Our Adoption Story

Our Dog Maddie

2009-06-25T01:04:00.004-04:00

I know this is my adoption blog.. and I don't keep up much on the life of my wonderful kid that came from this adoption but I have to post this somewhere.
Our dog Maddie was put to sleep last night. I knew she was sick and I knew it was time but I don't think I was ready yet.
We got Maddie from the animal shelter many, many moons ago.. we are all debating how long we have had her. But it was for Amanda's birthday, it was her dog. So Amanda, Christopher and I(believe it or not that was all of us back in those days- just the three of us!) trudged down to the animal shelter around Amanda's birthday that year and went up and down the kennels looking at all the dogs. I found one that I thought was perfect but Amanda found Maddie.
Maddie was skin and bones and about knee high from her back to the floor, she was a golden brown medium length haired dog that was missing a patch of fir chain wide around her neck. Her head was huge. But this was the one Amanda wanted and it was her dog for her birthday. So we paid for her.
Well as we know the animal shelter does not let you take that animal home that day, you must pay, fill out papers and then come back in three days after the animal has been made into an it... and so we did. The day we returned to get our new member of the family the shelter decided it was time for us to have "information" on our new pet. It was a write up from the people who had dropped her off a few weeks before. They claimed she was a terrible dog, she ripped up everything in the house, that she tried to dig her way out of the yard and was just un-trainable. All I could think of is what did I get myself into???
Well, that was about 15 years ago and I am not sure who the dog on the paper was talking about but it wasn't the dog we brought home. She was the best animal, the best playmate, a protector to the kids, she was a happy animal and other then the window screens I can't think of one thing she ever destroyed.
She hated to be cooped up. She loved to lay outside, in the front yard and chat with all the neighbors! So if the windows were open and no one was home she would find her way to the front yard. This was okay for the first six years we had her because we lived in the country, on a dirt road and the neighbors loved Maddie.
But after we moved to the home we live in now, we live next door to Satan who hates animals. We finally had to explain to the kids NOT to let Maddie out the front door as this neighbor walked up and down the street kicking any animals he would see and actually took a long bladed knife after Maddie's legs back about eight years ago. Cops couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it... so I am just rude to this neighbor and live in an isolated neighborhood where people don't speak to each other.
But Maddie has been a part of this family through a marriage then a divorce and then another marriage along with the pregnancy and birth of two kids and the adoption of another. She watched Chris and Amanda grow up and move out on their own. She has laid next to the crib of each of the new Born's until she feels that child doesn't need her there and then moves back to her spot in the hallway, out side all the children's doors, where she can protect all of the kids at the same time. She found her way into my room next to the crib we had for Alexis after we brought her home from China. She has been used as a step for the little ones as they learned to get up on the furniture and as the pillow for them while they laid on the floor to watch tv. She has been dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween and had blankets tied around her neck to make her a cape so she could be super dog!
But Maddie started to show signs of age a few years ago, then about 10 months ago I had a feeling she had diabetes... she was drinking a bowl of water then using the bathroom all night long! I took her to the vet who ran test, charged me a whole lot of money and told me it was old age. Then she started not to hear. She didn't bark anymore the last few months and then yesterday morning she was just not breathing right. My year in nursing school told me what I didn't want to face, it was really time.
After Jay got home and we got the kids fed, we found her in the master bathroom on the tile floor. She hadn't moved in hours. Jay tried to get her to drink but she would not move. So at ten last night I called the emergency pet clinic and they told us to bring her in.
Her inner body temp was 107 and they checked it twice. Her lungs were full of fluid and she could barely breath. I couldn't get Amanda on the phone and after hearing the doctor state that Maddie had cancer and it was in her lungs- which is not a place dogs get cancer so it was in other parts of her body also- I had to make the decision I knew was coming but I was dreading to have her put to sleep.
They asked us how we wanted to handle the body? I knew I was not going to bring Maddie home for the kids to see her and I just couldn't imagine putting a bowl of ashes on my fireplace so that we could be sad every time we looked up there so I first just wanted them to have her cremated and then her ashes put out with the other animals on a farm somewhere north of here.. but I couldn't get Amanda to answer her phone and I felt that she or Chris needed to decided.
So I called Chris. He told me to please bring Maddie's ashes home so that we could spread her over our front yard and then she could be where she loved to be best. And I thought this was the right choice.
So that is the story of the greatest dog ever. A family pet, a family member who will be dearly missed in this home forever.

Wei Again

2009-06-06T09:40:00.004-04:00

What makes life so easy for one person and so hard for another? Why can some do wrong and come out smelling like a rose and others like a skunk?
I heard from Wei's second family in Texas. It is very sad but they have decided not to adopt her. So once again this little girl is without a family. They had their reasons and I do understand very much why... but I don't understand WHY when Jay and I would have taken her, no matter what her problems were that China turned us down.
Then I think, maybe it was a higher hand stopping us from taking on more then we could handle but even so when giving birth you don't get to pick and choose your childs good and bad- yet in adoption you get to view the child like a puppy in the pet store and decided you don't like the patch of brown fur or the way the tail wags and you get to turn the child away.
Wei is a beautiful little girl who is now four. She was born with a medical problem that has been corrected. I haven't seen any of her updates since her surgery in 2007 but I am sure there is a family out there that could open their hearts to this child and give her a family. I want her to have a good life and be loved.
We would have had her home two years ago.. TWO YEARS AGO!.. but she has now had to suffer in an institution for all this extra time.
I am so very heartbroken.

Wei

2009-03-28T23:54:00.002-04:00

I thought I would update those of you that have followed along in our story. The little girl that we tried so hard to adopt that was from Northern China, Zhang Wei, has been promised to another family that lives in Texas.
It tore my heart out all the time, especially on her birthday, thinking of her still in that orphanage because of stupid rules put into place by ignorant people! But finally she gets to be a part of a family.
I have been able to email with the new mom and she is very excited about getting Wei home. So that puts my heart to ease!

New blog page

2009-03-24T16:02:00.000-04:00

Please email me at ginnie003@yahoo.com for new blog page and update!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T23:04:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

GREAT NEWS!

2008-07-25T10:32:00.002-04:00

Okay, first, Trenton is not sick. They are just giving him a yearly physical. Nothing out of the ordinary. Because of his mother's sickness he has to be monitored at different stages in his life up until he is 18 months old. But it is nothing to worry about.

SECOND and MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!! His mom has contacted our attorneys and wants them to come to the jail and talk to her about us!!!!!!!!!!! This is such GREAT news! It doesn't really mean anything as far as a decision but at least she is being fair to allow them in there to explain who we are and what we want for her son!

I am going to write another letter to send to the attorney for translation over to the jail for his mom. The first two letters as so generic like what is written for your Letter of Intent for adoption in China. This one is going to really tell her who we are, what our goals are in life and what we want for our child. I guess I could include what we have already achieved for our children as we have two that are adults... and there are days that I think they are still my little kids but the two of them turned out to be pretty good adults!!

Grapevine Update

2008-07-24T23:47:00.002-04:00

I heard tonight that the birth mom has gotten our letters and we are just waiting on our invite to the jail.
Also there is some concern as to Trenton's health.. wonder if this is just another one of those ploys by Mercy to try to stop me from adopting him.

I AM NOT GIVING UP! I hope they understand this! I see his face and my heart pounds. I can not wait to hug and hold him. What I find to be so sad is the fact that they would rather play with this child's life and hold him in a situation that is not healthy for a child then to let us adopt him because of a divorce.

I wish I had more to tell you but that is all at this time.

We continue to clean the house, paint and get ready for our "daughter for a year!"
She said, "love you mom" on the chat this morning and my heart melted!! We are so looking forward to her arrival! I hope the airport doesn't call security on our noisy family!! LOL

We also found out that her good friend was picked by a family in Northern Florida so she is very happy about that!! And we have another family in our town that is getting a student from Taiwan! If I don't learn some Chinese this year.. I will never learn Chinese!!

Happy Weekend everyone!!

Again a change

2008-07-21T01:48:00.002-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since I updated this. I just couldn't. Again.. a change.
It has been a long hard month with me trying again to understand how there are 143 MILLION orphans in the world and here we are one family just wanting to bring home one child.. and people who say they are involved for the "good" of the children are making it hard!

Yep. So the day after I did my last post.. I must have had some sort of sense that something was up. I get an email from Wendy at Mercy, saying that they didn't make a right decision and that they should have given this child's mother more families to choose from. And I also got an email from Ted at Home of God's Love that he felt Mercy had decided not to work with us, "I believe God can and does forgive our past when we bring it before Him in repentance and surrender, but again, I don’t feel I can do this case myself." Why did Ted say this? Because Jay and I had been divorced and Ted does not work with divorced couples. Yet, in my bible God said that it is a SIN not to forgive and if you do not forgive you are sinning against God. But Ted would not do our papers or help us.
Both parties keep pointing fingers at each other, Ted blames Mercy, Mercy blames Ted.
It is a circus.
So I have hired an attorney. They have contacted Trenton's mom and have gone to her with our want to adopt her son. But at the same time Mercy, the Christian organization that is to help woman and children went in at the same time and slammed Jay and I to the birth mom.
So we again wait. The attorney has been a great help. It is so hard to try to take care of things when you are so many miles away and don't speak the language. I had to put my trust in someone. The attorney has followed through with everything and has made more progress in this few weeks than I have made in a year.
So we are just waiting.
I have to tell this part of the story also. I didn't make it up that Mercy and Ted had told me we were getting this child, I have emails to prove it. Ted, himself, sent me an emails stating I needed to pick an American name for him so that they could do the paperwork.
Also Mercy sent me the address to them and to the social worker who was taking Trenton to his birth mom for visits and then back to the foster mom so that I could mail gifts. Jay and I filled two boxes full of gifts so that the foster mom had everything she would need for a few months to care for him. With shipping it was into the hundreds of dollars for these boxes.
Mercy offered to send the box back. Total would have been $80.00 round trip.. for a box of socks, blankets and clothes for the other babies at Mercy. I told them to keep the box.
But what I really got steamed up about is that I was told Ted offered to pay us back for the two boxes that went to the social worker. There was a few hundred dollars worth of clothes and toys for him... where was Ted going to get this money.. from the money that is donated for the kids in his care? Does that clear up their consciences to mail me back the boxes or to pay for them?
And tell me this.. each item in those boxes to Trenton was pick FOR Trenton, our son, from us. We laughed and planned as we picked out each item, we made dreams and plans for the future.. please Ted, how were you going to pay us back for our dreams and plans?
Sorry my post is so nasty. It has taken me an entire month to not be even worse. And yes, I have to ask God every day for forgiveness because I get so upset with these people!
I have also found out that I have been lied to by these people as they keep saying Mercy has custody of Trenton.. but the attorney's found out that the birth mom never signed her rights away. So it is the birth mom that has the rights.
So all I can do now is pray that she reads my letter to her along with the letter the attorney sent her and that she sees that we are a good family that wants to love her son!

DEEP BREATHS! There is some sunshine at the end of this cloud.
I signed us up for an exchange student. Call me a glutton for punishment .. but we qualify for a student, with divorces, short length of marriage, too many children.. and not being "Christian" enough for Home of God's Love.. we do qualify for an exchange student!
She is a beautiful girl that will be in 12th grade and have her birthday two weeks after she gets here. We are planning a BBQ for her! LOL One of the students wrote that they wanted to come to America to see how the neighbors have parties... they had watched American TV! So I figured a BBQ would be the way to go!
We have been chatting with her on the yahoo and she is so excited to come here also!
So even though I don't get to keep her.. she will call me mom and be my child for a year!!
I will post more about her down the road!!!

Please say a prayer that Trenton's mom comes to a decision and please pray that we are that decision!

Waiting!

2008-06-30T00:14:00.002-04:00

I talked to Wendy in Taiwan, or actually I emailed with Wendy in Taiwan, last Wednesday or Thursday... asking what I should be doing next. I feel like I should have a job but she was in contact with the home that is helping us with our paperwork and the man in charge is working on many cases right now, so he said we just had to have patience! LOL YEAH RIGHT!
She said she would try to get hold of him on Monday, which is it now Monday, just past midnight here, so that makes it past noon over there! And I am "patiently" waiting! LOL
I just want the adoption contract in my hand. Then I will know that Bao-Sheng's mom signed it and that it is all really happening. So many heartbreaks in the last year and this would be the finally break if something happened. I am not thinking that way, but I really would like to see the contract in my hand!! or on my computer screen!
I am going to see if my boxes have even made it close to Taiwan. I mailed them last Monday but I didn't put a rush on them as it is so expensive to send and I sent three boxes!!
Angie leaves in a few weeks for her daughter, my girlfriend Cindy leaves for her two boys, Don and Be leave around the same time as Angie for their little girl.. it is so exciting all these new kids in our lives!! Adoption is a wonderful blessing!

Birth Mom

2008-06-24T17:32:00.002-04:00

There are so many factors and so many walls to hit in international adoption that your head spins. One thing about China that you don't fear is the birth mother. The children are left, with no contact as it is illegal in China to abandon your baby. But in Taiwan, it is different, there is a birth mom and she in many cases has to do that final letting go.
Trenton's birth mom did her final letting go today. I had wrote a letter last week begging for her to understand that we would be the parents she would want for her son and that we would love him as much as she would and that we would never let him forget her... I had to dig down in my soul to make sure when I said those words I really did mean them because I love my children and I want my children to love only me as their mom... but then I have never had to wear these shoes.
So after sitting her for a few hours and making sure that I was able to put into words on a peice of paper who I was, who we were as a family and how important having Trenton as MY son... I also had to feel for her and know that I would never take him away from her, completely.
So today the social worker took Trenton over to the jail to see him mom and to give her the letter that I wrote (Wendy translated it for me and made sure that the English to Chinese was done completely right)
And the birth mom said she was very happy that I wanted to love her son and that she wanted me to be his mom.
I opened this email first thing this morning and have been flying on cloud nine all day!
She asked the social worker to ask me to send her pictures of him and letters to her about him. And I have fully agreed to this as I want him to know her and I want to know her. I want Trenton to know that he wasn't given up because he wasn't loved but because of situations in his mom life.
I can not wait to get that baby in my arms!

