the whole time. He takes good care of us! He also gave me an adorable pilot teddy bear for Ian!!
The food with Cathay is pretty yummy for airline food too. Small portions which is good,since we don't need "pig portions". :-) Emmy and SJ loved the little cups of Haagen Daas ice cream!
The technology for the personal entertainment system is awesome! Each seat has a tv screen and remote and headphones. There are movies and music and a cool web cam from underneath the plane! We flew over the arctic!! So cool! We saw snow and ice. The girls saw icebergs. Right now there is just fluffy clouds with an outside temp of 70 degrees. So beautiful. There is also a cool GPS map thing that tracks where we are and the path we have taken. I love this!!! I have been taking pics of it with my phone that I will post. :-) I can see Beijing on the map now...should see Hong Kong soon!
The only bummer on this flight is the leg room and the seat cushion. My tush is sore but my legs have held up great. For those who know about my Lymphedema condition, I wore my ugly support stockings for the entire day right up until the last five hours. Then they had to go. Just couldn't stand them any more. No swelling though...in my legs or hands and that's a good thing! I drank lots of water and got up and walked around pretty often. I dozed off for a bit but just really couldn't sleep and finally decided to "give up the ghost" and stay awake. I took the jet lag supplement I bought, every 2 hours, and am hoping that when we get settled in the hotel I'll just go to sleep and get onto China time.
We met a nice guy named Henry who is a Chinese interpreter in Chicago. He is also a volunteer translator, at a hospital in Chicago, for adoption families. He's married and has two little kids at home. They are so cute. He is going to visit his parents for his grandfather's 80th birthday and is really bummed his family couldn't come with him. He will be on our flight home too and is excited to help us translating with Ian on the plane ride back if we need him! He also gave us some tips for getting out in Hong Kong tomorrow. We don't fly to Changsha until 4:50 pm so we are going to try to do the sky ride cable car and go see the Big Buddha. :-) Emmy's teacher really thinks we should do that too and they both said since Hong Kong was a British Colony, they are very Americanized and getting around is not a problem. We are going to check in at the airport after breakfast and then go out with the plan to be back by 3pm. They said the HK airport is rated #1 in the world and extremely organized.
So that's our scoop! Check back for a Hong Kong update tomorrow!
So...as I'm writing we are flying but I can't send it till we land, so when you are reading this, we really have landed! :-) I'm listening to my classical music on my Kindle Fire HD which I got for my birthday. LOVE it!!! I'm enjoying some Chinese tea and even just treated myself to a small macademia nut cookie.
All is going/went well with all of our travels today except for a slight bump at O'Hare when Emmy was randomly selected for a spot check. Because she's a child they use the parent for the check. They took my kindle and swabbed it and then ran the swab through the computer. It was checking for traces of chemicals. No big deal really. This flight was really long but uneventful, which is a good thing. :-)
The service on Cathay Pacific Airline is fantastic! The attendants are very good! I even wrote a letter for them bragging on them. Mars is my favorite. That's his nickname for his full name, Marcus, which is really cool since that was Ian's file name when we were first introduced to him. Mars very nice and sociable and excellent at his job. We have not wanted for anything the whole time. He takes good care of us! He also gave me an adorable pilot teddy bear for Ian!!
The food with Cathay is pretty yummy for airline food too. Small portions which is good,since we don't need "pig portions". :-) Emmy and SJ loved the little cups of Haagen Daas ice cream!
The technology for the personal entertainment system is awesome! Each seat has a tv screen and remote and headphones. There are movies and music and a cool web cam from underneath the plane! We flew over the arctic!! So cool! We saw snow and ice. The girls saw icebergs. Right now there is just fluffy clouds with an outside temp of 70 degrees. So beautiful. There is also a cool GPS map thing that tracks where we are and the path we have taken. I love this!!! I have been taking pics of it with my phone that I will post. :-) I can see Beijing on the map now...should see Hong Kong soon!
