David's thoughts

Sandy and I met for lunch the other day and then went to get the Visas to travel to China. Things are starting to seem like they are really getting close! It took quite a while to do that paperwork. I also put together a Power of Attorney for each of us while we are in China, but I enjoyed doing that with Sandy. It gave me a sense that we will have our children here before we know it; I'm very excited!!! I'm looking forward to meeting them for the first time and bringing them home and welcoming them into our family.

Shopping

It's too bad that I absolutely detest shopping. I'd rather go to the dentist. Unfortunately, I have to stop procrastinating and start shopping for our two new sons. BingHui is a size 5, and I'm guessing FengHong wears about a 10-12. I need to assemble a wardrobe for them to take to China next month. We get to pick up the boys the first day we arrive in China, and then we stay there with them for almost three weeks. Consequently, I need to purchase at least a few weeks of clothes for two children. A carseat for BingHui is something else I need to research and buy soon. I also have to buy a few things for myself for the trip. Ugh. This requires more shopping. I need some kind of legging or stretch pant (no zippers or buttons) to wear on the plane, and a spring jacket. I finally had to throw out my light-weight jacket last year, and I haven't replaced it yet. And slip on shoes for the airport and airplane ride. I wear sneakers normally, but they will be too constricting on the plane. I'm supposed to bring gifts for various people (the guide, orphanage director etc.) too. What can I bring to them that they can't purchase themselves right there in China? I wish I could get away with just giving money, like I do at Christmas, but apparently the gift giving tradition is an important part of their culture. Again--I wish I enjoyed shopping.

Visa and POA

David and I met for lunch this afternoon, and then we spent the rest of the day completing our Chinese Visa application and executing a Power of Attorney for when we are out of the country. We want to give Linda and Victor the ability to make decisions in our absence if needed. Filling out the Visa form at AAA took almost 90 minutes! I had to "teach" the agent how to do the form; I have studied the document online at great length and I filled out a practice form at home. I also completed the Visa application this summer when Austin went to China. In addition, David invested quite a bit of time putting together the Power of Attorney form. A POA form in NY is now 9 pages long! We are happy that David can prepare some of our legal documents, and we don't need to pay for a lawyer too. While we were at AAA, we also checked out electric converters. I think we decided just to leave all electrical appliances at home. I already planned on having bad hair the whole trip. My biggest concern is the battery for my camera. I don' t know how long a camera battery will last, and I might want to recharge it. I do have a back-up battery though. That might be enough. Yes, I'm getting completely caught up in minutia now. That is how I'm passing the time these days. People talk about how the "wait" for the adoption is excruciating; obviously other people don't have my talent for wasting time on all the little details.

Chinese New Year

Last night we went to Linda and Victor's house for dinner, and we celebrated Chinese New Year (a little early). Victor cooked a multitude of delectable dishes, and we discussed various New Year traditions. It was a blast. I also found out that the entire family wants to come to the airport to welcome our sons when we arrive home from China. Of course, I did warn everyone that we will all be tired and probably cranky. The boys might even be miserable and not in the mood to meet anyone new. But it's sweet that the family wants to great the children upon arrival. Everyone is getting excited for our trip. We decided not to bring our cell phones to China and only communicate by email. I can check our email once a day from the hotel lobby or an internet cafe. If there is a true emergency, Linda and Victor will have our power of attorney to make decisions and take any necessary action. I also found out from Daniel that I need to buy a booster car seat for Ben. NYS law requires a car seat device up to 80 lbs.!! Yikes! One more thing to add to my list of things to do. I made a few copies of our house key today so that I could leave a few behind for people to check on the house. Unfortunately, the new keys don't work. So back to the hardware store tomorrow. All these little details take up so much of my time these days. I was on hold with an airline today for over an hour (really) to find out if they offer a discount adoption fare. The airfare roundtrip Rochester-Beijing-Rochester for each one of us is cheaper than a one way ticket Beijing to Rochester--and we need two one way tickets. I found out that yes, most airlines have adoption fares, but they are a percentage (65%) off the fully changeable fare. There is no discount off of the restricted nonrefundable fares. This means that the discounted price is still double the cost of just buying a restricted ticket. Bummer.

