24 hours until we leave for the airport! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! :) This all seems so surreal. We have waited so long. It felt like we would never get to this point. It will probably hit me that we actually finally went to China two weeks after we get home...LOL!

Ok, only 97 hours until we leave for the airport and I am totally freaking out!!!! "Excited" does not even come close to describing how we are feeling right now!!! I honestly have no idea how I am supposed to get any sleep between now and then. By this time next week, Abigail will be in our arms. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhh! I don't know exactly how to describe the energy in our household...I guess very excited plus a little nervous and a touch of paranoia (about what, we don't exactly know). I think we just really want everything to go smoothly. We have to be so diligent to make sure that we bring every last form that is needed in China plus necessary copies. I am just so afraid of forgetting something.

Anyway, on a positive note...here is our official travel itinerary:

May 1- Thurs- Departure- The beginning of our journey, although, technically we will
be leaving for the airport in the middle of the night on Wednesday night

May 2- Fri- Arrive in Beijing and go to our hotel, meet up with adoption travel group

May 3- Sat- Sightseeing (The Great Wall)

May 4- Sun- Sightseeing (Forbidden City / Tian An Men Square)
Depart for Nanchang (in Abigail's province of Jiangxi)

May 5- Mon- Nanchang/ Meet your child! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! Registration, adoption
paperwork at Civil Affairs. Applying for Abigail's passport.

May 6- Tues- Notary

May 7- Wed- Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 8- Thurs- Rest/ Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 9- Fri- Receive passport, Depart Nanchang for Guangzhou (in Guangdong Province)

May 10- Sat- Visa Physical for Abigail

May 11- Sun- Sightseeing

May 12- Mon- Visa Interview at US Consulate

May 13- Tues- Take oath and receive visas

May 14- Wed- Leave Guanzhou for Hong Kong and US

So, as you can see, it will be an action-packed 2 weeks! :) I can't wait!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh! This is really happening! Only 5 days and a couple of hours to go until we head off to the airport. I can't even believe how close we are getting. This week we completed the final steps needed to finish our basement so that the girls will FINALLY have the playroom that we have been working on for the last 2 years! I am so excited. Other news....We officially have 2 carseats for each car! Emily moved up to a big girl car seat this week, leaving the toddler seat free for Abigail. And as we drove Emily around the neighborhood for her "test drive" with her new pink seat, it really hit us. Looking back at the two car seats side by side, we could really picture ourselves driving around 2 girls! :)

Only a little over 16 days to go til we leave for China....but who's counting, right?!? Heehee! Today I spoke to Lillian and Meg from our agency (CAWLI) for our official "travel meeting". I think they were both in total shock at the lack of pre-travel questions that Mike and I have. But, let's face it, in the two weeks since finding out that our travel date was set, I don't think that either Mike nor I have had a full night's sleep. We are just too excited to sleep. And, to pass the time we have read our agency's "travel information packet" cover to cover MANY times, and have spent many an hour online, visiting adoption internet groups and reading blogs of people who are currently in China for their adoption trip (hence, the lack of pre-travel questions). We are SOOOO ready for this. Actually, we have been for quite a while. Abigail's room is ready. She has a dresser full of clothes and a closet full of toys. My job hours have been rearranged and notice has been given to Emily's preschool, since I will be staying home for a while. We are DEFINITELY ready! The only thing that is missing......or should I say, the only ONE who is missing.....is Abigail.

Anyway, the travel meeting went well. Lillian (the director of our agency) and Meg (the social worker) are both so nice, and I am truly grateful to them for all of their hard work in helping us get to this point, where in just a couple of weeks we will travel to bring our precious daughter home.