The only bummer on this flight is the leg room and the seat cushion. My tush is sore but my legs have held up great. For those who know about my Lymphedema condition, I wore my ugly support stockings for the entire day right up until the last five hours. Then they had to go. Just couldn't stand them any more. No swelling though...in my legs or hands and that's a good thing! I drank lots of water and got up and walked around pretty often. I dozed off for a bit but just really couldn't sleep and finally decided to "give up the ghost" and stay awake. I took the jet lag supplement I bought, every 2 hours, and am hoping that when we get settled in the hotel I'll just go to sleep and get onto China time.
We met a nice guy named Henry who is a Chinese interpreter in Chicago. He is also a volunteer translator, at a hospital in Chicago, for adoption families. He's married and has two little kids at home. They are so cute. He is going to visit his parents for his grandfather's 80th birthday and is really bummed his family couldn't come with him. He will be on our flight home too and is excited to help us translating with Ian on the plane ride back if we need him! He also gave us some tips for getting out in Hong Kong tomorrow. We don't fly to Changsha until 4:50 pm so we are going to try to do the sky ride cable car and go see the Big Buddha. :-) Emmy's teacher really thinks we should do that too and they both said since Hong Kong was a British Colony, they are very Americanized and getting around is not a problem. We are going to check in at the airport after breakfast and then go out with the plan to be back by 3pm. They said the HK airport is rated #1 in the world and extremely organized.
So that's our scoop! Check back for a Hong Kong update tomorrow!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Hong Kong Here We Come!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, October 11, 2012
All our bags are packed...we're ready to go...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock
Oh my! It is almost midnight and I can not seem to turn my mind off. The excitement of knowing we have just two more days of school and then we head to Tampa and just three days till we board the first plane that leads us on the journey of a lifetime. When we began this unexpected adventure back in February, I don't think we truly were capable of imagining the feelings we would encounter as we got this close to the day we have worked so hard for. Excitement, apprehension, fear, relief, love, amazement, anticipation...so many contradicting emotions all wrapped up together. One minute I can't take the smile off my face and the next minute I am ready to burst into tears. No doubt this adoption is an adventure on many different levels. As I try to write my thoughts now in an effort to clear my mind so I can sleep, I am thinking about a little boy, on the other side of the world, probably getting ready to sit down to a simple lunch of white rice. He is our son...our little boy...and in about 5 days, his entire world is going to change. I guess I should be acknowledging how our entire world is going to change also, but I see us as a loving family already. The things that will change for us by adding our lil' man into the mix seem so small in comparison to the changes he will experience. My prayer tonight is for Ian to feel peace and comfort in the thought of joining his forever family in 5 days. May God help him to accept us and love us. And may God help us to love him in the ways he is most comfortable and receptive. We are on our way little buddy and I can't wait!
Blessings,
Georgia
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
SRCS 5th Grade China Orphanage Donations
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Ian's Room With The Toy Box
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Blessed with Pictures AGAIN!!!!
Today I received more photos from Kathleen who is with her new son in China and coming home soon! In addition, I finally received the party pictures for Ian's "Forever Family Party" that we ordered for him. Here are a few of my favoites....
Saying good bye to his friend...
This is the cake they chose for him as his "Forever Family" party cake. I am not crazy about the "Pleasant Goat" but he seems happy with it.
Our sweet boy...
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Asking for Prayer
The below letter was sent out to my coworkers on Friday, but I wanted to share it with as many people as possible since the purpose is to get people praying for our coming weeks.
Dear Fellow Faculty, Church Family, and Friends,
Some of you who know me pretty well are already aware of a major life change occurring in my family very soon. Back in January of this year, after I successfully completed my degree at UCF, God placed a plan in front of my husband Jeff and me. We were not looking for any drastic changes to our life. On the contrary, we were looking forward to life calming down a bit at that point.
