#18 Never Looked So Good!

We have Travel Approval!  We also have our dates, booked our tickets and are raring to go, but are going to keep vague on the blog for now.   We got the dates we want and are SUPER excited to be leaving SUPER soon! 

We also received an update today, so we have 2 new pictures of her and 1 more video! 

During our journey, we've met some WONDERFUL people that have helped guided us through this process.  I'm super excited that there are several we'll get to meet while we are in China!  We have learned through our BTDT (been there done that) adoption families that this journey is NEVER the same.  We have seen children react to the adoption in numerous ways (some taking longer than others).  Therefore, we will be taking things as they come and on her pace.

Does Izzie know she's being adopted?  We get this all the time and until today we had NO IDEA.  We learned today that she has seen our photo album, often shown it, told who her future family members are, and she is prepared for the adoption.  Last words of the update paraphrased and for us MUSIC to our ears!

Waiting on Travel Approval!

For those following along, we are on waiting step #16.

Yesterday, we received official word that our Article 5 had been approved and that our paperwork is going to the CCCWA to get our Travel Approval!  This usually takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks.  Please pray for us to receive a REALLY quick Travel approval.  This would allow us to make our goal of leaving on May 16.
After travel approval, we apply for 5 potential dates (in ranking order) in China to meet for our Visa for Izzie to go back into the US.  This is also known as the Consulate Appointment.  These appointments (I've been told) fill up, so the quicker the travel approval the better chance of us leaving when we want to leave.  Once we have our official Consulate appointment, then we find out our leave date, gotcha date, etc.

This whole time I'm being telling Bob that we will be home around our 10 year anniversary.   This is also VERY important because my Mom had already taken the week of June 15th off and has plans to travel via car with Dad to meet their granddaughter. 

For this to happen, we need BEST case scenario:

***Consulate Appointment for May 27

This would have us leaving on May 16th, meeting our daughter on May 19th, and returning home with her on or near May 29 (our 10 year anniversary).

We are also waiting not so patiently for our final update on our little girl.  We put a request in 4 weeks ago and REALLY hope to have new info next week!

Local Request:  

If anyone could loan us the following item(s), we would be greatly appreciative:

-Plug converter for China

-Wireless Pocket travel router

-Neck Pillows

#14...how things move quicker now

I meant to post this earlier but just getting around to doing things.  On Wednesday, we got the numbers and PDF file needed for us to fill out Izzie's visa.  We are #14!  We are waiting on Article 5 approval then next step is Travel approval.

This next step is estimated to take around 2-3 weeks.  We are eagerly waiting to get Izzie home!  We are hoping while we wait we get another update on her.


Also on Friday 3.21, we received our visas!  We are ready to go.  Still hoping for mid May, early June travel. 

Fingers crossed.

LUCKY #13...Immigration APPROVED!

Called our Officer on Friday.  She had us approved on Wednesday 3.12.14!!!!  This is the i800 approval, which is the Petition to Immigration to Classify Izzie as an Immediate Relative.  We are MOVING right along!  We received this hard copy of the i800 in the mail today.  We sent OUR visas Thursday via Fedex and the day before we received a generous donation from a family member to help us pay for our visas.  We are SO truly thankful! 

Guangzhou, China (This will be our home away from home for almost 2 weeks)

Next step to complete is Izzie's Visa (Step #13).  We have to wait for ONE # to be able to do this.  Then, off to Article 5 approval (more Visa/info to china) then after this TRAVEL APPROVAL.

We also made a request for an update and asked some questions.  We are crossing our fingers that it includes more pictures and videos.  We have been very lucky to have such clear pictures and videos this last time. 

We are still RIGHT ON TRACK for May-June travel!!!!

With the finishing up paperwork, getting her room ready, and such, I'm a little behind in pictures...here's our long awaited LOA.  We have a copy of it framed in the house, but the original went back to Holt then on back to China.

Here's our official LOA

Bob (Baba) signing that we accept Izzie into our family.

 

Jen (Mama) signing

 Someone recently asked me about pictures of Izzie's room.  To be honest, I thought I had already posted these, but I guess I hadn't.  We LOVE how it has transformed!

Since I've taken this, there's a even more books!

Here's her bed.  We LOVE it!  Underneath is a book nook.  With little touch lights and storage underneath.

View from the door.

Mom's making pillow shams for the pillows.

I LOVE the cabbage patch doll that we found for her (Mom got it).  It is born on August 15th (Bob's bday).  

Bec and I posing at the Mommy's to be parking.