Chase just got home from a two week trip with Grandma yesteday. We haven't told them yet as we wanted to make 100% sure this was happening...
You should see him and Ali together! I know siblings fight but they REALLY missed each other!! Ali will not let Chase (or Chasey as she calls him) out of her sight.
This is what life is all about!

I will make it through this!!

2008-06-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

I got an email from our contact in Taiwan who is actually handling the paperwork... he said DO NOT get the translation. Actually what it is is that the judges are very tough on everything being so right.. so what he wants is to have someone that has done this for him many times translate for us. This puts so much relief on me because of my messy translation from earlier!

And all we are waiting on is to get Mercy to send over their translation of his English name.. I guess the characters can be different so they want to make sure they are both doing it exactly the same and then he will send out our Power of Attorney and our adoption contract!

Every day.. I just sit there and think.. I am the luckiest person ever! I am so blessed to have all the kids I do and now I am finally getting to complete this family...

And I promise everyone.. this is the last!

Have a great evening!

Learning the Ropes for Taiwan

2008-06-21T03:50:00.000-04:00

I am really having to learn a lot with this adoption. I am glad I have a new friend that has gone threw the Taiwan ropes along with a great support group for Independent Adoptions.
I have to have my eight page home study all translated. Very scary after what I have already been thought with one translation. But I am on my own for this one!
Sarah and Deana with Morning Light have told me to contact a woman that will do it for a fee. When she sent the bill it was $7072.. FOR EIGHT PAGES!?? LOL
But that was NT money.. so it was only around $235.00.. big relief!
I have sent the HS and I am waiting for her to tell me how to pay her. I should have it back by next Friday!

I didn't make it to the post office today as I have to repack my packages to Trenton.
I am sending two boxes full of fun stuff to the social worker where he is and then I am going to get another box with stuff for the children at The Garden of Mercy for the children there.

If anyone wants to jump into my challenge over on the right side of my blog PLEASE DO.
Deana with Morning Light is a wonderful woman, about to give birth any day now, that has been helping families find their children. On top of that she has applied to the government to be allowed to be a placing agency with the US. So they are building a children area so they will be able to house some of the orphans instead of moving them out to other facilities!

I know in adoption there is always a cause. And I know that my heart wishes I could win the lottery so I could fix all the causes.. but this is a small one.. they only need $1200 for the AC. And after putting out my ten dollar challenge today we are up to $245!!

And some other good news!! I finally after all these years got to call my mom to say I was accepted into college!! Yep, I got my letter.. I will be starting nursing school in two months!! Life is good!

HERE HE IS!!!

2008-06-20T04:08:00.000-04:00

I figured that I have the social worker on my side along with the wonderful young woman that took care of him for about eight months of his life...
and when I asked if I could send a care package they told me YES.
So as of right now, I don't see any turning back!!

Jay and I went to the mall tonight and bought a box full of things for him, bibs, shirts, shorts, socks, shoes, pj's, toys and a stuffed animal! And I squeezed it into two Priority Mail boxes.. so it will only be $80.00 to ship both boxes!!

So now I feel I can post the photos! So here he is
Trenton Bao-Sheng Elliott!
And Jay is so excited that he is getting a boy!!
5 Months Old

7 Months Old

8 Months Old

9 Months Old

10 Months Old

Happy Birthday to Trenton

13 Months Old

More Good News!

2008-06-18T04:03:00.000-04:00

Well here is the whole scoop!!
He is ours!! It is four in the morning here and four in the afternoon over in Taiwan. I have been emailing back and forth with the children's home, the social worker for Trenton and the best young woman ever, Wendy!

Wendy was taking care of Trenton when he first was seperated from his birth mom. From August 9, 2007 until March 31, 2008.. this was just after his first birthday.
Then he went to a foster home. Wendy is going to find out if I can have the address to the foster mom so that I can send our first package over.

It is all sinking in slowly. They have asked for our names as we don't have the same last name.. and they want to make sure we are married. They have asked for our Home Study for which our social worker has made all the corrections and will be sending it off to me with in a day or so. They have asked us to send in the required letter for the home that is helping with the paper work on that end.
So not counting the courts, the people we are having contact with is all in favor of our adopting Trenton.

I am not sure how all this works from this point on. I know I was asked for a translated home study... by one party.. but told to send the English home study for translation by the other party!! It is all so confusing!! But exciting and the best news I have had in almost a year!!!

The best part of this story is the fact that we wanted a girl.. and Chase kept saying he wanted a boy. Chase loves the little brothers to Polly one of the babies that came home from China in our travel group that doesn't live far from here.. so he thinks having a little brother like that would be the greatest thing since Sponge Bob! And at first Mallory was upset saying she wanted a girl.. but now!! Everyone is beside themselves with JOY!! And Chase is away on vacation with Grandma.. so it will be a HUGE surprise!!

My heart is pounding

2008-06-16T02:38:00.000-04:00

There is a process to go through with Taiwan when you don't do the whole agency thing and you go independent. First you must find a child, the child must be declared an orphan by law, then you must send papers and hope your contact is taking care of things on their end.

Well this little boy that we found is an orphan, by the rules. His birth mother is very sick and she was sentence to jail for a very long time. She finally broke down and decided to allow him to go to a family... if she would not have signed these papers he would have sat in the orphanage for at least 12 years.. maybe longer if her sickness won.

But she made the right decision. And the nice thing about Taiwan is that we can keep the birthmother in his life by sending updated pictures of him each year and letting her know how he is.

So the next part is to have all your paperwork sent to the courts. But with this little boy we have to make sure that the people in charge of finding him a home will accept us- larger family, married only three years- not that this is not allowed but like everything in life there is a stigma about the "perfect" family.

Our contact person in Taiwan has contacted a wonderful children's home called The Home of God's Love that will help with our paperwork. She has also contacted a social worker in Taiwan that is in charge of the little boy's life and together everything must come together and make it through the courts!

But I was asked tonight for the name I would like to call him.... and that was my sign that God had stepped in. His given name was sent to me and though I can't post it tonight I will say this.. he was given as part of his name WEI.
I am not making this up.. I sat here and cried for a few minutes trying to take it in. It has to be the sign that I am to let go of our girl in China and know that this is why we did not get her.

I also got three new pictures of him tonight. HE IS SO CUTE! He is a tough looking boy with a bit of mischief in his eyes. I can not wait to post for all of you!
Please pray hard for us in the next few weeks that all of this falls into place and that we finally get to finish Our Adoption Story!

Some Exciting News

2008-06-10T23:37:00.000-04:00

It is not written in stone as of yet.. we have to get through the whole homestudy thing.. and I need to speak to my social worker about redoign a few things in the homestudy to make it right.. but we might have found a child!!

I don't know if I have had so much disappointment in the last year that I can't and won't get my hopes up.. but today I got word that a young girl that was a disrupted adoption here in the US was going to another family- we had asked for her, even though she was older. I didn't feel upset today.. just another one that was not meant for us.. but then I get a message from an orphanage in Taiwan that they have a little boy whose mom just signed off on him about two weeks ago.. he is SOOO healthy and soooo cute and they are asking us for our home study to see if we can adopt him...

I know, I know.. it is a BOY... not what we started out wanting.. but maybe that is why it has taken us so long.. we were waiting on him....

PLEASE PRAY FOR US THAT THIS ALL WORKS OUT because it just seems so right!!

Even Mallory was saying.. NO BOYS.. and after taking a peek at his picture she was saying.. I hope we get him mom!!

Summer Begins

2008-05-31T07:57:00.000-04:00

The kids have five fun filled days left of school and then we have them home for the summer. I am glad. I would rather the kids never go to school but then when they do stay home it is one fight after another and I am glad they have to go to school!
Chase will be running off with Grandma to tour the southeast US. They have a two week fun filled trip planned with theme parks, water parks, camping, jem stone searching... on and on. The girls and I will just be home here keeping up the house and swimming.

Also, my Alexis is potty training herself! She is such a smart cookie. We put her potty chair in the master bath and she has been taking her diapers off for about two weeks now.. well the other day she just went in and used her pot. She came out to tell grandma "Ali a good girl" as she was patting herself.. so grandma went to investigate and sure enough.. she had used the potty chair! We have now put her in big girl pants for which she things is great... and hopefully she will be fully trained within the next few weeks!!

I went this week and tested for enterance to the nursing school just down the road. Amanda will go there on Monday to take the first test. I am hoping the government will be so kind as to give us a student loan to help out but either way we will be going. I wasn't exactly excited about blood and the rest but I look at it this way.. if it gets my daughter into a job that will take her into old age so she doesn't follow my foot steps.. then all of it will be worth it!

Now down to the nitty gritty.. Adoption. We are still in limbo. I did talk to our attorney this week in Taiwan. He had gotten a few leads on birth moms that might be looking for an American family... this is like finding a needle in a haystack... but at least he is trying.
I have sent many letters out to doctors and clinics in Taiwan about two weeks ago but I haven't gotten anything back yet on these. So we will just keep waiting!

I get so jealous when I see all these families getting their referrals or the travel but I know our day will come!

Well I am off to have a six year old birthday party today!!
Happy Summer to all!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day! 2008

2008-05-11T03:21:00.000-04:00

Happy Mom's Day to all the mom's with kids, the mom's expecting a kid and the best, the adopted moms of the world!!!

Well I sent our package out yesterday to another agency. Yep, one more try. Call it punishment for such a perfect life- at least I thought is was perfect- just these crazy countries don't find my life to be so perfect!! We found a wonderful agency that is not going to take ANY money from us until they are sure that we can be matched with a child. They have been working with Taiwan for a long time and know who to have do the translations on the home studies, how to ask the social worker to write the home study so that it is correct but not to add useless details that can be badly translated, and other things that just might help.
We are not out anything if it doesn't work.. so that is a great thing.

I also got to talk with a woman that has adopted from Taiwan and now works with Independent adoptions in Taiwan. She gave me some great pointers on a few things to try... so that is also in my plans.

And of course.. I am going to keep praying that China changes the rules and that I can go get Wei. It never hurts to have a plan and a dream in life!

Happy Mom's Day!!

Also if you haven't bought a ticket for the fund raiser.. PLEASE DO!! If you are the winner you can book a cruise, a family vacation, air line tickets.. any thing a travel agent can book and it is a FREE $500!!
The drawing is on the 24th of this month so not much time.. and it can be used anywhere in the world.. you just have to go on line to the agency that is offering the $500 voucher to book. I checked out their prices and they are the same as booking direct!! So it is a good deal!
My sales pitch for the evening.

Happy News for Angie and Mike

2008-04-22T09:25:00.000-04:00

A week before Jay and I left last year to go get Ali from China we started to finally buy her some clothes.. we finally knew a size to buy.
Chase was with us in the store and he really wanted to help but he continued to pick out really UGLY clothes and I continued to tell him he was picking the wrong sizes!LOL
Well there were these two ladies in the store also going through the little girl clothes listening and watching this go on with Chase. Finally one of the women asked me what we were buying all the clothes for and I told her we were going to China to get our daughter. She then said her daughter, the other lady shopping was also going to China to get a daughter.
Come to find out Angie only lives about eight minutes from my front door to hers and that we were both using GWCA.. except we logged in Sept 05 and she logged in Oct 06... so you know where this is going.. Angie and her husband Mike were in for the LONG wait for a referral!!
But yesterday, my cool and calm friend came over to the house, unannounced, to tell me she wanted to show me something... I was a bit puzzled because she always calls and I knew she had to work in a short while...
She asked me if she could pull something up on my computer.. and then said she wanted to show me an email.. I was still puzzled....
GWCA had called her yesterday with a REFERRAL on a BEAUTIFUL little girl!!!
Mallory was standing here and we were all three jumping and crying!!!
Angie is over at the doctor's office as I write having the babies chart looked over.. but she is a healthy little girl with a clept lip/palate and she is just beautiful! So I am sure the doctor is going to give an okay on this end!!
And Angie wants Jay and I to go to China with them!! Which really makes me feel loved!!!
Angie's little girl if from the province just north of Ali's province in the center of China.. and the two girls are about 11 months apart... PERFECT PLAYMATES!!!
CONGRATS TO ANGIE AND MIKE!! You are going to be wonderful parents!

Things are starting to look up!!!!

2008-04-21T00:28:00.000-04:00

I am sorry to everyone reading my blog that I took a month off. I just didn't have anything nice to say and I didn't want to say anything nasty.. and I was hurt and upset about the way all of this was handled.
I am still in contact with the agency about this whole thing. What a mess.

But on the brighter side!!! There is a brighter side when you have been bumped and bruised and slammed against the wall in International Adoption!

I have decided not to give up. Which those of you who know me, know I will not give up until I feel it was done to the best of every one's ability...
And for this part, the best of MY ability is to try to find our last child myself.

I have a great new friend that has been giving me a lot of information on Taiwan. Because even though our Agency isn't helping us, we do qualify for Taiwan by all LAWS..and we can adopt if we can find a child.

