Updates, News and Pictures!!!

Okay...who remembers the care package that we sent in March?

We tracked that package to Beijing and it arrived there on 4/5/2014. That's where tracking ends.
We never heard if it was delivered or if our sweet girl received any of her things. We asked around on our private fb group for families that have adopted children at the Rehab Hospital and the consensus was clear that children did not receive their packages until they were sent back to their home SWI to prepare for adoption day. That's months off. All of the wonderful people in the group were kind enough to note that packages and parties sent directly to the hospital via the third party providers in China made it through. There were a few recommendations and we chose to work with Ann at Red Thread China. Please look at her web site.She came highly  recommended and I cannot stress enough how happy we are with her service. Truly. She was very patient with our questions, she was helpful in determining which items we should choose and personally attended to every detail! I just love her! On Friday May 9th we sent payment for a Forever Family Cake Party. On Saturday May 10th I received an email that said "Happy Mothers Day" in the subject line. I opened it to see this:

 Could you just die? I almost did.

 Our girl LOVES her cake!

 So pretty in pink.

There is a 1:46 video but blogger is not letting me upload it. 

Basically, we see that she is a lefty! They keep trying to make her put the fork in her right hand but she transfers back. She has nice table manners. She is calm and very observant. She sticks up for her little friends! The little girl in yellow that is to her right had an empty plate and our YiMan got the Nanny's attention and got her some cake! Such a good girl. We clearly hear a man in the room calling her "YiMan" and she responds to it, so we know that she knows that name. 

Her motor skills and self care skills are awesome. 

We are so blessed!

Along with the cake, she also got this:

In the bottom right hand corner of this picture there is a jade red thread bracelet. It's one half to a mommy/daughter set. The other half is en route to me. I really hope they let her wear it and we will both have them on when we meet. The picture pillow is designed to help her get familiar with our faces. There is a translated letter to her and to the nannies. A flash drive with instructions for pics and files. A can of biscuits for the nannies and the panda's. So cute! I hope she gets to enjoy these things.

If that wasn't enough for ya' - there is a BONUS!

I randomly checked my email yesterday and saw a message from the Waiting Child department at our agency...WE GOT AN UPDATE!!! She is still at the Rehab Hospital. We got measurements, pictures and development updates! What we are told: She is 28 pounds (2 pound gain since February). She is 34.25 inches tall. (1 inch gain since February) We got our first foot measurements! We can start thinking about shoes!!! 12 cm (about 4.7 inches) sooooo tiny!!!  They say that she does not need a diaper. She can take her shoes off/put them on independently. Feed herself. She has three meals and three snacks a day and sleeps from 7:30 pm thru 6:30 am (but one of her snacks takes place in that time frame??? GeGe Peter just said that he can help her out with that! LOL)  She is introverted, has stranger anxiety and answers to YiMan or ManMan.  She continues to attend ST and OT. She puts 3-5 word sentences together. The best part:

 We are going crazy now! 

We really cannot get through this process fast enough!

Her hair is growing so fast!

(is that a P and an H on the mittens on her shirt?)

Kid's got a mean poker face!

She is going to give GeGe Taylor a run for his money with that stare down!

Seriously?

Can't stand the cuteness.

The face!!!!

We are so in love.

P.S. We are also playing the name game! 

Shhhh! Don't tell!

Fundraising Progress and Our Current State of Being...

We had a few big fundraisers over the last two weeks. If you follow along on fb you have seen the posts.

On Saturday 4/26 I did a vendor fair at my son's high school and on Saturday we had our first Garage Sale. We raised some money for our adoption fund and we are pretty excited about that. We got a few flat out donations and "keep the change" customers that really touched us with their generosity. In total we raised about $600. Our Fundraiser Thermometer is starting to move!

We met some terrific people. We had a banner with this blog name on it at both events and we handed out story cards to people that expressed an interest. We met people in our community that have been touched by adoption, that are interested in adoption and that support our adoption. We met a woman whose sister left the corporate world to start an orphanage in Haiti. So many people shared their stories and expressed an interest in ours. Many people told us that they will keep us in their prayers. We had a really great time. It fills your soul to have people from all different backgrounds be so happy and supportive and caring...for us, for our family and for our little girl.

We plan to do a few more yard sales. It was a nice way to enjoy the beautiful weather and get to know some of our neighbors. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to both of our Moms for staying all day and helping us out and to Michael for being there all day to carry things to cars for people, set up, pack up and he even made some sales! Very importantly we owe BIG to our friends and family members that donated items for us to sell! Christine, Tanya and Lu, Cathy and Gil we sold every donated item!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH for your generosity! Each of the people that donated to our fundraiser will get puzzle pieces with their names on them as they are all definitely a big piece of our journey!

Adoption process wise...it's a waiting game. We have paperwork pending, child abuse clearances are out and I am obsessively refreshing my feed for updated photos of Delilah or some news that she got the care package that we sent her. The hospital and/or the orphanage is under no obligation to take photographs or send us an update but many people do get pics and they are PRECIOUS! So we are hoping!