Only a little over 23 days to go until we leave home for China! We are heading to the airport at about 2:30 am on the morning of the 31st, for check in at, yikes, 4 am).....Not that we're counting the days and hours or anything! And only about 26 days to go until we have Abigail in our arms! :)

To all our family and friends: Please feel free to post in the comments section or under the guestbook while we are away, as we will be checking in and updating the blog each day with our travel journal. Due to the tremendous time difference between here and China, this blog is the easiest way for us to keep in contact with everyone. We will be reading the posts and responding to as many as we can. This way, it will feel almost like you are all with us each step of the way as it is happening. :)

Sorry I didn't post sooner. Things have been a whirlwind around here. Yesterday at 11 am, we found out from our agency that our consulate appointment in Guanzhou had been set and that our travel dates to China were finalized...5/1-5/14. Within an hour of this notification, we received another email that our flights had already been booked and our travel itinerary was available for viewing online(talk about fast!) As you can imagine, we are sooooooo excited. In a little over 4 weeks, we will have our Abigail in our arms!!! :) Of course, once we received word of our travel dates, the insomnia officially set in. I was up almost all night last night thinking about the checklist of things that need to be taken care of before we go. Mike and I (and even Emily) have been walking around in a constant daze, as it has become very difficult to concentrate on anything else but Abigail and our upcoming meeting....and all the things we need to do before we go to China. Emily and I have spent the last two nights taking turns sitting and standing on bags full of clothing while using our food vacuum packer sealer thingy to suck every last bit of air out of the bags, resulting in a hard, brick-like mass (to make the most out of our available suitcase space). It has been an adventure! Emily thinks the vacuum pack machine is the coolest thing EVER! She loves pushing the button! Well, looks like she'll have lots of fun times ahead, as our packing is FAR from over!!!! LOL! :)

WE RECEIVED OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL FROM CHINA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our tentative travel dates are 5/1-5/14. We will find out for sure in a day or two. I am not too fond of the word "tentative", and I know we will all breathe a little more easily when the dates are set in stone.

Last Monday (3/24), we went into Manhattan (to the Chinese consulate) to get our travel visas! It was an adventure! We walked more than half of the city by foot (I'm not even exaggerating here, which is scary), so you can imagine that on Tuesday, every joint ached and we were TIRED! But we were so happy that another item was checked off of our list. :)

Yesterday, we went to Babies R Us and did some shopping for our trip. We will have a virtual pharmacy on wheels. We had to get all the essentials: bottles, antibacterial wipes, grooming items, all the non-prescription meds a baby could possibly need, disposable washcloths (with built-in soap), a sippy cup, and enough Gerber snacks to feed a baby army. :) I also just ordered two baby/toddler carriers (for Emily and Abigail). That way, after the girls get tired from running around, we can carry them on either or backs or fronts....they are made by patapum (view them at www.patapum.com).

Anyway, we are happy to finally have our TA, but really wish we could have traveled in April. I know it's only one more week, but at this point we have been waiting for so long.....we just want to hold Abigail already! :)

Just keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes smoothly and that we get official travel dates that are as soon as possible.

Ok, here is the latest update on our travel plans:
The Canton Trade Fair (in Guanzhou) is the largest trade fair in the world and is held from April 15-30th. During this time, there are no adoption consulate appointments taking place in Guanzhou (our last stop in China before we can come home). As a result, unless our travel approval (notice of consulate appointment) comes in immediately, with a consulate appointment before the trade fair (which really is impossible), there is a good chance that we may have to wait an extra 7 weeks until the end of May to travel. However, our agency just said today that if our travel approval comes quickly enough, with a consulate appointment IMMEDIATELY after the trade fair ends, there is a good chance that we may be able to travel to China on April 24. Since our first week is in Beijing and then Abigail's province of Jiangxi, by the time we arrive in Guanzhou, a week after departing NY, the trade fair will have JUST ended. Of course this will only happen if everything moves like clockwork (no more delays, our travel approval coming in really quickly, etc). Please pray for us that we can travel in April. I know it sounds silly, but waiting an extra 4-7 weeks to travel is very difficult to handle, especially when it isn't due to anything in our control or anything adoption-related, but rather a trade fair. PLEASE JUST KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR US. WE CAN USE ANY AND ALL PRAYERS RIGHT NOW....and April 24 sounds pretty darned good! Thank you!

