Passports for the kids~check!

We applied for passports for the kids this weekend! It is exciting to feel like I am doing something during this looooong wait! I know it is going to be a lot of work bringing the kids but I am excited to take them. I hope they will feel a part of the adoption experience. We will see I guess. At this point we are still waiting on the LOA...letter of approval. That is expected in late March...no guarantee of course. That still puts on course to travel in late April. Wait, wait, wait...I hate it! Megan told me again she wants to go get Lauran now. So, I guess I am not the only one who is disliking the waiting!

Packing for China!

Ok...so the closer we get to going to China the more I think about the dreaded task of packing. We have decided also this week, that we will take the kids to China. Unless however, airfare skyrockets when it is time to purchase tickets. Right now though, it is in the doable category...so we are planning like they are going. So maybe the idea of packing for all 5 five of us this time has sent me over the edge, but I keep having reoccurring dreams about going to China and each time I completely mess up the packing....I forget to pack half of what we needed. In one dream we each have 2 outfits for 2 weeks and all of Megan's clothes were the wrong size. It is an overwhelming task to pack. It is not like traveling to another state and you just go to a store to buy what you forgot. Some things are available but not everything and somethings are different. Anyways....the latest in the process of adoption :) Some parts of it are painful but all worth it in the end!

Care package to China!

Last week we finally sent off a care package to Lauran. The idea is to send a couple of things for her and some photos so they can start talking to her about us and hopefully she will somewhat be familiar with our face. Especially when you are adopting special needs, there is a longer wait from the time you are matched to the time you travel. So we sent her a blanket I found on clearance at Target with LADYBUGS!! I love Target! We also sent a stuffed animal with a heart, another small toy and a picture book with pictures. We included 2 disposable cameras too, so hopefully they will take pictures of her over the next few months.

Then we included, crayons, coloring books and suckers for the other kids and chocolates for the caregivers. Chocolate from the U.S.A is a big deal over there. It was hard to find when we were in China. I didn't understand last time we went why it was on the packing list...now I know. There was a little bakery at the bottom of the hotel we stayed at that we tried and bought some "sweets" and it tasted like they forgot the sugar.

Bunk beds Up...minus one mattress

Tonight we put up Megan and Lauran's bunk beds...ok Todd put them up. I think Megan said thank you Daddy 20 times! Before we even put the one mattress on, she was laying just on the boards saying she wanted to take a little rest! She wanted PJ's on at 7:30 too :) We took a the picture of Megan on the bed and I told her we are sending it to Lauran with her care package (along with other family photos of course)so Lauran can see that her room as is all ready. Megan tells me everyday she want to get Lauran now and she wants to be 4 now. I told Megan when we received Laurans referral that she was going to be 4 when we get her(she turns 4 in April) ... just so she would have some frame of reference....now Megan keeps asking why she can't be 4 so we can get Lauran. I feel like she thinks we can get Lauran yet because she is not old enough. So I have been trying to rephrase it now and say we need some papers from China first...UHGG! It is SOOO hard to wait, especially when I have a 3 yr. old little birdie telling me everyday she wants to get Lauran!

Earlier today Ryan had a basketball game. I was hoping for better pictures but...didn't happen. They are all a back shot! He is # 2. It's hard to see his number in the 1st picture. He's the blond one you see from the back with his arms up. It was a hard game(I won't tell you the score) but he put in a greateffort. Lets just say there were a lot of tall 3rd graders on the other team.

This is Megan posing with her new haircut. I wanted to go shorter but honestly I am a little scared. We have gotten a few trims that were very uneven. I tried another new place and it was better...still had to do a little trimming. Part of it, I think, is Megan is very squirmy. You tell her to look down and it lasts for about 2 seconds. Sort of like she has trouble looking straight at the camera for more than 2 seconds.

Winter Fun!

It was finally above 20 degrees earlier this week (it is now back to zero) so I ordered the kids outside to play:) They had fun while I was wishing I had a telephoto lens so I could take pictures from the kitchen window.