The Vendor Fair

 

Our First Yard Sale

Who is baba?

…or daddy?

When we first received her file both Holly and I discussed it over time while waiting for updated information but we already knew that she was the one. I have looked at her picture on my phone, on my desktop at work and at home on the iPad as well as on the refrigerator many, many times. I have watched her video again and again every day since we have received her file. I can remember every step she makes as well as all of her expressions. Holly picked up a sigh that she makes when she starts to walk and we both know this video inside and out. I had major concerns with the lack of smiling that I have seen but I have learned so much from our Facebook friends in the adoption community. So many people have generously chimed in with their own experiences. In the weeks that have passed I feel like I can imagine what she is thinking in her pictures. I feel like I have known her, then I realize she doesn't have a clue about who I am. She doesn’t really have the concept of parents or family, she hasn’t experienced it. We look at her photos and imagine what she is doing at the moment they were taken, where she is headed, what she is thinking... LOL We imagine that a little twinkle in her eye as she glances to the left might indicate that she is about to dart off after a friend that was in the previous picture but has left the camera’s view. She gazes so intensely at the camera that it feels like she is looking right at us. We feel like we know so much about her already from simply reading documents, looking at pictures and a quick video. It’s funny, although I feel like I know her and that she knows me nothing could be further from the truth. All of our assumptions about her personality might be completely wrong and of course she does not really know me.

Though, she may know my face…

Holly and I put our care package together and sent our photo's in a little book a few weeks ago. I so wonder what she thinks when she looks at the bald funny looking man smiling at her in those pictures. Does she smile like I do when I look at her photo?  Does she have any idea how much her life is going to change? I wish she knew how badly I want her home. I am so ready to have her here getting the love and attention that she needs and deserves.  

I want her life with us to begin RIGHT NOW. I worry about the day she will meet us. I wonder if she will want to be in my arms as much as I want to hold her. Will she be scared of me? I have learned that some children will go to one parent and not the other.  If she prefers one parent over the other I want it to be Holly that first day because I don't want her to feel left out. 

After all Holly can have that one day no problem and then I will get a lifetime with Daddy's little girl!

Great Little Guy...

Well. We have not posted in a while. We have a lot going on and we both feel kind of overwhelmed and underwater. Pete has been crazy busy with a lot of pressure from changes at work and of course that brings residual stress and those effects. I have had a huge reduction in hours as one of my routine patients has become critically ill and has been in the PICU for a few weeks. I am praying so ferverently for this sweet baby to be healed and whole. He has been through so much in his six months of life.

On the home front we have Peter, the oldest, wrapping up his first year in college. He is driving, has a job, lifting weights and staying busy in his fist year post high school. My guy Taylor finishing up his senior year in high school with prom, picnics, graduation and his last high school lacrosse season while simultaneously attending placement testing, orientation and uniform measurements in preparation for his first year at Mass Maritime Academy. The youngest (Michael) is wrapping up his first year in high school and getting ready for football next year. Freshman year was a huge transformative year for him. We are so impressed with all of our boys and so proud of all of them. 

On the adoption front, we are plugging through our homestudy and dossier paperwork. We have most of our references done. We wrote our autobiographies a few weeks ago. That was tough! 

Exciting news: An internet friend referred me to a film about someone that does missionary work at the hospital where Zhao YiMan has lived since she was five months old. There are a couple of documentaries about this couple and the work they do. I watched the films. I was floored. I will do a seperate post about that in a day or so. It really had a profound effect on me and I want to do it justice. Additionally, I would like to share the documentary video and for some reason I am having a hard time doing that on the mobile app.  

Now, I reached out to someone who knew someone, who in turn knew someone that works with our Zhao YiMan. I was not sure what to expect, if anything and much to my delight I awoke to a few new pics of our sweet baby enjoying a snack. She has a mass of shiny black hair on the top of her head and the back and sides are shaved. She looks like a little rocker chick. LOL. They are clear beautiful pictures that make me feel like I can just reach in and touch her. This breaks my heart because of course, I can't. 

I was told that she "is a great little guy" by someone that knows her and plays with her! PLAYS with her! Of course I had to giggle. There is no gender assignment in the orphanage system. They all have their heads shaved, they share clothes, they are often called by nicknames/pet names and Mandarin Chinese is gender neutral! He said "I always thought your daughter was a boy. Funny. I never thought to ask." This really made me giggle and warmed my heart. 

This Saturday we also received Delilah's finding ad from Brian Stuy at http://research-china.org 

I have blogged about finding ads in the past. I really wanted to find her ad on my own and I tried for weeks but I was going in circles. It's like a needle in a haystack! Her ad was in a small paper that never even came up in my baidu searches. I am so grateful for the service that Brian provides. This is a vital piece of YiMan's history and precious to us. We do not plan to share it publically. We feel that it's deeply personal and a tragic part of her life story. I do encourage all adoptive parents to search finding ads online. It is very eye opening and sobering. 

In closing, I just wanted to share one of the newest pics of our little punk rocker Delilah YiMan. Word on the street:  she's a great little guy! 

