Our agency just confirmed for us that our Consulate Appointment will be on September 27th. Yay! Now we can schedule our flights and go to China!
Here is our tentative schedule:
Sept 10th - Leave for China
Sept 11th - Arrive in Beijing (me, hopefully pain free. Say a prayer for no back pain please!)
Sept 16th - Leave Beijing / Arrive in Nanning, Guangxi (Gotcha Day?)
Sept 17th - Gotcha Day?
Sept 21st - Leave Nanning / Arrive Guangzhou
Sept 27th - Consulate Appointment (where we get Jenna's entrance visa)
Sept 29th - Return Home
WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Our TA Arrived!
We just got an email from our agency saying that our Travel Approval (TA) has arrived! Yay! Our request for a consulate appointment has been put in for the week of September 24th and our estimated time of travel is September 10th...because we are leaving 3 days earlier than our travel group. We want to do some extra travel AND get used to the new environment/time zone before we go to Jenna's province!
Woo Hoo! China here we come!!
Woo Hoo! China here we come!!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
A Bunny for Jenna
I took the kiddos to Build-A-Bear today. I have been thinking for awhile that it would be a good prep for them to build a bear to give to their new sister. I initially thought this was something they could do while we were in China. HOWEVER, the kids' schedules are completely different now compared to what they were a year ago and I just don't think it will be possible for the good ol' grandparents to take on this task along with all the other things they will have to do! Jacob starts school next Monday and Julia starts preschool the week after so this was my last CALM opportunity to take them. Once school starts the entire schedule changes and things will be hectic. Man...a very hectic school year this year!
ANYWAY...we went to Build-A-Bear with our COUPON and grand ideas on what kind of bear to build! The kids were SUPER excited about going there. Okay, so we get there and of course they are completely overloaded with choices of bears and are running wild saying, "Hey, I like this one! Look at this one! Mom, this one is SOFT!" Fortunately the store was empty so I could laugh a little at their hyperactivity instead of stressing out that they were going to knock someone over, knock a display over, or get lost! Since I explained to them that they had to agree on the same bear, this decision making took awhile. Julia wanted the pretty purple hippo, Jacob wanted the soft plush bunny, and mom wanted a soft velvety bear (I mean it is build-a-BEAR!). We eventually picked the bunny...Julia gave in quite easily actually...I was surprised. Jacob didn't give in at all...I wasn't surprised. On to the next station...
Sound. The kids wanted to put a sound in the bunny and RAN to the sound station and then pushed every sound button on the kiosk. I think the sound was turned as loud as it would go too...my ear drums felt like bursting! Ouch! THEN the Build-A-Bear employee came up and loudly asked, "Which sound are we putting in your bear?" My son quickly corrected her and said, "It's a bunny not a bear." (If you know my son, you know that this is typical for him. He's a perfectionist and we are working on "being polite".) This was my opportunity to say "NO" to sound...."Let's go work as a team and stuff the bunny! Won't that be fun?!?!" Off to the next station....
Stuffing. Okay, now the kids clam up, after all a STRANGER is talking to them! They are asked who is getting this bunny, who is Jenna, and what is the bunny's name....they answer like typical shy kids...look at mom and smile. I'm expected to answer...so I encourage them to say something, anything to the nice lady. 2 mins later we begin to stuff the bear...as a team...both kids have their feet on the pedal and press! Yay, no arguing! Then the heart has to be put in. They RUN 1 foot to the "heart box" and pick out 3 hearts each...enter mom, "kids get one heart each please." 4 hearts fall back into the box. Then they have to "go through the motions" to get the heart to love, beat, and be smart (?). They touch their noses, touch their heads, touch their hearts, touch their knees, do the hokey pokey and turn themselves about, and THEN the hearts get put in the bunny. (The ones they picked by the way both said "I love you" on them! Love my kids!) Now the bunny gets stitched up and is ready for her bath. On to the next station...
Bathing the Bunny. The teamwork is over by this point. They both have a brush and Jacob is in charge of the air pump that "fluffs" the bunny. The poor bunny is brushed and fluffed to death amidst mild bickering about HOW to brush, WHERE to brush, and WHEN to fluff...normal kid stuff here. I put a quick end to the bath by saying, "Okay, let's pick an outfit!" On to the next station....
Dressing the Bunny. Okay, here's where it gets a bit wild again. The kids RUN to the clothing area. Julia looks at all the pretty outfits...the pretty expensive outfits, and Jacob looks at accessories, not clothes, accessories. (What is it about boys and their "toys"? It starts young people!) And here I was thinking a cute little $5 t-shirt would do the trick....I was wrong. After about 10 minutes of "ideas" from the kids we finally pick a cute little t-shirt and skirt with matching hair bows...have to get the hair bows (they are free)...and we have to negotiate about colors...Julia wants red and green and Jacob wants red and black...this time it's an easy compromise...we match the red bows and everyone is happy! By the time we actually dress the bunny, Jacob has an army hat for his bear at home and Julia has a sparklely purse for her bear at home...I try to tear them away from something of their own but can't... and at this point, I don't really want to "debate" anymore so I give in (Sorry dear!). They are happy. On to the next station...