So I have contacted an attorney in Taiwan who will help me once a child is found and my great new friend told me about a private run home that helps the children.

I can't get into details right now.. because I want to make sure this is all going to happen but the woman and her husband that work with these pregnant moms is talking to our attorney about a young girl that will give birth in June.. to a girl!!

That is all I am saying!! I just need all the prayers out there that this is the child we will have!!!

Updating

2008-03-29T23:42:00.001-04:00

I wanted to post tonight, not that I have any news.. just some thoughts.

Well our agency has sent an email stating some figures... I will not accept these figures. I understand that the world needs to be paid for a job, but what if you did not finish that job. My feelings in this is that when we began we were headed to China and they wanted a small amount of money, with the first reject and the turn to Taiwan they asked for a very large amount of money. We did not hesitate to provide them with what they asked for as they assured us that we wouldn't have any problems in Taiwan... but now we are told that we are completely rejected from Taiwan and it is going to cost in the thousands of dollars? I am really praying that they do the right thing.

Second is I went to the "rules" for China, I know I am punishing myself, but it seems Jay's and my "problem" is just that we haven't been married for five years. We would have to wait two more years to apply to China again. We qualify really under every other reason.

I have been on the phone with another agency in Taiwan.. Taiwan works different than China.. through individual orphanages instead of a central government agency.. and we are going to look into one more Taiwan orphanage. A final hope.

And lastly, something we can not act on until after the big date in September- more to this story- but there is Vietnam. Were we qualify 100%!
Vietnam has some sort of a deadline with the US. A few years back the US closed the doors to Vietnam and would not let parents adopt from that country. They had to clean up their acts or something.. so in September either they program will remain open and we can apply or close and we have no hope!
The "more to this story" is I should have just gone there in the first place. I started all this last August. I could be home with my child now. But I was so afraid of spending the extra money as Vietnam because it is more expensive.. yet now with what is happeneing to our adoption money from this first agency.. what was the difference!
I am getting upset!

Well I put two boxes of Chocolates, clothes, toys etc together today and I am mailing it to China and to our daughter of heart. I just pray each night that a family comes along for her or China's rules change and God lets us have her!
I have been told "through the grapevine" we are not to send gifts.. why???? I send boxes of stuff to the orphanage that Ali came from and I have no child there.. so I am sending this stuff to my child that the GOVERNMENT will not let me have!

Thank you all for your love and support!

News from CCAA

2008-03-25T22:06:00.000-04:00

Well ASIA sent me over an email today to say that CCAA again turned us down for Wei.
That is it.. it is over. No more hoping or praying or waiting by the computer each day. Done.

I cried. Then I became angry. And now I am numb... or maybe just tired from crying. I am still angry though.

I want to understand why the agency got a PRE APPROVAL from both China and Taiwan and then we were rejected by both. Is it a bait and switch? Get our money and then let us wait for eight months.. YEP EIGHT MONTHS from start to finish and no kid and not sure how much money we will be out of.

I appreciate the girls I worked with at ASIA. I told them that today. They were GREAT about communication... but how do we go from Pre approvals to rejected? I know that they can only communicate what they are learning also but then should it cost the adopted family?

Then I called another agency that said they could get us approved for Taiwan... how is that possible? And I emailed with a woman who is in the same boat as us with another agency.. only her agency is promising her a child.... ????? I am going to watch her blog... because there would be no possible way that China turns us down twice and then gives other families children... would there?

I don't need any more kids. I have a houseful.. but I wanted another child. And there are MILLIONS of Children in this world that need a family.. yet I feel like we have hit a brick wall with these countries. We don't qualify because of STUPID things that wouldn't affect a child's love for a mom and dad.

I am sorry Wei. You will always have a spot in our hearts.

My girlfriend is predicting that we will find Wei's file on the shared children's list next.. we will see.. I just think each day a child grows older in an institution will will one more day of life long problems that child will take with them. I hope God will see you to a family very soon.

No news on Wei.. but some other good news!

2008-03-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, we can start this off by saying NOTHING YET! I can't understand why this is taking so long. I really thought yesterday about the time CCAA would have been at work, they had my file on the desk and were stamping a great big APPROVAL on it.. but as it is past two in the afternoon my time, I know my agency hasn't gotten any news yet!

I did get a cool call today.. this is for those of you who admired my work on cleaning out my son's closet (see past blog entry)... I WON!! She called me today to tell me that I won and I won FIRST PLACE!!!! $500.00 Gift Card from Ikea!!!!
That is so great!! I called Jay right away and ran down my list of things I wanted to do to the house that I could apply that money to!!!! He said "Slow down girl!!" LOL
I wanted to run over there last week to put my name in on their contest for a free year of mortgage payments but just blew it off thinking how unlucky I am with stuff like this!! And then I win!!! YEAH!
I still need to post a picture of his whole room.. as you didn't get to see his cool bed!

No news yet

2008-03-19T01:07:00.000-04:00

Today I was going to throw in the towel. I have been hearing bad news from families that applied to CCAA that don't qualify under the new guidelines.. we are one of them and CCAA sticks to their guns. I know they have to make rules, they have to stick by the rules or there is no system in place... but what is that old saying?... Rules are made to be broken or There is always an exception to every rule?
Scroll down and look at this child face, does she not just look like she should call me mom and Jay, dad. But I got up on the ugly side of my bed today (on top of the fact that I am cramming on my license and waited till the last minute to get my hours in) and said, "enough is enough.." I have a box of fun stuff that I have been waiting and waiting to mail to her.. I want to make plans.. whether it be going to get her or not.. I need to know what my life and where my life is going.
As those of you in this adoption circle know, it is hard to get on with your life when you are waiting. You can't sell your house, you hate to start a new job that you will have to say, "oh, by the way sometime in the near future I need about six months off." Do you buy new furniture or stick it in your adoption fund, are we going or are we staying.. the head is spinning!
But I got upset. And I emailed my agency... Thank you God for hooking me up with Marci. She is so patience with me! I emailed her and said that I am done, what is our next plan of action because waiting on China is not going good... and she calmed me down...
And our social worker came over today for Ali's one year post placement and we talked and she said the same thing.. You have to hold on! Your agency is doing a great job for you and CCAA is looking over your file again.. This is GREAT NEWS!
So we are waiting, still. They are going to send a fax to CCAA tonight to find out if we are any closer to an answer.
Maybe this is my brick wall talking.. because last time it took CCAA so long, I got my hopes really really high that they were going to say YES.. so this time, I am not finding "time on my side" or the "longer we wait the better" the outcome!
LOOK AT THAT CHILD'S FACE!! She should have been out eating pizza with us tonight instead of being put to bed by a nannie!
Sorry, I am having a pity party!
Just a little while longer and we should have an answer.

Many Thanks

2008-03-11T22:37:00.001-04:00

I wanted to say thank you to those of you leaving comments and prayers. I just don't know how to answer through the blog as it doesn't seem to give an email back.

I read my last weeks posts...and forgot to explain how I came to get new pictures of Wei. I was bored and wanted to look at the agencies SN kids.. just to look. I emailed and asked if I could have the current password.. JUST TO LOOK!
I was oohing and ahhing over the kids when I came to a face, that looked familiar but ..??? Then I saw one of the older pictures of her and realized it was Wei ONLY OLDER...
So I emailed the agency to say, "wow you have updated photos!!" and she emailed me back and said yes.. we weren't going to send until we had an approval.. but I begged!
I am so glad to see her face!! It was a bit of a shock at first, only because I wasn't expecting her to grow so much... but it was almost two years between photos from what I can tell!!
She is not a baby anymore!!
I won't post again this week.. unless we hear some good news!!
Thank you again everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

A bit down

2008-03-11T16:58:00.000-04:00

I have been in bed very ill for the last few days... if nothing else I dropped a few pounds...but the depression has set in. I can handle waiting.. if that is what it is- waiting. But when the hope comes that an answer will soon come and then doesn't come day after day, I can't handle waiting. When adopting Ali we had a timeline. Parents waiting Non special needs children are all logged in by dates, and you sit back and wait for your date and your referral. With the special needs children you just don't know. I have seen families get a pre approval in three days and some three months... or in our case, we waited three months to be told no. Now we wait again.
I know that our agency will open around noon our time (different coasts) so I check my email from noon to one.. if there is nothing from Marci, I know it will be another long 24 hours before I can get the hope up again.
I have decided that I am going to post Wei's photos. I know we don't have an official yes.. but, if God decides, we are not the family for her, maybe by me posting her face another family will come sooner and she will get to find her family.
So here she is.... hopefully our new daughter!!!!

About 14 months old- she had just had her surgery.

Recent update photos that we got last week!

Another Week Gone By

2008-03-07T11:55:00.001-05:00

I know I am just tired today as I worked late the last two nights and I am very blue.. but I had my mind set I was going to hear something on Ali's Gotcha Day, then that came and went I figured it would be by today..the end of the second week... but that has now come and gone so we wait again till next week.

I did get an email from Marci at our agency, she is so encouraging, but stated because the person who is trying to help us was out last week, then they asked for the letter from our agency to add strength to our side, then they couldn't find our LOI and needed to have that sent again...etc.. one thing after another. But I am now understanding that the woman who is advocating for us is not the new director of special needs.. so I am not sure who, why, how or what is going on! Everything is just rumors and speculation in this adoption game.

I must just set in myself the fact that I can't change other people, I can't make them make a decision, I have to wait and because of the Olympics we won't be bringing this child home until September at the earliest if CCAA can understand how much we want to bring her home... it just stinks because I could have her here with us now.

And maybe I need to stop thinking so hard about all of this and just get on with things.. if it is meant to be it will be. If not then God has another plan for Wei and for our family. And maybe the disappointment won't hurt so bad.

Happy Gotcha Day!! One year!!

2008-03-05T08:48:00.000-05:00

It is amazing what adoption can do for a person's soul. Many people look at me like I am crazy when I tell them how many bio children I have and that we have adopted and that we want to adopt another but there is always a reason for everything in life and Ali is our reason for life!

I stayed up late last night looking over pictures of the trip to China, the people we met because of adoption and the last year in general...WOW, what a year!! And the best part is there is more to come!
I think the other parents were also looking over photos last night as I got a few emails from some of them with pictures of our adoption day (yep, took us all a year to exchange pictures!) The Chinese Red Thread connecting us together!

I was looking at photos of the girls at the government center when we first walked in, all dressed exactly the same, with their dark hair and olive skin... I just remember how fast it went with eleven babies running around and eleven families trying to get their camera snapping... my mom kept saying, "there she is!!" What a day, what an adventure, what a great kid!!!

She was so fun last night at the Steak House... I didn't feed her a big lunch so the poor thing was starving by the time the food came and she kept up with daddy, bite for bite! Chase even eats good when we go there! Not that Chase doesn't eat good all the time but he loves the steak! Jay said he wishes we could cook the food to taste the same at home!! Me too!

Now for the update on our Wei!... I made her a photo album last night... I am putting it into a box today with her gifts because I KNOW today is going to be our acceptance day!! Marci emailed me late yesterday after I had posted yesterday's blog to say that CCAA has requested a recommendation letter from our agency's director. ASIA was going to email it over to them before closing time yesterday, which would be early morning in China. So that means that while everyone here, except me, slept... our lives were being changed! Marci, said it was good news that they were asking for this!... I know I shouldn't get my hopes up until I am standing in China with her in my arms but this was meant to be!!

I did a page in her photo album with the whole family, then I did a page with the girls bedroom... and I pasted a picture of her and Ali on that page with her new name.. we had originally picked Riley, hence the blog page title.. but we met a girl name Kiley about two weeks ago.. and decided we like Kiley better as a girls name and it sounds nice with Wei's name... so Kiley Wei. And she looks like a Kiley Wei!! As soon as we get our approval I will post her picture for the world to see!!

Please keep praying! We are at the top of the hurdle and we need to make it over!!

Ali and I are off to lunch with Mallory at school!! Mallory didn't want to miss Ali's gotcha day so we promised to come eat yummy school lunch!

Still Waiting

2008-03-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

Monday: It is hard to make a blog that wants to talk about the excitement of your weekend...Ali's birthday that was a ton of fun while also trying to hide the disappointment of not hearing anything today. It is far to late in the day for CCAA to contact ASIA... so we won't hear anything. Tomorrow would be our Gotcha Day for Ali except that it is leap year so we have to "have" her one extra day to official hit our Gotcha Day... so now what I am praying is that Marci calls me Wednesday to say Wei is ours... that would be the icing on the cake!!!!
Ali's official Gotcha Day 03/05/07 and our official approval day for Wei's adoption the same date one year later... tell me that wouldn't be the best!!!

Tuesday: It has taken me all night to get this posted so it is now actually Tuesday.. and it is now noon... my stomach is in knots... I am not sure if I want the phone to ring or not to ring... no news is still hope!....and all I can do is hope that humanity is out there somewhere! I promised Marci yesterday that I wouldn't bother her again until she called me, she thought that maybe with the woman being out a few days last week at CCAA that she was just overly busy. I know that there are a million babies needing a home...but she just needs to pull on the file of one Zhang Wei and mark APPROVED on it!!

We are going out to the Japanese Steak house tonight to celebrate Ali's one year with our family-HER FAMILY!... it has flown by! She is the same kid but not... her personality on the Gotcha Day one year ago is still there... she loves to look at herself in the mirror, very demanding, loves to smile at the camera but she is now very lovable, touchable and will give and receive kisses! She rules the house and loves popcorn and pizza!... well food in general!! LOL
It has been a great year with this child. I still feel that Ali was meant to be my child and that God just put her in the wrong mom's belly!

