Where is Jadyn?

She lives in the City of Yangzhou in the Province of Jiangsu if you would like to learn more about her birth place click here- http://yangzhou.jiangsu.net/

My sister, Kim and I will be staying the first week in her province we will get Jadyn on the 2nd. or 3rd. day and complete the Chinese side the adoption the next day, the remaining part of the week we wait for her passport. Then the 3 of us will fly to Guangzhou for another week as we wait for her Visa into the USA.

We were able to send Jadyn her first care package yesterday, our agency keeps it very limited. We sent her a ladybug cloth book, a little cuddle blanket, a disposable camera for the Nanny's to capture pictures of her and her friends. They will return the camera to me once I get there. Most importantly we sent her a photo album introducing us to her as Daddy, Mommy, 2 big brothers and Lucas the dog.

A brand new picture of JADYN

We are so in LOVE!!

Isn't she just adorable! This photo was just sent to us tonight by another Yangzhou adoptive family, it was taken a couple weeks ago. She looks so happy and healthy.

Thank you Kelli

Meet Jadyn

We have been given clearance to share information about our daughter, so without further anticipation...Here she is!

Our little angel's Chinese name is Yang Jun Qi

Yang is her last name, it is given to all children at the Yangzhou orphanage, her first name is Jun (pronounced Chen) her middle name is Qi (pronounced Kee) We will name her Jadyn Brooke, we would like to add one of her Chinese names to her American name, we just have not decided on it yet. She is currently 26 months old and weighs around 21 pounds.

We have a DAUGHTER!

Ames and I are excited to announce....We have accepted the referral of a beautiful 25 month old little girl. After 3 plus years of waiting, it has finally happened!

Our daughter lives in Yangzhou City, in the province of Jiangsu, we have read that this is a beautiful part of China.

Jadyn currently has a complicated but correctable heart murmur. We have consulted 2 pediatric cardiologists from Portland and Spokane, both have assured us that her condition is quite common and correctable. She will enjoy a normal healthy life. We will let our Doctor decide, once home, when to proceed with her surgery, though we would like to have it done as soon as possible.

My sister, Kim and I will travel to pick Jadyn up late July to early August. I would love to post her picture for you all to see, but I have to wait for our agency to give me the OK first. I assure you she is just adorable with plump, kissable cheeks! At her last check-up she was 21 pounds and 30" tall.

Happy "Were Still Hanging In There" Anniversary

Here we are 3 years into our wait. 36 months ago today our paperwork was officially logged into China's adoption data base. In case it isn't already painfully obvious to you, We are really tired of waiting!

It never enterd our minds that we would wait 3 plus years to meet the Chinese daughter we choose to adopt back in 2005. We were drawn to adopt from China due to the large number of abandon baby girls that are waiting in orphanages for a Family to love them.

Many have asked "what is taking so long?" I really wish I could answer that, we have been told so many different things, from the Olympics, to domestic adoption in China is way up, to abandonment's are way down. I really have no firm answer as to why the slow down. We are simply told there are far more families waiting to adopt, then children available.

Many have also asked "how are you so patient and are you going to keep waiting?" That one is easy for us to answer, YES, we will wait as long as it takes, we are inching closer each month. I still hold hope we will have her home in 2009. We are not always so patient, but it's out of our hands, In other words, if we could change it, we would have years ago! Waiting is so hard............

Some polls have been published that estimate a 26-30% drop out rate, families have either change the country they are adopting from, adopted domestically or simply said were done. So you would think with that size of attrition it would affect us and speed things up. Only time will tell. With that said, I hope all those families who have pulled out, have found their child, or feel at peace with their decision. Adoption is not for the light hearted, that's a fact!

Adoption Lifebook/ Scrapbook

An adoption waiting Mom friend of mine, Does that sound confusing? OK, she's waiting for her referral from China too! Anyway, she had a great idea to start her daughters scrapbook or adoption lifebook while waiting! You never know what kind of free time we'll have once they are home.

With all her sneak peeks and tips, she got me anxious to start Jadyn's now too. I made G one several years ago. They are a lot of work and the supplies can really add up, but it's something special she will have her entire life that she can look back on and treasure. Her book will be about her life in China and how she became part of our family.

There are some neat items available, and so much out there is dedicated to China and adoption, it's going to be fun! I have ordered a lot on line, once it shows up, I'll get started.

Think Spring swap......

The theme of this months gift swap with a Yahoo China group I belong to was "think spring" once again Jadyn received some really nice things, she's a spoiled little girl already.

Thank you, Jean, you went all out!

