Officially a Schaadt!

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Our little princess officially became a Schaadt today!  We returned to the Civil Affairs office to sign our paperwork and use the red stamp and all and then had to go over the notary office to…well…get everything notarized!  The notary office was nothing but 5 floors of wall to wall people.   People.everywhere.  People in the halls, in small offices, in big waiting areas, in the stairways…all over!  I asked our guide, and she said that that office is the only place in the entire city to get anything notarized, so no going to the bank or taking something a few cubicles down from where you sit to get it notarized.  I think they gave us a special little treatment, because we were in and out within 20 minutes or so.  Ahem, that could’ve had something to do with the screaming and impatient little lady we had with us who wanted nothing to do with being confined in such a small and crowded place.  

 

After we got back to the hotel, we walked over to KFC to grab a quick lunch and then took a walk.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but our little lady is used to spending lots of time outside, and she loves walking.  It was a beautiful day, so we walked and found a park where we got lots of fun stares from the locals!  After about walking a mile or so herself, she finally stopped and looked like she was going to do a forward face plant on the sidewalk, so the Mister picked her up.  Within about a nano second, she was taking her beauty rest.  Precious!  We headed out for pizza for dinner at the mall right around the corner from our hotel, (which we may know now better than the locals,) and then walked all three floors before going back to the hotel.  The little lady didn’t throw up too much of a fight for bedtime tonight, and slept great!

Gotcha Day!!!!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Our gotcha day for our little lady couldn’t be more different than it was for our little man!  First of all, we were early to the civil affairs office, and got settled into the room before she arrived.  It was a very small room, in fact, it was an office of the woman who was in charge of processing the adoption.  Very not private!  We both decided that arriving late might be better since this time we had time to just sit there and wait in anticipation!  Then, about 15 minutes after we were expecting her, she arrived!  She walked right in the room like she owned the place, and had absolutely no problem with us being her.  Even said “Hi” to us!  We gave her her baby doll, and she was kissing her and holding her.  She had no problem leaving with us, and was feeding us snacks on the way back to the hotel!  What?!?!  Generally speaking, it is not a great sign of what's to come attachment-wise when leaving with strangers is ok, but today we were willing to take it! We had a great day playing and walking around.  We had to make a run to the store right away since they told us that she sleeps with a pacifier and they didn't bring one for her...wait, what?  So off to the store we went!  Things went really great until bedtime.  She wasn’t a fan.  Like, at all!  I think she was so exhausted from the day that it made things even worse and harder for her!  She finally fell asleep on the Mister, and slept all night until 7am.  Success!  She is adorable, and has a very outgoing and spunky personality!  The other kiddos at home loved her instantly, and I can’t wait to see them together!

Kisses for her baby!

New parents...again!

She let me put a headband on her...

....and she left it there!

Finally fell asleep.  Dad makes the best pillow!

Beijing Take 2

So...let me preface all of this by saying this time around while in country, our Internet connections were slow, and I had lots of troubles while trying to blog so I kept an ongoing journal so that one day, (4 months after being home,) I could post about our travel adventures as we brought home our little bug!

Monday, April 04, 2016

The last few days have been a whirlwind!  We arrived Saturday afternoon to Beijing and walked to a nearby mall for the Mister’s birthday dinner.  A great way to spend a birthday, right?  On a plane for half of it!  We got a decent night’s sleep and left bright and early on Sunday to visit the Great Wall.  It was amazing!  It was a perfect day, with no clouds (or smog,) and a perfect temperature too.  It was especially beautiful because all of the Cherry Blossom trees are in bloom.  We spent a little over an hour on the wall, but we probably could’ve stayed up there all day if our guide wasn’t waiting for us for lunch. To get down off the wall, we chose to take the toboggan ride, which was also really fun.  The Mister would’ve preferred to go a little faster, but the man in front of him didn’t share that desire so we poked along!  It was still nice though!  

Have you ever seen such a blue sky in Beijing?  It was perfect!!!

Graffiti wall inside of one on of the wall towers.  I thought it was beautiful.

Total tourist alert!

  Once we got back to Beijing, our guide drew us a map of how to get from our hotel to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City...because seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World in one day just wasn't enough for us.  Totally kidding!  Anyway, the square was really busy since this weekend is a holiday weekend here because Tomb Sweeping Day is on Monday.  We didn’t go in the Forbidden City since it was later in the day and all of the tickets had been sold, but it was still cool to see!  We got laughed at by more Chinese people than I would care to admit as we were taking a selfie with our brand spanking new selfie stick on Tienanmen Square, trying to catch the Forbidden City in the background.  It was painfully evident that we were selfie stick rookies, which is an art that the Chinese have mastered for decades….or at least a few years ;) 

The Mister looking cool at 'The Square

 From there, we walked to the snack street, which is a famous place where you can buy street foods.  We saw starfish, sea urchin, spiders, snakes, and pigeons.  Yum-my!  We stuck with our potato on a stick!  