Bec (due April 19th) and I getting ready to take Babies R Us by storm with our registry guns.

Top 10 Reasons Why Today's a Better Day

Truly had a rough day/night the last 2 nights (running on minimal sleep).  This is such a hard process.  I've become a better WAITER than I thought I would.  But...I WANT TO LEAVE NOW!!! (insert me stomping my feet)

10.  When asked if I was attending a run from some running team members, I said no I think I will be L A Z Y this weekend because I haven't slept much.  Without missing a beat, one of my former student says I thought you shouldn't be LAZY.  I said...well that was before I started this adoption thing.  LOL  LOL  This is the same student that asks me on a daily basis if I learned any new Mandarin words (see #1)

9.  Got a drawing today from a new student.  OMG!  I'm a Mama!  She pointed out that the pictures some students gave me yesterday were for the same reason. 

8. In my class students have been doing research on their planets, yesterday and today they put it on a board builder (online bulletin board where they can add images/etc).  My class (exception of some spelling/grammar errors) ROCKED this!  They already talking about what we can do next.  Maybe we have them each pick a skill in Reading...hmmmm.  After Spring Break, of course! 

7. Time to ask for another update!!!!!  We need to come up with about 5 questions to ask.  (You want to limit them to questions that are of most importance).  Basically, this way you know that they will be answered.

6.  Another adoption friend today received her LONG AWAITED soft LOA!!!!!  She was matched almost a month before we were, so I'm SUPER pumped for her!

5.   Visa packet is complete and ready to go.  Courier service is reviewing for us as I type.  We ended up spending a little more money to have some conveniences.  Well find out today that they give a discount to those who work with our agency.  SCORE!  $440 (not including shipping) to $418!!!  Hey we'll take it!

4.  Our agency's travel person called yesterday to discuss pre-travel and ask if we had any questions.  I had them walk me through the last steps.  I FINALLY think I get it.  AND we found out the last part of what we owe is a little less than we thought.  More money to spend on getting the things we still need ;).  May is looking like slim to none...so June it may be.  We are praying that all papers are finalized without any hang ups to keep our hopes of May still alive.

3.  Spring break is only 3 days away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2.  A surprise check showed up at my husband's work from a family member.  TRULY I don't think you knew how much we needed that today!

1.  Went back and looked at one of Izzie's videos.  LATE LAST NIGHT...I realized that she grabs the ball and asks the camera person...ball (with a question mark tonation) as she hands it to the lady.  Of course I guessed the word was ball and thanks to google...YES IT IS!  I can't believe I missed it before!  So I learned a new Mandarin word, but if I could remember it would be another story!

#11 for those keeping track...

February 24th marked one year from when we applied to Holt and jumped both feet into this international adoption journey.  We had been Out of Translation since (at the least) January 28th, 2014.  Monday, 2/24, I was taking the trash out when my cell buzzes with an email from our agency.  They say that they had received my email and were sending us our next set instructions to help us get ahead of things (I had asked the day before because y'all know me the constant planner).  Yay!  I figured while I was at it I'd ask for a status update.  The email comes back that we had jumped to "match reviewed".  This is SHOCKING!  I read it again.  This means that they reviewed our Dossier and Izzie's file together!  This is what in the adoption world calls "soft" LOA (Letter of Acceptance).  Soft because it is not a "hard copy" (yet).

Of course, Bob's not home.  I call one of my Wonderful adoption friends FREAKING OUT!  "Does this mean what I think it means?", I ask her.  She thinks so, but we decide we need to go to our "lifeline" aka my FAV adoption fb group that has been my GO TO in many many occasions.  I ask the group...they all confirm.  We have been approved and just waiting for the hard copy LOA to the agency.

I call Bob...he just left work to come home.  I call my Mom!  When Bob gets home, I'm waiting with a HUGE smile across my face standing in the garage.  After I tell him, the FIRST thing he says is "Mommy!'  "Daddy!" I say back.  I tell him that they said it could take up to 1 month for the hard copy to come to Holt. 

On Thursday February 27th, I'm at the consignment sale with my BFF, Quyen Nguyen, when I'm staring at the Pizza kit we registered for but 1/2 the cost.  I'm thinking should I buy this now...bbbbring goes my cell phone...it's Bob.  "Holt called" he says.   I couldn't tell by his tone...   I say, "Andddd?"  He says, "They have our LOA, it will be Fedex'd to us and arrive on Monday".  I said "WHAT?  Please repeat what you just said".  He repeats himself.  "Oh my gosh, Bob we did it!"  I say.  He calls me Mommy and to have fun and celebrate.  I said "Oh my gosh there's so much we still need. " I buy the pizza pretend kit that I was staring at when he called.  