Getting ready to travel

Now that it's getting closer to our travel date (5 weeks and counting!), we are starting to dot the i's and cross the t's. For instance, today I spent 20 minutes on the internet researching the cheapest place to park our car for the 2 weeks we're gone. First, I debated if we should ask someone to drive us to the airport, or pay the exorbitant airport parking fees. Looking at flight times (6am departure, 11p arrival), I decided that we definitely need to drive ourselves. The next step was to research the various parking options. Should we stay at the airport hotel the night before the flight, and take advantage of the free parking? We would be close to the airport then for our early departure, but I never sleep well in hotel rooms, and we'll have two weeks of hotels. All these small things to consider. What should I wear on the plane? We were told to wear pants that do NOT have buttons or zippers; it will delay us in security. I guess I need to buy stretch pants for all of us. Ugh. Looking at the flight times, I realized that I should disperse the dogs and remaining children to their various temporary quarters the night before departure. Good to know. I spent another hour looking at various visa services. I can hire a visa service or drive to NYC myself to process the visas. It would save us a little money if I did it myself, but we have too much to do now!!

New photos of BingHui

We just received updated photos of BingHui (Ben)! He's grown a ton, and is such a cutie. We are thrilled to have current pictures, although a weird background was superimposed. At least now we can see how he has grown!! The last photos we had were from when he was maybe 3 or 4 years old, and now he's 6. I pulled up a growth chart online, and it seems that Ben is well within the parameters of normal height and weight. We previously thought that he was on the small side. Of course, our whole family is small, so it wouldn't matter to us. It's just good to see that he has grown quite a bit this year. We also received an email and a telephone call telling us that we can apply for our Chinese Visa now. Our case-worker is guessing that we will travel early in March. That is what we've been using as our target date since we applied to adopt FengHong, and we are happy we are still on track. The hold-up with the I-800 hasn't put us too far behind schedule. Even if we receive our invitation to travel in early Feb., we won't travel until March because of the Chinese New Year. All the government offices will be closed for at least a week mid-Feb., and then there will be a back log of paperwork, not to mention crowded hotels. As is stands now, our tentative travel is March 5-19. We are saying our prayers everyday, knowing God will guide our family. Connor and I attend church almost daily, and the entire congregation is praying for us now too!

Haiti

Jan. 12, 2010 there was a massive 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and the island is absolutely devastated. I am, naturally, drawn to all the stories of the orphans. There were 10,000 children in orphanages in Haiti BEFORE the earthquake. After the earthquake, that number will probably double. I know a woman from Connor's Chess club who was in the process of adopting an orphan, a 12 year old boy, from Haiti. The future of that adoption is now in limbo because the government buildings and records were all destroyed in the earthquake. The situation just breaks my heart. I can't imagine how the family must feel. After all the paperwork, and all the waiting, and all the preparing for our new sons, if something like this happened in China just before we were supposed to travel to complete the adoption... How awful! From what the news says, the US government has granted emergency visas to 200 children who were already legally adopted by US citizens in Haiti, but they were waiting for their entry visa. In China, we will complete the adoption, and then apply for the visa at the consulate in Guangzhou a week later. Adoptions from Haiti require the adoption to be completed in Haiti, and then there is a few months lag-time for the visa to be issued. Children caught in that loop are the ones that the government is now flying to the US on an emergency basis. All the rest of the children just suffer. There is an enormous outpouring of Americans who have offered to adopt children who are "for sure" orphans (children who were already in an orphanage prior to the quake), but no one is allowed to accept applications for these children at the moment. There is simply too much chaos. All this reminds me of the Tsunami in the Philippines 5 or 6 years ago. I kept watching the coverage on TV, and that is when I began to say that we should adopt. I could not sit idly by and watch children suffer, when we have the resources to provide a good home for them. It seems as if we came full-circle somehow with Haiti now on the news everywhere. If we weren't already going to China soon, you can bet I'd be on a plane or with some volunteer organization trying to help the Haitian survivors.