Travel Group Friends

We were so blessed to have Diane and her kids travel from New Jersey to visit us! Another travel family lives close by and we run into each other quite often! What a way to celebrate being home  two months!!

Celebrating Micah

My sister and my friend Robin pulled together a party for Micah. I was surprised by the love at this event and by the gifts many of you gave at Micah's homecoming. Thank you for your words of encouragement, fun clothes and things for the boys to do. We are blessed!

Everywhere that Bennett goes...

Everywhere that Ben goes Micah is sure to go or at least try to! Ben sometimes likes it and sometimes would rather not have a shadow. I asked him what his favorite thing about the trip to China was and he said,"The plane ride, movies and getting Micah." Not the first two things I would pick but definitely the last one!

Wow! Home two months!

We all are amazed how time flies! All the dreaming and praying through paperwork is now a wonderful reality! We are a family who has settled in to life together. The boys and I did lots of harvest events to help expose Micah to outdoor fun before we have to go inside for the winter. His class also had a fun party I got to help with.

Sweet Boy

One of the many things that have happened in the last few weeks is that Micah now has  many friends!
More things:
His hair is filling in darker and thicker!
He started preschool two mornings a week.
He got his stateside immunizations caught up.
He now sleeps in his crib in a room shared with Bennett. (one week down!)
We can leave the bedroom before the boys are asleep. (two days down! Brad and I can have more conversations now!!)
He likes swinging on a big boy swing. The baby swing didn't last very long with him.
Communication is going better.
At his one month check-up he only gained a few ounces - so I guess he won't be having a big growth spurt.
He's not eating as much as he did at first.

We are thankful for all the growth that we see!

One month home

Micah loves time at Grandma's house and with his cousins. What fun to be be babied! The neighbor kids are so good to him, too. They love to help him do just about anything!

Micah really enjoys animals but is wary of them. Here at the Mannheim Farm show he talked excitedly quite often as we walked around checking out the various animals. He did NOT want to be out of his stroller.

We have been home one month tomorrow. WOW! Where did time go - It seems so long ago that we had the first week of so many firsts. Our boy will probably always be one of those busy types but things continue to go smoother. More later!

Friends

Good news! Micah's test results all can back with good results! I am so happy to have the yucky tests completed!! We do have a visit with a Hershey Medical Heart Specialist at the end of October. Micah did have surgery on his heart at 9 months of age and that surgery should be all he needs.

Night time is much more peaceful than the first week! Micah still hates to go to bed. We are glad he loves life so much here with us! Mom and Dad are happy for the break when busy boy Micah is sleeping though!

Micah is a friendly guy who loves Grandma and Grandpa, neighbors who are happy to help with his play ground antics and his big brother. He repeats Ben's words. He said, "that's cool!" and "turn it up!"The other day he said, "Why?" Hopefully Ben will be asking that question less by the time Micah really starts asking!

We spent Monday morning playing with our travel companions in the adoption process to China who live locally. Micah and Kyle enjoyed the play area at the local mall until they saw other kids with food. Then the two boys needed to eat, too! There was some Chinese food across the room so we picked up some for them.  It is always fun to catch up and share adjustment stories.

Week two accomplished!

It's a wonderful thing to sleep in your own bed again! Micah has been sleeping through the night, only waking up once or twice. Yes, he is on the floor in our room...but I am getting some rest! (and not driving around town, sleeping in the car or on the floor) Yeah!! I am still trying to get him on some kind of nap schedule but he is a happy guy so I can hardly complain. He is getting more sleep than the first week!

He is learning to eat without making such a mess. Still progress to be made but it is great to watch the growth happen. I am thankful for the meals church family have brought over to help smooth the transitions!

First haircut

Bennett has always been like a little adult getting his hair cut, so when we went to get Micah's hair trimmed up I was wondering how it would go. Ben went first and then Micah followed his example and impressed the girls at the salon!

Settling in

Big break through last night! Micah slept through the night in the house! Just woke up once but went back to sleep without too much fuss! No driving around or midnight shopping trips like the first couple days. This also means I got some decent rest, too!

