A Blanket for John

So we are down to one more day and then we are off. Thankfully the blanket I have been working on for John is now done thanks to some help from my mom and Ann. I think it is so important that John has a homemade blanket from me - crooked corners and all. I give them to all my babies, and he is no different. Since he is already 2 I did want it to have a masculine feel but still have a little boy vibe.

I had bought this bed skirt for him a LONG time ago, but it was for a toddler bed. However, we ended up buying a twin bed for John, so the bed skirt really had no purpose ..... until the blanket. I decided to cut it up and use it as my jumping off point. I think it came together nicely, and now it is packed in the suitcase, waiting for Monday!

Service Project

Cora and her cousin Will joined forces to gather items for John's orphanage. They did such an amazing job. Cora is 13 and Will is 12 which makes it all the more impressive. Together they gathered clothing, hand towels and t-shirts to transform into bibs.

The bulk of the donations came from our neighborhood. (Will lives right around the corner.) Our neighbors were so generous and even though we said they could donate gently used items, most were brand new. Neighbors also donated enough cash that we can send all the items without digging in our own pockets.

It was so wonderful to watch these two cousins join forces and make a difference in the world. It is truly amazing to witness the good that can come from two devoted young people, who are trying to follow Christ's example and make a difference in the world. In such a short period of time, sweet orphans in John's orphanage will benefit from these.

As we washed, sorted and folded clothes, and made bibs, we were all overcome with the joy of serving these orphans. It was a small effort compared to some, but it made an impact on all of our lives, and we know that serving in this manner is going to become status quo around here. Guess what our boy's Eagle Scout projects will be from now on? I can just picture John working on this project in 12 or so years. So exciting, and I am very proud of Cora and Will!!!

Tickets Purchased!

Ever since we received our LOA - this adoption thing has become so much more exciting. I love the milestones we have reached, I love knowing the day we will see John for the first time, I love the surprise updates we are getting about our cutie, and I love that I will be here when the kids start school.

We purchased our tickets yesterday, and let me just say that they were not cheap! For those of you going behind me, I ended up going with JC Travel because they were $1,000 cheaper than any other option I tried.

Yesterday we received this surprise picture and update.

I know I am his mom - but are you kidding me with this kid? I am pretty sure he is the cutest little guy around, and I want to kiss those cheeks! I could just eat him up. I keep having to remind myself that when I meet him for the first time I need to be calm and sweet vs my initial instinct of scooping him up and squeezing him hard! I'll get it right ... I have control over myself ... but he is so adorable!

Here is what the update said:

His foster home said that he actually came to Eagles Wings in April of 2002, so at 6 months old.  That also said:

He is doing so great at pre-school, amazing how it "grows them up". :)  He is also having a wonderful, fun time.

We Are Going To China!!!

We just got assigned to group 1893 and essentially will be in China from August 11 - August 25. John will be in our arms on August 13. I am a little overwhelmed especially with the cost of tickets at this late notice ... yikes! This is the information we have been dreaming of though since we first saw John's picture. Our family has a huge gaping hole that only this sweet little boy can fill. Fourteen days and John is ours.

I still need help on how to blog in China see here. If there are any important facts I need to know, please share.

How Do I Blog In China?

I know that I am revealing myself here as anything but an expert. Let's be honest, I am so glad I figured out how to blog in America. I seriously need advice from those of you who have been there and done that. I have a MacBook and use blogger. I know there is something called a VPN that I need, but it seems like they are all for Windows, and I frankly am confused.

Please help me so that at least my kids can see the pictures of what is happening while I am gone. Thanks so much!!!!

UPDATE:

I ended up using Express VPN on my Mac laptop. It worked beautifully, and I was able to blog every single day to keep my kiddos updated on everything we were doing.

TA!!!!!

Today we received our travel approval. For those of you who don't know what that is - it is China's thumbs up to come and travel and get our cutie. Hopefully tomorrow we will get our consulate appointment since there is a chance we will be leaving next week. All these milestones we are crossing feel fantastic. One last step and then we are buying our plane tickets!

Today was also a great day because we finally figured out who is going to help our kids while we are gone. Thanks Eliza and everyone else for being willing to help us out in this enormous way. We will bring you back some fortune cookies ... ha! ha!