Now let's get Wei home and call this family COMPLETE!!!

Trying to make time Fly!

2008-02-29T12:49:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to update those of you who are waiting with me... no news yet. Marci sent me a message yesterday saying the woman in charge at CCAA was going to be out until next week so we won't hear anything until maybe Monday.

So much is running through my head. I had my homestudy changed to Taiwan, I had my 171 H issued to Taiwan.. I will have to change everything... on top of the expense it is more time that Wei will be away from our family. (That is my positive thinking!...she is IS COMING HOME!)

So please, we have a few extra days to call in our prays to get this baby home! Pray harder than you ever have before!

I stayed away from this computer yesterday... to keep myself busy and try not to think so I started a project in Chase's room. Started out just wanting to clean his room, bu that was impossible with what was in his closet.. so I took Jay to Ikea to get some closet organizers. That was a lot of work! Especially as I bought the stuff too big and we had to load it all back and return it to the store to get the right size. Jay said he doesn't need to go to the Gym, he does the Ikea workout...load, unload, load, unload... and believe me when I say those shelves were HEAVY!

I took some before and after shots as Ikea is having a contest... I am bringing my pictures there this afternoon.. hopefully we will win the $500!!!

Mallory wants her closets to look like this... so that will be my next project. My home will be an Ikea showroom... but the stuff is such a good price and it is neat stuff!!

FROM THIS...

TO THIS....

No news... is that really good news?

2008-02-27T03:08:00.000-05:00

Nothing today. I kept very busy and tried to stay away from this computer. I am fighting back the tears as I type. They just can't say no twice! She was meant for our family!

Good news today is that Mallory has been working on a project with her favorite teacher at school. Mallory wanted to do some fund raisers for the kids in China or anywhere in the world for that matter... and her teacher made an appointment with the principle to ask permission for Mallory to start her organization through school.. it is called Kids for Kids.

They will be going to the elementary school and reading to the five year olds, doing car washes and t shirt sales to raise money to do bigger projects.. etc.. it is all in the works...

Well one of the teachers came up to her today and told her congratulations... that she was being nominated for the Doers and Dreamers through Disney!! We haven't confirmed it yet but she is so excited and I am just proud of her for wanting to help people!! Most of the time she is my GOOD KID!! (Mallory get that room cleaned!)

Sad News/ Happy News...my head is spinning!

2008-02-25T22:45:00.000-05:00

I called Angie.... I had to tell someone. Sometimes keeping things in creates bad vibes and today I need the good ones. But Angie said I couldn't tell everyone that I had to keep it low key until we find out...as to not "stir the pot" And I also emailed three women that I love to talk to about adoption Patty, Vanessa and April. All mom's with China Children like me so they totally understand all of this craziness!! So that all four of my friends that understand me and international adoption could say a deep prayer for me tonight!

Yep, I knew last week what was happening but I didn't want to stir that pot either and I was keeping quiet... but when I started seeing families from my Taiwan groups dropping out because they were told their families were too large I knew what was coming... Marci at ASIA did not say my family was too large she said that 22 years ago, when a jerk guy that my girlfriend was dating started a fight with her and called his roommate for "backup" and I called the police, and he came at me and went to swing at me and I caught his hand in my teeth...and I was arrested and taken to jail and went in front of a judge who was almost laughing about the whole thing... and he fined me $200 dollars and it was over- that THAT is why Taiwan turned my family down for a child!! That was 22 YEARS AGO!! But because of that Taiwan felt we weren't a good family. But...

YEP THERE IS A BUT TO THIS STORY!!... because all weekend long I knew this was coming and all weekend long I searched the Internet for a country that wanted a 40 something woman who had an arrest record 22 years ago for biting a guy with five kids and a great husband ... and there aren't many countries that would take a woman in my position.... but......

In the first breath before Marci told me about Taiwan she also told me that Wei's file was going back to CCAA... that no family had come forth for her and that ASIA's woman in China actually went to CCAA and spoke to the woman in charge and told her that they didn't find a family that fit all the new rules but they did have a family that wanted Wei and that the England/Elliott family still wants Wei... and the director said she was going to review our file again... and that we still have a chance for the child we always felt was the right child for us!! I couldn't breath when Marci told me this.. I am still not breathing!!
Every day for the last three months I would tell Jay that it was so unfair that we wanted her and that she was meant for us and he would tell me there was nothing I could do about it that CCAA said no. And every day I would tell Jay that I will never give up hope that China would change their rules and that Wei would still be there for us when the rules changed and I was going to get her.

Now can I make it through the next 48 hours waiting on the call.. will CCAA make the one exception for a family that loves with all their hearts a little child we have never met but fell in love with because of her beautiful eyes??
Now I know God is watching over me!

I am not sure who reads my blog as I don't really push it on people, it is just there for me to vent and brag and pour my heart out... but tonight and tomorrow night if you are out there and you read this... please put my family in your prayers, please put Wei in your prayers that CCAA finds it in their hearts to let her join our family!!

Ali's Day

2008-02-22T19:10:00.000-05:00

It was a very nice day yesterday... well at least after I got back from the doctor... long story and not here!! But I will live!
Amanda watched Ali for me so I could go.. the two girls went and had their nails done. Ali had a pattern on her big toe that matched Amanda's. Amanda must have told her her nails were wet because three hours later I tried to touch her nail and she gave me a scolding!! LOL
Mallory made a cake for Ali.. for which she couln't wait for a fork and ate like a dog! We all laughted and laughted.

I had picked Chase up from school early and in the car I kept singing "Let's go Outback tonight" so when Jay got home Chase said, "Dad, mom keeps singing that we are going to the Outback!" So that is where we went and all the servers sang to HB to her!
And the best part is before bed, because she hates to go so bad, she convinced Jay and I that she needed a bowl of popcorn in our bed while she watched her cartoons! And she got her bowl of popcorn!

I can't wait for her party next weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALEXIS!!!

2008-02-21T04:18:00.000-05:00

Well she is finally two! Not that I wanted time to fly but it is just nice to say we made it to this special day! We have a crazy day today because it is also Jay's and my third wedding anniversary... he says with each new kid he goes farther and farther down the line for attention... now even his "anniversary" is no longer his!! LOL
We are going to do a small Happy Birthday with just us today and then next weekend have a big fun party for the girl!! She is really something! I am told by my family that she is spoiled (pot calling the kettle black)... she is not spoiled just attached...to ME!! She loves her mom!! And she is very determined... like her big sister. The whole family was here for the last five days and it was so crazy... Ali had to put her two cents in also when the big kids were giving her a hard time!

Also I got news today from one of the other families that was in line for Taiwan through our agency... this has me very concerned. She had gotten two referrals and they turned both of them down... now Taiwan told them they only qualified for an older child...which they didn't want, because they had too big of a family. We have one more child then them plus Jay's two kids so that makes us in a not so good position with the orphanage in Taiwan.

The woman did say that maybe Taiwan was just upset with them because they kept turning down the referrals...but then if that isn't going to work for a family isn't it better to turn the referral down then to take a child that won't "fit in"

With this family pulling out of the program that just moved us up one spot... making us Family Number 2. It is all so confusing as I just read an email from a family that put in their Home Study to Taiwan in January of 2008 that already has a referral yet there are families in Taiwan that have been waiting for 28 months! It just doesn't make any sense!!

So to wrap up three good things today... we are family number 2 and it is Ali's Birthday and my husband still loves me after three years of calling me his wife!!

Chinese New Year Party in Tampa

2008-02-18T12:12:00.000-05:00

I am posting this not in order but will make it jump into my blog on the right date.. we have had company all week and it was hard to keep up!
The CNY Celebration with our agency Great Wall China Agency is held in Tampa each year... but this was the best! First because we have been going for the last few years and only got to admire the other families kids... this year we had our Ali!! and second because over the last year I have been blessed to meet a few families that are dear to my heart!! and they were all there!! So we had a great time.

We had planned on going down on Sunday just for the CNY but then Christine, Gene with Connor and Lily said they were doing the Busch Gardens thing on Saturday... so we decided to join them. After this fact my sister called to say she and her family were coming down from Georgia so we invited my brother with his family and my mom. It was a huge group. The park was busy but we were able to do a lot! and the weather was GREAT!

We had a wonderful, tiring day! Then Deb took our kids back to the hotel and mom, Kevin, Jay and I hit the one big casino in Florida... we didn't win! LOL

On Sunday we did the CNY celebration and it was a lot of fun. The food is never good but the company was wonderful!! And the kids were so cute in their silk, dancing around, taking pictures on the Red Couch!

Fund Raisers To Begin

2008-02-01T03:42:00.000-05:00

Moya, the moderator and woman that runs Dianjiang Kids International, www.dianjiangkids.org has asked me to help with the website. I have no idea what I am doing computer wise but flyers, banners anything like that is my cup of tea... so with the help of my brother I am learning a new project, writing web pages! This should be fun. So I am emailing Moya till she is blue in the face with "give me more to do, give me more to do!!" and she asks me if I am bored. HECK YEA I AM... I have finished yet another paper chasing Dossier period in my life and EVERYTHING has come to a halt... I am driving myself up walls!

So I decided tonight it is time for the all mighty fundraising and grant search for this adoption. I never thought I would need help but as we all know the real estate market is sooooo bad right now and everything in my world of making money has come to the same halt as my paper chasing dossier days!

So with my girlfriend, Angie, who is also waiting on her referral from China- logged in October 2006 and has a long wait ahead we are going to do some fundraisers to help offset a second adoption in 18 months.

For those of you who know me, I did a huge fundraiser for Dianjiang Kids International at Christmas called The Santa Bus... those who went LOVED it and those who didn't go realized, they missed the best night out ever! So to take this to the next step, Angie and I are arranging A Bunny Hop. Yes, that is what I said!! LOL
We are going to hold this event on May 8, 2008 starting at 5:00 PM at Sun on the Beach, in Kissimmee, Florida.

Now that I am learning to write websites, I am hoping to get my HOP on line in the next few weeks... so please watch for this website!!

We are also going to do a huge Neighborhood Garage Sale, ALL DONATIONS ARE WELCOME, on March 11 and 12, 2008.. starting at 7 AM... yep that is right... Angie says 7 AM!!

And then we have two car washes planned in the next few months.. hoping to use the A&W on 192 in Kissimmee... more to come on that one!

If nothing else, we are going to have a good time, and that is what family and adoption is all about!!

Paper Chase Officially Done!!

2008-01-27T20:14:00.000-05:00

I sent Mallory out to the mailbox tonight... it is Sunday but I have been so sick all weekend that I didn't care what was in the mail yesterday...and it is official... we have a 171-H!! This time it came with Jay as my husband and we are approved to adopt from TAIWAN!! I am so excited. Now we just have to sit back and wait for a match on the other end!

Earlier tonight Jay was watching the video of our Gotcha Day with Ali... and he cried. It is so emotional, this whole experience. Christopher, number one son, came over today and started in on me again about why are we adopting another child (he has the first child, most spoiled syndrome) and he stared talking like my mother "Jay is only doing this because you want him to mom"... thank goodness Jay stepped in and told Christopher what I have been telling my mom all along... Jay is adopting because Jay wants to adopt and Jay and Ginnie are a team and the decision was made as a team.
I hear this from so many couples that are in the process of adopting that they get tired of the opinions from their families. We all tip toe on egg shells for our parents.

I called my dad the day we sent our request off for the adoption in China and because I wanted to scream from the roof tops of every building in the world with my excitement I felt I just had to tell someone! My conversation started as this, "Dad, you know I have done things in my life that you don't approve of but always in the end it works out and everything is wonderful, right?" and he says, "Yes?" and I say, "I want to say something and I want a positive response from you, okay?" and he says, "Okay"... "Jay and I just applied to adopt another baby!!!" I won't write what he said...but it wasn't positive or reinforcing....why?
Sitting there that night I cried and though I have the most un-supportive family ever... but I talk to other families and other woman and I am not alone.
Mallory told me she is adopting five kids and guess what.. I am going to be there as the best, most supportive grandma in the world when the time comes!! At least my daughters understand this!

Watch out Taiwan here we come!! Now it is time for the fund raiser!!

CIS I-171H

2008-01-24T13:50:00.000-05:00

I just got a call from Immigrations for Jay... they lost his finger prints we had taken on November 3, 2007. Jay has that kind of luck! When we got our 171-h back for Ali in July 2005.. it was issued to ME and some guy with the last name Warlick??
I called Jay laughing at him saying the government feels my new husband Mr. Warlick and I are acceptable to adopt a child from China! It took us about ten days to finally get straight and have a new paper issued with Jay's name on it!

The guy at CIS was very nice and he checked a few places and finally found Jay's fingerprints! I am so glad as Jay said he hated going to get them and we have done it three times now because of the long wait for Ali our first set expired... we have 15 months from November to bring our new little one home or he is going to have to go take the prints again! Sorry Jay!!

The man also said they were trying to expedite our papers and they had everything so I should see my 171 in no time!! Thanks CIS Orlando!!!

Dossier to Agency

2008-01-16T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well my dossier was Fed Ex'd to the agency today (minus the 171-H which should follow in a short bit) The CIS office in Orlando is so great and they get things done quick!! I just had to get these papers over to ASIA today so that I could forget about them. Actually I was getting myself so confused between the China adoption and the Taiwan adoption I have no clue if I did anything right... so I am praying the girls will once again babysit me and make sure I have the correct paperwork!
Now let's pray for a quick referral. I just don't want Ali to be years older than this little one... which is what happened between Chase and Ali.