How adventurous, right?

 On Monday, we flew to Xining, which is the city where our little lady currently lives.  I’m happy to report it was an uneventful plane ride, which is the kind I like, especially after our last domestic flight experience in China, which you can read about it here.  The highlight of the flight was that I sat next to a Tibetian monk on the plane!  We tried to take a sneaky photo, but it turns out I’m just not all that sneaky, so it was a picture taking fail!  We are now safe and sound in Xining, and settled into our gorgeous hotel!  We have a little suite with a living area and mini kitchen, a HUGE walk through closet with a washing machine, (adoptive parents swoon over those,) and two bathrooms!  Whoo hooo!!!  Xining is a beautiful city high in the mountains.  It’s elevation is actually higher than that of Denver.  You can tell we are high up, as the mornings are quite cool and it takes the entire day for it to warm up!  Tomorrow morning we will meet our little princess!  We are so excited and can’t wait!

One Tiny Little Word

Tomorrow.  Even saying that word gets my stomach in a million bagillion knots!  There is no way that it seems possible at all!  It's funny how for so long it seems like you are waiting forever...like five lifetimes for something, and then all of the sudden it's here.  Gah!  It's here!!!!  When I woke up this morning, my first thought was, "tomorrow at this exact same time, I will be on an airplane!"  Blows.my.mind.  Anyway, are we all set and ready to go?  Um, not quite, but we'll get there.  I got this crazy idea this time around to write individualized notes to the kids each day we are gone.  Sounded like an awesome idea before I started writing them.  Simple math would've told any sane person that 3 kiddos x 15 days = too many letters to write when you are trying to get ready to leave the country!!!  I still have to finish an entire weeks worth of letters to finish today.  I might be up all night!  So while we are talking about these three littles, please keep them in your prayers.  They have very mixed emotions about us being gone.  I know they will have a blast, and have a jam packed full schedule, but I'm still worried about them.  While you're at it, I suppose you could be praying for me too.  Just the thought of leaving them leaves a giant lump in my throat.

So what's on the agenda for us?  We will fly to Beijing and *hopefully* hit up the Great Wall this time.  If you recall from our previous journey to China, we never made it to the Wall due to flight delays.  Stinkin' flight delays!  We will hang out on an airplane for the Mister's birthday...yep, his birthday is Saturday!  Maybe I can get the flight attendants to sing Happy Birthday to him.  Ha!  We'll hang out in Beijing until Monday, and then we head to Xining, which is where will meet our little one on Tuesday!  Eeek!  Please be praying for her heart to be prepared to join our family as well.  Huge transitions are ahead for her, and she's too little to even understand what is going on.

The next post will be from China...most likely.  Unless I'm uber bored in the airport waiting on our connecting flight tomorrow! 

Sooooooo Close!!!!!

Bahhhhh!  I can't even hardly stand it!!!  So this week on Monday we had our Article 5 pickup, which if you don't know adoption terminology it will mean nothing to you :)  What WILL mean something is that we are now waiting for our TRAVEL APPROVAL!  Yes, we are simply waiting for China to say, "Come on over!'  Even writing that is just absolutely surreal!!!  Now, I'm not into bursting anyone's bubble, but here is where we might, (and hopefully don't!) hit a snafu.  See, the agency responsible for issuing these said travel approvals is currently doing an audit, which is causing a bit of a hiccup for more families than I would even care to think about right now.  What  does this mean for us???  Well, it means one of two things.  First option - We could get a rockstar fast TA in anywhere from 3-7 days, which of course is the option I would like to go with!  Second option - wait...and wait....and wait some more, with the approval most likely taking over 20 days to come.  Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking....20 DAYS...WHA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Yes, my sentiments exactly!  So, we are praying. Of course selfishly praying for the first option, but also praying that we have peace in God's plan, acknowledging His plans are always perfect and that He knows when we should go to pick up our sweet girl!  Very much easier said than done, but we are working on it :)

