China: Day 4 Orphanage visit

Today has definitely been the best day of our trip so far (other than actually getting Kohl). We were able to visit the orphanage where Kohl lived before going to his foster family and a little while after before we got him. 

We already knew a little about the orphanage because after we were matched we did some research and so we already knew that the orphanage system in this city was in the top 10 of orphanages in all of China. When we arrived we met with the director and were able to ask any questions we wanted. We had already had 2 other times meeting her and asking questions so there wasn't much else we could think of. 

Next, she led us on a tour of the orphanage and one thing is clear- Kohl is a very popular little guy!!! Everyone (and I mean everyone) knew who he was and they were so excited to meet us and to know what kind of family he was joining.  We met some of the ladies who had been his nannies. A couple of them cried while meeting us and telling him good-bye. They thanked us over and over for providing him with a good home and a future. They wanted us to know that they believed in Christ and that they were glad he would have Christian parents! 

It was a very emotional day to see where he has come from. Of course it was also hard to see the many children still waiting in the orphanage. There are over 100 living in the orphanage, but there are many more in the foster care villages of the orphanage about an hour away. All of the children were so precious and I tried to show some attention, if only for a minute or two, to as many of them as I could as we toured. 

Overall, were  very impressed with the facilities at the orphanage. It was very obvious that the children are well cared for in this orphanage and that they genuinely love the children. I'm so grateful to all the workers at this orphanage for loving on our sweet Kohl until we could get to him. Here are some pictures from the orphanage. 

One of Kohl's nannies- she was crying as she spoke with us and told him bye. She took care of him before he went to the foster home. Once he left she and her husband drive an hour to the foster home to visit him. 

More of his nannies

The older lady in this picture has been working at the orphanage longer than anyone. She has worked there for 30 years and is like the children's grandmother. 

View from upstairs down onto one of the play areas. The grounds were very clean and well kept. 

Where the babies sleep 

This was Kohl's bed while at the orphanage. 

One of the classrooms 

Here you can see more of the grounds. I especially loved the school part. It reminded me so much of the hallways where I work with the students' work hanging. 

After the orphanage we  got to experience a neat tea tasting experience. It was very interesting to learn about the various local teas made here in Yunnan province. 

Next, we came back to our hotel and ate leftover pizza and tried to get Kohl down to nap. We ran out of time because the hotel had a fire drill scheduled so we left and made a trip to WalMart to try to find some long-sleeved onesies. If you think WalMart in America is crazy sometimes please come and see it in China. There are people everywhere! There are workers all over the place, many with microphone headsets and they are hawking whatever item is in their section. It was very different from back home. Somehow Kohl managed to fall asleep and took a great nap all through Walmart and on our walk back. We never found onesies, but we did find a long sleeve shirt that will work. I only packed a few long sleeve items for him and here in Kunming they keep the children very bundled up. Most of the adults are even wearing long sleeves and jackets. And here are Chris and me in short sleeves and Chris even had on shorts. We've gotten some glares from people probably because wasn't as bundled up as they thought he needed to be, but no worries, he was fine! 

This evening we visited a local church and then finally a restaurant I had been looking for since Monday called Salvatore's. It is a coffee shop and restaurant, but it serves western food. We both had really great burgers and homemade french fries. They also had ice cream and cold Cokes! (Not everywhere has cokes and some that do serve them room temperature). So we are excited to have this place close and we will be back for sure! 

We are definitely making progress with Kohl getting use to mommy. I'm still feeding him and changing him and today he also opened up a lot more when we were playing. We are very encouraged and know that it is something that is just going to take our patience.

Sorry this post has been so long! We did a lot today! Thursday we are going to an Ethnic Village in Kunming that has all the different minorities here. The Yunnan province is one of (if not the most) diverse province in all of China. Friday we will get Kohl's Chinese passport and leave for Guangzhou in the afternoon. Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging words! Keep 'me coming! 

China: Gotcha Day!