Ben really has done well transitioning. He enjoys playing and being goofy with his two-year-old brother. He likes his school buddies. Today I hope to get him to school on time! Ben has been sleeping through the night the last three nights!

Micah experienced a first time in the sandbox as well as first time in a shopping cart. Very interesting to see him process the situation! He is picking things up quickly as he rips through the house. Yesterday was great to see him turn the pages of one of Ben's books very nicely. And he seems to be picking up eating with a spoon now. He has settled in and while he is enjoying life in a house, it's not quite so wild any more.

What an amazing first week home!

Home!

We had an amazing trip home. The boys did great. We got a laugh out of Ben. Scurrying through the second of the four airports of the trip he said, "We sure are having a rough day!"

We got home around 10 PM and the boys were rested and ready to roll! Our friends Lauren and Paige delivered us some home baked munches to get us through our midnight snacking! We got Ben to sleep around 1 AM. I walked to the grocery store and Micah showed no signs of sleepiness. So we walked back and I let him walk through the store as well as part way home. Shopping at 3 AM beats the morning rush! Finally at 4 he went down after I put him in the car and we went for a ride!

Today we are unpacking settling in!

Farewell China

Our bags are packed - we leave the White Swan at 5:30 AM today to begin the last part of our journey - to home! Ben said, “Micah won't believe his eyes when he sees our house!”

We sent our luggage out last evening and the bell hop commented about the happy babies he heard splashing in the tub. We really are blessed!

We will be excited to see our house after crossing 12 time zones with two toddlers! Ben did really well on the flights here. Micah will enjoy some parts of it, too. It's a matter of how much.

Happy Birthday Micah!

Micah celebrated his second birthday yesterday!

We had a trip to the city zoo this morning where we got to see a panda. He looked hot, too! It was around 100 degrees. Bennett was pleased with the trip. He wanted to see a giraffe. He saw several and got to feed them!

We were happy to get back to our hotel for noodles and a shower before heading to our US Consulate appointment at 3:00 PM. This ends our adoption processes here in China. We simply present our paperwork when we arrive at customs at the Newark airport Friday!

Micah has beautiful fair skin, which is common in northern China. Like Bennett at this stage he loves being outside, watching traffic and seeing the sights around town. I look forward to posting more photos when we get home.

Countdown

We are becoming a family! We are getting time together with each other as well as time with our travel group friends of 17 other families from various states. We visited a folk art museum in the morning and then saw the huge goat statue that is the emblem of this city. Last evening we took a tour on the Pearl River on a dinner cruise. we brought our own pizza and drinks and then enjoyed the lights along the river at night. Micah wasn't real crazy about the whole things so we took turns walking him around the deck. He eventually fell asleep in the stoller. (which means I walked him a long time before he feel asleep last night!)
One small glitch in our paperwork is we have a missing immunization records. Our attorney Shiyan here should be able to take of it with out too much problem.
Firday morning we get up early and head for the airport. And we get to wake up Saturday morning with the rest of Lancaster County. Yeah!

Orphanage Visit

Today is our first warm, rainy day. Bananas grow locally, so that should give you an idea of the climate around here! We are south of Florida! There is a large Audio/Video convention going on at our hotel. Brad thinks that may be what is the problem with the Internet – overload. Hopefully photos soon!!

We did get to see Micah's orphanage. Our guide went with us with our usual driver. Lots of people here know a little English. It's nice to have someone with you who knows a lot of it! The orphanage is a pleasant, bright one. They have 18 kids per household group with five caregivers. They also have university students and other volunteers who come in to spend time with the children. Several other children in the group are matched and going to be adopted soon. The children did seem very normal. We saw where the referral photos and the updates were taken. We are not sure why they needed guards around the building. But everyone was friendly and interacted very freely with the children. They let us take photos of whatever I wanted. Many orphanages have a lot restrictions. Our guide said the caregivers were very happy to meet us and know Micah is going to be cared for. It was hard not to cry looking around.