Please be in prayer for us!  I brushed over a few minor, ok not so minor details, including the fact that there is a holiday the first Monday of April that would also impact a date we could meet our girl, and then there is also that pesky trade fair that happens in Guangzhou (aka the second city where we need to stay for at least 4-6 nights,) from mid-April through the first part of May that has a way of taking hotel prices and throwing them through the roof!  You know, no big deal, right? ;)  This momma's heart is also growing weary.  I want to see her, to hear her speak, to smell the smells of her hair, all of those things us moms like to do.  Our agency requested an update over a month and a half ago, and I've now succumbed to the fact that we won't be getting an update prior to traveling.  Praying that day that I can wrap my arms around that sweet little one comes soon!  Also please pray for our crew who will be staying at home.  They know the time is coming soon when we will be traveling, and they are not really excited about it...like AT ALL.  Please pray that their little hearts will be comforted, and that they will have a blast at home with all of those grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends that they will get to hang out with while we are gone!

Crazy Blessed!!!

True confessions of an adoptive mom....I've been in a bit of an adoption depression these last few weeks, and have been having myself a giant mommy pity party.  I kept postponing and postponing a post, because we are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance, (LOA,) from China and I was planning on blogging once we got this sacred document into our hands.  Well, my plan was to have this piece of paper several weeks ago, which of course has not been the case!  I continued to pout and sulk around as I watched our plans for March travel slip away.  However, this last week has just blown our socks off!  It started last Friday, when as we were eating supper, we received a phone call from Lifesong for Orphans, notifying us that we were going to be recipients of a $3,000 matching grant!!!   What this means is that once we raise the $3,000 on our end, that Lifesong will be matching that dollar for dollar!  Hallelujah!  This is a huge praise, as we were notified earlier this past week that we had been denied grants from two other organizations.  I will be posting information related to our matching grant on social media for those of you who are interested in partnering with us in our sweet girl's journey home, and in a tax deductible donation of course ;)

Fast forward to Sunday night.  I received a message from another adoptive mom with a kiddo from the same province as our new little princess, and she was able to visit several summers ago and tour the baby room.  She mentioned she had pictures of the children in the room, and that I was welcome to take a peek at the them to see if I saw our girl.  Turns out, she was there!  This is amazing, because my friend visited only WEEKS after our princess arrived at the orphanage!  My friend had about 18 pictures total of our sweetheart, as she said she had fallen in love with her during the visit!  Oh her sweet little baby face is too much!  Why don't you all be the judge??? :)

I can't even stand this much baby cuteness!!!!

Finally, we found out some really exciting news about a potential therapy program for H.  Details are still be worked out, but as soon as we know all details, I will share the good news! 

Sooooo....back to the LOA!  We are really praying that we receive this document prior to the Chinese New Year, which is coming up the first part of February.  If we get it by then, we may still be able to hold out hope for early April travel.  This is a HUGE prayer request for us, as the middle of April - early May is a big trade fair in one of the cities that we need to stay in.  This could potentially cause us to have to bump travel to May, which is bad since May is such a busy month for us with birthdays, anniversaries, end of school, etc. 

Hopefully we will have another update coming soon!!!

One Year...and a month

Did I really just write those two words together?!?!?!  How in the world is it possible that we have had our little man in our arms for an entire year?  It seems crazy!  In some ways, it feels as though he has been with us forever, and in other ways, I feel like I'm still learning so much about him and his little personality that it could've very well been last week that we just laid eyes on one another.  Our little guy...he's an amazing little human!  Sometimes...maybe even often times, I hardly give him enough credit.  I get caught up in comparing him to other kids...either his age, or adopted, or both, and think to myself, "Oh man, H is doing this or that," but I have found myself more recently as we were approaching our one year family day anniversary taking a step back to see all that my guy has done.  He can run...and pretty well!  He has made great improvements in using his right arm and hand as well, and I know there will be more improvements made in the future as well.  And speech.  He blows me away every day!  See, with him we don't see these amazing quantum leaps.  Honestly, we never have since the day he entered into our family.  He wasn't one of those malnourished children who has gained 15 lbs and grown 6 inches...nope not him.  And for a long time, I felt guilty about that.  Like he wasn't receiving enough love, or food, or who knows what!  He definitely has grown, but for him, everything is in bite sized pieces :)  Well, except for when he's literally eating, and then it's not bite sized at all...dude can eat!  Anyway, he's been the slow and steady type.  Little improvements with movement or new words can be seen each day.  Seeing it each day is a new blessing, and I'm so thankful to bear witness to this little one's life.  We have been truly blessed! 

We've had LOTS going on this past month, and very very soon...like later this week soon, I will have more updates on our newest Schaadt, but that can wait for now.  Right now, let's just all take a moment and enjoy the cuteness that I get to see every day!