So excited to share about our day with y'all!  Today was our "Gotcha Day." This is the term used in most adoption circles for the day that your child actually comes into your care.  We have longed for, prayed for, thought about, worried about, etc. this day for a LONG time. (2 1/2 years ago when we started our adoption).  You are given lots of scenarios for how this day may play out, but you will never know for sure until you get there.

We met our guide, Susan, in the hotel lobby at 2:30 and got in a car with her and a driver to take us to the Office of Civil Affairs, which was about 30 minutes away in the business center of the city. It sounds like the building would be a office building on the outside, but really it was just an apartment in the bottom floor of an apartment building.  We had met other families this morning at breakfast in our hotel and we knew that there would be several other families having their Gotcha Days today too.  When we arrived there were about 4-5 other families already in process of meeting their children and filling out paperwork. The room seemed very crowded, loud, and overwhelming. Kohl was not there yet and we weren't sure when he would arrive. We had been told that it seems like a huge buildup to Gotcha Day but in actuality the actual moment is very underwhelming. I have to say this is very true. For me it was both overwhelming due to the fact that there were so many people in the apartment and there was just a LOT going on all over the place and then all of a sudden in walks Kohl. He has no idea who we are and we are just going ga-ga over him of course.

Fortunately I had a dum-dum sucker and he quickly decided to become my friend! While I held Kohl Chris filled out some paperwork.  At some point, he began reaching for Chris and I handed him over. Well he has been smitten with Chris ever since!  He absolutely adores him!! He held him the rest of the time at the Office of Civil Affairs. He sat in Chris's lap the entire way back to our area of town (they do not use carseats in China). Once we were back at the hotel, we got his diaper changed and just let him play for a while in his diaper. They keep the children very bundled up here and so he and Chris were both pouring sweat when we got back to our room so I think he enjoyed airing out a bit!

Chris fed him his bottle and then we got him dressed and went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  He is such an awesome eater! We had no problems at all with him sitting in the high chair and he ate a big bowl of congi (really watery rice with broth and meat), some bread, and some mashed potatoes.  He was not as excited about the ice cream. We will definitely have to work on that!

After supper, we came back to our room and worked together to give him a bath.  He wasn't too sure about that and so Chris entertained him while I actually bathed him. It worked pretty well. He is now sound asleep! :)


We seriously couldn't have asked for a better day today. It is seriously such a huge blessing that he is already attaching to one of us.  Please pray that he will start to transfer between both of us.

Tomorrow we will go back to the same office and officially finalize his adoption.  Pray that it will be as smooth as today was!

This is a picture taken at dinner tonight. It was the first time he started smiling for us! I was gone to get him more food I think so I missed it, but so glad that Chris captured it! We are so in love! I am having trouble getting pictures to upload to the blog so they will be posted on Facebook on our adoption page. 

China: Day 1

It has been a long 2 or 3 days. We left our house around 11:30 Friday morning and arrived in Kunming this morning at 9 something (Sunday morning).

We made it through the Atlanta airport without any problems. I did forget to take my shoes off while trying to go through security and was told a few times before I realized they were talking to me. Then I panicked and just threw them in someone's bin! Luckily she was a very nice lady and didn't have a problem with my shoes landing on her things.

The flight to LAX was a little over 4 hours and we had no problems at all. I had been very concerned that I would have bad earaches on the plane. The doctor on Friday said they were going to take a beating and that flying was not going to be fun at all with my sinus infection. But I'm happy to say that it's one of the only times I've flown when my ears haven't hurt at all!!!

We boarded the plane in LA around 11 pm Friday night. It was a huge plane and we were on the upper level. I was able to get a decent amount of sleeping in [real shocker for those that know my sleeping habits I'm sure ;)]. Chris got a little bit of sleep. The last few hours seemed like forever, mostly because we were actually awake and we were worried that we were going to miss our connection in Guangzhou to Kunming. As soon as we landed and could get off we booked it through the airport. There was a lady waiting to tell us our gate number but it ended up being the wrong gate. So we had to run back to another gate about 10 minutes away. When we got there they looked panicked, but we were able to catch a van and board our plane!

