Pictures I Promised

Good To Be Back Blogging

I just checked my calendar and today Kai has been home for exactly 10 weeks. These have been two wonderful months that I'm sure I will never forget. Kai is such an angel and has fit into our family as if he were born to us. He sleeps 11 hours a night (uninterupted and with no adults in the room), eats everything we put in front of him, and giggles all day long. He has gone from NEVER crying to crying when he falls down or hurts himself in some way. He has pitched 2 or 3 temper tantrums that lasted about five minutes each - but that's it. All in all, he is the best two year that I've ever seen.

J.D. (our 10 year old) and I miss China. We both love the people and the country and we had such a wonderful experience while there. I also miss the fact that we were able to be together 24/7 while in China - no work, no commitments, just pure unadulterated family-time.

I am still on Family Medical Leave but should return to work sometime in late March. I got a lead a on pretty neat part time job, but turned it down after realizing I would just break even after paying for Kai's day care.

As for an update on the family - J.D. starts lacrosse in February and David will be coaching Piper's soccer team (as usual.) Kai has started Mothers Morning Out for a total of 6 hours a week (yes, I have 6 hours a week to myself!) Kai loves school and you would think his preschool artwork is the Mona Lisa by the way he guards it! I believe it has something to do with spending his first 2.5 years in an orphanage, but Kai loves being out and around people - particulary kids.

I plan to begin blogging more often, but here are some pictures from the last few months. If you missed our travel journal, please visit our Journey to Kai at www.youbelong.net/olivet

Blogger Blues

O.K., so I'm officially the worst blogger east of the Mississippi River. At least I own up to it! I do have an excuse, if you care to hear it. China does not allow blogs. That means if you set up a wonderful blogspot account and hope to journal your travels to China on it - too bad. There are a couple of sneaky ways to get into censored sites in China, but I've heard that they don't always work. Since I really want to chronicle our journey to Kai on the web (specifically for my mom and dad), I decided to start an adoption travel journal. I will post to it almost every day we are in China and hope you will read along. You can also subscribe to our journal and receive an e-mail every time there is an update.

The address is http://www.youbelong.net/olivet.

My last day of work (for 5 or 6 months) was Tuesday. The last two days at home have been incredible. I don't think I could stay at home forever, but it sure is fun for a little while! I have spent most of my time getting ready for the trip, talking to our travel coordinators, getting money exchanged and wired to China, shopping for orphanage gifts, buying winter clothing for the kids, and making sure we have what we need for Kai. I have turned our garden tub into a holding spot for all of our travel supplies. It's tacky but it works.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

I can't believe I'm actually typing this but here is our China schedule:

Leave early in the morning on Wednesday Nov. 7th

Arrive late at night in Beijing on Thursday Nov. 8th

Travel to Lanzhou & Meet Kai on Sunday Nov. 11th!!!

Adoption Finalized on Monday Nov. 12th

Travel to Guangzhou on Friday Nov. 16th

Medical Exam on Monday Nov. 19th

Consulate Appointment on Tuesday Nov. 20th

Swearing In Ceremony on Wednesday Nov. 21st

Fly home on Thanksgiving, Thursday Nov. 22nd

And boy do we have a lot to be thankful for!

The Wait is Over

The wait is almost over! Yesterday we received our travel approval from China. Although we are free to travel at any time now, we have decided to leave on Nov. 7th. If we wait until then, the kids will miss 4 days less of school (due to Veterans Day and the Thanksgiving holidays.) I can not believe that our 2 year and 4 month wait is really coming to end.

****WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU KAI!****

Oh, how I wish he could hear (and understand) me. I pray that his nannies are preparing him for a "mommy and daddy". Even if they are talking to him about us, I doubt that he actually understands the concept of a family. But he will very soon.

I recently put in for an extended leave from work. No, it didn't go over too well. A little yelling and a few disappointed looks but nothing I couldn't handle. Women are so much stronger than men give them credit for. I always laughed during my stint at the Police Academy that the instructors thought yelling, screaming and a few cuss words would break me. I wanted so badly to tell them that they were a piece of cake next to my toddler and preschooler!

Package of Love

We sent Kai a care package today. It was a great little box full of fun things for a 2 year old. Who knows if he will actually get it (insert fingers crossed here.) We had a friend translate a letter into Chinese that thanked the orphanage staff for taking care of Kai. We also put goodies in the package for his nannies (ginseng & chocolates.) I hope they show him the photo album so he will recognize us. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he looked at us and said momma and daddy in Chinese? I know it's unlikely but anything is possible!

On another note the lady at the post office asked me where I was sending the package. I was a little confused since I had the address, in English and Chinese, clearly labeled on the box. I answered, "The People's Republic of China." She then explained to me that nobody knew where that was and that I should write CHINA in big letters on the box. Now, I was in a conundrum. Our adoption agency had told us that the Chinese take offense at the name China. Instead, they prefer to use the proper name of their country - The People's Republic of China. I guess this can be important since Taiwan is actually The Republic of China. The rude post office lady started looking at me like I had two heads, then she grabbed my package and wrote CHINA underneath the address. I wanted to scratch her eyes out but instead thanked her for all her help (I know, I'm becoming a model of patience. I think I'm going to start giving lessons soon.)

Doing the LOA Snoopy Dance!

We're doing the Snoopy Dance tonight because our LOA came today! Yea! Much quicker than we expected. For those of you keeping track, we received our LOA on day 66 of our wait from LOI (I realize this is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo for non-adopters - just bear with me!) We love you all and will post more later.