More Treasures

Today I found more treasures. This picture of John and a video of his foster facility being built. I am starting to think that he has been here the entire time. I don't know why this information is such a secret for the new parents, but apparently it is given out on a need to know basis. Oh well, we will be there hopefully within 30 days so it doesn't really matter. Then it will be me choosing what information to release to the rest of the world. That sounds really nice. His life has become even more of a mystery to me, and I can't wait to start figuring some things out.

Here is a link to the video I found for those of you interested - John even makes an appearance. It is a real treasure. I am truly captivated by how loving everyone that is associated with Eagle's Wings seems to be. I am so so so so so so so (did I mention so) grateful!

I LOVE updates!

So about three weeks ago, we sent another package to John - our last package because we should be there pretty soon. My motivation was two fold. First, remind him that he is so loved and that we are on our way, and second, to get another update and picture.

Well today we received a very short update. This is what it said:

7/23/2012 Update

Note from Foster Home:

We did a second small package from his family, some books and trains. 

Please thank them! We are calling him "John" frequently.

Weight: 14.5kg

Height: 95cm

Head: 50.5

Chest 54.5

Foot 14.5

There was no picture, which was a little disappointing, but there was one phrase that caught me off guard  "Note from Foster Home."  I had no idea that he was in foster care. Of course all of my maternal instincts kicked in, and I wrote our agency immediately. They wrote back to say that he was at a Foster facility called Eagles Wings, and that it is amazing. I have no idea how long he has been there.

The really great news though is that Eagle's Wings is on the internet. It looks like an amazing place, and from the little I can gather from the website we are the luckiest parents on the planet. In their video of introduction on their website, they talk about cuddling the children as part of their routine care. Wow! I am so grateful that he is there. And guess what - they had a picture of our sweet boy.

Here is the picture I found.

This was their report.

Zhe Nan is a boy born in 2009. 

He is active, fun, smart and affectionate. 

He loves looking at himself in the mirror and laughing.

 Zhe Nan walks and runs and feeds himself.

This was the best news we received today. My heart is overcome with gratitude for this new addition to our family who is so well cared for. Again, this is another testament that our Father in Heaven knows John and cares for him. He is surrounded by these care giver angels while we cannot be there. Life is good!

Yeah Baby!

We received news that our Article 5 is on its way to Beijing and the CCCWA. This is getting serious! Honestly it just feels like it is time to bring our cutie home. Our family feels so incomplete. Rick and the kids notice it too. As a matter of fact when we are gathering our kids around, we are always looking for who is missing - it's John. Hopefully our time line will be as speedy as the Murphy's. It probably won't be - but here is to hoping!

Still On Track

I have been a little concerned since we were cabled and found out that our I-800 was incorrect. We received two copies of our corrected I-800 on Monday - insert audible sigh of relief. Today I was able to talk to our agency and see how set back this made our timeline. According to our agency - not at all. I am stunned. As a matter of fact they said that we should get our Article 5 on July 18 if everything is on track. What a blessing. All that needless worry for nothing.

Many times during this adoption process I have really wanted to freak out. I know that doesn't say a lot about my character, but it is true. The interesting thing is that I always have this still small voice assuring me that  I don't need to panic - it is in His hands - everything is exactly the way it should be. Most of the time I choose to listen (all be it reluctantly).  Sometimes I just choose worry over peace. (This set back was one of those times).

This process can be so maddening, but I know the lesson I am suppose to be learning is trusting in a loving Father in Heaven. Maybe one of these days, hopefully sooner rather than later, I will trust first and skip the panic.

A Little Frustrated

I should have known that when I blogged about this last part being easy, I was setting myself up. So we got notice that we were cabled on June 29. That was fantastic news and it came so quickly. The bad news came later when my agency told me that our I-800A provisional approval had the wrong expiration date. Ugh! The really frustrating part is that I still don't have the corrected approval. I have talked to my officer twice - such a nice person by the way - but I still don't have the approval even though two have been sent to me. Oh well, what can we do but grin and bare it. I have said it before, but this is not in my hands (no matter how badly I wish I could control the whole thing!)

Oh well, I am trying to keep myself busy, and wow did I pick a big project. We have an enormous apricot tree - I kid you not, it is the biggest fruit tree I have ever seen and so tall. It hasn't produced fruit for years, but this year we have so many. With the help of our neighbors we picked as many apricots as we could reach, on ladders, on roofs, and ladders on roofs.

