almost one month

Whew! The weeks have flown by since we last updated the blog.  We’ll try to do better now that everyone’s jet lag has finally passed.

We left Guangzhou early May 25th, and made our way to the USA!  Both boys did great on the flights, and we’re so grateful to report we had UNEVENTFUL flights. For Sam, flying is second nature.  He’s traveled since he was a baby, so he’s an expert flier at this point.  He can basically walked himself through security and immigration, which gave us more ability to help Jackson.  We landed in Dallas, TX mid afternoon on the 25th, and Jackson officially became a US Citizen.  We made our way to our next gate, and enjoyed some Chick-Fil-A, which seemed fitting as Jackson’s first meal.  As we were ready to board our last flight home, there was an issue with the plane.  Actually, it turned out to be three planes!  Each plane they sent for us seemed to have an issue with it, so we finally boarded a fully functioning plane 2 hours later.  At that point, we had been traveling for 30+  hours and were definitely tired.  Everyone (surprisingly) held it together, and we made it home in one piece with all of our luggage.   It was a sweet reunion at the airport with family.

Since we’ve been home, we have been adjusting to as a family of four.  There have been ups and downs, but we are noticing the difficult moments are getting shorter and the recovery period is faster.  Sam is an INCREDIBLE big brother and he and Jackson are doing great together.  We’re so grateful for that.  He’s been a stabilzing and consistent factor for Jackson.  We’ve kept busy with a Memorial Day 1 mile run, a picnic with our adoption agency, VBS for Sam, a trip to the zoo and doctors visits.  Jackson has experienced a lot of firsts and it’s been a joy to watch him take it all in.

We’ve got some Doctors visits ahead of us where some decisions will need to be made about his cleft palate and dental structure.  Pray we can get into these specialist quickly figure out the best course of action for Jackson.

-LJ, Amy, Sam, and Jackson

leaving Kunming, Doctors visit, and other adventures

We left Kunming on Friday, the 18th, and arrived that evening in Guangzhou.  Jackson did well on the flight and slept a good bit too.  Sam enjoyed being able to watch some shows in English for a change.  We arrived to our hotel that night, ate dinner, and settled in.  Everyone was pretty tired, so we slept well that night.

The next morning we got up and went to the international travel clinic for Jackson to get a medical exam.  He was a trooper and has great eye sight!  We were really amazed and how well he responded to the doctors.  They had to draw blood, but he was was quick to come to Momma’s arms for some comfort (thanks, Sam for the picture!).  Sam was such a good brother and came over and consoled Jackson, telling him things like, “it’s over. You are ok.  We are here.”  It was a proud parenting moment for both of us.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening with a friend from Jackson’s orphanage who was making her way back to the U.S. with her family!  It was so sweet to see them play together.  Both of them were happy to see a familiar face after several long days.  We’re hoping to meet up with them again and another family soon so they can all see each other again.

Sunday and Monday were spent sight seeing, shopping, visiting the city zoo, and folk art center.  It was a great time for all of us to see more of Jackson’s culture and Sam has been little sponge soaking it all up!

Today, Tuesday, we had our U.S. Consulate appointment where we submitted everything for Jackson’s visa to the U.S. We should have that back Thursday afternoon!  We took a dinner boat cruise tonight and saw the city at night.  The boys had a blast and Sam really loved the kids show they had. Also, we learned that Jackson really loves chicken feet!

We’ve had some good days and some bad ones.  We have some friends who have done this before us that gave us wise counsel that a grieving preschooler is hard.  It’s true.  There are really great moments, and there are really hard moments.  We’re learning how to communicate with each other, and figuring out how to love graciously.  Keep praying that we would know how to do that well!  We have 2 more days in China before we fly back to the USA! We’re ready to get Jackson back to the states and figure out a new normal for a bit.

getting to know you

If you’ve read the past two posts, you’ve probably thought that things were just roses over here and no emotions what so ever.  Don’t be fooled.  Day 3, Wednesday, gave us a run for the money.  It was obvious Jackson was tired, sad, and just not his happy self.  We spent the morning walking around a lake close to our hotel.  Jackson loved being outside and seeing a lot of new things to him.  After our walk around the park, we did some shopping and things went less than ideal.  We survived, but a grieving five year old is hard.  There was a lot of sadness, anger, and just not wanting to adhere to the boundaries being put in place.  I spent most of the shopping time sitting in a corner of the store holding on to Jackson singing over him and praying while he struggled.  We had lunch, then let him get a nap in.  We woke him up after an hour, but I think if we would have let him sleep, he would have slept through the afternoon and into the night.   Luckily, we recovered from the outing, and by the evening he was giving us a stellar karate performance.