Birth Certificates. This, in my mind, is the most useless part of this build a bear thing...the kids don't really understand the entire BC thing and the paper winds up torn and crumpled on the floor completely neglected at home. BUT it's part of the "experience" and it's "free" so we forge ahead. Now we sit at the computer and fill in all the blanks with the kiddos taking turns pushing the colored buttons when cued and we eventually name the bunny "Hoppy." Then we stand in line behind 2 other people and wait for an employee to notice that there is a line at the register. :) Fortunately it doesn't take a year and we purchase the bear. Yay!
All in all it was fun, the bickering was minimal, and the bunny turned out cute. The challenge now will be to keep the kids away from the bunny and save it for Jenna. They had a great time building a bear for "baby Jenna" and I'm glad. The kids are really excited about seeing her and are asking constantly why it's taking so long, where is she now, when are you going to China. Hopefully, the bunny will help them feel like they are part of the process. Oma and Opa, you can thank me later for not "letting" you bring them to Build-A-Bear! :)
Now, introducing "Hoppy", Jacob and Julia's gift to Jenna...
ANYWAY...we went to Build-A-Bear with our COUPON and grand ideas on what kind of bear to build! The kids were SUPER excited about going there. Okay, so we get there and of course they are completely overloaded with choices of bears and are running wild saying, "Hey, I like this one! Look at this one! Mom, this one is SOFT!" Fortunately the store was empty so I could laugh a little at their hyperactivity instead of stressing out that they were going to knock someone over, knock a display over, or get lost! Since I explained to them that they had to agree on the same bear, this decision making took awhile. Julia wanted the pretty purple hippo, Jacob wanted the soft plush bunny, and mom wanted a soft velvety bear (I mean it is build-a-BEAR!). We eventually picked the bunny...Julia gave in quite easily actually...I was surprised. Jacob didn't give in at all...I wasn't surprised. On to the next station...
Sound. The kids wanted to put a sound in the bunny and RAN to the sound station and then pushed every sound button on the kiosk. I think the sound was turned as loud as it would go too...my ear drums felt like bursting! Ouch! THEN the Build-A-Bear employee came up and loudly asked, "Which sound are we putting in your bear?" My son quickly corrected her and said, "It's a bunny not a bear." (If you know my son, you know that this is typical for him. He's a perfectionist and we are working on "being polite".) This was my opportunity to say "NO" to sound...."Let's go work as a team and stuff the bunny! Won't that be fun?!?!" Off to the next station....
Stuffing. Okay, now the kids clam up, after all a STRANGER is talking to them! They are asked who is getting this bunny, who is Jenna, and what is the bunny's name....they answer like typical shy kids...look at mom and smile. I'm expected to answer...so I encourage them to say something, anything to the nice lady. 2 mins later we begin to stuff the bear...as a team...both kids have their feet on the pedal and press! Yay, no arguing! Then the heart has to be put in. They RUN 1 foot to the "heart box" and pick out 3 hearts each...enter mom, "kids get one heart each please." 4 hearts fall back into the box. Then they have to "go through the motions" to get the heart to love, beat, and be smart (?). They touch their noses, touch their heads, touch their hearts, touch their knees, do the hokey pokey and turn themselves about, and THEN the hearts get put in the bunny. (The ones they picked by the way both said "I love you" on them! Love my kids!) Now the bunny gets stitched up and is ready for her bath. On to the next station...
Bathing the Bunny. The teamwork is over by this point. They both have a brush and Jacob is in charge of the air pump that "fluffs" the bunny. The poor bunny is brushed and fluffed to death amidst mild bickering about HOW to brush, WHERE to brush, and WHEN to fluff...normal kid stuff here. I put a quick end to the bath by saying, "Okay, let's pick an outfit!" On to the next station....
Dressing the Bunny. Okay, here's where it gets a bit wild again. The kids RUN to the clothing area. Julia looks at all the pretty outfits...the pretty expensive outfits, and Jacob looks at accessories, not clothes, accessories. (What is it about boys and their "toys"? It starts young people!) And here I was thinking a cute little $5 t-shirt would do the trick....I was wrong. After about 10 minutes of "ideas" from the kids we finally pick a cute little t-shirt and skirt with matching hair bows...have to get the hair bows (they are free)...and we have to negotiate about colors...Julia wants red and green and Jacob wants red and black...this time it's an easy compromise...we match the red bows and everyone is happy! By the time we actually dress the bunny, Jacob has an army hat for his bear at home and Julia has a sparklely purse for her bear at home...I try to tear them away from something of their own but can't... and at this point, I don't really want to "debate" anymore so I give in (Sorry dear!). They are happy. On to the next station...
