Monday, January 28, 2013

Journey: 5 Years LID

Our I-800A approval
January 29, 2008 is our LID date in China. What is LID? LID stands for Log In Date which means from that date on we were approved to adopt from China according to China~ 5 years ago! I used to buy something each month on our LID anniversary but after a year it got depressing and soon when the date rolled around I could hardly pull myself together for the day. I know now, and I knew it then too but had a hard time seeing it, that God has perfect timing. He and He alone knows why we had to wait. He and He alone knew before David was born that he would be our son. He and He alone will continue to see us through this process. I've said before I don't know why we waited so long to move to the Waiting Child list but He knows why and His reasons are perfect!! Without the timing we wouldn't be getting David! Such an amazing thing to think about!!!
Today we are one step closer to traveling to China, one step closer to being a family, one step closer to holding our SON in our arms! Today we received our I-800A approval!!
What's that? The I-800A is the US Homeland Security approval for me and Steve to adopt from China! Yes, even though we were approved back in 2007 and 2009, laws have changed and so has the paperwork so we had to go through approval again. The paperwork this time around was MUCH more complicated!
What's the next step? The next step is the I-800 approval which is the approval for us to adopt David, specifically and bring him back to the US. I had the papers ready to send via FedEx, I was just waiting on the approval of us to send with it and we got that today- HALLELUJAH!!!! It should be delivered tomorrow via FedEx.
How much longer? Don't you know I wish it was tomorrow!!! The longest it will be is 16 weeks, I think ( Mid May), and the shortest it will be is late March. Chinese New Year brings a slight hold up but our paperwork may still be on the US side of things at that point.

www.china-adoption-online.com
The nifty chart comes to you via www.china-adoption-online.com which has been my lifeline! It and several facebook groups which help me really understand what's going on :) The facebook groups include many people who are in our same shoes and I LOVE "meeting" them!! We are now on the 7th step~Obtain I800 approval, that's the package I sent off today. So you can see we still have a few more to go!!
Thank you for your continued support and prayers!! Having friends and family who are so completely supportive is INCREDIBLE!!!
Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!!!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Journey: another care package

No news is good news, right?!? We continue to wait- 50 days, agh!!!!- on the next step to get David (the approval for us to adopt 'in general'). When that comes in we'll send the form to adopt David, specifically. I have the next FedEx package read to send- minus the one page from USCIS I need.
I have a new care package to send to our handsome little guy for Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year. I wrapped everything in red paper and hope that it will get there in time!
We ordered the bedding for his room and I cannot wait for it to come in!! Once we have it we'll pick out the paint which I've been waiting on. There's also a special nursery project that my friend Cookie is working on!! It's going to be fabulous!!



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Journey: more about David

Love his giggling face!!
A few weeks ago we got an update on our little boy! We were encouraged to ask questions within certain topics. His foster mom answered the questions. It is awesome to find out more about our little boy! We will probably ask for another update closer to when we will leave. Our first question was about his heart condition but they haven't done a formal evaluation since his referral so no news on his heart.

How is his health in general?
His health is good and seldom gets sick.

What type of bed does he sleep in at night? Does he sleep in a crib?
Yes, he sleeps in his own crib.

Does he recognize his name? Is he on target for his age developmentally?
His mental development is good. He could distinguish familiar people and strangers. He is good at imitation and likes imitating adults action. He understands adults words well and always follow adults orders.

Is he crawling, pulling up, and walking?
Yes, he could crawl, stand up and walk freely. He likes kicking ball and could keep balance well.

Is he speaking? Can he name items in the room?
Yes, he could say some simple words like "come, dad, mom, brother, kick a ball". He could also understand adults orders, as "come here, sit down, and take the toy".

How is he at going into a new situation? Does he adjust quickly to meeting new people or going to new places?
His adaptability is good. When guests come to his foster family, he always feels happy and likes hugs from guests. When guests leave, he will wave hands and say "bye bye" to them.

What are his favorite things to eat? What is his eating schedule?
He is not picky on food. The schedule as follow: 7:30 milk 200ml; 9:00 breakfast: conjee, bread, egg, noodle; 11:00 milk; 12:40 lunch; 18:30 milk; 20:00 supper: noodle, wonton soup; 22:00 milk.

Is he potty trained? Does he wear diapers?
He wears diapers at night when sleep.

