A Day I Never Thought Would Come...

It is here. We've got it. No more waiting. Out of the blue, in celebration of my 31st birthday tomorrow, our TA arrived. I couldn't be more shell shocked. And our agency was SO CASUAL about telling us!! I came home from S's swimming lesson today, expecting to simply spend another hot miserable afternoon lying on the couch, trying to stay cool. Then I looked at our phone and noticed that we had a message. Without listening to the message, I checked our caller ID and noticed it said ASIA. Well, of course, my stomach about leapt into my mouth!! I mean, why in the world would they be calling, except for something BIG (usually, we just email back and forth, no need to call). I didn't want to get excited and be disappointed, but I was shaking at the thought of what it could be. I listened to the message as Jojo nonchalantly said, "I was just calling because I wanted to let you know that your TA arrived today and I need to discuss when we should make a consulate appointment..."

WHAT???!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!! I know these terms, but these terms are not used next to OUR name!!! TA? CA?? HOLY COW!!! She's talking about US!!! And she wants to know when we are available to fly to China??? "Uh, yeah, I can't do next Thursday because I have a dentist appointment. What about the following Tuesday? Would that work?" You want to know when we can fly to China, how about RIGHT NOW????!!!!

As it is, we are looking at traveling in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS!!! We still need to confirm our consulate appointment (CA), but we are looking to leave August 13, arrive the 14th, meet our LilyJoy (whoa!) on the 16th and skeedadle on the 27th. My head is spinning.

Hottest Day in You-Know-What

The news is all a-buzz tonight-- it's always nice when they have something "big" to report. Today was apparently the hottest day on record in Western Washington. WOOHOO! We did it! Now, tell me where the air conditioner is because I'm going CRAZY!!! Here in Washington, we don't have weather like this. You live here because you prefer the temperature not to reach above 80, MAYBE 85 degrees. Now, I am a lifer, I've never lived anywhere else. I've spent short, yet extended periods of time away (I lived for my last quarter of nursing school in Belize and I thought I was going to DIE.), but I have CHOSEN to live here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest because it is MILD. There is no requirement for central a/c. I LIKE it that way. But today, when the temperature reached 103 and the fans were doing nothing but blowing hot air around the room, I thought I was in hell.

We weren't at home all day, mind you. I'm not that stupid! S, T and I all packed up this morning at about 8:30am and hit Lake Washington. It was PERFECT! We were literally the 2nd people on the beach and the water was still as glass. I knew it would be packed later on, so I thought early was better and I was right. We left at about 11:30am when the throngs of people began to arrive. In the meantime, we had a grand ole time building sand castles, swimming in the temperature perfect water (actually, I kind of wished it was a little cooler!), and playing at the park. I think we may have to do a repeat of today tomorrow since it is predicted to be 99 tomorrow. Lord help us all.

What's in a name?

I love names. I love hearing what people name their children and the meaning behind the name, whether it be family, or biblical, or some particular meaning or any other of a thousand different reasons a name is chosen. Our first two children have names that are full of meaning. We had difficulty getting pregnant before we had Samuel. And while there are a good many names of babies in the bible whose parents were in the same boat, we related well to sense of loss and devastation turned to joy and wonder as Hannah and Elkanah did when they were finally able to have Samuel in the Old Testament book of Samuel. Not only that, but Samuel was a strong leader in Israel, being a prophet and the last of the Judges. It's a strong name and one that we both loved. So, Samuel it was. His middle name is Milo-- the first name of my only deceased grandparent. He died 18 years ago on July29th, two days before my 13th birthday. I am the youngest grandchild on that side of my family and I always felt that somehow, I really lost out. I never got to know my grandpa in a grown up way, so I wanted to honor him in a grown up way and I knew that using his name would also honor his wife, my still living 92 year old grandmother (Samuel's due date was on her birthday-- New Year's Eve--though he was born 7 days later).

Timothy's name is a whole different story! For about the 5 or 6 months that we knew he was also a boy, his name was Andrew. Steve and I had come to like the idea of having one of the child's names be a biblical name or concept and the other be a family name. Andrew happens to be Steve's middle name and we were still undecided about "Andrew's" middle name-to-be. Andrew is also one of the 12 that Jesus chose to be his closest of friends and followers. We couldn't ask for more than that! Then, probably about a week before the little guy made his grand appearance, I was reading one of the letters to Timothy in the New Testament and I had a prompting. I went to Steve and asked what he thought of the name Timothy. He liked it immediately, but I wanted him to pray about it a bit and give it some thought before we changed his name-- not an easy thing to do when you have been thinking of him and calling him something comletely different for months! Well, Steve read some of Timothy too and found a verse that solidified it for him (I'll be darned if I can remember what it was... sorry!). And soon, my prayer for this little guy was "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12. Andrew became his middle name.