God had been blessing our family financially during the previous 6 years when the economy was getting worse and worse. We knew there was something more we were supposed to be doing, but we did not know what it was. Then one day, one of the moms at the studio where our girls dance approached me about the idea of adopting. She sent me this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtXJEaarTVs&feature=my_favorites&list=FL9v140LHYAJDyQGdiPfyQAw
which broke my heart and changed our lives forever. When I spoke to Jeff and asked him about his feelings on adopting, his reply was, "That's something I have actually thought about for a long time." As it turned out, over the previous year or more, both Jeff and I were touched every time Pastor Ray talked about orphans and adoption, but we never spoke to one another about it. Ten years ago when we made a decision to stop having children after Emmy was born (when I was almost 40 years old), we said we could always adopt later if we wanted a boy. Jeff and I further discussed the idea of adoption and said due to our lifestyle and ages, we would consider adopting if the child was a boy with only minor special needs and in the age range of 4-6 years old. I shared our conversation with our friend Erin and within a week, on February 8th, an email arrived with the subject "Had to Send"...
These 2 photos and his story were in it...
As God would have it, He presented to us a precious little boy living on the other side of the world without a family. He was abandoned in a bus station in Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, when he was around 2 years old. His name was made up . . . his birthday is made up. . . As soon as we saw the photos, we KNEW this was our son. We prayed and prayed, and we had the deacons at church pray with us, and God sent us clearly visible signs that adopting this sweet little boy was HIS PLAN for our family. On February 23rd, we sent our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt).
Throughout the entire process, God has expedited the wait. While some people wait more than a year or 18 months for an adoption, this adoption has flown by, and we will be meeting our son in less than 8 months from the start of it! Some people wait 4-6 months for a home study; ours was done in 3 WEEKS!! Some people wait 126 days for their LOA (Letter of Authority) from China; ours was received in just 53 DAYS!! Every wait for us has been faster than normal. We are blessed, and it is more than evident that God wants this sweet child here with us!
So . . . that's the story in a nutshell. Three (3) weeks from TODAY, the Jekabsons family will be flying out of Tampa to go get our new son and brother, Yang Liu Mu, to be adopted as Ian Liumu Jekabsons (nickname "MuMu"). He is registered for Kindergarten and will start school here with Mrs. Huey on October 29th.
I share all of this with you because we need your prayers more than anything else!! These next few weeks of preparation will be exciting, nerve-wracking, scary, and wonderful. Our girls, Sarah (13) and Emmy (10) have never flown, and Jeff hates to fly, but in addition to giving up his 'man cave' to create his son's bedroom, he is making this trip with joy in his heart. We have seen other families go to China and return with no problems. We have heard of families who get sick over there. We have seen families come back sick. We have seen families struggle with the trip. We don't know how Ian will react to us. He has a care package from us with a letter and a photo album of our family and home. He is supposedly being prepared for us. He was just recently told we are coming and that he finally has a family. He has lived there for 3 1/2 years.
We humbly request you pray for our family for the next month. We will fly out on Oct. 12th. We will meet Ian on Oct 15th. We will sign the adoption papers on the 16th. We will obtain his visa on the 24th, and we will be home around midnight on the 25th. We will be traveling with 2 suitcases of baby blankets for the orphanage and a suitcase being filled by Emmy's 5th grade class (Mr. Goh) with donations and letters for Ian's friends.
If you feel led, please visit our blog http://waitingforian.blogspot.com/ and follow our journey. As long as technology cooperates, I plan to update daily with stories and photos. Last night I posted new videos received from the mom that met him a couple of weeks ago and actually told him about us! He is so sweet! I guarantee he'll make you smile. Thank you in advance for being a part of our family's adventure.
Love & Blessings,
Georgia
******************************
Some of you who know me pretty well are already aware of a major life change occurring in my family very soon. Back in January of this year, after I successfully completed my degree at UCF, God placed a plan in front of my husband Jeff and me. We were not looking for any drastic changes to our life. On the contrary, we were looking forward to life calming down a bit at that point.