Sledding down the mountain that plowing has left behind proved to be a hit. Almost as much fun as when our driveway turned to complete ice and Todd told them how much fun sledding would be on that(anyone see Christmas vacation). Good thing we live in a cul-da-sac. Todd had taught them to run up to the sled and then hop on and so they would sail down the driveway. So Megan saw Nate and Ryan do this a few times and decided it looked fun. So as Ryan was running to the sled she quick hopped on it and took off down the driveway, right as Ryan was ready to jump on! Unfortunately only Todd got to witness this....I can picture it happening though! That's what I get for trying to stay warm!

Megan's going retro again and yes she is growing:)

Megan has been playing around with these elastic headbands I bought a while ago. They are 3 elastic bands all hooked together and work like a headband. Only they are a little too big for her. She obviously found a different way to wear them so they fit. She thinks she is the coolest with them on around her head! She had them on like this yesterday for quite a while. I kept wondering if she looked more like Olivia Newton John from the "Lets get physical" video or if it was more of a woodstock look. Anyways...it cracked me up every time I looked at her. Its the first thing she put on this morning.

She also had a Dr.s appt. today for a weight check. At her last well check she hadn't gained much weight and her BMI went down from a whopping 3% to 1%. She has had a lot of constipation problems and that causes tummy aches and then we struggle to get her to eat. I think some of it is obviously genetic...but I was a bit worried went she stopped gaining weight. Anyways....it went well today. She gained 3 lbs in the last 3 mo. She is a whole 28 lbs now. To tell you the truth I think she gained all of it from eating almonds. She LOVES them and I think would eat 5 bowls in a row if I let her.

We also cut her hair off today..shoulder length. I will post a picture later:) She loves it...they put glitter in her hair too. I am hoping I won't be dealing with food in the hair as much...I can hope right:)

Getting through winter :)

Forecast for tomorrow, Thursday Jan. 15th :

High -5 with a windchill of 40 below. YUCK! It shouldn't be legal to even call that a high! School has already been cancelled because of the extreme cold we are having tomorrow.

I really do not like winter. Especially the months after Christmas.

Jan - March are such long, cold months. It is going even slower this winter with the wait to adopt Lauran.

So how do I get through winter.....Coffee :) I am not picky. Black coffee, flavored coffee, vanilla latte, pumpkin spice latte, cinnamon latte(with whipped cream), a mocha .....it really doesn't matter. Just not decaf!

Anyways, I was excited to find a song that is all about coffee! My theme song for the winter:) See my playlist at the bottom of the page if you want to listen to the song if a different song is playing.

Step one: Per-approval -check!

So here is a list of things that need to happen before we go to China !

1. Pre-approval to adopt Lauran. Since China is not the one matching us with a child , which is what they do with healthy children, 0ur agency had to send a letter of recommendation for us to adopt Lauran. Then China looks over our file of paperwork called a Dossier that we sent to them, and then basically approves us. At this time we are considered pre-approved. ( one step completed!!)
2. Then we wait for our official letter of approval (LOA). This take 2-3 months.
3. Then we wait for our travel approval. China sends an official letter to approve us to travel to China to adopt Lauran. It seems redundant to me since they already approved us to adopt her and how else would we adopt her since they require us to travel to China. So shouldn't we be approved to travel when we are approved to adopt! I am assuming they have a good reason for the extra step. Anyways, that takes another 2-4 weeks to receive after we get our LOA.
4. Then we get scheduled for our appt. at the American Consulate. This is the last appt. of our trip and will dictate all our other travel dates. We usually need to be in China 10-14 days before this appt. This appt. completes the adoption with the U.S.A.
5. Now we make all of our travel arrangements.
6. Travel to China!

Makes my head spin and I have done this before! So on the long side we will be traveling at the end of May possibly early June. The short end would be late April to early May. I am planning for it to take the longest span but hoping and praying for the shortest! The thought of waiting til Late May or June is heartbreaking! Also, that will be tricky with the Nathan an Ryan being at the end of the school year. If we do not take them they will be going to MN and will miss school either way. Not sure how that will work if they miss the end of school. I guess I will have to look into that!

