Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Journey: 3 weeks, 3 WEEKS!!!

Another beautiful cake by Sara!!!

APRIL 17th!!!!

We have a date! After waiting only about 24 hours from our Travel Approval we got confirmation of our consulate appointment!! We got our first choice of dates too, God is Great!!! We leave in 3 weeks!!
We will have David in our arms on April 22nd, Gotcha Day!!
Our appointment with the consulate is May 2nd and we'll arrive back in Waco on May 5th.
There are a lot of details to be worked out but knowing when we are leaving and when we'll hold David is incredible!!!
I'll give you more details later but now I have to go work on my packing list.


Monday, March 25, 2013

Journey: to Travel Approval!!!!

my cheesy white board at school

We GOT IT!!!!

God is GREAT!! Happy Easter Week!!
Well the 3-8 week wasn't too hard since our Travel Approval (TA) came in 8 days!!!! Wow!! We are beyond blessed and so excited.
What this means is that CCCWA has looked through all our documents and given us TA to China to pick up our son!
Now our agency will contact the American Consulate in Guangzhou and request our CA (Consulate Appointment) which will set the date of our travel. Our CA will be about 10 days after we get to China. Our first stop will be Beijing for about 4 days, then to Urumqi where we will have Gotcha Day (the day our adoption is official in China) on either Sunday or Monday. We'll stay there for about 5 days and then onto Guangzhou for a week.
As soon as I get our CA I'll let you know! THANK YOU again so much for the prayers and support!!! 

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Journey: the TA wait


Love him in the Bear cap!

And I thought the previous wait was hard...

We are officially waiting on our Travel Approval (TA)!!! That's great news although this wait seems to be SO. MUCH. HARDER. I'm not sure why but the last few days have crept by and it feels like Spring Break was many moons ago.
The Article 5 (David's American Visa) was picked up from the American Consulate in Guangzhou and taken to Beijing to the Chinese Center of Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA). The CCCWA will give us our Travel Approval- our agency says it can take 3-8 weeks, yes- 8 weeks!! Holy Moly, I don't think I'll be able to take an 8 week wait.
Once we get our TA it will be 3-4 before we travel. Now that spring is here I am more ready than ever to go get our little boy!! I spent a little time with a friends son who is 3 days younger than David and had a ball. He is just precious and it was very fun to interact with a little one who is the same age as David.  
Love this sign!
In other news, I got an updated picture of our little guy- I must say he is the cutest little one I've ever seen :) We worked a lot on his room during spring break including hanging curtains and pictures. I also did a little shopping for him at Carter's. I had never been into the store to shop for him and I went a little nuts :) I hope I got the right sizes for him!! It was so fun to get him some cute outfits and imagine him in them, yeah!!



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Journey: a shower and a birthday!

Yummy!
 My friends at school helped welcome David with a baby shower on Thursday. It was AWESOME!! Amber and her fabulous team made everything so much fun!! I was overwhelmed by the love shown for David. It is so great to work with people who already love David and can't wait to meet him. It was especially fun to have so many kids ask about him! My partner counselor even did a lesson on Chinese New Year complete with making red envelops! Seriously, I work with fabulous people!!!
People were ask to bring books for David and he got some great ones!! His book shelf is full with some amazing books that we can't wait to read with our little guy! There are some great adoption books that David got, only problem is I can't read them without crying- gotta work on that for the future!!
Sara made the most precious cake for us. She made it for me to take home for Steve. Steve liked it so much that he wanted to use it as his birthday cake for our celebration with my family. We had fun celebrating his birthday especially with David being a part of (I saved the cookie letters for David to enjoy later)! We also enjoyed knowing that next year David will be here to wish his daddy "happy birthday"!! Each day is one day closer!!


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Journey: each day closer!!

We got the monthly update on David! Honestly, as much as I look forward to the end of each month and getting the update it does break my heart~ a lot! This month was even worse since in the update we found out David has been sick! Oh My Word!! I want to hold him and make him feel better in the worse way!! I am so glad that he is feeling better now and I pray that he will stay healthy despite the bad air quality in Beijing.
Dear Friends,
We hope this note finds you doing well, and that you enjoy reading this month's update.
David (Calvin) is 1 Year 6 Months Old.
David (Calvin)'s foster mom wrote this update:
David is growing fast and behaves like an older child sometimes. He likes playing but does not like sleeping so much! He noonday nap is usually short and he doesn’t fall asleep at night as early as some of the other children. He prefers to run around shouting instead of sleeping. Sometimes he walks around like a little soldier, raising his feet while saying, “left, right, left right….” He is a very lively child who likes to turn on the light switches by pushing a chair against the wall and standing on in it. When the light comes on, he will say, “It’s bright!”
David became running a fever in January and after a couple of days, he developed a cough. We discovered that he had tonsillitis and he had trouble eating for a while. After 10 days of taking medicine, he began to eat soup, gruel and milk. He is now up to 150ml – 180 ml’s of milk and we are delighted that he is feeling better now.
(This information is intended to provide a personality profile of the children, not a developmental/medical profile.)
If you ever have any questions, please let us know. Thank you for your continued support.
Blessings,
New Day Staff
Looks like Steve and I need to get our running shoes ready, "He prefers to run around shouting instead of sleeping."!!! I cannot wait!!!