And now we come to our little miss waiting for us, our ZhiPing. If ever I had a girl, you can believe that I had several favorite names picked out already!! However, one has followed me for most of my existence because it happens to come from my name. I've always loved it and I wanted it personally for a nickname. That name is Lily. My first name, which is actually Susan, means Lily in Israeli and Hebrew. I never felt any strong desire to be named after, but the fact that LilyJoy's name comes from mine is a very special connection that I have never gotten to have with any other person before. It is almost like a part of her came from a part of me that I didn't get to share with her during pregnancy. I truly hope she sees it that way one day. We had this name all picked out before we even saw our daughter. Then we met ZhiPing. Now, one thing I love about the Chinese is that when they are naming their children, they are very intentional. They often wish for their child whatever trait or quality that they name them or there may be a particular trait or quality that they are reminded of in looking at the child. It is hard to say 100% of the time what exactly the meaning of a Chinese name is (unless you talk to the namer) because there can be so many variations and some cannot be taken literally or they don't make sense. However, when we look at ZhiPing's name, we can make a guess. ZhiPing is actually two names, but the Chinese believe that you cannot break up the two names because it takes something away from the person. Zhi has a common meaning of "wisdom." The name Ping was explained to us a little more thoroughly by the boys' Chinese native barber, Suzy. She drew out the character for us and explained that the first part means "pretty girl" another part "river" or "water" and the third part "beautiful flower." We've also looked up the name for something a little more compact in its meaning. What we came up with that goes with what Suzy said is the word, "duckweed." That made me laugh when I saw it, but then I read about duckweed and found out that it is the smallest flower in the world and is a water-dwelling flower that ducks often feed off of. Well, at this point, I was so thrilled because when I imagine a water flower, the first thing I personally think of is a water lily-- we were already thinking along the same lines as her nannies! My little lily duckweed! The second part of her name is probably pretty self-explanatory, but nothing is ever as it seems on the surface for us!! Yes, we are joyful to finally have a little pink around here, but even more joyful about the Love that dwells within us. I have often thought of the concept of Joy and how joy doesn't necessarily equate to happiness. Joy is deeper. Joy comes from the very core of our beings, from the place where true worship happens, no matter what is going on around us. Joy is more than an amazing thing. It is where Christ lives.

But since we had picked the name Lily Joy out before we even met her, we didn't know how it would work with her Chinese name and we definitely wanted to keep that for her. We worked and re-worked the order of her names and finally decided on something that mirrors her Chinese name and honors the one thing that she will come to us with, that belongs to her. Hence, we put LilyJoy together in one word with the "J" capitalized and ZhiPing together with the "P" capitalized. We love this name. We hope she does too.

100 Good wishes update

Well, I finally got back to updating my 100 good wishes blog last night. I'm only a little over halfway to 100, but at this point I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't take that number so literally?? I've really been going a bit crazy over the whole business, changing my mind about 5 times now as to the look and layout of the quilt! But, then again, those of you who know me and my decision-making skills will know that this is pretty par for the course. On the other hand, I've been going especially crazy since I am extra stressed out with this adoption. When I am stressed, my decision making abilities go OUT THE WINDOW!! No wonder I have no desire to work in ICU or ER.

Anyway, I think I have made the final decision as to what the look of the quilt will be. So, now I am looking over all the fabulous fabrics that I have gotten from folks and I'm having fun again. One of my favorite combinations is two absolutely gorgeous Asian looking fabrics put together with a John Deere print! That makes me laugh-- but the colors look wonderful together!!

So, if you have been thinking of contributing a fabric and a wish to LilyJoy's quilt, it is not too late and I would LOVE it! Just let me know via email or in the comments section. Jie jie!