And the agency said that the errors were so small in the HS that it didn't matter. It was not something that would stop the adoption! That was good news!

Happy ....Sad

2008-01-15T23:31:00.000-05:00

I know I can get upset over the little things and I shouldn't, but all the silly paperwork that has to be done for an adoption is crazy. I told my social worker in August that I needed a home study for adoption number two. We finally got together in November... yep November. She had sent me the papers for our child abuse clearance that I mailed back right away in October but the last page wasn't there so when she came to the house I was able to give her this page, which meant the paper didn't go out to the DCF until mid November... at this time we were still waiting on our approval from China so there wasn't a huge rush... I just wanted it all done so that when the approval came I could have my dossier totally done and out the door to our agency.
Well as you know, we got turned down from China on December 4th so after the few days of crying our agency said, "let's move you over to our new Taiwan program"... this is a whole different game... you start out by having your Home Study submitted and then go from there on the paperwork.. the only way we could get in line was to have this HS.
So now I became a maniac!! I called the SW and told her I needed it TODAY.. but we needed the clearance and she said, "it should be here this Thursday if not for sure next Thursday" So I waited. But neither Thursday did it show up and I think she went out of town for a few days and I was going INSANE!! My agency said they didn't think another family was ready to submit their HS but they would let me know.. and THERE WAS ONLY TWO SPOTS LEFT!!
I finally could not take it any longer and started calling a woman I know at the Dept of Child Services who gave me a number to call. I upset my "person"... my social worker but I could not just sit and wait!!! I don't want her upset but I was upset and had to do something!
Then the agency told me that another family sent their HS... so now there was only ONE spot left!
Finally the woman from DCF called to my agency and said if I gave permission she would run our backgrounds right then and there and give us a clearance... and I said YES OF COURSE YOU CAN.
We had a clearance in 15 minutes and the next morning I had a HS! I felt a HUGE ton fell from my shoulders! Our SW got it signed and sent and we then were logged in...
BUT THERE IS MORE!
SW needed a letter from me to attach to HS to send to CIS for the 171-H clearance for bringing a baby through immigrations.. and I forgot.. I really forgot!... but I did finally get it to her and today I recieved my signed original HOME STUDY!
and please don't tell her.. but there are a few errors in there and I have to call her tomorrow and have her correct and resend!!.. SHE IS GOING TO KILL ME!
There has to be an easier way to get these babies to a loving home! There just has to be!

We are going to try again!

2008-01-06T00:13:00.000-05:00

Well sometime into the summer after having Alexis home for about five months, my husband and I decided that we would really like to do the adoption thing again. So I started researching our options.. knowing that China has changed their "rules" I looked into the other countries. I am stubborn, (wonder where my kids get it from) but decided that I wanted another child from China. I did my homework on all the options and countries but really felt that was where Jay's and my heart was! So we started calling the agencies to see if we could find one that would work with us, to advocate for us and maybe, just maybe, we could convince CCAA that we were a good family for another child from their country.
There were many, many disappointments along the way. We started gathering our dossier paperwork again in August, spoke to an agency that works with Taiwan that said we would not qualify for a program called Birth Mothers for Taiwan, applied through an agency for a special needs girl in China that no other family had asked for- but got turned down at the last minute because another family turned up that fit the CCAA's rules, we checked out Vietnam but just didn't think we could swing that amount of money... tears, tears and more tears...until we call our new agency, ASIA, out of Portland, Oregon that said they would advocate for us and they had a little girl they wanted us to take a look at.
When we got her file we sent it to our doctor, who looked everything over and said this was a "special need" we could handle. So we jumped with joy and rushed to get our letter of intent sent to China. This little girl was even more special and more perfect than we could imagine, her birth date was the day after Alexis' but she was one year older and that made her born the day after Jay and I got married. God sent us this kid! So the paper chase began. Along with the wait.
After not hearing from CCAA for weeks and weeks my hopes started to rise that they were going to approve us.. why turn someone down after keeping them on edge for so long??!!
And we waited and we waited and we waited for CCAA to give us our pre approval for this little girl, saying they would accept us even though we didn't meet the new rules,and we waited and we waited until one terrible email day in December when we got a message from our agency saying that CCAA turned us down for our Martial Situation (we hadn't been married long enough under the new rules) The only thing to do was to cry. It really felt like we had loss our child.

After a few days I decided that I was being selfish. If I couldn't have her I needed to find her a family, so I started sending emails out on the special needs yahoo groups to find her a family. A few have called, but here is it six weeks later and not one family has sent another letter of intent for her. She sits in an orphanage in China waiting for a family.

What was our next option to complete our family? Our agency had just opened a program with an orphanage in Taiwan called Chung Yi and they felt we were qualified under the rules of Taiwan to adopt a non special needs baby from Taiwan. So I pushed my poor social worker and the agency to get my papers done and sent to Taiwan to get in line. The agency would only take four families at a time and at that moment only had two. A few days before our Home Study was complete a third family got in line. We were waiting on the child abuse clearance for the state to get back to our social worker so she could give us a good report. I was getting upset and frustrated that I was waiting and waiting again, so I stirred the pot and started making phone calls and emails.

Well thank the good Lord we found a wonderful woman that worked with Child Services that could complete our clearance and send it over to Marci at our agency. (Marci was helping and pushing for us and she did a GREAT job in getting that clearance to our social worker!) and then the next day we got our HOME STUDY and off to Taiwan it went on December 21, 2007!!! So we are now in line as family number four!!

What the future brings we don't know. We could still be rejected. Taiwan wants families that don't have kids.. .we have many kids. Taiwan has a different system then China, there is a Judge you have to go through and we just pray we get past that point. How long it will take we don't know. Family #1 got their referral on December 28, 2007 just five weeks after sending in their Home Study but we could wait for a year before getting ours (but we are now family #3!!!!) So I wanted to continue with this blog of our life with Alexis and our other children and think how lucky I am today to have the children I have.

And in my heart I pray that China changes the rules back and we can still apply for the child we fell in love with. Maybe that is why another family hasn't come along because she is being saved for us!

Six Months Home

2007-09-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

I know children are amazing but this child is something else. She was so small and helpless when we brought her home and now she is the queen of the castle. It is Ali's rules all the way!
There are times I forget she didn't come out of my belly and that we did travel half way around the world to bring her home, she is just wonderful.
We will be doing our six month post placement with our social worker that will go to China to let them know that she is doing so well. She has discovered food in such a way that we will never have to worry about her being under weight by anyone's charts again! And she still LOVES ice cream!

Happy Birthday Amanda

2007-06-05T13:50:00.000-04:00

Amanda turned 21 and I thought she had finally grown up but after missing the plane to Las Vegas, where the rest of the family waiting for her and her two friends, to celebrate her turning 21, we had the enjoyment of grabbing the three girls from the air port at 9:45 PM, bring them back to the hotel so they could get a shower after an all night working and an all day sitting in the Atlanta Airport- due to the fact that they could not follow directions- we got to wish her a Happy Birthday sitting in our vehicle outside the Flamingo Hotel on the strip... not exactly the drink in hand, pulling a slot machine handle at midnight that I had hoped for... but she will never forget the 21 years of pain and heartache she has caused her mom!! LOL

We had a nice few days in Vegas. Did family things during the day and tried to gamble at night but Alexis isn't much of a sleeper making Jay and I not get much sleep... on top of babysitting the 21 year old!!

Two Months Home

2007-05-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

We have had Ali two months this week. What a trip!! She fits into our family as if she was born to us. There are odd things and things we can't and probably never will be able to explain about her but we love her more then ever.
She has finally discovered that if she doesn't like the food we give her she can spit it out...this took her almost six weeks of enduring everything we put into her mouth. She LOVES ice cream! And we thought she would hate the bath but the shower, the bath and the pool are her three favorite places to be!
She doesn't like to be alone in the crib....one of those things that we haven't figured out....did they leave her there all the time and now she just can't stand it. I listened to her scream bloody murder tonight as I keep reading all this advice from other parents... YOU ARE THE PARENT, SHE IS THE KID... well it finally got the best of my husband as he is now in there snuggling with her as I type!
We are so lucky! I just can't get over the whole experience. I would do it all over again tomorrow if I was able. Even the long wait and the paperwork just doesn't seem to be all that when you are sitting at this end looking into the face of a beautiful child. Even when she is screaming her lungs out!
She has really learned a lot in these two months. She can say momma, Dadda, puppy, and she sings a song about Chocolate Easter Bunnys! You can really understand her when she sings it!! LOL

Going Home

2007-03-16T21:10:00.000-04:00

This was it. The day we left to take Ali home to her brothers! Our flight didn't leave until 5:30 PM... dumb mistake on our part as we had the whole day to wait around but not really able to go anywhere. We checked out of the hotel and the bell guys kept our luggage so we could just walk around one last time... and yep we ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe... they were getting sick of us. But this is how we found out that the pepsis were so dang expensive. We sat in the restaurant and had a soda and the baby had some mashed potatos and just waited until it was time to head to the bus.

The bus ride to the airport took us past all the beauty that Hong Kong has to offer and made us wish we had a few more days to adventure this beautiful country, but we were glad to be headed home.

Through customs, checking the bags, pain in the butt and on the plane. We were seated two, two and two. JoAnn and Mallory were sitting at the window and middle seat with a man on the isle. The attendent asked the man next to me to move to another seat to give us the extra space for the baby. That was so nice of her... until we realized that Mallory was sitting next to the human from Hell! He was sloshing down alcohol and popping perscription pills in the first hour. Then he went to sleep at which time JoAnn asked me to hand her the baby... the man started to cuss and slam his book. He was cussing at the Chinese mom in front of him that had a baby that cried. I got up to complain to the other attendent who did NOTHING... that was United Airlines...so avoid flying with them if you want a safe trip! She said it was a full plane and there was nothing she could do!... I told her if he yelled one more time I was going to get Nasty... but she never even went over to him. Poor Mallory had to sit next to him.

Then we landed in Chicago. The nice flight attendent announced over the speaker "it is now 6:35 PM Central time and we would like to welcome our three new American Citizens to the United States!" She became legal!! It was so great!
We did the good old customs thing... going through all the bags...what a headache... I did lose my temper about now. I said I could tell we were back in the USA with the rude people but I can't say I wasn't glad to be home!

One more flight and we were there. Our flight left Chicago at 9:15 PM and landed in Orlando at 12:30! My brother was there to get us. He snuck up behind us as we were headed down to the luggage. Ali went right to him. She isn't afraid of anyone!! YOu should have seen the truck with all our bags. We left with Six bags and came home with nine suitcases and two carry-ons each! I didn't think we would fit!

Our homecoming was GREAT! My dad and his wife, Brenda were here at the house with Chris and Chase. They had it all decorated for the new baby along with gifts!!

We both ran right into see Chase. HE LOOKED SO GROWN UP!! We had only been away for 16 days but my baby boy got HUGE!!

Touring Hong Kong

2007-03-15T22:02:00.000-04:00

Okay...the two ladies put up with us dragging them everywhere and all they wanted to do was shop.. so we decided when we got to Hong Kong and got rid of the group we would let them have a day... and a day we did.

We loaded onto a city double decker and headed off to Stanley Market. Stanley Market is the topic of todays blog.. but the double decker has to be talked about. We didn't just get on this bus we got on the upstairs part of this bus and away we went for our hours ride to the market high up in the air! It was so crazy. The bus driver did not slow down even around corners that we running on the side of the mountain! It was so scary! We would look down and there would be no side...no road to go off on, NOT even a guard rail! I had to close my eyes and make prayers to the Lord to get us there safely! I guess the road crews in Hong Kong knew how high these busses were as all the trees were trimmed to just miss the bus!!

Anyways we get to Stanley Market...it looks like one of our Outlet Malls....five stories and half the stores closed down! So we kept trucking through the area and finally we find what we are looking for... an outdoor market full of things only tourists would buy!! Heaven!!

I think we spent about five hours here. It was a bunch of fun. Hong Kong people don't wheel and deal with you the way the rest of China did but we found a few good bargins! I have to say the art work is just beautiful. We spoke to a few different people that explained that some of the artist go to school for four years just to master a certain type of art. Amanda bought an oil painting that I wish I had purchased. I just kept worrying that my suitcases were going over the weight limit!... I spent most of my money on squeeky shoes for Ali along with clothes for her! Mallory spent most of her money on her teachers, friends from school and her dad's family, JoAnn bought for everyone!! she had the most fun and mom had a few people in mind, mostly family and a room she is decorating in a Asian theme but all in all we had a great time shopping. I said if I had it to do over again I would have bought way more... I am home now and I can think of twenty things I wish I had bought myself along with gifts for others!

The bus ride back from Stanley Market, Jay and I sat on the bottom of the bus... we felt safer...but you could see more of what the crazy bus driver was doing... so I rode with my eyes closed!

Later that evening Mom, Amanda and the baby stayed in while Jo, Jay, Mallory and I adventured out into the town to see what else we could find! It was truely amazing. There were people and stores everywhere. I don't know if I had ever said this in the prior days but to shop in China if you had a project to do, say a bathroom, would take days just to get the supplies. Each store is very small, in a mountain or under a stairwell and they specialize in one thing. You would buy a toilet in one store, the plumbing in another, the sink in another, the light fixture in another and so on! Not like hitting Home Depot! We found another outside market in the middle of town and picked up two more suitcases to get us home

Flying to Hong Kong

2007-03-15T02:52:00.000-04:00

The image you have in your mind of what you will see when you get to Hong Kong is wrong... it is nothing like I expected. It is one of the most beautiful places I have even seen.
We caught a bus from the airport to our hotel. It was about a 45 minute drive with mountains and the ocean on all sides. Absolutly breathtaking!