So IT'S OFFICIAL...we ARE Izzie's parents now even in China's eyes!  NOW we need to have the USCIS agree with our match with Izzie, get her Visa (and our Visas), THEN TRAVEL APPROVAL!  We are looking at May 16th, June 6th, or June 13th travel dates.  Once our USCIS approval comes in (i800 approval), we will know more likely which dates.

As my class realized that I had changed our countdown, a student wrote on the board:

Baba and I are OVER THE MOON with excitement to announce our daughter: 

 

Isabella Chen Smith 

"Izzie"

Born:  August 1, 2010

Favorite Food:  Candy and Biscuits 

Favorite Things to Do:  Play with Balls and Walk

7 Weeks Ago...

I can't believe that it has been 7 weeks tomorrow since we saw her face.   We are still hoping to have some progress this week.  To be REVIEWED would be AWESOME this week!

Dear China,

We are ready whenever you are!

Love,

Baba and Mama 

 

That being said, there is still a lot to do and get, but we are trying to take one day at a time.  After throwing my back out and really doing nothing but kickball and Discovery Education training prep this weekend, I feel like my HUGE accomplishment is getting the package sent off.  Today (well it will go out tomorrow) we sent off our little care package to Izzie. In it includes:

A photo album-we will share with you when we get our LOA because it has a few pictures of Izzie in it and we aren't allowed to post that yet.

Enya CD-anyone who has ever been in my classroom when I was a preschool teacher knows that I love Enya!  When Bob and I first started dating, he stopped in during nap time one day and said "Hey that's Enya"!

Stickers- you are allowed to include stickers because they are small enough to go in the photo album. Everyone KNOWS I LOVE stickers!  When I was an admin, students would stop by my desk to get stickers.  We told her those where something she could share with her friends ;).

Letter- We had notes within the photo album, but wrote out a separate note to her as well.  We are not sure how many letters we are allowed to send her so this one included everything we could think of.

Here it all is!

Izzie's First Gift

Our First Time Signing Baba and Mama

LOA wait Day 42...

44 days ago we first saw our picture of our little girl...

42 days ago we started our wait for China to accept us as her parents...

28 days ago we saw her move, giggle, and had confirmation that she in fact was our girl...

17 days (or later) since Out of Translation...

We have always anticipated a 60 day wait or so.  Many have had way longer and some very quick, but either way not easy. 

Operation: More Paperwork

First off, I would like to apologize on behalf of the adoption community for our contribution in the depletion of the rainforest.  Seriously, WAY TOO MUCH PAPERWORK!  Luckily some of the recent things we are able to feel out online and send to our agency via email.  As of date, we have not heard an official word from China that we are accepted as Izzie's parents, but we are well underway with the next sets of papers that our agency has requested.

We started the paperwork today on our visas.  This cost for the 2 of us will be right around $400 with courier fees and shipping costs.  We have a few things that we were looking at selling that people either have donated to us, or we have been meaning to put on ebay.

We figured before we tried craigslist, ebay, or something similar that we'd mention it here first.  Only the things on Etsy have set prices (I can delete shipping and do without using etsy if local though).  So please feel free to message me and name your price!

First off, please share our Etsy page if you can...https://www.etsy.com/shop/OperationChinaAdopt

Etsy shop has new items! Check them out!

Also, if you are interested in learning more about Advocare.  Please message me and I can walk you through it. 

UPDATE: We have sold the necklace, wristlet, and Nintendo Game Cube!!!!! 

Thanks all for the prayers and good wishes,
Jen and Bob

2 Iphone 4 cases

 2 sets of Harley Davidson's playing cards in tins, cards still in seal.  (Donated Items)

 Below is a Dooney and Bourke purse (Donated item)

inside view of purse

Game Systems:  

Playstation 2:  Includes system, power cord, 3 corded controllers, 1 extension cord for corded controller, 1 remote to make a dvd player, 1 set of 4 controllers for Game up, 2 cordless controls (with transmitters already in system), several memory cards, SVideo cable, 13 PS2 games, 1 PS game, and original instructions.  You will need to get the cord that plugs from PS2 to TV (on ebay that is around $9).

 

Ashley Cooper Limited Doll--  Original cost $80 (Donated item) In original box

Oh, by the way did we mention....