We have great news! Mike and I received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) today, meaning that we have officially been approved and invited by the Chinese government to adopt Abigail Fu Jin. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! The only glitch is that, even though normally we could expect to travel to China 4 weeks from this date (allowing us to travel by April 1st), it looks like we will have to wait til May. There is a trade fair going on in China in April, which will make travel to China during this time almost impossible. So this, along with other factors per our agency, will most likely cause us to have to wait until 2 months from now to travel (May). I was on cloud nine when I first heard about the LOA being here, then I felt kind of down in the dumps about having to wait one more month to meet our little girl, and now I'm excited again that we at least know officially that we ARE traveling.

We got an email today from Ann at redthreadchina.com. She is the very kind woman who we ordered our care package for Abigail from. Anyway, Ann wrote to let us know that the care package was sent to Abigail (Fu Jin) at the orphanage a couple days ago. Ann will send us another email with delivery confirmation after it has arrived to our daughter. Anyway, here is a picture of our care package, including a translated letter, a pillow with our picture on it, a book, a stuffed panda, a digital camera (so hopefully, we will get more pictures of Abigail with her friends) and some candies for the children and orphanage caregivers. We are absolutely THRILLED at how the care package came out and are so excited that Abigail may be snuggling with us tonight in her crib (well, at least a photo of us). :) :) :)

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE JUST ADDED A TON OF DECEMBER AND JANUARY PICTURES TO THE OLDER POSTS (BELOW)



So today I ordered a care package from Red Thread China to be delivered to our Abigail Fu Jin. The woman, Ann, who runs the company, lives in China and is as sweet as can be. Many people have ordered care packages and Chinese culture-related merchandise from her and have been more than pleased. I will be adding her website to the list of links on the right.

Anyway, right after ordering the care package, it started to snow here. I went outside to get the mail and noticed some interesting-looking tire tracks in the snow, right in front of our driveway. I guess a few people must have made three point turns, but the tracks somehow turned into 4 PERFECT hearts. You may all think I'm nuts, but I take it as a positive sign from God that, just like that "family" of 4 hearts, soon we will have our own family of four. We love you, Abigail. Mommy, Daddy and big sister Emily will be coming to get you really soon!

This post is long overdue, but I am now just getting a chance to upload photos from the camera. On January 11, my big girl turned 4. Sigh. And get this.....she even has a serious boyfriend named Danny. On the 12th, she had her birthday party at a local place called Maze Craze. She and her friends all seemed to have a great time. Here are some pictures from the party.

I came across this poem that I really like:

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age-old question unanswered through the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.© Author Unknown

Here are some photos taken from Christmas. Sorry it's taken so long to post these here.






And here is a shot of Emily trying to stay up to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve.








Hi everyone! Just wanted to write a quick update......ok, maybe not so quick. LOL! First off, over the past week and a half we had quite a scare. You may have seen on the news that China has suffered some snow/ice storms. Millions of homes have been without power and millions of workers were stranded and unable to return home for the Chinese New Year. In addition, the storms caused an inability for coal (the main source of fuel/heat) to be delivered across the country. Unfortunately, the orphanages were not spared by these storms. Many have been without power and heat for 2 weeks and orphanage caretakers are struggling to keep the children warm. Our daughter's province of Jiangxi was, unfortunately, hit pretty hard. However, thank goodness...we have learned that the orphanages power/ heat has been restored and the power company has pledged to keep the orphanage power supply going (even if that means temporarily cutting power from other areas.....including the orphanage director's own private house, which as of this past week was still without power). The caretakers really love the children of the orphanage and have done an excellent job of taking care of them during all this weather craziness.

On a happier note, it looks like we should be traveling to bring Abigail home in April. For a while, it looked like May was more realistic, but all of the other parents who had their letters of intent in to China before us have already received their official letters of approval back from the CCAA and will be traveling in March. We are only a few weeks behind them, so April seems very realistic now. :) We are so excited! We've even started looking up sample packing lists. We also have the girls' bedroom all set up now. Even though we have a couple of other bedrooms, Emily INSISTED that she wants Abigail to room with her. We think this may be better for Abigail as well, especially in the beginning, since she is used to sleeping in a room with many other children. It may be disconcerting to come to a new country with a new family and all of a sudden be expected to sleep completely alone. So.....Disney Princess room it is! And, if I say so myself, everything looks really adorable. Emily has a twin bed on one side, and Abigail has a toddler bed on the other. Emily's been so excited to move from the toddler bed to her big girl twin bed, but she has already told me that she thinks the room will be better when Abigail is in it with her. She said that at night, she stares at Abigail's empty bed and prays that she will come home soon. This wait has been really hard on all of us, including Emily. The other day, she said "Mommy, I'm beginning to lose my patience. I can't wait anymore." Well, at least April isn't too far away!