God had been blessing our family financially during the previous 6 years when the economy was getting worse and worse. We knew there was something more we were supposed to be doing, but we did not know what it was. Then one day, one of the moms at the studio where our girls dance approached me about the idea of adopting. She sent me this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtXJEaarTVs&feature=my_favorites&list=FL9v140LHYAJDyQGdiPfyQAw
which broke my heart and changed our lives forever. When I spoke to Jeff and asked him about his feelings on adopting, his reply was, "That's something I have actually thought about for a long time." As it turned out, over the previous year or more, both Jeff and I were touched every time Pastor Ray talked about orphans and adoption, but we never spoke to one another about it. Ten years ago when we made a decision to stop having children after Emmy was born (when I was almost 40 years old), we said we could always adopt later if we wanted a boy. Jeff and I further discussed the idea of adoption and said due to our lifestyle and ages, we would consider adopting if the child was a boy with only minor special needs and in the age range of 4-6 years old. I shared our conversation with our friend Erin and within a week, on February 8th, an email arrived with the subject "Had to Send"...
These 2 photos and his story were in it...
As God would have it, He presented to us a precious little boy living on the other side of the world without a family. He was abandoned in a bus station in Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, when he was around 2 years old. His name was made up . . . his birthday is made up. . . As soon as we saw the photos, we KNEW this was our son. We prayed and prayed, and we had the deacons at church pray with us, and God sent us clearly visible signs that adopting this sweet little boy was HIS PLAN for our family. On February 23rd, we sent our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt).
Throughout the entire process, God has expedited the wait. While some people wait more than a year or 18 months for an adoption, this adoption has flown by, and we will be meeting our son in less than 8 months from the start of it! Some people wait 4-6 months for a home study; ours was done in 3 WEEKS!! Some people wait 126 days for their LOA (Letter of Authority) from China; ours was received in just 53 DAYS!! Every wait for us has been faster than normal. We are blessed, and it is more than evident that God wants this sweet child here with us!
So . . . that's the story in a nutshell. Three (3) weeks from TODAY, the Jekabsons family will be flying out of Tampa to go get our new son and brother, Yang Liu Mu, to be adopted as Ian Liumu Jekabsons (nickname "MuMu"). He is registered for Kindergarten and will start school here with Mrs. Huey on October 29th.
I share all of this with you because we need your prayers more than anything else!! These next few weeks of preparation will be exciting, nerve-wracking, scary, and wonderful. Our girls, Sarah (13) and Emmy (10) have never flown, and Jeff hates to fly, but in addition to giving up his 'man cave' to create his son's bedroom, he is making this trip with joy in his heart. We have seen other families go to China and return with no problems. We have heard of families who get sick over there. We have seen families come back sick. We have seen families struggle with the trip. We don't know how Ian will react to us. He has a care package from us with a letter and a photo album of our family and home. He is supposedly being prepared for us. He was just recently told we are coming and that he finally has a family. He has lived there for 3 1/2 years.
We humbly request you pray for our family for the next month. We will fly out on Oct. 12th. We will meet Ian on Oct 15th. We will sign the adoption papers on the 16th. We will obtain his visa on the 24th, and we will be home around midnight on the 25th. We will be traveling with 2 suitcases of baby blankets for the orphanage and a suitcase being filled by Emmy's 5th grade class (Mr. Goh) with donations and letters for Ian's friends.
If you feel led, please visit our blog http://waitingforian.blogspot.com/ and follow our journey. As long as technology cooperates, I plan to update daily with stories and photos. Last night I posted new videos received from the mom that met him a couple of weeks ago and actually told him about us! He is so sweet! I guarantee he'll make you smile. Thank you in advance for being a part of our family's adventure.
Love & Blessings,
Georgia
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Ian Eating Lunch on 9/20/12
Thank you to another mom, Kathleen, who visited ICC and took pictures of our little man! We are so blessed to have received so many pictures of our son over the past 7 months! The good news is many families have gone to ICC to adopt their children. The bad news is Ian keeps losing his friends. But not for long!! Get ready MuMu… we are coming soon!!! 20 more days till take off!!!!