Doin' Work...

Well...it's adoption prep for days around these parts. It IS a labor of love but it is also a ton of work! We started out with a blog redesign. We went with a dynamic format to help our readers with a more user friendly interface. We sincerely hope everyone likes it!

We kicked off the puzzle piece fundraiser this weekend. The fundraiser had its own page! If you check out the navbar on the main page of the blog you will see a few interesting stand alone pages. One of them is all shouty caps with: PUZZLE PIECE FUNDRAISER. Hard to miss! We are so excited to get this puzzle put together and marvel at all of the awesome people that are on this journey with us! (Thank you!) 

42 pieces sold already!!! WOO HOOOO!

Next stop Trenton, NJ!!! We picked up some certified vital records in Trenton and we took them right over to the NJ State Treasurers Office to be Apostilled and I can pick them up Monday! We were excited to find out that they discount document processing for adoptive families!!! Everyone we dealt with was super nice and very helpful. 

We had a great evening at home. We worked on paperwork while we watched Frozen. LOVED IT! Let It Goooooooo! My new mantra!

eBay sales are really starting to pick up so we had LOTS of shipping to do on Saturday. Our postmaster is awesome but even with his help, I am still making shipping mistakes. I have to improve on shipping calculations so I don't eat up half of the funds we raise with errors!

After shipping it was Care Package Time!!!! YAY! I have been dying for care package time. We had a blast at Babies R' Us. Well...Pete was mostly nervous; I had a blast. He had a difficult time picking things out for Delilah Yi Man. He is worried that he won't know what she will like because he never raised a girl! I told him not to worry girls just want everything in the store like every other kid!!! You can't go wrong. Everything will be fine. LOL. I think we did well! We have a gorgeous bunny, a small photo book for babies, a super soft and cozy blanket, chocolate for the nannies, lollipops to share with friends and yogurt melts for the babies!

There is also a disposable camera. The hope is that they will use the camera to take pictures of Delilah in her daily routine and then return the camera to us when we go to China.

The photo album is the most important part to us. If she does not get to keep anything else, we truly hope she gets to have this. 

We will add an outfit and some clothing items over the next few days and we will ship before the week is over! This is so exciting!

I forgot to mention that Pete just had to throw in the Dallas Cowboys Beanie Bear (to the left of the box) for an extra personal touch! ;) I told him that he may never see it again but he said it will be worth it if we get a picture back and she is holding it. (plus he has two Cowboys beanies and she really needs to know about the Cowboys, right?)

While at Babies R' Us I was able to pick up this much coveted outfit that I have been wanting for Delilah. My cousin Melissa just picked this up for her daughter and I thought it was adorable, Pete said that I have to stop buying clothes as we don't know what her size will be when we actually bring her home...I keep trying to explain that if she stays on the fifth percentile it's predictable! He doesn't get it! I want to shop! ;)

I can't wait until next spring to put this on her!

Oh, we were also surprised with Delilah's first baby from her grandparents!!!! Bitty Baby arrived this weekend and she will be put away until Delilah Yi Man is home and can get her from GiGi and PopPop in person. Too cute! 

On Sunday we started to prep and organize our handmade items for sale for adoptio fundraising. Our neice Tiffany came over and helped us out. That was a lot of fun. We have a facebook photo album with the items that are for sale.

Well, this is my hubby at the end of a very long day. He is admiring our photo labeling work! 

yaaaaaaawwwwnnnnn

Time for sleep! 

Thanks for reading. 

Money Matters

What's that quote about "the best laid schemes?"

We had a great plan for paying for this adoption.

Fullproof.

Infallible.

heehee

I can almost hear them giggling in the heavens!

We thought we were going to save as we go.

Are you familiar with old school Christmas clubs, or the envelope system?

That's pretty much what we were going for.

Ten dollars a week for about 8 years...lol

Seriously though, adoption is expensive and absolutely worth every penny.

You have document fees, agency fees, travel fees. Fees to process your fees! (kidding, sorta)

We have paid our initial fees, we have gotten the ball rolling and there is no money due

RIGHT NOW. However, in a moments time we will be writing checks again and we have to make sure there is money in the bank to back them up! We have really super hectic schedules already so part time jobs are virtually impossible for us! We are utilizing the tools on this page to raise funds for our adoption. Our little girl has been living in a hospital since June 2011! We need to bring her home ASAP! We hope to travel faster than we originally planned.

We are trying to be creative; we have many ideas to generate extra income for our family.
Please check out our fundraiser page and see all of the different ways we are generating extra income for our adoption and travel expenses. Then check out our PUZZLE PIECE FUNDRAISER PAGE!!!
It's a really fun idea and all of the money will go towards our China adoption and travel fees.

Delilah Video!

Okay. This is our one and only video of our princess. We think she is about two here, based on the pictures and developmental info we have.

My two favorite moments are 7 seconds in when she lets out a big sigh like they are asking so much of her to have her cross the room. (Diva?)

...and of course the end when she looks up and it's eyelashes for days. 

L.O.V.E.