We stayed in a five star hotel in a mall... we didn't really discover where we were until the day we went to leave. If you visit Hong Kong you need to say at least five days... the two we were there were not enought. The hotel room itself was just wonderful. We commented on how we should have had this room in the last two places we stayed... this hotel out did the famous White Swan by at least five stars!!!

The first night there we didn't get to see a whole lot as most of the day was taking by the traveling to Hong Kong and getting to the hotel... but across the stree we found a Hard Rock Cafe!! Amanda was in Heaven!! We did go there for dinner that night and they actually had soda in the fountain and we were given refills! On the last day in Hong Kong we sat at the Hard Rock killing time waiting for our bus to the airport...this is when we found out the reason they give refills is they charge $5.00 per soda!! This is not what we paid in China!

That is another thing... China and Hong Kong are not the same... they even have different money! We had to cash in our yens for Hong Kong dollars when we arrived at the air port... pretty much the same exchange rate! but a pain anyways! It was a trip trying to figure out what we were paying for things.

She is Ours!!

2007-03-13T21:06:00.000-04:00

Some of this entire adoption thing is a crazy waste of time. Like today. We boarded the bus to the American Consulate and the woman looked at our passports and at the baby's passport...put a stamp on it and then a man came out to give a bit of a speech and then made us raise our right hand and promise to take care of her or some hooky government bs and then they said she was adopted!
She is a duel citizen.... she will become an official US citizen the minute we cross customes in the United States... that will be about 8:00 PM on the day of the 16th of March!!!

We are leaving for Hong Kong in the morning early and I am not sure if I will have internet at the hotel we are going to. We are done with our group tour and on our own once we get to Hong Kong!

We love everyone and can't wait to get home with our little angel!!!

Waiting for Final Visa

2007-03-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

Sorry everyone about the pictures. I am having a horrible time getting them downloaded. I will finish the story and the pictures after I get home.

We are sitting here waiting to go get Ali's Visa. This is our final step in making her OURS! Tomorrow we leave for Hong Kong. I really wish I would have booked our flight out tonight but I didn't know any better. I really feel like I didn't get all the right information when making a lot of the decisions on this trip.

If I could do over again.... I would fly to Beijing a day earlier and have a good look around, I would leave Guangzhou as soon as I had the visa in hand, I would not have ordered the cot in Beijing or Chongqing for Mallory as the beds were big enought for Jay and I together but here in the White Swan the beds were built for midgets and we had to upgrade to a king size bed with the cot and I would have packed better clothes! At least warmer clothes!!

We can't wait to get home to Chase!! We really miss him! Melissa if you are reading this you better be giving him 100 hugs a day for us! Ali is excited about coming home to her two brothers and her dog! We are having a laugh as to where everyone is going to sleep...she is a daddy's girl and wants the whole bed...JUST LIKE CHASE!

Yes Chris we miss you also! You are going to melt when you see this kid! She is so funny. She loves to look at herself in the mirror. Everytime we are on the elevator she is in stitches! Jay straps her into the baby carrier so that she is looking out into the world and she takes EVERYTHING in!!

Famous Red Couch Picture Day

2007-03-12T21:02:00.001-04:00

Today we had to stay in our room until 12:30 because Michael was at the American Consulate finalizing our babies’ visas. It was very boring. About 12:15 we got a call and found out everything was ok and for us to meet on the 2nd floor for the infamous “red couch” photos here at the hotel. We dressed Ali in a pink silk Chinese dress, she’s so adorable! We took photos with all the moms and babies and then a group photo in front of the waterfall in the hotel, then back to the red couch for a shot with just the babies. It was chaotic and hilarious. Of course, our camera was acting up and we didn’t get any pictures, but we’ll get some copies from the other parents. We met up with Amanda and Grandma and got into taxis and went to the other side of the city to go to a Mexican restaurant. It was really good. After eating, we ventured around the area and went into a few shops and found a few street vendors selling beautiful flowers, it was another great experience. Amanda and Grandma had enough and we hailed a taxi to send them back to the hotel. Mallory, Ginnie, me and Ali stayed and ventured some more. We really enjoy exploring, we just don’t seem to have enough time. We finally decided to go back to the hotel. On our way back, we passed another beautiful temple/memorial building. It would have been nice to visit, but we didn’t have the time. This taxi ride was fun, the driver understood some English and we almost killed a guy on a bicycle. There are a ton of bikes in this town, a little closer to the hotel, we saw a bicyclist transporting a table! Ginnie pulled out the camera and took a picture, this had the driver laughing hysterically, it was a great moment we will never forget. Went and picked up our laundry and visited a few of the local stores and then back to the room. Tomorrow we go to the consulate and Ali becomes ours officially, forever. It can’t happen soon enough.

Temple and Shopping

2007-03-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

Today we toured as a group in the morning and early afternoon. We went to the Chen Ancestral Hall, built over 400 years ago. It was really beautiful and what you think of when you think of historic Chinese buildings. We spent 1 ½ hours there, which was 1 hour too much, but what can you do. Next we went to a mini mall with a store selling tons of jade and pearl jewelry. There also was a store filled with porcelain and silk items. The stores were not what we were lead to believe, but we still had fun. Remember, I’m with Judy, Jo-Ann, and Ginnie, all of whom have officially changed their middle names to shopper! Amanda and I picked up something really different, you will have to wait and see what it is. I just hope we make it through customs with it! After shopping with the group we had lunch at McDonald’s (this has become very popular with us, it’s so inexpensive here, Ginnie, Mallory, me, and Ali’s meal cost us roughly $9 U.S.) and then had the rest of the day to do as we pleased. We heard about a toy mart, so we asked Michael for directions and into the taxi we went. We had another family with us, the Fords, they like exploring with us. They went out with us in Chongqing as well. After another crazy taxi ride we arrived. We got there first and when Stacy, Randy, James, and Mia got out of their cab, the moment was priceless. Stacy looked as if she had seen a ghost, this was their first cab ride on the whole trip! We had a blast! It was Ginnie,myself, Mallory, Ali, JoAnn, and the Fords. We were in the middle of wholesale heaven, store after store of everything made in China. We went block after block into stores and flea market type buildings. The girls bought a lot of things for the babies hair, it was sooooooo cheap. Once we had enough, we went back to the hotel and met up with Grandma and Amanda and all went to dinner at the buffet. Ali was congested and running a little fever again, so we took her to the hotel clinic. The doctor said she had the onset of bronchitis and prescribed her medicine. The doctors visit and getting the prescription took all of ½ hour and only cost $23 U.S., if only the doctors and pharmacies back home were this quick. Went back to the room and got everyone off to sleep.

Leaving Chongqing

2007-03-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

We finally left Chongqing!!!

Michael took us to a neat place in the morning. It was the older section of Chongqing that over looks one of the rivers. There were street vendors up and down that we got to look, shop and bargain with. Michael said if we paid asking price we were wasting our money! I got ripped off a few times. When a beautiful silk scarf that I would pay $45.00 American dollars is marked $12.00RMB…that is $1.50 in US… how can I want to bargain? But then two stores later I see the same scarf marked $10.00 RMB… so I was ripped off twenty-five cents!!! I bought an outfit for Chase and Mom bought the same one for someone at home… I paid $130.00 RMB and mom paid $60.00 RMB! Boy that made me feel foolish for not dealing a bit better… then mom comes to the room and asks if she can buy my outfit…she wanted to deal… she offered me $60 but I told her $70…. So she is going to buy the outfit I paid $130.00 for, for $70.00 I am even getting ripped off by my own family!! Lots of neat things there, one vendor was selling snacks, grasshoppers, beetles, and some other large bugs on sticks, smoked pig heads, and chicken’s feet. DELICIOUS!!!!!! After shopping we had a traditional Chinese lunch. It was ok, once again not things you would find at any restaurant back home and it ended up costing 40 RMB per person, which is about $5.
Packed the bags, set them out for the bellhops and had 2 hours to kill, so Mallory, Ginnie, and I decided to make one last walk to McDonald’s, lunch just didn’t do it for us. Walking through Chongqing city, will be one of the most memorable things we did on this trip. The people were so intrigued by Americans. It was really incredible!
We flew to Guangzhou, landed @ 8:30, left for the hotel, got checked in and settled @ midnight.
The White Swan is a gorgeous hotel! The rooms are a bit small, but everything is very elegant.
(HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!! HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS! FROM YOUR FAMILY IN CHINA!)

Medical Exam

2007-03-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

Today was Ali’s medical exam and visa photos. Our group walked about 5 blocks to the photo place. It was quick and Ali’s picture was cute as could be, she is such a little ham! Next we went to the Medical center, which was next door. They checked all the babies out, like a 10 minute oil change. Ali is 27 inches and 17.7 pounds. I think we put 2 pounds on her since we’ve had her! The rest of the day was ours so we spent it exploring all the little shops surrounding the hotel. We are actually on an island, it’s really neat because our room faces the river and the view is great. Across the river at night, it’s like a Disney resort, lights and lasers, boat tours, it’s really quite a site. The hotels look like huge movie screens, lighting up with designs and advertisements. Tomorrow we are going to a place notorious for inexpensive pearls and jade, should be fun. Ali is cutting another tooth, so tonight she’s running a little fever, but still has got her little clown personality in full swing. She and I have a new game that she loves, playing airplane, she kicks and screams and laughs hysterically, she is such a great baby and has really bonded well with all of us. Jo-Ann wants to take home a baby or two, watch out Jerry! This town is great for shopping so all the ladies of the group are in heaven. Tomorrow we will have pics, we haven’t really taken any here yet.

Seeing Pandas

2007-03-09T01:55:00.000-05:00

We had a very nice day today. We went to a park in Chongqing called Eling. Today was Women’s Day in China. Something like Mother’s Day but they have no equivalent to Father’s Day as every day in China is Men’s Day! There were woman everywhere singing and dancing. It was really a neat thing to experience.
As soon as we all got out of the bus we were over taken by the older women. They come up and grab the baby’s hands and yell at us, in a nice caring way, if the kids are not covered and bundled properly. The Chinese people believe that you should wrap your kids like it is 20 below even in higher temperatures. It keeps the baby from catching cold and other things.
Michael gave us each a tag with our baby’s name, birth date, his name and phone number and a message on the back of the card that reads something like: I am an American that has come to China to adopt a baby from the Chongqing SWI and take her back to America to give her a good life. She is one year old and her birthday is February 21, 2006. I will give her a good education and tell her all about China. Someday I will bring her back to her country.
When we are approached and the people try to talk to us we just show them this badge. Usually they read it and then give us the thumbs up. That is a good approval. Ali soaks up this attention and is more than willing to break a smile to anyone looking her way!

We really feel like movie stars here. Everyone wants to come up to us. They look at us in the busses on the street and especially when we are walking. It is a bit of a blast! Jay carries Ali in the body carrier and she loves it! I mean the first time we put her in it she was smiles from ear to ear, now when she sees where she is headed she gets so excited! We face her out to the world and she is taking in every minute of it! I can’t wait to get her home to Chase and our dog, Maddie!

After we left Eling Park we went to the zoo to see the Pandas and the pandas we did see! Big ones, little ones and a baby one! It was so awesome!!

We then went on to a tea house where we were given a presentation on how to drink tea the Kung Fu way. It was a great experience. The woman showed us different teas and smells of the teas. Then we were allowed to buy anything in the place. I can’t say what we bought as some of you are getting gifts…but it was really funny!

Then our last stop was to an art gallery were we seen the most beautiful art work ever. If I had $1400 American dollars just laying around I would have grabbed these paintings made on rice paper and finished on a scroll. The scrolls represented Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall!! Just Beautiful colors and pictures!

Then back to the hotel to do the last of the paperwork. We get Ali’s passport tomorrow and then tomorrow night we leave for our next stop. I might not get to post until Saturday as we fly around 6 PM tomorrow night!

There are a few things that I should tell about the babies. One of the older babies, she is about 15 months old, yesterday, took toilet tissue and went to the toilet to wipe the seat then bent down and wiped the floor and then put the tissue in the trash. Her mom said she was acting funny so she set her on the toilet and she went. The other older one who is about 18 months maybe a bit older runs around like there is no tomorrow. After observing her for awhile it is apparent she was never given any direction in not doing something. She just ran wild at the orphanage. Ali’s quirk is holding on to her bottle. Do not try to take it away from her. The bottles have handles on them and the babies hold the handle. Yesterday when I gave her a bottle in bed she threw her free arm up across her chest and laid the bottle on her arm for support. I tried to pull her arm away but she instantly put it back!

Visit to Dianjiang SWI- Ali's Orphanage

2007-03-08T01:54:00.000-05:00

Written by Jay
Today we visited the orphanage that Ali came from. Another early start after a short night. The little princess woke up @ 4 and wanted to play, just like last night and of course, Mommy and Daddy were happy to oblige. We all got up and did the morning ritual of breakfast and met in the lobby for the 2 ½ hour bus ride. One of the families decided not to go, their child is almost 2, and they felt it might be more traumatic on her in comparison to the younger kids. Grandma, Jo-Ann, and Amanda also decided to stay behind and try to find more shopping.