It’s easy to get discouraged at moments like this, but we are happy to see glimpses of our sweet boy even in the hard moments.

Day 4, Thursday, we visited a cultural center and spent a low key afternoon packing up as we head to Guangzhou tomorrow to complete our US Consulate appointment to get Jackson’s visa.  It’s been a fun day watching him come out of his shell.  He’s quite the character.  LJ and Sam have been able to sneak away for a few special ice cream moments together while Jackson naps, and it’s always good for me too because they’ve come back with coffee and Diet Coke!

He’s an opinionated little fellow.  He’s fiercely independent.  He’s loving towards his brother, and is in a Momma phase today, though Daddy needs to be within view.  We’re working on teaching him to trust that Mom and Dad can meet his needs and he doesn’t have to do everything by himself.  It’s an adventure, but we’re so grateful that he’s ours.

obviously he was thrilled to be with us

official notarized Chinese adoption papers!

An orphan no more and orphanage visit

May 15… the day Jackson was an orphan no more! After 1874 days, Jackson was an orphan no more and officially forever a James.  We left early Tuesday morning and went back to the civil affairs office to officially adopt Jackson.  There was a more paper signing, more pictures, and the administrators from his orphanage were there to be the legal representative from the orphanage.  A notary completed papers and the adoption was finalized.

We quickly went to the airport and flew to Jackson’s town to apply for his passport and visit the orphanage.  Jackson did so well on the flight and later told the guide he was a little scared, but we would have never known.  We made it to the police station where our guide and the orphanage adminisrators applied for Jackson’s Chinese passport.  It was an interesting experience, especially since his  small town has only completed two passports for adopted children so far!  Jackson was the third, and two more will follow behind us during the year.

Once we applied for his passport, we went to the orphanage to visit and see Jackson’s home for the past five years.  It was a humbling experience, and LJ and I both fought back tears most of the day.  We were so grateful for the way they cared for our son.  It was obvious he was so loved and he felt at home there.  He grabbed Sam’s hand and lead him into the orphanage and showed us around the facility.  He was so proud to show us around and show us his friends.  We were there for over four hours and Sam and Jackson spent a lot of time playing together on the playground.  We finished the afternoon with a fantastic meal that the orphanage cooked for us and we had some time with the director and the administrators to give our thanks for the way they have cared for Jackson.

Jackson said goodbye to his friends and we headed back to the airport to return to Kunming.  There were no tears from Jackson as we left the orphanage.  We’re so grateful that Sam is with us, because there’s always a playmate close and a new friend always helps with transition.  We’ve been so proud of Samuel as he’s fully embraced his big brother role and is such a great help . We finally arrived back in our hotel close to 11pm and everyone was exhausted, but so thankful for the day.

Gotcha Day!

We made it to Kunming, in the Yunnan province, late Sunday afternoon.  We checked into our hotel, met with our guide about the schedule for the following day, and grabbed dinner at KFC.  Sam was glad to have a break from noodles and rice and quickly devoured some chicken nuggets.

To everyone’s surprise, we fell asleep quickly that night and woke up the next day ready to get Jackson!  We met our guide and went to Walmart to buy some gifts to take to the orphanage that we would visit later in the week.  We had a nice lunch and rested for a few minutes before we loaded into the van to go to the civil affairs office to meet Jackson.  We pulled in and saw him sitting on a bench with some administrators from the orphanage.  When our van stopped, they began to walk towards the van, and the next few minutes were such a blur!  We didn’t expect them to bring him to us right then!  Thankfully, there is another family traveling with us who was bringing home their little girl, and they grabbed some pictures for us of our first meeting.  We opened the van door and Sam was the first to say hello to Jackson.  Jackson said Momma and Daddy in Chinese and quickly climbed in the van to our laps!  We were all in shock a little bit.  I think we expected a very formal meeting in the office, but we just happened to be at the right place at the right time to meet him early.

We then went into the civil affairs office.  Sam and Jackson walked hand in hand, and Sam did such a good job guiding Jackson and making him feel comfortable.  We spent the next hour or so signing papers, checking passport numbers, verifying information, and getting pictures made.  Once that was done, we loaded back into the van and all FOUR OF US went back to the hotel to play for awhile.  It was very surreal!  We kept joking that you spend a lot of time (years in our case) doing paperwork and waiting, and then all of the sudden you have a kid that goes home with you!

We ate dinner at a local restaurant that night and Jackson was convinced he could order by himself.  He called the waitress over and begin to point to pictures in the menu.  It was pretty funny for all of us!  He slept so well that night and he and Sam had a great time playing together.   There were no tears all day long, and while we were surprised, we were also grateful for his little happy heart that just went with the chaos for the day!