Our neighbors and Lydia and Brig on the roof

This is what I made - Apricot Jam!  It made me so happy. It took two days and help from my cute Lincoln and sister Eliza. This was the result.

These are the ingredients I used

I chopped up the apricots, cooked the ingredients, put them in jars and then the hot bath.

In all I made 6 dozen jars and had enough puree left over to make 4 more batches. I froze those.

Cabled!

Wow! I like how fast that was. I'm sure the wait from here feels like an eternity again, but that wasn't so bad. According to the blog China Adoption this is the time line.

So according to this, we are at best 6 weeks away. But basically all I do now is wait. Hey, I have gotten really good at that ... phew, I can do this.  That means the soonest we would leave to get our cutie patootie is the middle of August. 

I know this is a big pipe dream, but I really want to be here when the kids start school. They don't start until the 29th of August, so in a best case scenario ... there is a chance right? I know there are more important things than the first day of school, but Lydia will only have one first day in first grade, Brig has a teacher who apparently only likes girls for 4th grade - wonderful! I'd kind of like to be around to kiss the hurt away. Lincoln is starting a new school again.  He gave me a hand written note each day after school that said, NO SCHOOL since moving to Utah, so I would like to be around to give him a pep talk. And Cora is starting 8th grade. It all feels like a big deal. Anyway for what it is worth, that would be the ideal.

On a side note, our cute Lyds started dancing with Ballet West Academy yesterday. Stop it! She looked so cute and she loved it! She said the only sad thing is that she wanted to dance every day, not just one day a week. If any of you have watched the t.v. series Breaking Pointe, she dances in the same studios as the Ballet West professionals - pretty fun!

I-800 and Tabiona

Good news! We received our I-800 pre-approval. We are getting so close now that I actually bought John some clothes. I like the pace things are moving right now - although I am craving more updates and pictures of him. 

We went camping in Tabiona, Utah this past weekend. A couple of years ago, we bought some property up there, and thought we should start getting the kids excited about our land. We had such a good time. It is so beautiful up there and we LOVE being in the mountains. Here are some highlights

The river is so low and wide. 

The cold water felt like heaven on our feet!

How sweet is this. I was following behind these two and they spontaneously held hands. These two really love each other, and this is one of the ways they express it. Love it!

 We had the kids gather stones to make a fire pit on our land.
It might not look like much, but they had to trudge 

through the brush to get the rocks to the right spot. 

We were proud parents!

We drove the ATV all around and made some more great memories. Cora, Brig and Lydia all drove the ATV by themselves. We were with them the whole time, but they were driving.

This is such a cute shot. Kate is wearing a t-shirt from 147 Million Orphans. On the front of the t-shirt it says 147 Million Orphans, and on the back it says Feed 1. I love this company. Their proceeds go to help orphans. I am addicted to their shirts and honestly they are all I wear now. It does my heart good to see Kate wearing one for her "twin" who is on the way.

Blessed

Every once in a while I can really see God's hand in my life. I'm sure I could see it more if I weren't so distracted by everyday life. However, sometimes He makes the blessings so clear that I would be remiss if I didn't stop, acknowledge and be grateful.

As many of you know, we recently moved from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City. I was a little worried about moving because Lincoln had such an amazing group of people surrounding him at his school called Foothills Elementary. I was worried about moving the kids in the middle of the school year, and worried that Utah would not be culturally diverse enough for our sweet John. Let's just say that there are a lot of Caucasians around here.

The kids have done remarkably well - including our now 8th grader (I'm sure we all remember 7th grade - making new friends in the middle of the school year is nothing short of amazing). Lincoln just got accepted into a charter school K-12 just for kids on the autism spectrum, where he will be surrounded by people who won't be shocked by him and may even totally get him.

And one of the biggest blessings of all is that I have now met three families in our new neighborhood that have adopted from China, 3 other families who have adopted from other places, and last night I heard about a family that lives almost in our back yard that have adopted two girls from China (one who is John's age). How are these things anything short of a miracle? We have at least 7 families all within a block of us who have adopted - 4 families from China! I feel so humbled and watched over.