Our bus ride took us into the outer, more rural areas of Chongqing, the highway went into the mountains and across the countryside. We saw villagers farming the rice fields, using oxen to till the land, and even saw 2 weddings on the side of the road. We finally made it to Dianjang county and it was everything you’d imagine third world living would be. There were high rise buildings, but many were abondonedand once again tons of people everywhere you turned. The bus parked and we all had to get out and walk a few blocks to the orphanage. A few people were already shedding tears, but the rest of us felt like movie stars due to the overwhelming amount of locals following us as we made our way through the alleyways towards the orphanage.

The first thing we all saw was the playground and then we were greeted by the director. We all made our way into a pseudo meeting area and the director told us how grateful they were for us to adopt and how this orphanage was the best in China. After exchanging pleasantries and leaving any gifts we had for the children, we began our climb up the stairs to the 5th and 6th level to see the facilities. I was upset because the orphanage looks a lot nicer and bigger in pictures online than it actually is, and my new little girl had to spend the first year of her life here. There were only @ 10 kids left but they were all bundled up and laying in the play room (they were all under 2). I forgot to mention there isn’t any heat either!

After our tour we made our way to the ground level for lunch, no one had any idea what to expect. It was extremely good! One of the better Chinese meals we’ve had in our week here. After lunch we took a group photo outside the orphanage and then took individual photos at the outside gate. A few of the babies in our group were found at the gates, so this moment was special to them. We all went through the crowd of curious locals and boarded the bus. We were shown around the town and we all got to see the place that our babies were abandoned. Ali was left in flowers and bushes in a roundabout in the middle of town and we took some video and photos of it. Both Ginnie and I shed a few tears to the thought of someone leaving such a helpless, beautiful child there, but then came to the realization of Finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers and the fact that if she wasn’t left there, she would never have been a part of our family. On the ride back, Ali passed out in my arms and slept the whole way.

We met up with Amanda, Grandma, and Jo and Ginne, Mallory, Amanda, Ali, and me decided to take a taxi and explore. We left our roomand out in the hallway by the elevator, the majority of the parents and kids had gotten together and were having a little party. We let Ali play for a bit then headed to the lobby for a taxi. We went to the other side of the river, the official downtown Chongqing, and ate Dinner at Pizza Hut. It was familiar, but yet so different. They had pizza with crab, squid and other seafood, and a few other non American toppings. We got a Pepperoni and a super supreme, it wasn’t like home, but it wasn’t terrible either. The cheese was a little different and they hardly use tomato sauce, but like I said, it could have been worse. Pizza Hut was attached to a mall, so we shopped after dinner, Mallory picked up some souveniers and Ginnie and I got some sweatshirts since it’s been so damn cold and we packed for warmer weather! By the way, I’m a 2XL in Chinese size, there doesn’t seem to be too many Chinese that are 6 feet tall and 200 lbs.!!!!!!!! We finished shopping, caught a taxi and went back to the hotel. Ali fussed for the whole ride and as soon as we got to the room, she got a bottle and zonked out. Mal wasn’t to far behind and Ginnie shortly after Mal. Tomorrow we go to the zoo and the historic part of Chongqing.

Wal-Mart Day

2007-03-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

WRITTEN BY JAY

What a night! We (Ali, Mom, and Dad) went to bed last night @ 8:30, we were very tired from the big day. The little, and I mean little, girl woke up @ 4, so we got up and played for an hour or so and took a nap for our big day of shopping( and first full day together) .

After breakfast, we all boarded the bus and headed to Wal-Mart. We were supposed to go to the zoo as well, but the weather put a stop to that. The only time it hasn’t rained or snowed has been when we get off an airplane. Wal-Mart was interesting to say the least, it was two stories and very much the same as back home, yet very different. The “roll back prices” signs were everywhere, but the merchandise was more of Dollar General quality.

We all (the group) received many stares, since we were a bunch of fair-skinned people now holding Chinese babies, all 11 of them as beautiful as we all hoped for and you can imagine. A few of us dads, myself included, had video camera in hand recording the store and the kids. We were asked not to video shortly after we made our way into the store, but we just found more creative ways to get footage. I was particually intrigued with the “ meat department” and “deli”. Notice the quotations, because these descriptions need to be used loosely. The “meat department” consisted of various meats, packed on ice, for all to grab. The people pick their own cuts and pieces and put them on the scale to be weighed, then it gets put into a bag, very different then what we are used to. The “deli” had all kinds of finger foods and premade foods. Popcorn in bags, chicken wings, chicken feet, blackened pigs head ( the whole head!!!), cooked duck hanging on a rack all available for your culinary pleasure. The sight and smell will be imbedded in my memory forever. We all picked up a few outfits and toys and groceries and checked out. This particular Wal-Mart had over 40 check out stands and only about 15 open! I felt like I was back home! Also inside this particular Wal-Mart, there was a store that sold the infamous squeaky shoes, Grandma bought 3 pair for Ali. The bus got back to the hotel at 11 and the rest of the day was ours.

Grandma and Amanda scheduled massages, 100 RMB for an hour or @ $12 U.S.! JoAnn took a snooze and we (Ginnie, Mallory, Ali, and myself) didn’t feel like staying couped up in our room, so we walked back over to the market we first went to here, and ventured further into the downtown shopping area.

The Fords (Randy, Stacy, little James, and baby Mia) went with us. I don’t think they were comfortable at first, but got into the adventurous spirit shortly after the 4 block hike through the poorer area. We went into a few 7 level department stores and had lunch at a downtown McDonalds. James really liked that! We took a few pictures here and there and all decided to make our way back to the hotel for a group meeting we had at 5.

After the meeting, Mal, Gin, Ali and me went and ate dinner at the Chinese retaraunt here in the hotel. We tried a “hot pot”, which Chongqing is known for, a spicy, spicy noodle dish. Well, it was spicy!!!!! The rest of the meal was interesting, not quite the same as what you’d get in a Chinese place home, but we ate and were glad we tried it, although we won’t be eating there again. Everyone is sleeping, it’s 10 or so and we have to get up early because we go to the orphanage tomorrow to see where our babies came from. I’m off to bed as well! Love you all and miss you all! Chase, Daddy got you a really cool action man!! Love you so much buddy!!!!!!!! Talk to everyone tomorrow night, or morning, depending on what side of the globe you’re on…

Gotcha Day

2007-03-05T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well the day finally came. It was the most emotional day that I could ever imagined. We had dad’s crying, mom’s crying and LOTS OF BABIES crying!!!
The day started out that all the families met in a meeting room to fill out paperwork and give our babies their official American name. Our baby was named Alexis Aishi (Ai shay) Elliott. We are going to call her Ali for short. Michael kept calling me all morning for Jay’s and my social security number. This bothered me and I finally asked him what was going on. I guess they have lost our fingerprints. The only good thing is that I did bring all the paperwork from home as back up and I do have a paper that says our fingerprints are valid until December 2007. They had better give me my baby!
After the meeting we had about two hours to kill. Jay and I ran to the area of town that you can shop in just to kill time. Mom, JoAnn, Amanda and Mallory were on their way back from the market and we passed in the street. We told them that we would be back in an hour.
Jay and I actually went into a mall. It was six stories high. Very strange shopping. I wanted to buy something (I can’t write what as it is a gift for Sami!) so the lady standing in that area took it from my hands and ushered me towards what looked like a fitting room. This was not an article of clothes so I don’t know what I was suppose to do in the fitting room but I just kept telling her I wanted to pay for the item. She finally took a receipt and wrote down the amount. Then you take the receipt to a cashier somewhere else in the store and pay; then return to the sales associate to get your purchase. It is really strange. Jay was in the toy department and just barely picked up a toy and the lady was there taking it out of his hand to write it up,
But back to the babies because that is what this is all about!!
We all met back at one of the rooms of one of the new parents and had a quick prayer, we thanked God for letting us be the lucky families to take these babies to a better life and each family could say something nice. It was very nice and calm until one of the single moms had to talk. She broke out in tears and the rest of the group broke out in tears! We all knew mascara was not something we should be wearing!
Then we boarded the bus. I don’t think a ride could ever have taken longer. I think it was about fifteen minutes but seemed like an hour. My stomach was in knots and my hands were shaking! We went up to fourteenth floor and got out in the hallway. There were other families from Spain leaving with their new daughters and we knew we were close! As soon as all the families were up the elevators we headed into this room. There were a bunch of men in sports jackets and two ladies standing around this group of babies. Some were standing, some were being held, some were walking around that is when we all figured out these were OUR babies! It was such a cluster from that point on. Michael kept saying we would be called one at a time to be handed the babies but the crowed was on top of the kids to the point it was a hectic commotion! They did call the names of each family and the director of the orphanage handed the babies to us one at a time. We got it all on video!
She is so small! I don’t think she has gained a pound since they did her medical back in August 2006. And the hair! She has so much hair! We are so in love! I have to brag- all the babies cried and cried when the moms took them; Ali didn’t do anything but smile and laugh! She is so wonderful! We were able to pass her around and around to all our family and she would look in the mirror and make faces at herself! We were all laughing at her.
Then we went into a room to get a “family” photo taken. This was to go on our legal documents so that they had Jay, Ali and I all on one photo so we can take her out of the country. Then we went and put our thumb prints on the document for which they gave us along with a gift of thanks to remember Chongqing. It was great!
Then we all got to talk to the nannies and ask questions about our daughters, we met the director of the orphanage and the assistant director. It was GREAT! They gave us an email address so that we can always send photos of Ali back to them while she grows!
After all this we headed out to the bus. We got the babies on the bus and then one family member went over to the McDonalds to get us some food. It tasted WONDERFUL!
We got back to the hotel and I stripped her naked and made Jay jump into the tub so that I could give her a bath and put her into clean clothes. She HATED the water, at first, but Jay was using her feet to make the water splash and all of a sudden this was a lot of fun! Then the hands, she kept trying to grab the water.
We fed her goldfish and Pepsi for her first official meal! She loves us!
She did cry around bedtime. She was tired and scared but she finally fell asleep. And yep she slept right between Jay and I –at first…then I ended on the other bed as she wanted to put her head on daddy and kick mommy…. But she was as happy as could be.
We woke up around 4 AM and started to play. She loves Cheerios, water from a cup, bananas and attention. She hates her bottle and that gross formula!
And she is SOOOO tiny!

Flying to Chongqing

2007-03-04T22:59:00.000-05:00

Today we had to get up at 4 a.m. and be ready to leave the hotel by 6 a.m., for the airport and our flight to Chongqing. I took a look out the window to find out if it was still raining, so we could dress appropriately. It wasn’t raining, it was snowing! We all got dressed as warmly as we could and headed to the lobby. We loaded on the bus and headed for the airport; the snow kept falling and falling. Got to the airport, unloaded at the Air China terminal, which was 3 times busier than Orlando International at its busiest times, not too mention we all felt like fish in a tank being the only fair haired, fair skinned people in an ocean of Chinese people. Our group, which is 30 people, made our way through security and headed to the gate. We then boarded a bus and headed out on the runway to our plane which we had to walk through the snow and up some stairs to get on the plane, there are a limited amount of gates and a ton of planes here so you board ON the runways. Due to the weather, we had to wait for our plane to be de-iced, which delayed us by 2 ½ hours, it was so uncomfortable, the plane was hot and we were all anxious to get to Chongqing.
We landed in Chongqing 2 hours later and got out to 60 degree, sunny weather. I almost felt like I was back home, except for the fact that I was surrounded by mountains. Chongqing is huge! 14 million people live here, and we saw all of them walking the streets, it’s so crowded, people walking, riding bikes, motorcycles, buses and taxis. We and finally got to settle in a bit, we’ve been on the go since we arrived. Looked out our 12th floor window, our view is the city skyline just across the Yangtze River, it’s really nice. We all met up with Michael, our tour guide, to go get some groceries, what an adventure that was! We walked over 4 blocks through the ghetto, although all the housing seems to be what we would consider ghetto, people peddling pineapple, chicken’s feet, hot pots, men playing a form of cards, kids peeing on the street, all part of daily living here. Once again, so many people! We got to the grocery store, which was underground and worse than any Wal-Mart in regards to how busy it was, the only good thing was all the registers were open, unlike our stores back home!

We picked up bottled water, soda, and chips. You have to pay attention to the chips because the bags are similar looking, but the flavors are not even close. A bag that looked like sour cream was actually shrimp chips! Our grocery total was 100 Chinese, which is about $12 U.S. We ventured back to the room, back through the ghetto and unpacked our luggage. We decided to be adventurous and go into the city for dinner.

We were recommended to go to the J.W. Marriott for some much needed western food, so we got 2 cabs, which are the tiniest cars I’ve ever been in, and headed out on our 10 minute thrill ride. The drivers here are CRAZY, that’s all I can say, they don’t yield to anyone, pedestrians, buses, or other cars! Eyes forward and weaving in and out until they get you to your destination. The good thing is, it’s cheap. Three people in a cab, to our destination @ 6 miles away was 8.60, or $1.25 U.S.

We all had a nice dinner in a beautiful hotel, we wish we were staying there, and made our way back, risking life in another taxi ride. On our way back, people were lining the streets for the last day of Chinese New Year and the fireworks celebration over the river. The fireworks started @ 8 p.m. while we were still in the cab and didn’t end until after 10 p.m.! And the show wasn’t 1 firework at a time, it was equal to a finale’ at a Disney firework show, nonstop for over two hours and in two places down the river. We had a great view from our room and we were all amazed. We all went to bed to get ready for today, WE GET ALI TODAY!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to go take a shower and get ready, it’s 6:30 a.m. / 5:30 p.m. yesterday back home. We miss and love you all! Blog you again tonight, with pictures of the baby!!!!!!