 

* make sure you read the next two posts as well! I’m a few days behind in documenting our journey!

Beijing!

We landed in Beijing around 2:0 pm on Thursday after two uneventful flights.  Sam did great on both flights and slept a good bit- which we were all grateful for!  We settled into our hotel, ate dinner and prepared for our days of sightseeing on Friday and Saturday.

Friday came early after an early wake up due to jet lag, but we hit the ground running with touring in Beijing. First stop- Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  We learned a ton about Chinese history and Sam found it really interesting that a lot of the intricate ceilings in the Forbidden City were built without nails! After those two stops, we went to a dumpling making class where we learned to roll, stuff, and cook dumplings.  This by far was a favorite of all of us.  Sam has declared himself a dumpling make master.  I will say that I was quite impressed how he really got into it and even more impressed at how many dumplings he managed to consume… to be honest, we all consumed a lot of dumplings!

Later we visited an old traditional part of Beijing, learned some more about history/culture, and climbed 70 steps up to the top of a very steep drum tower to watch a traditional drum show.  It was really fun to see this part of ancient culture and learn the history.

Saturday, we got up early and headed a few hours outside of the city to The Great Wall of China.  It was amazing.  We rode a (slightly terrifying) chair lift to the top, climbed around or about an hour and a half, and then rode a toboggan down!  It was a great experience and I am so glad that we got to enjoy these few days making some special memories with Sam before we become a family of four.

While all the sights have been amazing and we’ve loved learning about the history and culture of Jackson’s country, we’re ready to get on a plane tomorrow and head to his province, Kunming, where we will have him in our arms 24 hours later!  Monday is Gotcha Day and we can barely stand the wait.

Please keep praying that we’ll shake jet lag soon and that Jackson would be getting prepared to join our family in just 48 hours.  It feels surreal… surreal with really good food!

Leaving on a jet plane…

The past 24 hour have been a whirlwind! We got our travel approval from China, then secured our consulate appointment this morning, booked tickets, finished packing, ran last minute to-do items, and now are hoping to get a few hours of sleep before we board the plane at 5:30 am to fly to China.   We will spend two days in Beijing before we travel to get Jackson from his province.  Gotcha day will be May 14th and we can hardly wait.

We were able to video chat with him yesterday and it was such a great gift to be able to talk to him (through a translator) and  hear his little voice.  Sam was really excited to hear that Jackson’s favorite color is red and that he likes to play with cars.  His nanny told us that he’s full of personality and very energetic, so I think he’ll fit right in with our family.

Another family with our agency is there now and they have ben so gracious to send us pictures of Jackson!  Pray for us as we will travel at 5:30 am to L.A., then onto Beijing.  Sunday we will travel to Jackson’s province and we’ll finally have our arms around him Monday!

We will do our best to keep facebook, blog, and instagram all up to date, but be patient if we aren’t able to get online or post right away!  LJ will also try to post via twitter and you can follow him @ThisMaybeLJ

 

Thanks for praying!

ups and downs

Whew! This past six weeks has been full of ups and downs.  Six years ago, when we were in the NICU with Sam, the nurses kept telling us “it’s a roller coaster. Just hang on, eventually you’ll see the end.”  That phrase that we were so tired of hearing was so true, and I have been reminded that phrase so many times the last six weeks.

We mailed off all of our official papers to finish Jackson’s immigration papers on the U.S. side.  Those were approved no problem, and faster than expected.  We submitted those now completed papers to the U.S. Consulate in China which issues a letter called the Article 5.  To our surprise, when our agency liasion tried to pick up the completed Article 5, there had been a delay as the Consulate was unsure of the clarity  wording on Jackson’s Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  A new LOA was issued and we signed it and sent it back off to the U.S. Consulate in China.  Fast forward another week, where there was another snag in wording on the age of our home study done last Fall.  While the new LOA was being issued and resigned, Jackson turned 5 and our home study was for a child UP TO 5.  We were already set back by 2 weeks and this delayed us even further.  Gratefully, we are only 25 minutes from our agency right now, so we were able to go pick up the amended home study and get that mailed off to have some papers updated.  It took a few weeks and a lot of drama, that we’ll spare you from, but we finally got that new paper issued and our Article 5 that we thought would be done the beginning of April, was issued on Thursday, May 3rd!  It definitely has been an emotional roller coaster with lots of frustrations, tears, and finally rejoicing.