Birth Certificates. This, in my mind, is the most useless part of this build a bear thing...the kids don't really understand the entire BC thing and the paper winds up torn and crumpled on the floor completely neglected at home. BUT it's part of the "experience" and it's "free" so we forge ahead. Now we sit at the computer and fill in all the blanks with the kiddos taking turns pushing the colored buttons when cued and we eventually name the bunny "Hoppy." Then we stand in line behind 2 other people and wait for an employee to notice that there is a line at the register. :) Fortunately it doesn't take a year and we purchase the bear. Yay!
All in all it was fun, the bickering was minimal, and the bunny turned out cute. The challenge now will be to keep the kids away from the bunny and save it for Jenna. They had a great time building a bear for "baby Jenna" and I'm glad. The kids are really excited about seeing her and are asking constantly why it's taking so long, where is she now, when are you going to China. Hopefully, the bunny will help them feel like they are part of the process. Oma and Opa, you can thank me later for not "letting" you bring them to Build-A-Bear! :)
Now, introducing "Hoppy", Jacob and Julia's gift to Jenna...
Monday, August 13, 2007
Jenna's Foster Care
Jenna is in foster care! I promised that I would tell what I have found out about her foster care situation so here it goes...
We are fortunate enough to have talked briefly with someone via email who is very familiar with the foster care programs in Qinzhou City (where Jenna is). This person found out for us that Jenna is sponsored in foster care through an organization called Grace and Hope for Children! (See the website link in the lower right hand corner of the blog for more info on this group.)
We are so blessed to know this information! This means that not only has Jenna been living in a family situation since early on in life, but that her all medical needs (i.e. - immunizations, check ups, etc.) have been met. We will also be able to obtain copies of all of Jenna's progress reports and photos from Grace and Hope for Children AFTER our adoption of Jenna is complete. We cannot know anything further unless the CCAA provides the information to us...it's a government requirement thing. If we obtain any other info we may jeopardize our adoption. We've waited TOO LONG for that to happen!!
So now you know! GOD IS SO GOOD!
We are fortunate enough to have talked briefly with someone via email who is very familiar with the foster care programs in Qinzhou City (where Jenna is). This person found out for us that Jenna is sponsored in foster care through an organization called Grace and Hope for Children! (See the website link in the lower right hand corner of the blog for more info on this group.)
We are so blessed to know this information! This means that not only has Jenna been living in a family situation since early on in life, but that her all medical needs (i.e. - immunizations, check ups, etc.) have been met. We will also be able to obtain copies of all of Jenna's progress reports and photos from Grace and Hope for Children AFTER our adoption of Jenna is complete. We cannot know anything further unless the CCAA provides the information to us...it's a government requirement thing. If we obtain any other info we may jeopardize our adoption. We've waited TOO LONG for that to happen!!
So now you know! GOD IS SO GOOD!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Growth Report
We got a translation of Jenna's growth report yesterday and found out (yet again) that some things just don't translate well from Chinese to English!
Her Chinese name: Yongwei doesn't really translate well...yong is an intone and wei means small/tiny. So her name means tiny at best. Our Chinese American friend said pretty much the same thing...he's not sure what it means either! So we are going to give her a middle name of LiAn which means peaceful, calm, easy, safe and beauty in heart and appearance. We think that suits her much better than "tiny".
Here are a few funny translations from her growth report:
Her Chinese name: Yongwei doesn't really translate well...yong is an intone and wei means small/tiny. So her name means tiny at best. Our Chinese American friend said pretty much the same thing...he's not sure what it means either! So we are going to give her a middle name of LiAn which means peaceful, calm, easy, safe and beauty in heart and appearance. We think that suits her much better than "tiny".
Here are a few funny translations from her growth report:
- "When seeing foster family members eating, she would make noise to indicate she also needed and be extremely excited." (We know what it means, but the translation reads awkward!)
- "She could play the toy by each hand and she got much improvement." (Huh?)
- "When she was full, she liked to play on bed as if to digest the food she just ate." (AH, a food coma, like after Thanksgiving dinner!!?)
- "She was lovely as she would be happy and laugh if you scratched her." (Huh? We take this to mean, she is lovely when she's happy and laughs when she was tickled.)
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
When do we travel?
I've gotten this question a lot and it's answered in a previous post, but to make things easier I'll post about it again. It involves a lot of adoption jargon so I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can!
