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!!





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!!

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!!!

Journey: David's Room

Taken from the hallway

 We worked on David's room this weekend since we were hosting Home Group- nothing like people coming over to get you in gear! Steve built the bookshelves and we had fun putting David's books and stuffed animals inside.
Above David's crib is one of my favorite quotes. It was really hard to put up and I hope it stays on the wall!


Love this quote, so excited to have it above his crib!

Some friends and family are working on Alphabet letters to hang above the dresser. I can't wait to have all the letters up- it's going to look great! I have a really great friend from school who cut out all the letters and had friends over to decorate some letters this week- pictures coming soon!
So, David's room is almost finished and now we just need to get to China to bring him home!

Taken from the bathroom

Journey: last mailer sent

Off to China!

We are officially out of the Referral Phase of our adoption~ 5 long years later!!! On Tuesday I once again waited for the mailman to come (5:30- yeesh!) so our I800 could be copied and put in with the other papers to be sent to GWCA. This is the last package we had to send to complete the adoption- hard to believe! Everything we've been working on is now sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou and once things are checked off and approved it goes to the CCCWA.
So, on Friday everything was cabled to China. Next Tuesday, hopefully, our USCIS approvals and China approvals along with David's visa application will be taken to US Consulate. It's usually a 3 week turn around for the Article 5 to be approved, get to our agency and THEN we will officially be waiting on Travel Approval. I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to go really s-l-o-w-l-y. Luckily there are lots of things happening including Steve's birthday, my baby shower at school, and spring break!! You should see my list for spring break- it's crazy long!!
Below is a picture of David's room... it's coming along and we did some work in it today. Another post about that coming up!!

Do you see the Baylor Bear ready to welcome David?

One more step is complete!!!! We are closer and closer to traveling to China!! Our I800 was approved by the National Benefits Center, USCIS. This is the approval for us to adopt David. The next step is the approval to be sent to the National Visa Center who will send our approvals to China. On the handy dandy chart we've gotten to #9 and #10 should happen within the next week. #15 is travel, so we still have a few more steps. I can't remembe whose blog I got this chart off but I love it!!
I was hoping this Valentine's Day would include some pictures of David with his most recent care package but we will have to wait and pray that the package actually got to him.
I am very happy to remember that 11 years ago I had recently met this really awesome guy and we were going to see Sing the next night. On Valentine's day 2002 he came over with a giant stuffed Eeyore and made my night- Love you Steve!!!! 

Journey: another update

Beijing has been very cold this winter!

It seems that with each step and the closer we get to going to China the longer the time seems to take. Really, after waiting 5 years you would think I could handle these last couple of months!
David's room is coming along. It's a great shade of blue! We picked up his crib and we love it and hope he does too! It's a convertible one so he'll sleep in it till he leaves for college :)
One great thing that happens each month is that New Day sends out an update to David's sponsors. Although we can't sponsor him, New Day is super sweet and sends us the update. They also send a picture which always makes my day although in this month's picture he looks a bit sad- I'm hoping it's because he doesn't like cold weather. If that's the case he'll fit perfectly in Waco where the high today (in February, for goodness sakes) was 80 degrees!!
Dear Friends,
We hope this note finds you doing well, and that you enjoy reading this month's update.
David (Calvin) is 1 Year 5 Months Old.
David (Calvin)'s foster mom wrote this update:
David (Calvin) is growing taller and of course, smarter. He likes to learn new things and enjoys playing with the older children like a big boy. He loves to jump and to climb when playing. He will ask me to support him so he can stand on the chair. One of his favorite things to do is play with his toy phone. He likes to push the buttons and sing along with the songs that rhythm. At nighttime he likes to help me turn on the lights in the house and has learned to open and close the doors. He also likes to walk around the bedrooms looking at the different colors. For his safety, we have installed locks on most of the doors as we don’t want him to play alone in the rooms. It is our pleasure to take care of him until he is united with his forever family.
(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