Travel Approval and Travel dates!!!!

Our travel approval arrived at our agency last Friday. We are leaving next Thursday, June 9th!! We will meet Jayden on Monday, June 13th!!! Praise God!

It's just Hannah and I going to China this time. David is going to hold down the fort with the other kids. Hannah and I will do a little bit of touristy stuff in Hong Kong before taking the train to Guangzhou on Sunday the 12th. Then on Thursday night, June 23rd, we will take the train back to Hong Kong and leave early Friday morning for home. The rest of the itinerary is still up in the air, just waiting for the travel agency in China to figure all that out. We requested to visit Jayden's orphanage, so hopefully that will happen. We were not allowed to visit Josiah's orphanage last year.

We would really appreciate all your prayers for this next week as we prepare to travel, and for Jayden, that his heart will be ready for a family! In less than two weeks, his world will completely be turned upside down.

New pictures and update!

We just got an update from our agency on Jayden! He is getting so big. It said that he is now able to get up into standing on his own in his crib and will take steps leaning his body in the rail. He is only eating rice cereal/rice porridge with formula from a bottle. So I expect he will have no idea how to chew food, even though he is 21 months old. They said he will smile when played with, so I hope to see that smile really soon. All of the pictures we have of him, he looks so sad. I just want to go get him all the more now!!

waiting for our last step

Just another quick update. Our Article 5 was picked up from the US consulate in Guangzhou last Thursday, and sent to Beijing. Now we are officially waiting for Travel Approval!!! We are still hoping to travel in June.

In other news, I don't think I mentioned on our blog that we got chickens this year! David and his dad build the coop, and the kids helped David with finishing the coop and the chicken run. It was a lot more work than we bargained for, but we are excited for when the chickens start laying eggs! They still prefer to stay inside the coop instead of exploring outside, but I don't blame them, it is too cold!

So cute chicks in March

Josiah loves playing with them. And they actually put up with him!

My little chicks

Don't they look cozy in their new digs?

The whole gang went up skiing at Mt. Bachelor (my four plus niece and nephew)

getting closer

For once, we seem to be in the fast lane with this adoption. We got our I800 approval last Monday, and were cabled yesterday! What this means is that we are two steps closer to Jayden!! Two more steps to go! Now we wait for Article 5, which takes two weeks, and then we wait for travel approval, which is taking anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. So June travel is looking pretty likely.

New pictures!

A family recently visited the Gaozhou orphanage and got to see our son, tickle his feet, and take some pictures of him! We are so thankful that they checked in on him, and especially thankful for the words they wrote about him and the new pictures.

The nannies said he is clever and even is pulling on and off his pants with his feet. He was attentive to the visitors, but didn't smile for them. He is most likely in his crib all the time, but has many other cribs that are close so the kids can reach through or over the rails to touch each other. There are probably only two nannies for the two baby rooms, with a total of about 30 babies. So not a lot of attention, but they said it looked like at least his basic needs are being met and he looked healthy. I can't wait to go get him and love him, hold him, hug him, tell him I love him. I want to see him smile!!

LOA!!!

Two months after sending our final documents to China, we got our LOA (letter of approval, or letter seeking confirmation) yesterday! This means we have been approved by the Chinese adoption authority to adopt Jayden.

Next steps are waiting for another approval from immigration, waiting for documents to be cabled to the US consulate in China, waiting for approval from the consulate (Article 5), and then waiting for Travel Approval from China. Each step takes approximately 2 weeks. Once we have travel approval, we can make a consulate appointment and buy plane tickets!! So, looks like June travel is still possible, at the latest beginning of July (assuming the government doesn't shut down and slow things down!!)

Waiting..... and a name!

Waiting is something most people don't like to do. Waiting in long lines at the grocery store. Waiting for the cookies to finish cooking. Waiting for the first days of Spring. Waiting for a child to come home. The whole adoption process is a bunch of hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, and repeat I don't know how many times. I don't mind the hurry up part, but detest the waiting part.

But it is during the waiting times that I see God really working. When I'm waiting for something, I tend to draw closer to God. Partially to ask Him to hurry up the wait. I'm human after all! But mostly to seek comfort from Him and grow in my relationship with Him during the wait.

So we wait. All our paperwork is in China now, waiting for someone over there to send us a letter stating that we are approved to adopt our son. This wait is one of the biggest unknowns of the process, how long it will be. With Olivia and Josiah's adoptions, we waited about 80 days for this approval. More recently, people have been waiting anywhere from 30 to 70 days. We are of course praying that it will come soon! After all, it is not just us waiting. There is a little boy in a crowded orphanage in China, waiting for a family to show him what love is. We are also praying that while he is waiting for his family, someone will love him there.

AND

I think I completely forgot to announce on our blog that we have a name!!

Jayden Ailang

Jayden is named after my dad, Jay. Jayden is derived from the Hebrew name Jadon, who was a man that helped Nehemiah rebuild the wall in Jerusalem, it means thankful. And his given Chinese name is Gao Ai Lang. Every child from his orphanage has Gao as their surname. Ai is given to every child found in 2009 and Lang is his unique name.