Counting Down the Days

Well, things are getting crazy at the Jacques' house as we count down the days until our departure.  All of Lucy's stuff, which once covered the floor of her room from end to end, is now tucked away in our three duffle-cases, thanks to Melissa's indomitable drive to get us packed and ready to go.  Nevermind that we still have to fit in enough clothes for rest of us; somehow we will cram it all in.

Less than a week. Two work days. That's all the time we have left before we leave.  Exactly one week from now we will be in Beijing, sitting on a bus with a bunch of other expectant families, ready to tour the capital and climb the great wall.  One full day in Beijing and then it's off to Lucy's home province of Nanchang (pronounced Nan-chung).  That day we will receive our dear Lucy.  What else can I say?  We are stoked.

This Independence Day weekend we will finish up child-proofing the house, finish the packing and keep on waiting.  I'm sure there will be BBQing and food and fireworks somewhere but really we are just biding our time until we leave.  Ah, sweet Lucy.  Hang on, baby, we're coming...

Priorities

Norfolk to Detroit - 1.5 hours.
Detroit to Seattle - 4.6 hours.
Seattle to Beijing - 11.3 hours.
Beijing to Nanchang - 2 hours.
Nanchang to Guangzhou - 1.1 hours.
Guangzhou to Hong Kong - 1 hours.
Hong Kong to Detroit - 14.5 hours.
Detroit to Norfolk - 1.5 hours.
Airport Layovers - 25 hours

Total time in airports or airplanes -  62.5 hours.

Bringing home our baby girl - Priceless...

Travel Dates Set

It's been an exhausting day and I won't bog you down with all the gory details but we FINALLY have our travel dates nailed down.  We will be leaving for China on July 8 and returning July 23rd.  The flights and the connections are pretty brutal so we're just choosing to focus on little Lucy instead of dreading the days without sleep.  Flying out we will go from Norfolk to Detroit to Seattle and finally to Beijing.  On the return leg we will be flying out of Hong Kong and flying directly to Detroit and then a hop back to Norfolk. The trip there will be about 30-32 hours of continuous travel and the trip back is not much better because of a nine hour (nine hour!!!!!) layover in Detroit.  We have family there, so hopefully we'll able to see them, but we could be delirious with sleep deprivation so who knows what good we will be by then.  Nonetheless, we are China bound and we are excited!  More to come as we know more.  Stay tuned.

Eating My Words...In a Good Way

This morning at 9:13am EST, we received our Consulate Appointment.  Less than one business day after our TA arrived.  No Dragon Boat Festival delay.  Your US government working quickly and efficiently.  So I am eating my words and could not be happier about it.  Our CA date is Tuesday, July 20th. We will find out this afternoon when our exact dates of travel are. And we are crawling out of our skin waiting for that info!!!  Our best guess would be that we will be traveling the first week of July. Yikes!  That's right around the corner.  Will update the blog with the exact dates sometime this afternoon when we know more.

We're going to China! We're going to China!

Best. Day. Ever!

Big News! We got a double dose of joy today as we received one very welcome piece of news after another.  This morning we got a Lucy update including new pics and her current height & weight (she's now 30 inches tall and 22lbs).  And if that wasn't enough to set our hearts atwitter, a mere six hours later we received our Travel Approval letter from China!  That's right. We're going to Chiii-na, we're going to Chiii-na!

The TA is the thing we've been waiting over a year to receive - it's basically China giving us permission to go over there and get our little girl.  So, when are we going?  Well, it's a bit complicated. Things should move "pretty quickly" now as we are waiting for just one more thing - the Consulate Appointment (CA) which should arrive anywhere from 1 to 5 business days from today.  Normally things would be moving "very quickly" at this point.  Normally. The reason we are moving "pretty quickly" and not "very quickly" is...wait for it...all of China is shutting down for the next five days for the Dragon Boat Festival, which (based on intensive screenings of Ni Hao Kai Lan episodes) is a pretty big deal in China. So it could be late next week or even early the following week before we get the CA.  Now, some of you may have paused there for a second and thought, "Why is the US consulate shutting down for three days for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival?"  And my answer is, "Good question! I have no idea!"  When in Rome...or Guangzhou...I guess. And also, you know those same folks are going to get July 4th and 5th off too - it is the American Consulate after all!  I want to be understanding but all we want to do is go get our little girl.  But I digress...