So much to do, so little time

We've had a busy week! I can't believe how little time we have actually spent at home. We just finished up on a wonderful week of Rocky's Preschool Playhouse Vacation Bible Camp where Samuel and I had a very fun time. I was really glad not to be in charge of the whole group as I have been the past two years, along with a friend of mine. I think I may have gone crazy with everything else on our plates right now. But the whole thing was very much a pleasant distraction from the waiting. My group of kids was a little tough-- lots of wandering, lots of forgetting to listen, a few "I don't want to go with you's," etc.-- but given that this age group is sort of my expertise at the moment, I think I handled things swimmingly :)

And speaking of swimmingly, next week is swim lessons! Hooray for distractions! Unfortunately, I waited until the last possible minute to sign up, so we only get one week out of the summer. Oh well, Samuel will learn to swim one of these days.

There were a few LOA's this week, a few TA's, but certainly not the "rush" of TA's that so many were hoping for. Let's hope that something big is just around the corner and we can get this line moving again!

ARTICLE 5

HOLY COW!!!! We got our Article 5 yesterday! Which means, all we're waiting on is TA (coming in an average of 22 days) plus 2 weeks and we're off to China!! AUGGGHHHHHHH! I can't go to China! I have too much to do!!! Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...

A Few More Steps Checked Off

So, you may want to refer to my post a few weeks ago (find the LOA post), but we got our I-800 approved! That was the first step and that happened on 6/26-- I know, I know, I'm a little behind. After that, the I-800 goes to National Visa Center (NVC) and is cabled on to Guangzhou. That cabling for us happened a few days ago 7/2. We're staying right on the averages that I see on Rumor Queen, so that is wonderful news. Our next step will be for Guangzhou to get our LOA, DS-230 application and I-800 altogether for a little party and come up with an Article 5. There seems to be a bit of a back up on these, don't know what that's all about, but hopefully we'll see some more movement in the next few weeks. In summary, we are right on track for travel end of August, early Sept!! I think I'm going to throw up.

In related news, it sounds like China may be lightening up on the whole quarantine business for H1N1! I'll see if I can find more info, but this news is very good.

TIME TO MAKE SOME MORE NOISE!!!!

Okay, I am so excited about this! I just got permission to share this from the APC group, but it sounds like Congress is actually looking at the Hague orphan immunization issue to rectify the problem and allow parents to take care of their child's immunizations at home, under their own doctor's supervision. People who live in NY, TX, IL, CA, IA, AZ, VT, AL, RI, and OR PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES listed below!!!! This is so important, folks! It may not be passed by the time we travel, but if we can help reduce the trauma to any of our little ones, this is worth it.
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Those who are embroiled in the new post-Hague I-800 process are currently experiencing an unexpected result of the Hague implementation. Prior to 1997, internationally adopted children often were subject to massive numbers of vaccinations in Guangzhou in order to satisfy United States immigration requirements. In 1997, Congress unanimously approved a law amending immigration
law and allowing adopting parents to bring a notarized vaccination waiver with them to the Consulate in Guangzhou instead, saying they would take care of their childrens' vaccinations upon returning safely home and under the supervision and advice of their own physician. For nearly 12 years this process has gone on without any problem, complaint or concern.

Another exemption (which does not apply to Chinese orphans) was passed in 1999-again unanimously - which provided for an exemption for older siblings of adopted orphans to also be able to be adopted into the same family (otherwise the age limit on the US side is less than 16).

Then, in 2006, Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to comply with the newly-signed Hague Convention. Unfortunately, they did this by creating a new definition of orphan child - complete with new section number and reference in the INA. But all the previously approved protections and exemptions only specifically referenced the original section number of the original definition of orphan child. These protections were LOST because they
did not specifically reference the new definition, and because whoever wrote the law did not check for cross-references in other parts of the law!! Because these cross-references in the INA were not checked, vaccination waivers went from being available to all internationally adopted orphans to only those from NON-Hague countries. The Notice from the Guangzhou Consulate-General is below:

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cnnotice_on_vaccination_requirements081219\.html

There is a bill right now in the Senate Judiciary Committee to correct this mistake. It is Senate Bill 1376. The link to the bill is here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1376

It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will then go to the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security. The link to the Subcommittee is below, and contains links to contact information for Committee members.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/committee.xpd?id=SSJU4

The Subcommittee members are:

Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX]
Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Sen. Charles Grassley [R-IA]
Sen. Jon Kyl [R-AZ]
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT]
Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R-AL]
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]
Sen. Ron Wyden [D-OR]

If you live in one of these states, please contact your Senator and ask them to act on Senate Bill 1376 and re-instate the protections and exemptions that Congress so unanimously approved in 1997 and 1999, and which clearly were accidentally not extended to orphans covered under the Hague Convention.

Thanks for your help!