The last flight was only a couple of hours and we were so excited to finally arrive in Kunming! The weather here is wonderful!!! It's known as the "City of Eternal Spring."

At the airport we were greeted by our guide Susan. She is very energetic and excited to be working with us! She got us to our hotel (about a 50 minute drive) and we were all settled in by about 11 Sunday morning.

We took a really long nap this afternoon and woke up in time to go across the street to a hotel Susan recommended to us in time for supper. It was very good! We are now getting ready for bed and for our big day tomorrow. We will meet Kohl at the Office of Civil Affairs sometime after 2:30. He will come with us to our hotel for our "harmonious period" and Tuesday morning we'll go back to the same office to complete his adoption! We appreciate your prayers for all that is going on. We have really been feeling them the whole time.

The next time I post Kohl will be with us!

I've tried to add pictures on here, but for some reason it won't let me so I'll try to put some on Facebook. Goodnight from China!

24 days and counting!

Hopefully by now you've heard our great news... we'll be on our way to get Kohl in less than a month!!!

We will leave on September 11 for China and will arrive on September 13.

On September 14, we will finally get to meet our son after waiting for him for SO long (29 months-- as someone at church said- that's a LONG time to be pregnant!)

While we are in China I am going to try and blog each day. Various Internet sites and Facebook are blocked there, but we are going the necessary requirements to try and get around this so that we can still share our journey with you.

If you are interested in keeping up with us while we are in China, I encourage you to put your email in the box on the side of the blog to follow us. This way you'll know when we update it.

Several people have asked when we will be bringing Kohl to church or when they will get to meet Kohl, etc.  Unfortunately I don't have an answer to that. I am working on a blog that will give some idea of what you can expect when we return home. After we meet Kohl we'll also know a little bit more about what it may look like.

For now, please celebrate with us that we've made it this far in our journey! We are so very thankful for the outpouring of love, support, and generosity that has been shown to us over these last 2 years in this journey. Without of this support, we wouldn't be getting ready to bring Kohl home.

Please pray with us that our visas will get here soon. Pray that Kohl will begin to quickly bond with us.

It's getting real!

As I sit and write this I'm looking at 2 strollers, a baby monitor, and a high chair waiting to be opened and assembled.  After waiting such a long time I can't believe that we are about to have a little boy in a couple of months (or sooner!)

Update on our process:
Our paperwork is moving along smoothly still.  Our 800 paperwork was approved- this is where we applied to the US Dept. of State to adopt Kohl (before we just had approval to adopt, but then you have to get approval for your specific child).

Tonight I completed another form. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but I think it's the form we submit to the US Immigration offices where they will allow us to bring Kohl back into the US.

We are still waiting on something called our "cable letter." I honestly have no clue what that is.

After the cable letter, we then wait on something called Article 5 pickup. Again- no clue!

But after Article 5, the next thing we hear is TA- Travel Approval. After we get TA we have to complete our travel within 3 months. Of course we want to get there as soon as we can.

So after waiting over 27 months, we are almost there folks!  (For anyone who has only just started following us, we were with the Colombia program for 2 years before switching to China program).

Most people adopting already have their visas by this time, but we have to wait until we know we can travel to get our visas because Chris will have a different kind of visa (very limited) since he is a minister.

Our social worker has been saying we will probably travel in October, but I am really thinking it may be sooner than that! I've emailed her tonight to see what she thinks now that we've had more movement with our paperwork.

Kohl is already one very loved and spoiled child! Our awesome church family gave us a shower on Sunday. He got lots of goodies and lots of gift cards/cash to purchase additional items he will be needing.  We've started getting his room together (so much fun!!) and I promise to post some pictures once it's complete (and once he's in it!)  Thank you especially to the Sunday School class that hosted my shower. :)

And today we received an update on our precious boy.  You are allowed 3 updates in the process. You basically get to ask about 10 questions and they will try to answer them.  Unfortunately while we thought we asked great questions, the translation back didn't help too much!  Example: What size diapers does he wear?  M (Medium)  Since our diapers aren't sized that way we still don't know what size!   What kind of bottle does he take?  A normal one  And that was pretty much the way all the answers were... but we did get another video (we got 2 videos back from his birthday)! He is scooting/half walking all over the place and looks like he loves to play with a cell phone so he will fit right in with the rest of America!