We are in the LAST steps of waiting for the Chinese adoption side to issue our travel approval, then we will be able to buy tickets.  Please pray we get travel approval this  Monday or Tuesday!  Pray that for our agency and agency liaisons in China as they  work to secure translators, hotels, transportation, etc. Pray we get an appointment quickly at the U.S. Consulate in China to get Jackson’s visa to come to the U.S.  We are aiming for a MAY 14 gotcha day, but a lot of details have to happen before then!

Pray for our family as we prepare to go from 3 to 4!  Pray for Sam as he will face a lot of transition.  Pray for Jackson as he’ll be uprooted from everything he knows and come to our forever family.  It’s a lot, but we’re so ready for him and our family feels the empty spot where he should be!

Thank you again for all of your support, your emails, text messages, phone calls, and prayers.  We love you!

The James Family

things are moving…and quickly!

Stay with us through the end of this post… I promise it will be worth it!

We’ve got exciting things happening at the James house. When we updated you in January, our dossier had just made it to China and we were praying for a quick translation time.   In 27 days from our Log In Date (LID), our dossier was translated into Chinese and our Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC) and Letter of Acceptance (LOA) were in hand from China.  We ripped open that envelope with record speed, signed that we were OFFICIALLY accepting the referral for our son, and applied for his second phase of immigration papers! For those of you who are not familiar with the adoption world, this is lightening fast! These papers sped through the process and made their way into our hands way before their estimated time.  So thank you for praying along with us for this!

While we were waiting on our immigration papers for Jackson to be processed, we applied for our Chinese visas for our family.  17 days after we sent Jackson’s immigration papers in, we received a call that they had been processed followed by a friendly customs officers ending the conversation with “congratulations on your new son.”  Those words have been long waited for!  We put a care package in the mail to him with pictures of our family, new clothes, and a stuffed animal.

Things have been trucking along and this morning we woke up to an email that the last piece of paper on this side of the ocean for Jackson’s immigration paper work was ready to be completed!  We quickly filled that out and checked that off our list! Not long after that, the doorbell rang and the mail carrier delivered our passports with our Chinese visas inside!

So now, we wait.  It will be just a few weeks before we know a travel date! We wait for our Article 5 document (which says we are approved to be adoptive parents and Jackson is approved to come live in the USA), and then several papers start their journey to the Chinese adoption counsel, who then will issue our travel approval… shew! There are a lot of steps in this process, but we’re close to the end! Join us in praying that these past few steps would happen complication free and even faster than expected! As Sam prays “help my brother get delivered safely and successfully”.  Amen to that, buddy.

And now, to leave you with your reward to making it through the end of this blog, we’d like to introduce you to our son, Jackson.  Now you can pray for him with this sweet face in front of you.

Thanks for your continued support!

The James family

We’ve got a name

When we left you last, we were asking you to pray that our Dossier made it to China by December 31^st, and here’s the long-awaited update! Those few weeks in December were cutting it close as we waited on our i1800-A (pre-immigration approval) to be issued, authenticated at the state and national level, as well as the Chinese consulate in Washington, D.C. We hit a few bumps along the way, but our Dossier made it to China on December 21^st!  So thank you for praying with us for our papers to make it in time.

We received an email on January 5^th, that our logged in date to China’s adoption system was January 3^rd.  We could not have been more excited as we have waited since mid October to tell Sam that we had been matched with a little boy!  YES! YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

In October, we were able to view a waiting list for Special Focus children eligible in China.  On this list, a little boy caught our eye and we requested his file to look through.  After a week of praying, sending medical information to doctors, researching what resources are available where we live, we said yes to this sweet little boy.  When you look at the time line of our match, you can see when we started to send out more frantic ‘keep praying those papers get there’ emails and posts.  We just couldn’t imagine our papers not getting there in time and knowing this little boy would be put back on the adoption list!  You can imagine the tears of joy that came when we knew our papers were at their final destination.

Once we knew that we had a log in date in China’s system, we picked up some Chinese food and sat Sam down for the big news.  He was so excited and carried the picture of his brother with him through the house from room to room.  We’re not quite ready to share pictures of him yet, but we are excited to tell you about Jackson Xiao James.  He is four years old, which puts about a 15 month age difference between Sam and Jackson. Sam’s so excited to have a brother close in age and size!

So now join us in celebrating, but pray that our translation of the Dossier goes quickly and that we move along in this process.  Our agency has said typical translation times is 6-8 weeks, so we’re waiting anxiously and doing as much as we can in the meantime to be ready when the next round of approvals come and we need to send more papers to immigration, begin thinking through travel, etc. We don’t know when we will travel yet, but we imagine it will be late Spring or early Summer.  Thanks for praying with us and joining us on this journey! We’ll keep you updated.

-Amy