It's getting old!

I'm a HUGE whiner today so bear with me! I am really tired of waiting for this I800A and am getting really frustrated and have to admit...a bit defeated about it. I just want to bring our son home so we can start bonding/attaching. Frankly, I just want to meet the kid!

I'm told by our SW that we need to wait until mid next week before I should call and find out! So, I wait.... and wait.....and wait....and wait! isn't adoption fun?!?!!?

a true Thankful Thursday!

So many people do "thankful Thursday" blogs and every Thursday they write something they are thankful for. Well, today being Thanksgiving makes that a true thankful Thursday I guess!!

I'm of course thankful for my husband as he is truly my better half! We just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary this month and I do believe each day gets better with him. Oh don't get me wrong....he can really DRIVE ME NUTS but overall....I'm so in love with him and am happy to report that I KNOW he's in love with me! Who could ask for more!

I'm thankful for my children! Our 3 kids at home have mostly been joys to raise and watch grow. They too can DRIVE ME NUTS! but I do admit that most days they are wonderful. We can't wait to get our 4th kiddo home so we can be complete. Funny....when we brought Zoe home I thought we were complete but was wrong, we need JD home for that.

I am also thankful for our extended families. I would be lost without being able to talk to my mom and sister every day! I love that they "get" me and still kinda like me!! Family is by far the most important thing to me and I thank God he gave me mine. I'm also lucky that I was blessed with great in-laws and enjoy being with them.

We have the love a joy of knowing God, we both have jobs, we have a house, we have love and healthy, happy kids....life is good on this Thanksgiving Thursday and I'm one thankful Mama/Wife!

Where's JD?

Currently JD is in foster care in Henan province. The name of the province Henan comes from its geographic location. Henan means 'the south of the river', indicating that Henan lies south of China's Yellow River. The province covers an area of over 160,000 square kilometers (about 62,000 square miles). It is populated by Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian and other ethnic groups totaling 92,560,000 people.

Henan has a humid warm-temperate climate. Dry and windy in winter and spring, the province is hot and rainy in summer and bakes in strong sunlight during the autumn months. Rainfall averages about 600-1000 millimeters increasing from north to south, as does the annual temperature which increases from about 12.8C in the north to 15.5C in the south.

When we travel we will go to Zhenzhou, the capital city. I have 2 maps to show China and one that is the closeup of Henan province. With a pleasant climate, Zhengzhou is welcoming all year round. The hottest month is July and the average temperature is about 27C (80.6F) while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of -0.2C (31.64F). Autumn and spring are the best and the peak tourist seasons.

Sounds like our poor little guy will NOT be accustomed to colder weather so our winters will be long for him (well, it's long for all us Minnesotans!!).

He is in foster care right now and although I love that knowing he's being cared for in a family setting and has been given love it also makes me sad as we will be taking him from his only family he has. Having Jake with will hopefully help him and make him know how much he's loved.

Waiting is hard work!

I'm so not patient and this waiting crap for our I800A is not fun. I'm really getting frustrated with the wait...it's been almost 2 weeks since we were fingerprinted and really I thought we would have the results by now. Today would have been our day to actually get fingerprinted so just maybe it will be coming anytime now. With this being the start of Holiday lineups I need to have extra patience!

My goal was dossier to China by Thanksgiving.....so now....it's dossier by Christmas! I was really hoping for an April travel but need to start telling myself it's probably going to be May or even June so that I won't be disappointed in April. God knows the timing so I need to trust Him. I am loving all this little boy stuff again and hope the sizes I'm getting him will fit! I'm finding some great deals though so not spending a fortune but will be able to have a suitcase packed for him with some cute and nice clothes.

praying tomorrow is our I800A day!

Exciting news!

1st off no paperwork yet so that's not the news!

We were trying to work it to bring the boys with as they would be so awesome to help JD with the transition of leaving his "family" and coming to his new family. After MUCH discussion it has been decided that Jake is going to China with us!!! I am sooooo happy with that and can't wait for him to experience another country for 2 weeks and to help with JD's bonding and attachment to us. Joey has decided he's rather stay home as he thinks going to China sounds "boring". BORING?!?! are you kidding me child?!!?!? We are not bringing Zoe as we just don't feel she's ready for that big of a trip and with Steve not going she'd be soooo clingy with me and it would be hard to get JD to bond/attach and get comfortable with us. Zoe is so stubborn and such a mama's girl that we feel she's better off at home with Steve and Joey and keeping her normal routine. When I talk about going to China she is good with it and we never say "wish you could go" or letting her even think that is a possibility so she will be fine with her daddy!!