You see those Cadbury creme eggs? Those wont last, they are my favorite!

Jadyn's Quilt

I received Jadyn's quilt in the mail yesterday, it turned out so nice.

I just love the little Chinese girls. Each one with the caption of "Beautiful Child"

I would like to thank Robin, she does just beautiful work. You can view her web site at http://www.robinsewcrazy.com/ We will treasure this for years to come. Here is a close-up, notice the cute closure she added to the dresses.

(double click to enlarge)

2 Years, 11 months

Good thing I didn't start this blog when we first logged in, you would be board to tears by now. There is not a whole lot to talk about this month, the 35th. month of our wait, except that time does fly.

It's hard to believe that next month, April 29, 2009 will be 3 years. When we think about it, it has been 3 very long years of waiting.

So much has changed, like all of us getting older having 3 birthdays, our immediate family growing by 4, my boys, so much bigger.

There is still a lot of talk about a speed up, we hold hope that we will have our daughter home before this year flies by.

Have I ever mentioned the wait was 6-9 months when we were completing our paperwork? Yeah, I thought so.

Our agency reported that they were able to place 23 special need children with families so far this month. Our Congratulations to them all!

This is what we wait for, the privilege to parent a beautiful, orphaned child like her. Look at that sweet face!

My PINK Blog and The Quilt!

Do you feel like your swimming in a glass of Pink Lemonade? I know it's a lot of pink. I just love pink, I sure hope Jadyn does too, she will pretty much be dressed in it from head to toe most days!

Remember the quilt I'm having made? (see February 22, 09 post) It's DONE, I will have it in a day or two. I cant wait to see it.

Long Road

Some new projections came out today on Rumor Queen, and they are ugly! As you know our Log-in-date is April 29, 2006. According to her predictions, if China continues to refer babies at the rate they are currently, we won't see our daughter until early to mid 2010.

To sum it up we could still have another 18 months to wait, this calculation is based on China referring 3 days of log-in-dates per month, which is a little lower than what they have been doing recently on an average.

I am holding onto the rumor that things will speed up soon. If they increased the days referred to 5 per month that would drop our wait to 10 months. The average days referred lately have been between 2 and 6 days each month. The wait is now 3 plus years, I don't think it has ever reached this length.

We have our paperwork in another source as well, we are one of the first families to receive a referral of a child with a minor correctable special need. We have completed lots of paperwork as to what special need we would feel comfortable with and we wait for a match.

This could happen at anytime if a little girl that meets our requests becomes available. I admit our selection is pretty minor, but I have seen many children who would have met our requests be adopted in the past.

Another Month Passes

We have just reached the 34th. month since our log-in-date. Although we don't have day 29 this month, we'll count it as today. I did a couple other calculations and we have officially waited 1036 days since log in. Our official paper work was started 38 months ago or 1161 days.

Here's another look, 2 months before we applied, our youngest son turned 4 years old, he's now 7. OK you get it, we have waited way too long. Each month that passes I hope there will be a speed up. There are rumors of a speed up in the near future, just not this month.

Referrals just came out, it looks like they got to March 6, 2006 families.

You Might Be Adopting from China If......

Here is a cute poem making it's way around China adoption blogs

~You know that I-600 & I-171 aren't highways....
~You've been expecting a baby for over 3 years....
~You understand that it's 2006 in some parts of the world....
~You've "paid for" 3 citizenship's, but never brought anyone into the U.S....
~Your home study is followed by a number (i.e. #3 or #4)...
~You know that babies come in batches...
~You've been fingerprinted four times, but never committed a crime...
~You own new clothing in 3 little sizes for all 4 seasons (because you don't know when or how big)...
~You look twice when you see a lady bug...
~You're more interested in what will happen in March 2006 than in March 2009...
~You know people who understand when you talk about 2 day months & 5 day months...
~Your due date hasn't changed by days, but by years...
~You know who the Rumor Queen is ...
~You know that forecast doesn't have anything to do with the weather...
~You've waited so long, they re-checked your fingerprints to see if they changed...
~When you speak of "that time of month" you're talking about CCAA updates & referrals...
And finally...
You might be adopting from China if you love someone you've never met with all your heart.

Quilt

A sneak peek at something else handmade, but this time not by me. This project is way over my sewing abilities. I hired a quilter to fill in for me! I can't wait until she's done.

Most China adoptive parents have a quilt made that is called 100 Good Wishes Quilt. They have friends and family send them a small piece of fabric of their choice as a good wish, once 100 pieces of fabric are collected they are made into a quilt for the newly adopted child. Well I'm not that organized, and I don't believe I even have 100 family members and friends! So this is what Jadyn will have as her quilt.