Blessings,
Georgia
Thursday, September 20, 2012
A Special Gift!
This video was sent to me tonight by the sweetest mom who was visiting the orphanage a couple of weeks ago when she picked up her sweet little girl. She told him to say "Hi Baba and Mama" and HE DID! It's quick and softly spoken, but sooooo sweet!!! LOOK AT HIS SMILE!!! Apparently this little girl in the video with him, was crying and Beth said "He had just hauled her over to that side of the room and she was crying.. And then he loved on her! It was very sweet. He is a love!!!" I can't wait to hug on this little cutie pie!!! 21 days and counting!!!! Just got another one from Beth... had to add it below...
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
CA Received This Morning!
This is a photo of the official TA - Travel Approval which arrived via FEDEX tonight. This morning we received our CA date of 10/23... Tickets are booked and paid for! 22 days to take-off! I can't believe the time has come for us to make our trek across the world! Thank you Lord Jesus for this blessing to our family!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
We Have TA!!!! And....Ian's Finding AD
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Officially Waiting For TA
According to our adoption agency yesterday our Article 5 was picked up and we are officially awaiting TA. TA means Travel Approval. We will hopefully have travel approval in the next 2 weeks. After that we will request a consulate appointment for Oct. 23rd. Once that is approved we will be able to purchase our airline tickets. These next weeks should be a whirlwind for our family. We are so excited and anxious and just can't wait to meet our son and brother. Please keep our family in your prayers and especially our newest member... Ian (MuMu) as he waits for us to go get him and ICC prepares him for his adoption. Please pray for a smooth transition for him.
God bless you all.
Georgia
God bless you all.
Georgia
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
HE HAS IT NOW!!!
WHAHOOOOO!!! Confirmation received... Our boy received his care package with our letter and photos, toys etc. and he is HAPPY and "looking forward to us coming to get him"!!!! I am one OVER THE TOP happy mama right now!!!! Hopefully just 5 more weeks till we get there!
Blessings,
Georgia
Saturday, September 1, 2012
6 Weeks and Counting...
Whewwww... I have survived the first 2 weeks of school with the most insane schedule. Praise God my boss has agreed to remove a few classes from my schedule and give them to the other Art teacher. Hopefully by this time next week, I'll only be teaching 23 classes instead of 28. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, this morning I'm actually getting to kick back and relax for a short bit before I have to go to work tonight for AV duty at church. As I'm sitting here with my feet up, sipping my coffee and catching up on my Secret Pal's blog story of her homecoming with her beautiful little girl, I'm realizing that just 6 weeks from today we could be landing in Ch*na!!!! The reality is starting to hit! 6 weeks is NOT a very long time! I'm thinking I have a great deal of organizing to do for this trip in the next few weeks. I haven't even begun to create a packing list, we have to visit our doctors for shots and antibiotics to take with us, I have to pack up the beautiful blankets that have been made and donated for me to deliver to the orphanage and I have to find the best airfare rates I can. YIKES... and we don't even have luggage yet!!! The time is just sneaking up on us!
Meanwhile, we are waiting to hear if Ian has received his care package from us. More than the cake party and toys, I'm concerned about the letter and photo album reaching him. I want him to start to get to know us. We have been sent photos, videos and updates about him and even little tidbits about his personality, but he knows nothing about us at all. I'm trying to imagine his reaction and what will be going through his mind as he learns from the caregivers about us. We have no control over how they will prepare him for us, although our understanding is that his facility is very good at preparing the children for their forever families. But the anxiety filled questions are still in my mind... Will he be happy and excited about meeting us and moving to America? Will he be scared and apprehensive? Will he run to our arms when we see him or will he scream in fear? I can't wait to meet him and hold him. I can't wait to see him with his two big sisters who have been loving and adoring him from afar. I have a fairy tale picture in my mind of how the first meeting will go on "Gotcha Day", but being a somewhat logically minded person, I also know it could go completely different when the time comes.