Eventually, I'll get around to posting pictures of the new Princess room.

We got the ok from our agency to send a care package to Abigail at the orphanage, so she knows who her Mommy and Daddy are before we go to pick her up. We are buying one (including a translated letter) from redthreadchina.com. I know many people who have been very happy with their services, and I can't wait for Abigail to read (or rather, be read to) how much we already love her and can't wait for her arrival.

I just notified work about our April departure, so they have time to find a replacement for me in the schools. I'm going to just keep my evening homecare, so I can stay home with Abigail and Emily (who is currently in preschool, but I'm going to switch her from full-time to part-time preschool). I can't wait. April can't come fast enough!

Many people have asked me where little Abigail Fu Jin is currently residing in China. She is in Xinfeng County in southern Jiangxi Province. I am posting a map of China (below). If you click on the picture it will come up larger. The outlined Province is Jiangxi and Abigail is living near the southern tip of this province, so she is really pretty far south. Supposedly, the food there is some of the spiciest in all of China, as they like to use chili peppers in their cuisine. Mike, as you all can probably imagine, is quite excited about this fact, as he has a steel-lined stomach when it comes to spicy foods. :)



Here is a map of just Jiangxi province, so you can see just how far south Abigail's orphanage is in Xinfeng.

We got a video of Abigail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) Here are the latest photos (taken from the video). :)

WHAT A BLESSED THANKSGIVING, INDEED!

As you know, our dossier was logged in at the CCAA in China in February of 2007. We were told to expect another 3 year wait, due to improved economic conditions in China and a new domestic adoption program within the country. So we figured we'd be spending another few Christmases without our Chinese daughter.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (11/20/07), Mike happened to have insomnia and checked his email late at night, only to discover a surprise. Our agency had sent us an email asking if we were interested in looking at any of the "waiting child" files that they received from the CCAA. The "waiting children" are children who China considers to have "special needs". These "special needs" are much different from what we in this country would consider a special need. In China, you are classified as a special needs/ waiting child if you are slightly older (over 2 years), have a birthmark, scar, correctable congenital dislocated hip (like I was born with as an infant) or other minor correctable conditions such as ptosis, clubfoot, etc. As sad as it is, these children, who are healthy and lovable children, are considered less adoptable in China, so they are placed on this waiting child list.

Anyway, there was one little girl named Fu Jin who caught our eye. She is 15 months old. She has been at the orphanage since she was 1 day old. The caregivers at the orphanage were concerned about her, because at 9 months, despite meeting her milestones, her legs seemed a little weak- she would walk "slowly" in her walker, compared to the other kids. The doctors did all kinds of CT scans and assorted tests, decided that she must have had some kind of trauma during her birth and they sent her for therapy. She went to a rehabilitation facility for therapy, and upon her release, came back to the orphanage much improved. At 15 months she is now standing steadily, is much stronger and is talking (mostly about food...she knows the word for "meal", for instance...Ha! She'll fit right in here!).

We were in love from the minute we saw her, and knew that there was no way we could say "No". But the agency, being the reputable agency that they are, told us that they would put the file on hold for us until we consulted with doctors/ specialists, etc and made an informed decision. Again, there was no way we were saying "no". But, we did what they wanted and spoke with the specialists and on Wednesday, 11/28/07, we officially told our agency that we wanted Fu Jin to be our daughter. On Thursday we wrote our formal Letter of Intent to send to China (our letter petitioning to adopt her and outlining how we will address her needs once she comes home), on Friday we made final changes to the letter, and on Saturday the LOI was in the mail on the way to our agency. From what we've been told, it will probably be about 4 months until we travel to get her (so April of 2008). On Saturday, we received her original file from China (before that, all we had was copies). Our agency even sent us mailing labels so we can start sending her care packages soon.