For Christmas, we decorated our tree with pink ribbon (rather than my usual purple one).  I even went a step farther and added a streak of red in my hair for good luck (red is lucky in China).  I always told Bob that I expected to be matched by the end of the year.  Well, we had some hang ups that we didn't plan on.  Things took longer than anticipated.  When you are working with different agencies, social workers, and governments, things don't always go as smoothly as you plan.

On Christmas Eve, we opened Baby Smith's FIRST Christmas gift from my Mom and Dad.  It goes perfect in the room:

Being off, really is hard when you are waiting for things.  The business had a good year, and I had all the Quickbooks up-to-date.  What to do? What to do? Just wait, worry and worry/wait some more.  

On December 31, 2013, we said a quick prayer "Come on now God...I think we've waited long enough.  We just want a family".  Also, we were waiting to hear if we were #9 (Dossier translated into Mandarin).  We emailed our contact that morning to see if we could check something else off our list (little celebrations).

Off to do something else, I went on the computer checking my email and realized that we had some donations to our adoption.  HUGE help!  Then, as I was talking to a friend online about my other business adventure...Advocare,  my cell phone rings.  It's our agency (which plays suspense music when they call).  Wow I think...I figured that they would email me back about the #9 question.  Hmmmm.  I answer the phone expecting it to be our main contact.  NOPE, it was the DIRECTOR!  My hands started to shake.  She introduces herself.  She asks if we are ready for a referral.  I said "we've been anxiously waiting".  She explains that it is a girl, 3 years old, birthday August 1st, 2010 (my bday is Aug 3rd, Bob's is the 15th)....as I'm listening I'm shaking...oh shoot I should probably tell Bob (after 5 minutes had passed).  As I stand in the door way, the moment Bob sees my face he knows who's on the phone.  I ask the director if I can put her on speaker phone so Bob could hear.  Bob guides me to sit down because I'm shaking so bad that he was afraid I'd pass out.  After she explains about her, an update comes (her original file is a year old) with wonderful news.  We ask to review the file.  She explains that we have to fill out a Letter of Intent tonight to give us time to have a doctor to review her file.  EEEEEEEEEEKKKKK 911!!!

That has to have been the longest hour plus of our lives!  The moment my phone bings that the email is here...Bob says that he has to take a shower.  Really? Really?  I say...NOW?  He says that he wants to have a clear head.  Now 30 plus minutes later, refreshed and with our Adoption shirts on...we open the email.  The first file we look at has this little black and white picture of her.  She's beautiful...with her short little hair.  We review all parts of the file.  The medical blood work is foreign to us, but the other parts look great.  We don't get too excited because we want a doctor to review it plus this file is a year old and we will need an update.

2 days later (with only 4 people outside the adoption world knowing what was going on) we get the call from the international adoption doctor that reviewed all the information we had.  She is super positive.  With Bob being the medical person, he breaths a sigh of relief.  We knew that this part in the process Bob would be the person of reason and I'd be the emotional wreck.  The cutest part is when he sees her little picture on my phone and gives the phone a hug.

January 16th (over 2 weeks weeks later), we get the update!  Everything we prayed for and more.  3 new pictures and 2 videos!

So for those who are counting we are #10 (and have been for almost a month) and hope to move to step #11 (Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter Acceptance) in late Feb/early March (when we're allowed to post pics).  It still appears that May/June travel is still in the works as long as no hang ups.  We are translated now and have 2 more little steps before #11.  We will be getting a rather big bill in the next few days. 

We are happy to say that we are OVER THE MOON in love with our little girl.

It is now Operation Bring Home ISABELLA CHEN SMITH!    

Love, 

Izzie's Mama and Baba

Top 10 things...

Top 10 things we can't wait to do with our daughter....just because....

1.  See Kids' movies in the theater.  WE Love all those movies and wait for them to come out on Redbox.

2.  Go to the fountains in downtown Pcola on a hot summer day...Just imagine Bob and I out there splashing in the water by ourselves...LOL LOL

3.  Rent a bounce house/water slide for the backyard...I love those things at school, but man to have several hours to just bounce and slide....ahhhh summer.

4.  Turn on the sprinklers in the backyard:  Yep I've done it before after mowing the grass...but Bob won't laugh at me if I do it with her.

5.  Easter basket/eggs

6.  Christmas morning-  Bob and I still talk about the excitement we had waking up christmas morning as kids.

7.  Watching Bob teach her piano/ us playing catch in the backyard

8.  Beach...I'm there A LOT in the summer!

9.  Disney World...Cinderella's castle, enough said

10. Parks, nature walks...