So...the day we get the Consulate Appointment we will know our exact date of travel.  Purely speculating here but we think our CA could be at the end of July so our departure date for China would be mid month sometime - maybe around the 15th.  There really is no telling until we get that CA though.

All joking aside we COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!!  Until then, Melissa and I will be packing our bags, counting our money, filling our prescriptions (Cipro anyone?) and thinking non-stop about our little angel in Nanchang.  And I'm pretty sure Melissa needs to make another Gymboree run or two. Praise God, we are nearing the home stretch.  Special thanks to all the friends and family who have prayed with/for us to get to this date. He is Good, all the time.

Hang on Lucy Lu, we're coming for you!

Still Waiting...

Hello all!  Many of you well wishers have been asking if we have any updates on our dear Lucy. Unfortunately we are still waiting for our Travel Approval from China.  Melissa has been monitoring the interwebs for news from other families on a similar timeline as us and it would seem we should be getting word any time now.  We really don't know when the actual travel dates will be but sometime in July is looking about right these days.  That's all we know at this time but don't worry, we'll post here as soon as we know something tangible.  Thanks for your kind words and prayers; we'll keep you posted.

BTDT???

On Saturday we received our I800 approval, yay!!.  International adoption is packed with acronyms and forms.  We are BTDT (been there done that) AP (adoptive parents) awaiting our DD (dear daughter), while DS (dear son) keeps us busy.  An I800 is just one of many, many forms that we’ve had to file and get approved from some sort of agency or governing body.  This particular form is part of a series of immigration forms that will help us bring Lucy home.  There was an I800, proceeded by the I800A, the I864W, the DS230, the Supplement 3….need I continue??  Needless to say we are very familiar with where to get something FedEx’d, UPS’d, USPS’d, notarized, money-ordered, faxed, copied, certified, ordered or just plain ole’ filled out.  At this point we are waiting for a NVC (national visa center) letter, and an Article 5, TA (travel approval) and a CA (consulate appointment).  And then we get to go to the PRC (China) for LUCY.

Additionally, DS (Tyson) had a fairly minor surgery today.  He’s BTDT with the whole OR thing but it still stinks all the same.  The nurses and docs at CHKD (Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters) took great care of him… All right, I’ll stop using acronyms and just tell the story. Little man has been known to throw a fit going into the OR (and pee on his mama and the OR table), so our friend and pre-op nurse last time suggested a little pre-medication.  It made all of the difference in the world both this time and last.  (Thanks Whitney!)   I’m not sure how else to describe how he acts on the med but let’s just say “goofy”.  He was all smiles and silly sentences.  He says things like “my mouth doesn’t work” and watched his hands move with an amused/bewildered expression on his face.  After that everything went smoothly and he blew kisses at us as they carted him off to the OR.  The surgery was straightforward and went well.  In the recovery room he was ticked off and miserable until he woke up enough to eat a fruit punch slushy.  He’s now doing well and will go back to school tomorrow.  Next month he’ll go back to surgery for a few revisions of previous surgeries. There’s bound to be more drama next time around…even for the kid that’s BTDT.

 

We are still on track for a July departure for China.  Excited doesn’t even explain how we feel.  The purple room upstairs is just too empty.  It needs a little girl, with beautiful brown eyes to fill it up.  Almost daily people ask me what Tyson thinks of getting a sister.  I think that he is excited for the idea of her.  I really don’t think anyone is truly ready to be kicked off of the throne.  For a year and a half he’s been the center of our attention, gifts and time.  Sharing it may be hard but I think he’s up for the challenge.

TTFN,

Melis