The city is beautiful with lots of trees and the highway running along the sea. It is known for it's gardens.

Had a few meltdowns from both Ben and Micah today. Ben is getting good at saying, “NO, Micah!” Steam comes out his ears from time to time when Micah bumps him or grabs a car. They continue to have good giggle moments together though.

It is wonderful to be on the other side of the Chinese required paperwork, doing the final processing with the American side next week before flying home Friday. Light at the end of the tunnel! I am sleeping pretty well by now. While our beds here are hard, they are not as bad as the ones in our Beijing hotel. We are grateful for everyone's prayers for this challenging process.

Another Day

Ok, I was going to simply post some photos but I can't seem to do that tonight. So I will say things are moving along well. Micah tries to imitate Ben and has a sense of humor on his own. One of the shop keepers commented he said, "happy goats." That's the popular cartoon here - goats and a wolf - think Tom and Jerry style.
I had to walk him in the stoller to get him to go to sleep tonight. (They said he goes to bed at 10! I guess that is the truth) We did end up buying another stroller because we do a lot of walking around the area (life without a car) Ben says he misses home. We all do. It's amazing that we leave in just one week! the other 16 families arrive in the hotel tomorrow to join us in completing the American side of the paperwork to bring our children home. It will be exciting to meet all the children and hear the stories!

First Day

Our first day together began with Micah waking up crying. He was soothed by cuddles and some goldfish crackers.

Breakfast was a little less amusing to watch. Micah was spoon feed at the orphanage so we are working at figuring out which foods he likes and how it works best to get him to eat it.

In the morning we went back to the Civil Affairs office for our interviews. Our busy two-year old did not like sitting through meetings, however short they are. Then we stopped by the Medical office and got his exam taken care of before the crowds on saturday, including the rest of our travel group.`Micah needed four immunizations (Wow!) for our 1800 paper work standards. He seems fine today thankfully.

After lunch at Lucy's, a pub with American fare, Ben jumped up and rushed around the table because he wanted to see the mess Micah made.

We rested in our room all afternoon. Of course Micah howeled when we put him in the crib to nap. So the old trick of going for walk got him dozing.

Gotta head to the police station right now - more later!

Gotcha day

Our day began with our bus pulling out of the hotel at 5:30 AM.
We landed in the Guangzhou Airport at 11:00 AM and we had an hour or so at our lovely White Swan Hotel to settle in before heading out to the Civil Affairs Office. Everyone was excited and nervous over the next events!!
What a sweet boy Micah is. He loved the trucks and snacks we brought and wanted to share them with everyone. Ben was so excited and wonderful with his new brother. (think Tigger)We had about two hours to interact with him and his caregivers before taking Micah with us. He seemed concerned but willingly came along.
You would have been entertained watching us at dinner - Trying to figure out how to feed a toddler for the first time at a beautifully decorated restaurant! He loved taking a bath and even tried to crawl back in after he was finished.
We have had a wonderful start to our forever family! We thank God for bringing us together. More tomorrow!

Saying Good-bye to Beijing

Ben says "We have a busy day." He has said that the last several days. Mommy and Daddy agreed. Today Ben fell asleep while in a stroller touring Tiananmen Square. Then he fell asleep for the night while we were eating dinner. He knows that tomorrow we get Micah.
Our group also visited the Forbidden City - which was a crowded, hot place today. The rickshaw ride around Hutong, old Beijing, was fun.
Tomorrow at 5:30AM we head to the airport. then in the afternoon we get to meet Micah. Yeah!

Great Wall Day

It's Saturday already and we climbed the Great Wall today. "Climbed" is the word for it. The section we visited was quite steep. Some of the steps themselves were quite high.

Where is time going? Early mornings are spent keeping Ben from waking up the the whole 26 floor hotel at 5:00 AM. The breakfast buffet opens at 6:00 AM and I am always ready to go eat by that time of day - definitely a jet lag thing!