THIS IS FINALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are over the moon with excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!! Abigail Fujin Dlugozima, we're coming for you soon. :) :)

Here is a quick summary on our journey thus far:

Mike and I have been married since 1999, and always knew that we wanted to adopt. In 2002, we spotted an advertisement at church asking married couples to consider adopting from China. I called to inquire, but was told that we were too young, as both parents must be over 30 to enter the program. In 2004, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter Emily. When Emily was a year old, in 2005, we decided that we wanted to add child #2 to our family, and that now was the time to pursue our adoption dream. We were still too young to adopt from China, so applied to a Russia adoption program. After almost a year, after our Russia paperchase was complete, the program became very unstable and we decided it just wasn't for us. By now, I was almost 30 and almost old enough to apply for an adoption from China. Chinese adoptions have a history of being one of the most stable programs for adoptions, and just really felt right to us. So, thus begins our China adoption story.

In the summer of 2006, we began our China paperchase (homestudy, immigration paperwork, gathering together documents for our dossier to go to China, etc.) By February 2007 we were "logged in" to the program in China. And so began the wait. Initially, we were told 10 months, then 16, and then (due to an improved economy and new domestic adoption program in China), we were told to expect 3+ years. This was good news for the children of China, but a litte sad for us. As much as Mike and I are eager to expand our family, Emily is just as anxious to have her sister home. We just didn't want her to have to wait until she was 6 years old to finally have the sibling she always wanted.

And then everything changed. I found out I was pregnant in the beginning of July 2007. PERFECT. We figured that now we would have our daughter in China and this new baby, and we were finally getting the big "insta-family" of our dreams. Unfortunately, this excitement did not last, as our hopes were once again dashed. The pregnancy was not meant to be. After 11 weeks of pregnancy, and after seeing our baby's heartbeat (just when I thought all was safe), I lost the baby and had to have a D and C on August 23, 2007. Our baby angel Sarah was with us for such a short time, but she will never be forgotten.

I can't even begin to describe the heartache we felt. As bad as this wait had become (waiting for our adoption from China to come through), it now became a million times harder. After suffering such a devastating loss, there was no way that we could possibly survive 3 more years of heartache. And then God answered our prayers......

I don’t even know where to begin with this posting. I am just feeling really sad (down in the dumps, so to speak) this week. There have been so many recent delays within the China adoption program that it seems like we’ll never get there. At the start of our journey, everyone said our wait would be about a year, then 14 months, then 16 months, then 18 months, now 2-3 years (maybe more). China is only done matching children to families who had their documents logged in up until November 1, 2005. Yes, that’s right…2005. Our dossier was only logged in February 2007. Emily might very well be 6 by the time she becomes a big sister. I find myself crying for Mike and I, and also crying for her. It’s just very frustrating and disheartening. We started the adoption process in December 2005 (with Russia)and switched from the Russia program (after 7 months) to China, because Russia became too complicated and unstable….and China seemed like a smooth, predictable program. It seems like as soon as we switched countries, all of the delays in China started. Why does this black cloud seem to follow us wherever we go? Our documents have already been redone by us 2-3 times, and will most likely be done 4-5 times by the time this process is over.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like to complain. I have a great husband and daughter and am grateful for my family beyond words. I just really want this adoption to work out. “Why don’t you just get pregnant?”, you ask. Well, because we know our daughter is in China. We are adopting by choice (aka it is not a second choice for us)…we know that this is what we want and what we are meant to do. I won’t lie, though. It does make it more frustrating at times to know that, if we chose to, I could give birth to 1, 2 or even 3 kids in the same amount of time as this adoption will likely take.

So…I guess what I’m asking for is that all of you who read this just keep us (and our sanity) in your prayers. It’s going to be a long road.

P.S. I added a link to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) website, so you can watch with us (or cry, as the case may be), when CCAA posts their progress (with processing families' paperwork/ matching children with families) on the website.