Another Small Update

We have had a super lazy day, I'm so glad we came a day early to rest up before our sight-seeing starts, the jet lag is awful. Here are a few pictures from our day of doing nothing. The view from our room is very nice, as you can see the housing here goes from super worn down apartment buildings to beautiful high-rise apartments. People driving BMW's and others riding worn out bikes with their family on the back. Eye opening for sure. Our hotel is wonderful, the staff is amazingly helpful.

Thanks everyone for the comments and e-mails. I am locked out of our blog here, so I'm sending my updates home. 2 more days and we meet Jadyn, We can hardly wait.

We Made It!!

After 25 hours of continuous travel we landed in Beijing around 8:45 pm last night That was the longest ride of our lives. I was soo ready to get off that plane. We collected our bags, found our agency guild and headed right for our hotel. The beds never looked so good. We slept all night, which is our daytime normally. We woke feeling great.

Here are a few pictures from our day of travel.
The picture of the map, is actually the TV screen in the plane that I watched for over 11 hours, anyway it shows our in-air progress, I snapped this picture right as we crossed the International Date Line.
Jeron was a great traveler, took a couple naps, played legos and watched some movies.

Tomorrow we will tour Beijing with the rest of our adoption group (18 other families)
The next day we fly to Jadyn's province and the day after that we will meet our baby girl!

It's time!

We are packed and ready to go. Our dog, Lucas and fish, Gold Tooth are with our awesome neighbors, Thanks Guys! We are leaving for Portland soon. We will drop G off with family and go to my sisters for the night, we need to be at the airport by 4 a.m.

I'm not sure if we will even go to sleep tonight. Not only am I not a early morning person, I'm not a good long trip car/plane rider, please wish Ames me luck.

We have waited for this day for over 3 years, it just doesn't seem real yet. We are both excited and nervous, worrying ourselves sick over what we may have forgot to pack, the weight of the bags, ect.

What has me the most worried is meeting Jadyn and how upset this entire life change is going to make her. Her grieving for her family at the orphanage is really going to tear at our hearts. We will do whatever we can to make this time the easiest for her.

I will try and update between flights tomorrow, we have a lay-over in LA and one in Tokyo.

Our Girl!

We sent Jadyn this little dress a couple weeks ago, this would be her first fashion show for Mom & Dad!

I hope they took the tags off after this picture was taken!!

One more week!

2 week from today........

We will be in the air, on our way to Jadyn.

I have a super sized packing list that I have narrowed down to what I think we might need in China. Scratched off what I know I won't need and what we don't have room for. I'm left with 4 pages of items I hope to fit into 3 suitcases. I'm by far packing the most clothes for Jadyn. I have put lots of baby outfits into a large zip lock, airtight bag and vacuumed the air out. It is now a flat bundle. Boy those thing are a great invention. A girl needs variety and this is a great way to pack it!

We have ordered an adoption medical kit that has just about everything you would need for skin infections to pink eye. I'm hoping we won't need any of it, but want to have it just in case. If we don't need it then another family may.

Did I mention we got our plane tickets for a mighty good price, 4 round trip tickets and 1 one-way ticket for $5,400.00!

We fly home during the middle of the night, so hopefully Jadyn we will get some sleep to help pass the time!

Happy 4th of July America!

I can officially say, in less than a month, we will have another little American citizen to call our own! The countdown has begun, our plane tickets are purchased, all our appointments in China are confirmed.

Ames & I have been busy getting more paperwork ready to take. Kim and I received our Chinese visa's to enter the country of Jadyn's birth. Ames & Jeron's visa's should arrive this week.

I have an appointment with our pediatrician next week to get prescription medication to take as a precaution for Jadyn & Jeron in case of ear infections, skin infections etc. We want to have western medication on hand.

As planned, we are flying out of Portland, Oregon EARLY the morning of July 29, and through Los Angeles and Tokyo before arriving in Beijing the evening of July 30 (China time). We'll spend 3 days in Beijing sight-seeing. On Aug. 2 we will fly to the Jiangsu province capital, Nanjing. Aug. 3 we will receive Jadyn!! We will stay in Nanjing for the next 5 days awaiting her passport. The evening of Aug 7, the 5 of us will fly to Guangzhou. This is where the American Consulate is located and where we apply for her visa to permit her into the USA. This process takes about 7 days.