Ben's days include entertaining the crowd in our travel group. I am wondering how sharing the attention or the stroller is going to go over with him in a few days! There are several other children that he enjoys hanging out with.

We have had great weather here - sunshine and 83 degree days for exploring our neighborhood and finding places to eat and pick up groceries. I enjoy trying new foods and that includes the McDonald's menu. Taro pie and Lychee punch topped with ice cream were both yummy! I do think the strawberry milkshake tasted a bit like evaporated milk. It is great to come to the hotel breakfast buffet for some plain and simple Western food! One evening while walking around with two other couples we selected a Chinese restaurant that was not a recommendation from our guide. Brad asked if we could have forks since he does not like chopsticks. The waiter came back with 2 forks and explained they only have 2 forks; I think he meant in the entire restaurant.

We are also focusing on getting ready for the big day on Monday when we receive our children. Thank you for your prayers for this trip.

PS You can email us.

Beijing at last

Thousands of miles and 24 hours of travel have brought us to Beijing. We flew over the North Pole and traveled in daylight the whole time. We are thrilled to be here and are enjoying showing our photos of Micah to other families here in our travel group. We are working though a little jet lag. Bennett stirred this morning at 3 AM and I asked him if he was awake. He said, "Not yet."

Some creative use of technology is allowing us to post to this blog. We are going through a VPN since the site is completely blocked in China.

Blast off!!

Our bags are packed and we were able to get everything in two suitcases and just one carry on! Yeah! Less to lug through all the airports.

A friend email this to us:
We will be specifically praying for your:
safe travels
good health and strength
smooth processing through the bureaucracies and
most importantly for the joyful uniting with your children and the loving family bonding process to follow.

I liked the prayer list a lot. We welcome you to join with them. Thanks!
We look forward to posting again soon from Beijing

One

One day until take-off - let's see how much laundry, how much cleaning and how many meetings we can can stuff in a suitcase! Yeah!!
We leave the house tomorrow morning at 4:00 AM. One local couple traveling with our group of 18 families will meet us at the Harrisburg airport for take-off at 6:00 AM. Another family will be joining us at Newark. Good company to help our 12 hour plus flight to Beijing go as quickly as possible.
This is a picture of Ben having great fun with his cousin Nathan at Hershey Park. Ben talks about doing it again!
Yesterday in the grocery store Ben was sitting next to my purse in the cart. He asked me to more my purse because he thought it looked weird. How funny.

Two

Our lists are getting shorter as we check things off on our countdown. This evening was Ben's last class for the summer at Little Gym.
We are so excitied to meet Micah next monday - in just one week from now.

Three

Three days to keep wrapping up things before splash down in China! We squeeked in a short Ocean City trip that was lots of R&R for me and the boys! The piles that are now on the dining room table keep growing! Things are coming together well except I haven't figured out Dreamweaver CS5 yet. Hhmmm. Ben had his back-to-school night and I have his bag packed for his first day of school September 13.
Thanks for all the prayers and support!

One Week!!

We got our schedule this morning!
both hotels we will be staying at are ones we stayed at when we brought Ben home. I am glad for that comfort. We know the neighborhoods a bit!

CHINA ITINERARY
August 26 Arrive in Beijing @ 1:50 p.m. Stay at Chang’an Grand Hotel
August 27 Orientation at 10:00 a.m. Acrobatic show in the afternoon
August 28 Visit Great Wall and Cloisonne Factory
August 29 Visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Hutong
August 30 Flight to Guangzhou. White Swan Hotel airport pickup. Receive your child in the afternoon
August 31 Adoption registration in the morning
September 1 Medical exam and passport application.
September 2 Free
September 3 Visit Guangzhou Zoo
September 4 Free
September 5 Group photos and and meeting to prepare consulate documents
September 6 Visit Guangzhou Folk Art Museum and Yuexiu Park
September 7 Visa appointment
September 8 Go to the consulate to take the oath at 2:15 p.m.
September 9 Go to the consulate to pick up child’s visa at 2:15 p.m.
September 10 Flight to Beijing to connect @ 3:45 p.m. to U.S.A.