Touring Beijing

2007-03-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

Beijing is a beautiful city. We had to be up and to breakfast by seven so that we can be out to the sights by eight. The “western” food as they call it is so funny. Sausages, rice, brown eggs, etc but we made it. The locals drive like crazy people. It is a, hold on and hope you make it to the end, ride. We headed out to the sights. Michael, our guide, brought us to Tian an men Square, gave us a bit of history and then let us walk around for about half an hour on our own. It was FREEZING outside and Amanda was dressed for the Bahama’s. The street vendors came up to us selling Olympic hats which was our first experience in bartering. JoAnn bought a hat for $30.00 Chinese dollars…that is about $3.75. So then mom bought one for the same price. A few minutes later they approach us again and ask if we want to buy a hat. We told them no we had one. Just $50.00 for two hats… Amanda said no she didn’t want one, so the lady says $20.00 and again Amanda says no. So the lady says $10.00 and Amanda buys a hat. That is about $1.25. Later as we are listening to Michael talk the street people come up to another member in our group and sell her a hat for $5.00 Chinese money!! It was a riot! Jay got suckered into buying this watch. He paid $100 and we found out a bit later that one of the other fathers paid $50.00! He is going to have to write about this watch! It is a man and in the watch the man’s hand waves back and forth!
After this we went into the Forbidden City. It was amazing. I especially loved the garden in the back. This was also our first experience in the potties... they stalls have hole in the floor that you are to empty yourself into. NO WAY! Jay said the men's room was the same with a hole in the floor!
Then we boarded the bus to a place to eat some Chinese food and on to the Great Wall! Jay, Amanda and Mallory climbed to the area that said they were Heroes! Mom and JoAnn went to the shops and I went back to the bus. I know I was being no fun but it was so cold and we were not dressed for this weather. I just know that I would be the one to get sick so I didn’t want to stay in the weather. Michael, our guide, said it isn’t usually this cold at this time of the year and no one packed for this type of weather where we only had a small limit of weight we were allowed to pack.
After this we went back to the hotel for the evening. We wanted to go to get some dinner but it was raining and cold. So we stayed at the hotel. That was the worse food ever!
Tomorrow morning we leave for Chongqing.

We Made It

2007-03-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

I want to let all of you at home know that we are safe and sound in Beijing! What a trip. It was about six hours from Orlando to San Francisco and then what felt like a life time to Beijing, China. Our pilot took the scenic route, you know that one that you don’t head straight west to the destination but go north, through Alaska and then over the tip of Asia and then back south for hours; we did see beautiful mountains, snow everywhere and big ice burgs out in the ocean but if you could feel what our bodies feel like those beautiful scenes could have been missed. The temperature outside the plane registered around 46 degrees BELOW Celsius for awhile!
We left our home at 4:00 AM the morning of March1, 2007 and landed in Beijing, China at 4:00 PM the day of March 2, 2007. It doesn’t make sense but we lost a day in there and went over the actual timeline somewhere after Alaska. The weird thing is that for all the hours we were on the plane it never got dark outside. We were in sunlight for at least 36 hours!
Our tour guides were waiting for us at the airport with their green flags. After getting our bags and going through customs we met up with the Great Wall China Adoption tour guides and we were directed to a bus with about six other families and driven about 30 minutes to the hotel. It is different seeing all signs in another language. Now we know what the tourist in Florida think when they come over.
I can’t give you a whole lot about anything right now as we checked into the hotel, exchanged our money and then walked around the corner to the market to buy our bottled water for our tours tomorrow, or today, I am so confused! BUT at the market place we found a Subway, a KFC and a Baskin Robbins! We had to take photos!
(Jay and his picky eating habits are forever saved- he will not starve to death while we are here!!!)
When they exchanged our money I collected $100.00 US dollars from everyone so I had six hundred dollars in my hand. The lady gave our tour guide a bit of grief as she didn’t want to exchange so much money until he told her I was with six people. She gave me back about $5700.00, in Chinese money, or something like that.
At the market we grabbed eight bottles of water and the bill came to $21.00. The lady looked at me like I was crazy giving her a $100.00 bill. Then we stopped for ice cream. Mallory and I got a pint and it was $56.00! It is so funny!
We got back to the room and I got the laptop all hooked up and told Amanda she could check her myspace; my head didn’t even hit the pillow and I was out cold. So now it is the middle of the night here in China and my same bad habits from home have already taken over- I am up and on the computer in the middle of the night!
(By the way, THANKS CORKY for this computer, as the TV stations are only in Chinese and I won’t let Amanda use her cell phone she can now keep in contact with her friends back home so I don’t have to listen to any complaining during the trip!)
Just a couple more days and we will be with Ali!!! This is so exciting!

Picture we found of her

2007-02-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

Packing for China

2007-02-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here with a thousand things I should be doing right now just wishing the time to fly by, we have about 36 hours to go. Not that I would ever want to waste one minute of life but knowing I would rather be getting in the car and heading to the airport than cleaning my house and making sure my number one son, Christopher, has food while we are away. (He is almost 22 but needs his mom!)
The house is buzzing with excitment. I picked up JoAnn from the airport this morning, took care of the banking stuff, went to get my hair done and now I am waiting for Jay to get home from work and mom to drive here. My brother is going to bring his package scale over tonight so we can all weigh our suitcases. We keep weighing them on the human scale!
Now that is the part of the story everyone needs to hear. You are allowed 44 lbs of weight and only one suitcase. Yes, girls, I said ONE. Now I know as a middle aged person that sixteen days of clothes for me do not weigh less than 44 lbs...but I am mostly worried about Amanda! She being a young adult and worried about her appearance wants to bring her hair dryer, curling iron, hair straightener, every beauty product known to man and at least five pairs of shoes! Sorry Amanda, not this trip!
They have explained to us that they will fine the entire travel group if we are over weight. So I keep putting limits on her.
BUT my suitcase, mind you, is full of crayons, coloring books, chocolate bars for the kids in the orphanage, gifts for the nannies, and diapers, baby formula and clothes for Ali. My suitcase weights 42.6 lbs!
Now Jay waited to pack yesterday. He has his clothes (men's clothes weigh less than womens) and my makeup bag he is at 38 lbs! He wants to pack food in his suitcase for the rest of the weight as he doesn't like a lot of foods and is afraid that he will go hungry in China!

It had to be fate!

2007-02-26T23:27:00.000-05:00

It was Jay's birthday, October 23, 2004 and we decided to run up to the store without the kids. This is something that doesn't happen often in our house! So after looking around a bit we got in line to pay for our purchases, when we over heard the people in line in front of us on their cell phone. The woman was on the phone talking about getting something to eat and turned to the younger man with her and asked if he would like to go get Chinese food. The man agreed that sounded like a good idea.After they left Jay and I looked at each other and, as always, Jay read my mind... Chinese food sounded great to us also, we had no kids with us and it was Jay's birthday so let's stay gone from home for just a bit longer and spend some "us" time that day. After paying for our stuff we headed out to the car and on to Chinese food.Now you have to understand the area we live in, there is a Chinese restaurant on every corner and in every strip shopping center but we have our favorite that is about 7 miles in the opposite direction of home from the store we were shopping in. AND it was Jay's birthday!! So we headed out to this restaurant passing about seven or eight other Chinese restaurants on the way. In fact I would say there are about thirty Chinese restaurants with in a 7 mile radius of the store we were shopping in.When we got to the restaurant we were seated in a booth with me facing the door and Jay facing me. It was still early before dinner hours and there were not a lot of people in the restaurant. One family caught my attention. It was two white woman that looked like sisters sitting with an Asian baby in a highchair. I was watching the baby and making comments to Jay about how the baby must be adopted. And then I asked him if he had heard about the babies in China. Odd for Jay not to know something, as his brain is a sponge and not much gets past him, but he didn't know about the government and the one child per family law. As we began to talk about this, the door to the restaurant opened up, and in walks the man and woman that were in line in front of us at the store we had just left. They came in and went to sit with the two women and the baby! I could not believe with all the restaurants in this area that they walked into this one. It was fate! We were being lead that day!!Throughout our conversation at dinner Jay told me to do some research on adopting and the baby girls in China. Believe me I didn't have to be told twice.Within two weeks we were attending a workshop on adoption at the Orlando Library, still in the "just looking and learning" phase of our life changing journey. But within an hour we had met a handful of parents that had taken this path along with their beautiful little girls, we listened to the stories and got the information from the spokeswoman and Jay was signing us up!Our fortune cookies that day in the restaurant read Jay's: All eyes will soon be on you!Ginnie's: What you seek is closer to you than you realize.

The First Look at Ali!

2007-02-25T23:36:00.000-05:00

Until you wear the shoes you can not understand the way it feels the day your referral comes in. I clicked on my email January 3rd to find the monthly subject of the Stork Alert. My daughter Mallory was helping me take the Christmas tree down. The end of the holiday season always seems to be depressing and having to spend yet another holiday without our new addition had really made me sad. I just wanted it to be our turn. So as I clicked this email that day I read, 'The stork has landed. If you have recieved this email we.....' I yelled for Mallory to come to the computer, this was not the usual monthly 'OTHER lucky families'; this was OUR LUCKY FAMILY! Mallory and I finished reading the email at lightening speed and at the same time as we both began to SCREAM!! And then onto the phone with my husband we went!!!The next step as we had learned though our wait and talking to other families was the phone call from the agency. So to ease our excitement Mallory and I went back to our chore of stripping the Christmas tree and going back and forth with every question that we could come up with; what did she look like, how big was she; would she like us; when would we go to get her and then the question of how old was she. Mallory said she would love a Christmas baby but I told her that the babies were usually around ten months old or so I thought. That would make her a February baby. Mallory then commented on the fact that my husband and I had gotten married in February. Maybe she was born on our anniversary.I had to run errands that day and was gone when the house phone rang. It was our agency. Mallory got the phone call. She told them to give me a call on my cell phone for which I had glued to my hand waiting! The other end of the line said, 'Congratulations we have your referral' I said, 'I am so excited, when was she born?' And I started to bawl when I was given the answer; she was born in February, on the 21st- OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! The only other thing she told me was that Ali had hair?!I was told a package would be mailed to me with her referral photos and I should get it in two days. I said to heck with that, scan them and email them to me!!! Jay made me promise that I would wait for him to get home that night. My mom had decided to drive down from Georgia that day and I had to promise to wait for her before opening the email. But the minute Jay walked in the door that night he ran to the computer along with Mallory and myself and we clicked the attachment. I don't think my computer ever worked slower!!And the three of us just stared. Nobody said anything. We talk about it now, really what were we expecting? After about a minute we were all talking at once. She is the most perfect baby and we could not have picked a baby more perfect for our family. She has Amanda's eyes, Christopher's ears, Chase's nose and Mallory's mouth and chin. She really is our baby!And then Grandma showed up. We had to confess we didn't wait for her but we got to reopen that attachment and get the excitment started all over again!!

Two years of pulling out hair

2007-02-24T23:28:00.000-05:00

For those of you reading this story with an understanding to the "Paper Chase" nightmare you can sympathize, but to those of you who have never been in our shoes, you just can not imagine the frustration of putting together a package about yoursef and your family and having so many other factors come into play and the wait and the redoing and the wait.I never started a diary of our adoption because I was told from the start that this whole process would take no more than six to eight months from start to referral. That was November 2004. So two years and four months later I am beyond thrilled that we are on this end of the adoption process. My advice to those who follow in our footsteps, I promise, it will be your turn for a referral soon!We started out on the internet reading other people stories and then we made contact with an agency. They were having an open house at the Orlando library in two weeks and we were welcome to come take a look. And that is what we did. Our second day out of the house in a month without any children! At the time there was no commitment between Jay and I with this adoption decision; we were just going for information and to see what it was all about, or so we thought. After about an hour of talking to the families that had been to China, playing with their girls, listening to the agency's spokeswoman, we were signing our name to the dotted line! I have to clarify this statement...Jay was signing our names to the dotted line. I think this was the most exciting decision that had ever been made in my life!And then the “paper chase” begins. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, health records with letter from the doctor, divorce decrees, local background checks, national background checks, letters from friends, letters from family, letters from employers, pictures of us and the family, a home study social worker coming into your home four or five times, fingerprints, US government immigration papers and so on and so on. Enough to make your head spin and after the initial gathering of all of this it has to be notarized and then authenticated, stamped and re-stamped, mailed here and then mailed there. It is best if you can be on first name basis with your local postman! And then it is all over, and your package is done, and in an envelope, and on it’s way to China! And then you wait. And wait. And wait. Your life put on hold.I admit I lost my temper a few times. There is just so much your agency can tell you as they wait for the Chinese government to shuffle through their stacks and stacks of paperwork and make the decision as to what child will get placed with what parents.All while this is happening the clock is ticking, you have only so long for your Immigrations papers and fingerprints not to expire, which our did. So we started the process over again. Heath check, letters from employers, background check, updated homestudy and then the wait for the immigrations department to reissue our okay!And then the day!!! The most wonderful day of all... the day that the Email from the adoption agency comes that doesn't say other families have gotten a referral, it is the day they say CONGRATULATIONS to you!!!!!!

Camille Vilar December 13, 1995-August 13, 2004

2007-02-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

There is no reason why life takes the path it does, but for every person you meet, even for just a minute, life is impacted and forever changed. The story of our adoption starts with the life and death of our step-neice that we had the honor to know and love for four years. Because of the loss of her young life, we were lead on the path to China and to our new daughter. Thank you Camille for leading us to Ali and bringing her to her new forever family.