So, today we will apply for Jake's passport. He has a passport card that we got for the cruise but that is only good for land/sea and NOT for China!! I just want to get going so still praying for April travel!!

oh and the picture is from Jake's birthday last October but it's what I had available to add!

NADA....NOTHING...NOPE

We still haven't received our I800A in the mail yet!!! I gotta say I was really sure by today we'd have it. But, I'm wrong.

I got an email that perhaps I need to call the national benefits center in MO to let them know I walked in early and that they should look for my results to come sooner. I did call and got the "we will add a note to your file". So, does that mean....yep, we'll hop right on it?!?!?!?! I doubt it but at least I felt I did something.

I can't believe we're a week away from Thanksgiving and that Christmas is only 37 days away. That is coming up WAY too fast but I know that for the kids....not fast enough. It's weird to think that we won't have JD home but I know that he's okay where's he is at right now. He's with a foster family that is giving him love and will soon be home with our family to give him love! I just can't imagine the day I can hug him and kiss on him....it still doesn't seem real, like I'm dreaming or something.

It's happening though and when it finally does....I'll cry!!! LOL

Darn mail....

is showing up empty for our letter we're waiting for! I'm so sure it's coming this week that I worry about dissapointment. Each day I get very excited and then nothing. I just want our dossier to get to China and then I'll be very patient!! yeah...right! I won't be patient until after I'm home with him. I want to post his picture here but not allowed to yet so need to wait.

new Luggage

Okay China...I can come now, bought new luggage!!

Wouldn't it be great if that's all it took?!?!!? !!! We found a 3 piece set of luggage at Kohls. It was originally $229.99 (yeah right) and on sale for $99.99 and then we had a 30% off so it came to about $69.99! Actually, Steve bought it for me for Christmas!! a bit early but we had a great coupon so...had to do it. I love it and have some of JD's stuff already packed! See, I'm ready to travel!!

I believe we were fingerprinted and then it will generate an I800A which we need for our dossier. I've heard a few differant "reports" that it can come within a week after fingerprints or it could take about 3 weeks! If you want my opinion...I like the less than a week. I'll be watching my mailbox for the next several weeks pretty darn close.

two down....none to go!

We are fingerprinted!!! Steve went after work and since there was nobody there they said they would get his done! So now we wait for our I800 (I think) and then once it's authenticated...we sent our dossier to China. I hear that can come really fast so praying for that!

One down....one to go!

I did my fingerprints this morning and Steve is planning on going this afternoon! I had no troubles getting them done early so hopefully Steve will sail through as well.

Our actual appointment is November 23rd so getting in early is wonderful!! They never even looked at the appointment time and didn't say a word about it so it worked fabulously!! I'm really hoping Steve has the same experience so we're both done and getting that going. I'm really anxious to get our paperwork to China and get closer to traveling to get him. I'm really praying for April travel but will be happy whenever I can go....I'm so not patient.

Steve and I just got back from Vegas and had a great time. We didn't realize how we needed that time to reconnect and just be together without kids interrupting. We were so happy to get home to the kids though and it made me think about being away from Steve and the kids for 2 weeks when I go to China....I will miss them terribly. We went to Vegas with our friends, Colleen and Charlie Hall, and had so much fun with them. They are so easy to be with and it's so effortless to have a good time with them. It was sad to say goodbye but we will see Colleen and Lia in about a month and know that we will see the rest of the family in February.

Great news!!!

When we started our journey there was a $4200 grant associated with our son to help aid in the adoption expenses. I inquired about this last week and was told...oh, we didn't know that and when it got looked in to we found out we mis-read and it's "MAY have a grant UP TO $4200". So the other day we applied with heavy hearts and today I got an email....APPROVED AND FOR THE FULL AMOUNT!!!!!! Thank you Jesus! We are thrilled and so happy and glad we didn't get totally discouraged and moved forward.

So, this week is NOT working for our fingerprints but I'm dealing with that. We are going to Vegas Saturday - Tuesday so our first day to try for them will be next Wednesday. So, pray hard that we get in and not hassled and we can keep this process moving quickly.

Oh, as long as your praying....pray for April travel!

thanks....wooo hoooo!

We have an appt......

Our appointment for our fingerprinting came today! WWHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! I'm so happy. The appointment is for 11/23 but wanting to try and get in early and so now need to find out when we can! Steve has a bad week this week so may not be able to try until next week. I just wanted to go tomorrow morning but he can't. GRRRRR....I need that patience thing to kick in right about now.

Happy thoughts though and we will get in soon and will post when it happens. We are getting SOOOO close to DTC (dossier to China) that I'm trembling! My goal is to really be DTC by Thanksgiving so we'll see if God's goal is the same!