We will fly home on Aug 13, again laying over in Tokyo and Los Angeles. As soon as our little girl's feet touch the ground in Los Angeles, she will become an American citizen! There, we will complete all our U.S. Customs paperwork so that upon arrival in Portland we are immediately free to meet with our waiting family members. I hear there will be quite a crowd awaiting our new little American. Not only have we awaited this day for over 3 years, so have our family and friends. We love you all!

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!

We got our invitation to travel today (TA)!

Looks like we may leave July 29 for an extra day of sight-seeing in Beijing. I will post more information, as soon as we get it. Right now we are scheduled to get Jadyn on Monday, Aug. 3

Traveling in Packs

Since we started our adoption it was decided that I would travel to China with my sister to bring Jadyn home. That was over 3 years ago, Jeron had just turned 4 and we didn't want to leave him for such a long time. Plus the boys were in pre-school and school. It was just too much to ask someone to step-in for that long. Things have changed............

Over the weekend we decided to add a couple travelers.
Ames and Jeron are now going to China with Kim and I. We are very excited to be going together. I personally feel better traveling that far away for such an important event with my husband there. Plus we will now be able to complete our adoption for both countries, while in China.

Garrison has decided to stay home with family, entire day long flights, 14 plus days of hotel living and lots of Chinese food isn't too appealing to my teen boy. We will use Skype to keep in touch with him and for him to see his new sister. We are planning to leave either July 29 or 30!

A couple updates

The first one is obvious, our blog has a new look. I was getting a little tired of the pink and figured you were probably too!

Second, we have tentative travel dates!! (not written in stone yet)
Leaving via Portland, Oregon on July 30th. arrive in Beijing July 31st. for 2 days of sight seeing. Fly to Nanjing and receive Jadyn on Aug. 2nd.
We have lots planned for the rest of the 2 weeks while we wait for her passport and visa. Fly home Aug. 13th. I will post our entire itinerary when we know for certain our exact dates.

We sent Jadyn another package, we included a cute pink pair of converse tennis-shoes, a stuffed bunny my parents got for her. A book about a baby and Mommy, I put a picture of me in the book along with a picture of her, hopefully she will get the connection that I am her Mommy and recognize me. Target has the same book in the Baby and Daddy version, I will take that one with me to China, so she can see the connection between Baby and Daddy before we get home.

I thought I would post Jadyn's updated measurements, she is such a tiny girl. It has been hard for me to figure out what size of clothes to buy. Her weight puts her in a 12 month size, but in height she should be in 18-24 months. I have been getting her all 18-24, too big is better than too short!

Height 33.8"
Weight 21 lbs.
Head 17"
Chest 18"
Foot 5"

Busy week with Visa Applications and a Doctors appt.

The paperwork is piled high on our desk. We have been working on our Visa applications this week and copying documents that I have to take to China with me. The stack in this picture is copies of our dossier, tax returns and everything else that proves who we are. I have to take 2 to 3 copies of a lot of documents with me. That's a lot of paper pack'en!

Ames & I met with a Pediatric Cardiologist today. This is one of the same doctors who reviewed her file for us in May. We feel really comfortable with him and his manor of explaining her upcoming procedures. We have chosen to have her heart condition corrected at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA

A new picture & Our Daughter's name

Look at that adorable face

Guess who that is in the orange sweater? Yep, it's Jadyn. This photo was taken by a family that was visiting the orphanage in late March. It's hard to tell she weighs only 21 pounds with all those clothes on.

We have many days behind us now trying to decide what to name our daughter. We want to incorporate her Chinese name along with the names we fell in love with over 2 years ago. Its been a struggle to get a combination that flows.

Her Chinese name is her heritage, and we feel it is very important that she keep part of that as her new legal name. For those of you that know us personally, you know our last name is long...4 syllables long, so we don't feel good about giving her 2 middle names for a total of 4 names.

We have decided to name our daughter.....Jadyn Qi.

(Qi is pronounced Kee)

Yes, this is final as we have already submitted it to our agency for her visa and passport!

Travel update: Our agency is now saying it looks like mid-July! We have also found out that Kim & I will be traveling with 10 other families. We won't meet up with them until our second week in China unless they are adopting from Jiangsu Province as well.

One Step Closer!

Our agency got our Seeking Conformation letter today from China! 2 weeks, that's all it took. Things are moving so fast. They will overnight it to us and we will have it tomorrow! Watch out UPS, this new Mommy will be taking your picture, as you have the official referral of our daughter in your hands!
The next step..........China's invitation (TA) for us to travel to pick up Jadyn!

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)