Friends

Shared a picnic with friends of more than one kind. Ben is afraid of most dogs but he was thrilled to be friends with this sweet one! Thanks for sharing the photos and the dog! It's so nice to see Ben growing and overcoming fears.

In place

Crib is now ready to go and the guys must be rubbing off. I skipped a crib skirt, figuring it's a great place for a Thomas layout.

Two weeks!

Two weeks til we are in China! We got together with two other couples from our travel group over the weekend. It was a different thought to recognize we will be spending a lot of time together really soon!

Adventure continues

We got news today our travel group number of families has climbed to 18! We still are waiting our itinerary in country. We don't know which day we will be welcoming Micah.
Ben helped me chop onions today. He mentioned he had sunburn in his eyes. It was so cute to see him sniffling but determined to keep whacking my chopper!
He hasn't complained at all about his stitches bothering him - since getting them in place. (he found out what happens when you hit the coffee table with your forehead.) We should be looking A LOT better by the weekend - haircuts tomorrow and stitches out Friday.
We thank God for getting us through each of the these steps along the way!

Stir crazy

We are getting over a week of Ben and I battling the flu. Not exactly what we had planned but we are very glad to be on the mend as we count down the days.
We were happy to find out we will be flying with a NJ family who have two children traveling with them. They will be joining us at our Newark flight. Other kids will help give Ben something to do on our long flight to Beijing.

One month

In just four weeks we travel! Our piles keep shifting as we go though stages along the way. I am feeling blessed how well this trip is fitting into our schedules. All the different summer activities planned for Ben are working out. He'll have a Back-To-School night before we leave and his first day of class is Monday after we get back. If things go smoothly, we'll have him ready to go!
It was wonderful to spend time outside again this evening after the long stretch of hot weather!

Our date!

Our Harrisburg to Newark to Beijing flight is booked for August 25. We retrun home September 10. We look forward to seeing trip details soon!
I feel like I am in the 9th month of pregnancy - and I've still got 6 weeks to go! A wonderful friend gave a gift today that was "a shot in the arm." Some matching clothes for Micah and Ben. It was a very sweet thought for a tired mom!
We'll be on the other side of this soon!

TA!!

Our travel approval came today! Looks like we will be traveling at the end of August for our appointments at the beginning of September. We'll be with 12 families - three from our local agency branch and home area. We'll get exact dates in a few days!
In the mean time, back at the farm, we are having a fun week at Bible School.

He's growing!

This only makes us pray more that God would bring our forever family togehter!

July 4

I told Bennett it is America's birthday today. He said, "I not know who her is."

Article 5!

News that came to our inbox!
The China Team has been notified that the Sauder's Article 5 was received by CCAA on June 25. We will notify you next when we receive a travel invitation for this family! They may go ahead and apply for their visas anytime now.
(Article 5 is the last of three last approvals we need. This one is from the international governing body overseeing International adoptions)
We have our travel meeting with our social worker next week.
Brad is excited now!
Our next step is travel approval and our dates for going to China should be coming out soon!!!

Summer day

Who would guess you could get such great photos on such a hot, summery day! Nice work, Jen! I love them!
Visit http://flyawayhomephotography.blogspot.com/

Birthday explosions

For Father's Day and Brad's birthday we did what Ben added to his wish list of things to do: visit a cave! We went to Indian Echo Caverns. I haven't been there since I was a kid, so it fun to see it again.
In honor of Brad's birthday a cupcake was exploded with family. (I can see were our family is heading by adding another boy - I put a pink box of tissues in my car. Need to stake out some space while I can!)

I opened a large suitcase and now am piling things into it. It feels good to be filling it up! last evening we did a test drive on the new, smaller stroller we picked up for the trip. Works great.

Good night, moon!