We have to wait on getting a Travel Approval (TA) from China and an American Consulate Appointment (CA) in Guangzhou, China before we can make travel plans. The CA hinges on when we get our TA. It usually takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks to get a TA, but our agency wants to try to process things quickly and get our TA sooner. Last month TA's were issued in 4 weeks.
In our referral packet on Jenna we received a "Letter of Confirmation" or "Acceptance Letter" that we had to sign saying, "Yes, we want to adopt Jenna!" That letter is being sent back to China by our adoption agency tomorrow. Once the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) receives that letter they will begin processing our paperwork and issue a TA. The TA is then mailed/couriered to our adoption agency. Once our adoption agency gets our TA they will call the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China (our final destination in China before we return to the states) to set up our CA to process our American paperwork (i.e. - medical checks and entrance Visa for Jenna).
Once we get a CA we begin to make travel plans. So, long story short, we hope that we will travel to China the 2nd week in September. The urgency (in addition to wanting to bring Jenna home) to get TA's quickly is because the Chinese National Holiday the first week of October and the trade fairs in Guangzhou the last 2 weeks of October will prevent our travel in the month of October. So if we don't get TA's quickly we will have to wait until November to travel. We DON'T want that to happen!! Please pray for quick TA's!!
I hope this answers the "when?" question for everyone. Love you all!
We have to wait on getting a Travel Approval (TA) from China and an American Consulate Appointment (CA) in Guangzhou, China before we can make travel plans. The CA hinges on when we get our TA. It usually takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks to get a TA, but our agency wants to try to process things quickly and get our TA sooner. Last month TA's were issued in 4 weeks.
In our referral packet on Jenna we received a "Letter of Confirmation" or "Acceptance Letter" that we had to sign saying, "Yes, we want to adopt Jenna!" That letter is being sent back to China by our adoption agency tomorrow. Once the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) receives that letter they will begin processing our paperwork and issue a TA. The TA is then mailed/couriered to our adoption agency. Once our adoption agency gets our TA they will call the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China (our final destination in China before we return to the states) to set up our CA to process our American paperwork (i.e. - medical checks and entrance Visa for Jenna).
Once we get a CA we begin to make travel plans. So, long story short, we hope that we will travel to China the 2nd week in September. The urgency (in addition to wanting to bring Jenna home) to get TA's quickly is because the Chinese National Holiday the first week of October and the trade fairs in Guangzhou the last 2 weeks of October will prevent our travel in the month of October. So if we don't get TA's quickly we will have to wait until November to travel. We DON'T want that to happen!! Please pray for quick TA's!!
I hope this answers the "when?" question for everyone. Love you all!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Commenting on the Blog
I just wanted y'all to know that you can comment on our blog at any time. We have opted to "moderate" the comments, so your comments will not show up until we "approve" them! This way we won't miss anything someone sends to us and we can filter any possible "unwelcome" comments. Sorry if this has "thrown" a few of you! Please post when you can! Especially when we are in China!
We have learned a few new interesting facts on the foster care program Jenna is in. We will tell you more about this in another post soon! We are VERY busy getting other paperwork and "projects" done for Jenna's arrival right now. Things are a bit hectic at the moment!
Thank you for all the wonderful emails and comments! We are very happy too!
We have learned a few new interesting facts on the foster care program Jenna is in. We will tell you more about this in another post soon! We are VERY busy getting other paperwork and "projects" done for Jenna's arrival right now. Things are a bit hectic at the moment!
Thank you for all the wonderful emails and comments! We are very happy too!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Introducing Jenna Krueger
It's a girl!! She was born on Sept 20, 2006 in Guangxi, China!
Here's her basic info:
Here's her basic info:
- Her Chinese Name is: Min Yong Wei (last name, first name, middle name)
- She is in foster care! Can you believe we are so blessed to get foster care...AGAIN!
- In May07 she weighed 17.8 lbs and was 26.75 inches tall.
- She is a good eater, deep sleeper, sits up, can pick up small things well, and can bang blocks together.
A Surprise Package!
Great Wall just emailed us and told us that a package is arriving in their office today. They didn't know about this package...someone in Boston, MA just got their referral! This could be it!! I'll keep y'all posted!
Yay!! I hope it's today!!
Yay!! I hope it's today!!
Still...No News.
It's getting old, I know, but we still have no news. Our agency is expecting packages on Friday and on Monday...so we'll see what happens then.
As I said before, I'll post here and email as soon as we get a referral! Here's to hoping it happens on Friday and not on Monday!
As I said before, I'll post here and email as soon as we get a referral! Here's to hoping it happens on Friday and not on Monday!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
STOP THE BLEEDING!!
I mean really now! This Rumor Queen site is going to be the end of me!! There are MORE package rumors AND cut off date rumors! Things are still not certain and our agency has sent one email early this morning...a very conservative "no news" email. I think I'm going to pass out from all this stress. FLY STORK, FLY!!!
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