We're seriously so excited!!

Please pray that all the details will work out as we finish this up.  Some may also not have known that I will begin a new job in a few weeks as a Pre-K teacher at Kitty Stone Elementary in Jacksonville. I'm hoping everything will work out ok with me starting that and then having to be gone to get Kohl. Chris will also be starting his PhD this fall and he has to go to Amsterdam for 2 weeks for that. Please pray that everything with this will line up with our timeline.

Please also begin praying for Kohl and his transition. What he will go through is going to be very tough. Please pray for God to prepare his little heart for what will happen and that we will be everything he needs to get him through his grief of leaving his foster mother, his country, everything he's ever known.

Thanks for sticking through this journey with us!

Closer to Kohl

Today I'm just writing an update of where we are in our journey. Most of you have already heard this, but I know there are a few who don't have Facebook and don't go to our church so you may be out of the loop! I've been out of school for almost a month, but I've had 2 weeks of trainings and a week in Dallas so this is one of my first days to really be at home all summer.

In the last post we shared the first picture of our sweet boy Kohl and that we were waiting 2-3 months for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance). They tell us there is no rhyme or reason for the various small steps that occur as you are waiting for your LOA so we had no idea when to expect any news. 

And then the week of June 8 came and it was our week for news!

June 8- Our file came out of translation (translating from English into Chinese) and went into review. 

June 9- Our file was officially reviewed and went into "Waiting to be Matched" phase. 

June 10- We were officially matched with Kohl and went to the "seeking confirmation" phase. 

June 11- We learned that our Letter of Acceptance (or confirmation) had been issued and was on its way to Birmingham (this is considered soft LOA). 

All of these little steps can take weeks between each one, that is why they said this part of the process usually takes 2-3 months. We are so thankful that we got all this news in one week!

Our actual Letter of Acceptance arrived in Birmingham on June 17! So what was suppose to take 2-3 months was only 50 days for us!  Unfortunately we were in Dallas at the time so our social worker just held our letter on her desk and this past Monday we drove to our agency, signed it, delivered some more paperwork and we are now in our final stage before we actually go to China and get Kohl. 

It has been so long getting to this point in our journey, but we know that God has had His hand in all of this and that He will continue to guide us as we prepare to meet our sweet boy and bring him into our family. 

At this point we are in another waiting stage. When we get a little closer to knowing when we will travel we will get visas and begin making actual travel plans. They are estimating that our travel will be some time in October. 

We are getting super excited about Kohl getting here and have begun preparing his room. Hopefully we'll have some progress made in a few weeks and can share some pictures with you soon!  We also had some much fun registering for him! We don't know what size clothes or diapers he is wearing yet so we mostly just registered for other basic items. We registered at Target and on Amazon if you are interested. 

Finally, I will leave you with some pictures that were taken at Kohl's party.  

Thomas #3!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for us- especially this last week. As you know we were under a deadline to get our dossier logged in in China before a child's file was taken back.

We got awesome news today. Not only did we get logged in today, but we also received PA (Preliminary Approval) for our little boy!!!!!!!!! (Can you tell we're excited!?!?!) :)

Here's a first look at our cutie! His name is Kohl.

At this point we must wait 2-3 months for LOA (Letter of Acceptance). 

After that it is another 2-3 months before we will travel to China to bring him home. 

So, hopefully we will be traveling 4-6 months from now!

We are so grateful for everyone who has helped us so far financially and through your prayers. Please keep praying for our process to run smoothly and that we will raise the rest of the funds necessary to get this sweet baby home!!!