One of my favorite things about meeting families who have adopted is that instant bonding that occurs. I feel it when I read blogs from other families who have gone or who are going through the process, and I feel it when I meet other families who understand adoption and are instantaneously cheering us on and invested in our little family. The feelings are mutual.  I don't love the waiting and the lack of control, but I'll say it again, I really love this opportunity to adopt and see the hand of my Heavenly Father in my life and the life of my children (even my children who are not with me yet). He knows each and every one of us and He cares about us. How blessed are we? 

Be Careful What You Pray For ...

With the adoption so close to Gotcha Day now, I am trying to prepare myself mentally and physically. One of the things that I have been praying for is that I will be prepared for John and be a really good mom for him. So when I pray, I am praying (pleading) that I will be the mom that John and my other kids need (and want). The funny thing about praying is that Heavenly Father answers my prayers - it just isn't always the way that I might want. For some funny reason I thought that praying for this would bring an added peace and love into our home - a spiritual pat on the back saying, "You are a good mom, and you will be great with John." 

The opposite has occurred as you can imagine. Since I have been praying for this specifically, I have been met with A LOT of tantrums. Go figure. I guess that to be prepared for another toddler to come into our family, a few toddler tantrums are exactly what I need to help get me more prepared. Their has been some contention with the older kids. (Something tells me this won't be the last time we have a little contention in our home.) And our sweet Lincoln still does his cute Lincoln things. He loves figuring out how to escape from our backyard, and he still has a hard time in public. I guess I am sharing all of this because it has been an answer to prayer but a little different than I had expected. 

The answer to my prayer has arrived in this fashion - I LOVE being a mom. I don't necessarily love the tantrums or losing my 11--year old autistic son, or having some contention, but I do LOVE being a mom. I have such amazing kids, and we are really a happy family. We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we have it pretty good. I know I can handle what I have right now, and I'll be able to handle John to boot. Bring it on, I am so excited!

Here are some snap shots of our fun summer so far. The kids got to go to Grandma Bentley's and pick cherries (even Kate thought she should be able to climb the ladder and "help", they love swinging in the neighbor's yard all together, and swimming at Grandma Kathy's and Pop's house (check out Kate's shoes).

Picking Cherries

We also went on a fun hike by Heber. It was so pretty and the kids had a great time.

HOORAY!!!! We have our LOA!

I can hardly believe it, but we have our LOA. It felt slightly like the final days of pregnancy where I am always sure that the baby will never leave the comfort of the womb. We are so happy to finally start on our 10 - 14 week wait until we bring our sweet John home. For all of you in the same waiting process, we received our acceptance on the 110 day mark. Hopefully it will be faster for the rest of you.

Latest Happy Surprise

Here is a picture of John taken on May 15. What a happy email. We were so excited to get this update. The update was a little vague. I know his nap schedule, he is healthy, and he likes meat and eggs. It also said that he likes to help other kids find their toys. What a sweetie. This information made my day. We are at 107 days and waiting, and little things like this are enormously helpful.

Keeping Myself Busy

Trying to keep my mind off the long wait, looking at my email many times during the day, and being present for my day to day life is a little tricky sometimes. So here are some of the things that I have done to keep myself preoccupied. 

CARE PACKAGES TO OUR HENAN CUTIE

 These are some pages from an ABC getting to know your family book that I made for John on a day I was really missing him and wanting him home. It helped a lot! I have the actual book at home and made him laminated copies so that he could do whatever he wanted to the book and they would be fine.

We have sent him 3 care packages and the orphanage finally wrote our agency, gave them a detailed list of what was in each package and told them - "Tell her to stop sending disposable cameras!" So I know he received each package. (So funny - especially because there was no mention of John.)

PROJECTS

 Restoring the Camper Trailer we just bought

AND THE BEST DISTRACTIONS OF ALL!!!

My cute family. We took our camper on it's maiden voyage with our family for Memorial Day Weekend. We had such a great time. There were no cell phones, no t.v., just us. We all had a great time.

Here is our newest picture

This was a happy surprise. We got this picture in our email out of the blue. He is the cutie in red eating a banana. Can't wait to give him a squeeze.

Meet Zheng Zhe Nan - our Sweet John Thompson Bentley

This is our son. We are crazy about him already. He turned two in October (3 months older than Kate) and is currently waiting for us in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. He had a cleft lip repaired by an international team, and we don't think he has any cleft palate issues - that is still a little unclear. He is otherwise healthy and on track developmentally. The only problem is that he is in China and we are in Utah. Here are some pictures of him that we received when we were matched.