This would be a time that I no doubt have to just sit back and put my trust in God that He has ordained this whole thing for our family and He has only the best planned for us, as it says in Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In that promise I will stand as I sign off this blog this morning and focus on the things I can do and change, rather than the things I have no control over.
Meanwhile, this morning I'm actually getting to kick back and relax for a short bit before I have to go to work tonight for AV duty at church. As I'm sitting here with my feet up, sipping my coffee and catching up on my Secret Pal's blog story of her homecoming with her beautiful little girl, I'm realizing that just 6 weeks from today we could be landing in Ch*na!!!! The reality is starting to hit! 6 weeks is NOT a very long time! I'm thinking I have a great deal of organizing to do for this trip in the next few weeks. I haven't even begun to create a packing list, we have to visit our doctors for shots and antibiotics to take with us, I have to pack up the beautiful blankets that have been made and donated for me to deliver to the orphanage and I have to find the best airfare rates I can. YIKES... and we don't even have luggage yet!!! The time is just sneaking up on us!
Meanwhile, we are waiting to hear if Ian has received his care package from us. More than the cake party and toys, I'm concerned about the letter and photo album reaching him. I want him to start to get to know us. We have been sent photos, videos and updates about him and even little tidbits about his personality, but he knows nothing about us at all. I'm trying to imagine his reaction and what will be going through his mind as he learns from the caregivers about us. We have no control over how they will prepare him for us, although our understanding is that his facility is very good at preparing the children for their forever families. But the anxiety filled questions are still in my mind... Will he be happy and excited about meeting us and moving to America? Will he be scared and apprehensive? Will he run to our arms when we see him or will he scream in fear? I can't wait to meet him and hold him. I can't wait to see him with his two big sisters who have been loving and adoring him from afar. I have a fairy tale picture in my mind of how the first meeting will go on "Gotcha Day", but being a somewhat logically minded person, I also know it could go completely different when the time comes.
This would be a time that I no doubt have to just sit back and put my trust in God that He has ordained this whole thing for our family and He has only the best planned for us, as it says in Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." In that promise I will stand as I sign off this blog this morning and focus on the things I can do and change, rather than the things I have no control over.
Have a blessed day my friends,
Love,
Georgia
Thursday, August 30, 2012
New Photos and Measurements of our lil' man
How stinkin' cute is he?!?!?
Friday, August 24, 2012
Catching Up On The Past Few Weeks
So many things to catch up on since my last blog post. I'm starting to think I'm not a very good blogger. Since receiving LOA on July 30th we received our visas in the mail and our I800 approval on August 14th and then we were cabled by the NVC on August 23rd. Now we await our Article 5 and TA (Travel Approval) and then make the CA (Consulate Appointment) which allows us to schedule our flights! We are probably going to have a "Gotcha Day" of October 15th and a CA on October 23rd, but we won't know for sure until around September 19th. Once we have our CA we can purchase those airline tickets!!!
While wading through the I800 and DS-230 paperwork and then waiting for approvals, the summer break has ended and I went back to work on August 13th. Our students started back this week on August 20th. The weekend in between was jam packed with birthday celebration for Emmy as she turned double digits on Sunday! To say it's been a busy couple of weeks would be an understatement. So here it is Friday and I'm exhausted, but overall it was a pretty good first week of school.
So let's get caught up a bit on the adoption stuff...
Let's see...
So this is Emmy helping Daddy with the knockout spray on the new wall forthe doorway that Daddy built. This room used to be the "man cave". Now it will be the "boy cave". LOL What is really cool, is I have photos of Sarah helping paint Emmy's room when I was pregnant with her and now we have Emmy helping with Ian's room. She's "paying it forward"... LOVE IT!!!!
