Life Turned Upside Down~

Now that all our paperwork is into China, we have time to think and wonder about what the next few months will bring Sophie.  Her world, as she knows it, will be turned upside down.  She will leave the country she was born in, the food she loves, the mild temperatures of where she lives with her foster family, all the smells of China, the millions of people, the foster family she has grown to love...  She will leave all that she has ever known, to begin life living in the desert, with 2 wild brothers, parents who are crazy in love with her, family and friends who can't wait to meet her, food she is not used to, smells she's never smelt before in her life.  We are anticipating her arrival, but she is NOT anticipating us.

To get to us, she must leave her foster parents with orphanage staff she does not remember from her short time living in the orphanage, travel about 90 miles back to the orphanage where she may stay the night- in a strange environment, not like what she is used to.  In the morning, she will travel about 4 hours in a van to the capital city of the Fujian province, where she will meet us....again, handed off to strangers....  Just to think of how scared she will be hurts my heart.  She will have no idea what is going on, at the young age of 19 months.

When we finally have Sophie in our arms forever, she will have gone through so much already in her short life.  Left by her birth mother- although an infant, research shows this is a traumatic experience and the baby does sense the loss.  She no longer smells her birth mom's scent, no longer hears the heart beat that she has come to know.  Once she was found, she was taken to the orphanage, where she stayed for a short time and then had her heart surgery- with no parents at the hospital to stay by her side and help her become healthy. After her surgery, she was placed in foster care, where she has been ever since- again, having to leave the only family she has ever known.  Sophie has probably been through more traumatic experiences already than many adults have had to face.  She will be vulnerable, scared.  She will grieve and will have to learn to trust. It is our responsibility, as her parents, to allow her to feel the emotions and to comfort her at all cost.  We have to realize she is at an emotional state of an infant when she becomes our daughter.  We have to love her, allow her to attach to us, and show her that we are her last stop. Her forever family. Amen.

With this being said, we are asking all of our family and friends to allow us to cocoon her.  This cocooning time could range from about 3 months to 6 months, depending on how long it takes for us to bond, attach, trust, love.  We have to parent her a bit differently than we did the boys.  It may seem as though we are spoiling her, but it is the advice of experts to be available to her at all times, at all cost.  So, we will be staying at home most of the 3 months- no grocery shopping trips, play dates, soccer games, church...we need to develop a strong relationship with her so that she can learn to trust and love.  This will not only help her now, but also in the future as she will be able to develop healthy relationships with others.

So, what can you do?  I would love if you would email or call me to see how we are doing ( as I am very social, this cocooning time may be very difficult for me ), drop off dinner, take the boys for an hour to play... I will post many pictures so you can see her progress.  I hope you can all understand that this just takes time. Once she shows us she is attached, we would love for you to LOVE on her!

Thank you all in advance for respecting our wishes, supporting us and not judging our new parenting skills as we bring her home.  We just want the best for her~

Paperwork, DONE!

Tonight, February 25, 2014, I completed the last document needed before the CCCWA will issue our travel approval!  Eeekkkk!  After two and a half years, I think I am finally done with the paperwork.  *Tears*  I can't believe it!  What am I going to do now without any documents to work on after the boys go to bed? What am I going to do now~ no more looking for emails from Tiffany on " the next document to fill out..."

To be honest, I am so excited!  This is the end of a long paperwork chapter to our sweet little girl.  She will be ours in just a few months, FOREVER.  Knowing what I know now, and seeing her sweet face, I would do it over again. IN A HEARTBEAT. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. BRING IT ON.

So now we wait for our travel approval, and lots of work still needs to be done.  Money needs to be ordered, a few more documents notarized, a few more gifts to buy, vaccinations, and lots to pack.  I am an over-packer by nature, and with this being our only little girl, I will be taking LOTS of clothes and girly toys for her to play with ;)  I just can't resist!

Love her sweet face!  Can't wait to smother those cheeks with kisses!

Baby Shower!

Eight years ago, Scott and I moved to Phoenix..and left all of our family in the midwest.  So, our sweet friends have become our family out here!  And, we are extremely lucky to have them.  Lauren and Kami gave us such a beautiful baby shower to welcome Sophie into all of our hearts. The theme was Cherry Blossoms, and it was so beautiful! I appreciate all they did for this shower, and for all the friends who were able to celebrate with us.  We are very lucky to have such amazing people in our lives!

Thank you~ Lauren, Kami, Daisy, Prea, Shelly, Tina, Christina, Sarah, Kimmie, Jessica, Yvette, Ashley, Megan, Farrell and Jenn~

Thank you, Daisy, for capturing these great memories!

A little bit closer~

Well, we are getting just a bit closer!!  After about 2.5 years, all the paperwork, hoping, praying...we can see the light ;)  Today I received our passports back with a Chinese Visa in each one. Also, our I-800 provisional was approved by US Immigration on 2/6/2014.  This document is important because Sophie is now viewed as our immediate relative. We are currently awaiting our NVC approval. Once this is sent, we fill out the DS-230- and off to the Consulate in China....eventually paperwork to Beijing...and our travel approval will be issued!

Sounds like a lot, but this is the end of the wait! So.Very.Excited!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014!

Each year since we began the adoption process, we have celebrated the Chinese New Year.  This year is the Year of the Wooden Horse.  On January 31st, there was a great festival going on in Beijing...

It has been noted by Feng-shui experts that with this being the Year of the Wood Horse, and with wood being very combustible, there will be a lot of scandals, conflicts, explosions, arguments and natural disasters. Let's hope this is not the case, and the predictions are false!

As in the past, Scott and I had a Chinese food dinner...and the boys had McDonald's ;)

Our food was so yummy, the boys have no idea what they are missing!  We can't wait for Sophie to be with us next year to join in on the celebration!

Of note, Sophie was born in 2012~ the Year of the Dragon! She has this book so that she can learn about the year she was born.  There is a series of these books, also!

Sophie's Care Package~

Now that we had our pre-approval from the CCCWA, we were finally able to send our Sophie a care package!  We have been waiting to send her gifts since September 26th!  So, we gathered up all the stuff we had bought for her and her foster parents, and boxed it up ;)

 I made a book of our family and our home so Sophie could become familiar with our faces before she comes home with us.  We also added a soft bunny, a few outfits and some footed jammies, a book of nursery rhythms, Hello Kitty coloring book and crayons, a Fisher Price fill and spill purse to play with, as well as lots of yogurt melts and puffs!  Mimi also made Sophie the softest, prettiest pink blanket for her to cuddle with, which I just know she will LOVE!  For her foster mom, I added a beautiful red scarf, a candle and a really nice picture frame; for her foster dad, I sent a Nike golf visor and some dark chocolates.  Hope they love all their gifts!

In addition, I wrote a letter to her foster family~ just introducing us, and letting them know how much we love Sophie and that we will provide a great life for her.  We want them to know that we have wanted her for a very, very long time, and that we will love her just was we love the boys.  She is our daughter!

It was so fun to put all this together! We had to wait ~three and a half months from the time we accepted her as ours...that is a LONG time to wait to send our love some gifts ;)  So, now we wait.  We are hoping to travel in about 2 short months!  Praying this time will fly by.....