In the mean time we are able to send a care package to Lauran. We can send toys, blankets and pictures of us. We can also send some disposable cameras and hopefully they will take some pictures of her while we are waiting!! Then we will get them hopefully on Gotcha Day! So I will be working on that with the kids on putting that together with the kids over the next week! Now that we are all on Antibiotics for sinus infections I am hoping I will be able to get something done. Nathan, Megan and I have been sick since right after Christmas :(

We also picked out bunk beds for the girls room this weekend. That was not as fun as I was hoping it to be. It was hard to figure out what to do in the room. I was hoping to avoid bunk beds but that is what we ended up with and it was the best fit for the room and the best long term solution. Megan is excited to get big beds though (she is still in a crib) and her face lights up when we talk about sharing her room with Lauran!

God is Faithful!

Happy New Year!
We had a wonderful Christmas in MN. Hectic but fun! We had good driving weather considering the storm we drove in last year! We had just a bit of black ice to deal with on the way there. Todd and I thought a lot about Lauran over Christmas. She was abandoned on Christmas Eve of last year! It is also really hard having her picture and waiting so long to travel! With a special needs adoption we are basically selecting a child before our paperwork has been looked at in China. That means we are waiting for them to review our paperwork and officially “approve us”. That process adds about 3 months to the wait to travel. Needless to say, it is a difficult wait!

In the meantime we are praying about whether or not to bring the ‘entire’ family. The biggest consideration in taking everyone is financial. The economy has caused a lot of cuts at Todd’s work and some of the money we were hoping to use for the adoption will not be there.The other is the logistics of traveling with 3 kids one way and 4 kids on the way back. Trusting that God knows what is best, we are praying that he will point us in the right direction! Please pray that he will guide us.

Over the past year I have had more than a few times where I have felt completely frustrated, overwhelmed, disappointed, and anxious. It was a hard year on our family on many levels. I will be honest in saying I am glad it is behind us! As I started thinking more about it ending this week and what is ahead in 2009 I began to see Gods faithfulness over the year. In a year where I know I wasn’t all that faithful myself, he continued to walk us through life and bless us in many ways.

Our kids are healthy!
Megan continues to blossom socially!
Nathan and Ryan are great big brothers and students.
Todd made it to Belgium and back safely!
We had a family vacation in CA
Todd Graduated and we are still married :)!
We were given a beautiful child to adopt.
Todd will be appointed to our county board…which will provide a little extra income that is much needed for the adoption.
We had a great trip to MN for Christmas!

May God get all the Glory for blessing us and watching over us!

The verse below was up on my blog today for the daily verse! I thought it summed up what I am trying to say!

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19)
He is truly faithful!

So I enter 2009 praising God for making a way for us in 2008 and for giving us a new year to look forward to. I wish everyone a Happy and Blessed New Year!



Todd bought a Happy New Year cake for the kids! Megan had to sport her retro Barbie glasses from her cousin Katie and her new retro vest from Aunt Keri ! Both were big hits for Christmas. She usually wears them as she pushes around her new shopping cart...and then announces she is going to Macy's.

BIG SURPRISE!

We were so surprised to get a call with a referral to consider. We accepted the referral with a BIG YES! She has a genetic condition called Thalassemia or Mediterranean anemia. Check out http://www.nohandsbutours.com if you want to know more. Look under the heading special needs and then look for the disorder Thalassemeia on the side. By going over the very little medical info that was sent in the referral it seems as if she has it to a mild to moderate degree...but there are also many variations to the disorder that she could have which we do not know. We are hoping to get more information. Hoping being the operative word.

Her Chinese name is Jin Yutian (soon will be Lauran) and she was born June 24th, 2006. She is 14 months younger than Megan. I will be using my blog to keep everyone posted on the progress of the adoption and when we will be traveling! We are Guessing the end of April...using the timeline our agency gave us for paperwork we now are waiting for....Pre-approval letter, letter of approval, Travel approval, etc..

All of us here are obviously very excited and feeling very thankful this Thanksgiving! We do ask all of you to pray for us. There are many unknowns with adoption and even more with special needs. She will be almost 3 when we get her and I am sure that will be hard on her. She was abandoned at 18 months and her referral noted her difficulty with strangers. So if you feel at all led to pray for us we would really appreciate it!! Specifically pray that God will help prepare her for the transition and for our kids and us to be prepared! Please also pray for her medical condition and her health!
Thanks so much!! Now for the pictures of our little cutie pie!!