Enjoying Friends

Our friends, Josh, Patrick, David, and Abby are visiting us for the week.  Everyone is having a great time.  Eva and Joy are having fun entertaining the guys.  Jack is glad to have his buddy, David, with him for over a week.  Seth is also enjoying being with the Godly young men.  Jordan always has a good time with Abby.  They've been good friends since 1997 when we moved to Illinois.  Unfortunately, Abby is leaving tomorrow to go back to NY.





 

The guys enjoyed a good hike on Saturday.  The view was beautiful and the skies clear.  It was very windy once they got to the top.  Quite a different view from their hometown in Illinois.

Visa

 

I sent off for my Chinese Visa.  One more thing down.  I'm hoping and praying for the I800 provincial approval on Tuesday.  My immigration officer is out on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I always enjoy this holiday.  The food is great and it is just a fun family time.  As a child, Thanksgiving was a time when much of our families on both sides gathered together, seeing cousins we had not seen in a year or longer.  It was great eating all the food and not have to clean up the kitchen!  Eva remarked today right before our meal, "There is so much food!"  Many of you know Eva's fixation on food.  Joy picked through her meal, but asked for seconds of jello.  Figures.  Jack did not have a single piece of green food on his plate, but Jordan had a beautiful variety, as did Seth.  I feel like I will not need to eat for days.









 
Gotta love the belly button!

Little Critters

This is what Jordan almost hit last night on her way home from work.  She had to slam on her breaks to avoid him.  We live somewhat in the country, so we often see smaller wild animals, deer, foxes and such.  Mike and the boys saw a bear hiking, and we've read about them being in yards or even walking into the local hospitals.  It makes me reconsider walking on our driveway (pretty long and circular) after dark.  Maybe I'll save it for the daylight hours from now on.

Flying On My Mind

Since we received our LOA, I've started thinking about traveling.  Not just traveling, but traveling half-way around the world without my husband.  On all of our adoption trips, or anywhere for that matter, I've never traveled alone.  I'm not afraid of going by myself, Mike just makes it so much easier.  He takes such good care of us.  This time, though, he will be staying home with all of the children.  I know it won't be easy for either of us this time around.  I'll be the one having to calculate the exchange rate when I purchase something, exchange the money, deal with all of the adoption paperwork while having Ivy Xue with me, ordering meals, deciding what/where to eat.  Mike was always the one to head out on his own and gather our weekly supply of snacks and drinking water.  God knew what he was doing when He gave us Ivy Xue.  At least we will be in one city during the entire adoption.  No traveling to the airport and checking into another hotel during the middle of our adoption trip.

That being said....I was online checking out various Asian hotel/airline ticket places.  I came across this compilation of videos here. 

Fingerprinted..Again

You'd think after adopting before and being fingerprinted many times, that we would not have to do it again.  But, no, I woke up at 4:20 a.m., and we were out the door at 5:25 a.m. to be re-fingerprinted.  Our previous fingerprints expire in January and we know I won't be traveling to China before then.  I'm so thankful to get that out of the way. 

So, now we wait on our I800 provincial approval from Immigration.  Once that is done, our file will be sent to the National Visa Center, where Ivy Xue's information will be submitted.  After that, our papework will head to the Embassy in Guangzhou, China.  Once we receive our approval from the Embassy, our Article 5 will be issued and sent to the Adoption Center in Beijing.  Once they approve us to travel, they'll mail a letter to our agency letting us know we can make our travel plans.  It seems like so much, but we're hoping it is no more than 8 weeks.