Ben is a good sleeper. I usually am, too. Except when I am stressed. I fall asleep just fine, but wake up around 3 or so. Things are getting more settled in my life and I actually slept a couple nights the whole way through this week! The pile of things to go to China grows next to the suitcases. The new editors at work are settling in just fine. (Karen, it took to two to replace you!) Projects are wrapping up nicely! The teen camp next week is coming together. Good night, moon!

Moving ahead!

Moving right along! Our packet was submitted to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou on June 14! Next is being granted international approval with Article 5. Then it's on to Travel approval.
This picture makes Ben look so grown up! It's one of the photos from the little album we are sending to Micah!

Summer fun

I really like this photo! We are all having fun. Brad is having fun skiing, Bennett is enjoying being on the boat (no tears or clinging from Ben like some other years) I wasn't driving the boat, so I could enjoy the ride! We look forward to seeing how Micah fits in the picture. Maybe he will try the kiddie skis before our cautious Ben. Ben told me I did a good job water skiing, too. Funny!

Nonsense, I say!

The other week when Ben had a cough, I mentioned we may not be able to do our playdate with Chloe and friends. Ben responded with, "Nonsense, I say!"
What a hoot! He figured out the word makes everyone laugh when he says it, so it is heard from time to time!
Today was my turn to say it! On his last class of the season at Little Gym, Ben decided to have a meltdown for 7/8 of the class time. He was such a good student for all 19 of the previous sessions! Nonsense, I say! We love you, Ben!

Mailbox jitters

I am starting to be a little nervious when I go to my mailbox. So, today I open it up and sure enough, some offical letters. My heart starts pounding. One letter stating there is no criminal recods for Brad - that's good. And another one stating our paperwork has gone to China! Yeah!

Sizes

Here is Bennett at 2 1/2. I think he looks a lot older than that because he didn't put on much baby fat. So, when I sort through clothing for Micah, it will be interesting to see how he fit into them. We are working on a list of questions to send to China. Hopefully we will get back new measurements that will help us pack the right clothing sizes.

Missing June

Ben's last Music together class was a fun time with our friends. We will miss Ms Cherie's 45 minute session of singing and creative movement for parents and preschoolers. Ben will be in school 4 days next fall. I may have Micah in a class but we need to come home and get settled first.
I feel like I am missing some of the things I usually love about June: first long evenings, dreaming of things we'll do in the summer ahead. With all the projects we have been able to do, it hasn't been many long walks in the evening. And not knowing when we will travel makes me feel like I need to cram things in quick!
My car heard about how things are getting reworked around our house and it decided it wanted to be part of it, too! The inspection bill was $1,300! We are thankful our tax refund landed in our account just the right month!

The pay off

Ben has turned a corner in communication. A new level of thinking is emerging. I guess all those questions he sprung into after our referral with Micah are beginning to pay off.
This morning a small plane flew overhead. Ben asked if it was going to China. I explained that is takes a big plane to get the whole way to China. Ben said, "Maybe when it grows bigger." :)

Friends

We love spending time with friends! Over Memorial Day weekend we had time to catch up and talk about Micah with dear friends. We don't get to spend time with as much as we'd like with them so a weekend together at a cabin is wonderful!

It's for real!

Have to wait to talk to our social worker until Tuesday, but the mailbox held our 1800 approval. So, it seems our trip to China will most likely fall in August.
This statue that is found in Lancaster is similar to ones found in the city where we will be staying when we process Micah's adoption. We hope to stay at the White Swan hotel.

He said what??

I didn't know Ben knew the phrase, "I'm bored!" but he said it this morning on his first day of summer! How fast can we get those tickets??

Moving on

Ben's last day of school at the Montessori Academy was Tuesday and there was the Arts and Culture Day Thursday. We sweated it out watching each class perform a song and dance from different countries. Ben will have Ms Pearl and Ms Kathy again next year. The school encourages community by having 3-5 year-olds in the same class, keeping them together with the same teachers for the three years.
I mentioned to the teachers and Ms Karen, the director, that we'll keep them posted on how our trip to China will affect school attendance in September. We hope to put Micah in the toddler program at some point.