I picked out the fabric combinations with help from some nice ladies at our local quilt shop. The finished size will be approximately 40x50 and look quite different than this sample, this is one panel, Jadyn's quilt will have 4 panels. I will share a picture as soon as it's done!

Thanks to a nice friend with resources we learned the writing on the quilt says "Beautiful Child" and that the pattern has the Chinese characters upside down! Jadyn's quilt will have them correctly placed.

Jadyn's Doll

Well here she is, one cute 15" handmade Asian doll. She was a little harder than I anticipated, I don't know how to use embroidery thread and that was step 1, her face.

I must have torn out her lips 3 times. After I got the stitch down Thanks to my husband, I know go figure! it went pretty quick.

My intentions were for this to be a toy doll, but her silk outfit is pretty fragile, I'm not sure it will handle all the love a little girl will give. The silk frays very easily, it wasn't fun to sew with.

If any of my local adoptive Mom friends would like to borrow the pattern, you are welcome to it~ I even have lots of embroidery thread and black yarn left! I would recommend cotton fabric for her clothing, unless you are very patient.

Also her body is made of craft velour, and I could not find it locally, I had to order it on-line. The color is camel, the price was less than $4.00 for 1/2 yard.

Overall I'm happy I'm done with her. She turned out just like I had hoped!

Congratulation's Boys!

G is in the center of the top picture and #7 on left in this picture

Yes, this site is dedicated to our daughter in China, but I just have to post.......

A BIG "Congratulations" to her big brother and his hockey team for taking 3rd. in State this weekend!!!. Great job guys!

The boys were 1 goal shy of 2nd. place and having to travel to Alaska for a regional tournment.

Thank you boys for stopping at 5 goals! did I just type that?

Good job Big G, you had a great season, we are very proud of you!

Another Asian Doll

Yes, I'm making her! I couldn't resist. She will get a few alterations to her facial features and a pretty Asian outfit. I will post a picture of her when I'm done.

I love to sew and did it all the time when my kids were small. Somehow I've become busy and don't have the time. Or maybe I shop too much and don't need to sew anymore, I'm not sure which. I'm making doll view 5 with doll view 4 style of clothes.

Jadyn

The girl’s name Jadyn /ji(a)-dyn, jad-yn\ is a variant of Jade.

The baby name Jadyn sounds like Jaden, Eadin, Eaden, Jayden and Jadine. Other similar names are Jalyn and Jady.

Jadyn is a very rare female first name and a very rare surname (source: 1990 US Census). Displayed below is the baby name popularity trend for the girl’s name Jadyn.



According to this chart, we are not the only ones who like her name, but 0.1% can still be considered rare, I suppose?

Here is the Chinese name for Jadyn:

The Golden Ticket

It has arrived, our Immigration approval! aka... I171-h. This is our 3rd time applying for and receiving approval of this document. You may have read in an earlier post this document expires every 18 months.

90 days before expiring we make the 1 hour and twenty minute drive to our "local" Immigration office to have our finger prints re-scanned. They expire every 15 months, and it must verified that we still haven't committed any crimes.

While waiting for our finger prints to come back clean! we gather all the required documents to apply for our renewal. This consists of our birth certificates, copies of our passports, our original home study, the 2 updated amendments to our home study, our last 2 approved (now void) I171-h forms, marriage certificate, the I600-a which is the form you use to apply for the I171-h and lots of money.

Unfortunately, we had a little drama come along with this renewal, I got a call one afternoon from Officer D. with the Immigration office asking me for a copy of a certain license from our home study Social Worker. Long stressfull story short, she made good on the license and Officer D. and I were happy again.

Ames and I are still unsure how this important pieces of paper was over-looked by Immigration the last 2 times we applied and received approval.

Please, please, please let this be the last time we have to renew this document!.

China Doll Snap Shot

Remember when you learned to drive a stick? yeah me too!. That's how I feel with my new camera. Stuck!

So many setting so many manuals. This camera even came with 2 cd's called "Nikon School".

I'm really trying to learn the custom setting so I don't use it as a point and shoot camera. It can do so much more. Here are a couple of Jadyn's dolls close-up that are pretty sharp. (double click on the picture to enlarge)

I ordered myself a new lens a couple of days ago, but as my luck would have it everyone else wants it too. It's back-ordered, I should get some real nice pictures with it due to the fast shutter speed.

Come to find out my smart husband went to photography school in his younger years and he remembers quite a bit. I also have some very helpful, camera smart friends that are very willing to answer my questions. I'll get there someday.