While wading through the I800 and DS-230 paperwork and then waiting for approvals, the summer break has ended and I went back to work on August 13th. Our students started back this week on August 20th. The weekend in between was jam packed with birthday celebration for Emmy as she turned double digits on Sunday! To say it's been a busy couple of weeks would be an understatement. So here it is Friday and I'm exhausted, but overall it was a pretty good first week of school.
So let's get caught up a bit on the adoption stuff...
Let's see...
So this is Emmy helping Daddy with the knockout spray on the new wall forthe doorway that Daddy built. This room used to be the "man cave". Now it will be the "boy cave". LOL What is really cool, is I have photos of Sarah helping paint Emmy's room when I was pregnant with her and now we have Emmy helping with Ian's room. She's "paying it forward"... LOVE IT!!!!
This is the finished doorway... YAY Jeff! Nice work!
Next came the inside of the room. Daddy and the girls took the painting on. Mommy chose the color and off they went! Great job!
Now it was Mommy's turn! Decorating time! Simplicity is said to be best for children coming from an orphanage. Too much stimulation is not good for them and can be overwhelming.
This room doesn't have a closet since it was really supposed to be a "den". So... we found this great wardrobe unit and some cute "wallies" to make it more kid friendly. It does the trick!
Can't wait to see him sitting in that bean bag chair! The rocker in the corner was my father's when he was a toddler, then it was mine, then Sarah's, then Emmy's and now... Ian's.
This wonderful array of goodies was received from my Secret Pal, Sheryl as she was up in the air on her way to get her little girl! What a wonderful bunch of little boy stuff!! And it's all the first things for him. The shirt and pants are his very first outfit!
This is a photo of my cyber-friend Beth who I met via a BAAS (Bay Area Adoption Services) Yahoo group. She was with our Ian last week when she was there adopting her little girl, Joy. Joy is the sweetheart in pink sitting next to her mama. Beth had the opportunity to tour the orphanage and met our lil' man!! She said he was shy but did come sit on her lap. He's so adorable!! We have been so fortunate to have received so many photos from people who have visited and seen our son over the past 6 months of this process. No one else has had as close contact with him as Beth did last week, but they have taken photos just the same and shared them with the adopting parents if they know who they are. Beth actually was able to give him a kiss and tell him that his mama loves him very much! I'm so blessed! And now he knows! He knows he has a family who loves him and is coming to get him soon!
Now that we are only about 7 weeks away from traveling, we are finally allowed to contact Ian, so I wrote him a letter and sent it to a sweet girl in Ch*na to put together a care package to send to him. I ordered a "Forever Family Celebration Package" and added some things to it. It includes a letter from us translated into Ch*nese, a silk photo album with about 20 photos of us and our home and even Gracie, a big fresh cake, a red bag to hold his new treasures in, a book, a stuffed mama panda holding a baby panda, and a camera for the orphanage to take some daily photos for us. I had also ordered a cool truck and three stuffed balls but they couldn't get them. They substituted a puzzle and musical phone, but I questioned whether or not they would be too babyish for a 5-1/2 year old and to my surprise, the rep went back out shopping today and bought him some trucks instead!
I was so surprised, and so happy! We were told he likes trucks and balls and his favorite color is red. I think he will like these!!!
This is the camera for the orphanage to take photos for us over the next weeks. Then, if all goes well, they should give it to us on "Gotcha Day" to have developed!
This is the photo album. It has photos of us and Gracie, his room, our house, etc. My understanding is that his facility takes good care in preparing the children to meet their parents and he will hopefully recognize us when we meet on October 15th!
This is the bag for him to put his treasures into.
Wow!!! I really WAS behind in my blogging!! There has been a lot going on since we received our LOA on July 30th! I think I better stay on top of this better. Thanks for visiting!
Love & Blessings,
Georgia
Wow!!! I really WAS behind in my blogging!! There has been a lot going on since we received our LOA on July 30th! I think I better stay on top of this better. Thanks for visiting!
Love & Blessings,
Georgia
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