What is his sleep schedule? Does he take morning/afternoon naps? What time does he go to bed each night?
He gets up at 7:30, has nap from 13:30-14:50, and goes to bed 22:00.

What does he do when he is upset?
He will cry. Give him cuddle or toy will calm him down.

Daily life, personality, hobbies, and others-
He likes play with other children. He is an active boy and likes communicating with people.

Favorite toys and activities-
His favorite toy is ball. He likes kick ball very much.

Knowing more about our son makes the wait harder but it's 2013 and we'll get to hold and love on our son THIS YEAR (and hopefully within the next couple of months)! Thank you so much for your support and prayers throughout our journey!!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Journey: Disneyland and the beach!

We loved the beach area in San Diego! Way to cold to go and play and very rocky but also beautiful!! One of my favorite things was seeing all the seals in La Jolla.
There was a storm blowing in and it was fabulous to see the waves crashing against the rocks of the shore.
Can you see the seals on the rock behind us? How did they manage to get up there???
We went on a whale watching tour! It was great (though very chilly) to go out on the water! We only saw one whale and I didn't get a good picture but it was still cool to see and follow the big guy around. We did find a pod of dolphins who were ready to play! The captain thought there must have been over 1000! If you know me well, you know I love dolphins!!

 We spent two days at Disneyland in Anaheim including New Years Eve.
Our first day was at California adventure. We really enjoyed it and our favorite part was the new Cars Land. Disney did an amazing job with it! I felt like I was in the actual movie though we were not cartoons.

It's a Small World- in lights!
Our second day was spent at Disneyland, the original park. It was New Years Eve and their busiest day of the year!! It was PACKED but we still had a fantastic time. The park was open till 2am and we stayed late! We spent the last minutes of 2012 in front of It's A Small World with a DJ and lots of Disney characters- it was a blast and a fantastic way to ring in 2013. There were fabulous fireworks to end our evening.


After 2 hours of sleep we packed up the car and drove north to Pasadena to see the famous Rose Bowl Parade. We were exhausted but we figured it would be a "once in a lifetime" experience. We planned ahead and got seats in the grandstands~ thank goodness! Seeing the floats was awesome!! The detail on each float was truly unbelievable. One thing that made me laugh was after all the floats went by there was a parade of tow trucks! The float below is one on which a couple got married during the parade.
The wedding float!
And the moment you really care about~ our boy!! My favorite thing about this picture (besides his handsome face) is that he is holding the book I made with our pictures. I made a board book with pictures our family. It is awesome to know he is seeing our picture as we are seeing his.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Journey: pictures, finally!

After many days of being VERY frustrated with blogger I finally resolved the problem with Picasa and uploading all my pictures. Hopefully I won't run into that problem again!! Below are some pictures of our time in San Diego and a bonus at the end!!!!


 SIC 'EM BEARS!! The game was fantastic fun!!!
The Gochis boys enjoyed the trip as well!

At the San Diego Zoo- this little monkey was hilarious to watch!!


I was so excited to see the Panda bears at the zoo- they ate the entire time we watched them~still cute though!!

Another favorite bear!
Could he be any cuter?!? We got this picture of him with our care package while we were on vacation!!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Journey: the Holiday Bowl vacation

I have lots of pictures to add including new ones of David but for some reason blogger won't let me upload them, grrrrr!
Oh well, we did have a fabulous Christmas and trip to the Holiday Bowl! Getting to San Diego was less than easy but our flight finally made it to San Diego at 3 a.m. on the 26th. We visited the zoo and had a fabulous time seeing all the animals. My favorite were the panda bears, the kola bears and the polar bears~ guess I have a thing for bears! From the zoo we went to the pep rally for Baylor which was tons of fun! It was great to see so many Baylor fans so far from Texas.
The next day we enjoyed the balloon parade which included the Baylor balloon from our homecoming parade. We attended the BU tailgate before the game which helped everyone get all hyped up for the game. The game was great fun and it was awesome seeing Baylor play so well and beat UCLA!! Sic 'Em Bears!!
The next morning we headed out on a whale watching tour. We saw one whale and tons of dolphins and sea lions. Although it was chilly it was great, great fun being out on the water. It was very cool to see the animals!! We visited Coronado Island and Old Town as well. We loved San Diego!!