We finally got our in-country itinerary today! The frustrating news we found out this week was that they changed the visa process from 2 days to1 day. So, now after we already booked flights we learn that we could have returned on the 16th and been home in time for Benjamin's birthday (on March 17) but it's too late now! It would cost a fortune to switch our flights at this point so we'll just have to make it up to him.
We posted the itinerary on our travel blog, you can check it out there if you have the password. Email us if you don't and want it.
Showing posts with label Benjamin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benjamin. Show all posts
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Travel Dates!
Last night we got our more official travel dates. We're leaving March 2 and returning March 17 which of course is Benjamin's 6th birthday. It'll kind of suck not being home for his birthday (as we aren't getting back in until very late) but we told him he can stay home from school on the 18th and we'll celebrate his birthday then as a family of 5! He was ok with it as long as Eliana brings him back a birthday present, don't think that'll be much of a problem.
Gotcha day is March 7! Or so we think based on the info we have so far from our agency. They said we won't have final in-country dates until a week before we leave. However, our conuslate appointment is on March 14 and arriving/departing dates are confirmed! For those that have our password check out our tentative itinerary on our travel blog.
Gotcha day is March 7! Or so we think based on the info we have so far from our agency. They said we won't have final in-country dates until a week before we leave. However, our conuslate appointment is on March 14 and arriving/departing dates are confirmed! For those that have our password check out our tentative itinerary on our travel blog.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
We're going in March
After a very long and anxious day of waiting, late this afternoon we finally got word that our agency could not get us a consulate appointment until March 14. While we are a bit disapointed that we won't be traveling until March at least we know when we are going and can now plan accordingly. They are still confirming some dates but it looks like we will be leaving on March 3 and returning on March 16. We really really hope we'll be back on the 16th because the 17th is Benjamin's birthday and it would be really hard not to be there with him that day. But it is what it is and we are excited just the same that Eliana will be home with us soon, just wish it was sooner!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Our Adoption Journey Post #1: Why adoption?
As promised we're going to have a few posts on our adoption journey. We'll take you through why we decided upon adoption, why we chose China, why we chose our agency as well as our trek through the process itself. For this first post, we'll answer the basic question of why expand our family through adoption?
Every since childhood Beth has wanted to adopt a child. She has always believed that it is something that G-d has wanted her to do. For Howard, adoption was never something he had given serious thought to until he met Beth. As our relationship developed and we moved closer to marriage the topic of children was discussed. We both agreed that we wanted more than one child but no more than three. We also agreed that it would be nice to have at least one boy and one girl although Beth really really wanted a girl. The next item to be discussed was how we were going to bring these children into our lives and this is where the topic of adoption came up.
After much discussion we decided to first have biological children and then look into adoption. In 2005 we had our first child, Benjamin. It was a difficult and high risk pregnancy. Beth was sick for 7 months to the point that she was put on anti-nausea medication. At 36+ weeks, Beth developed HELLP syndrome and since her life was at risk they did an emergency induction and Benjamin was born. Luckily, he was relatively healthy (just a short visit to the NICU) and Beth recovered.
Maybe with this first pregnancy G-d was trying to tell us something (like to adopt) but we didn't listen and were pregnant again with #2 in late 2007. The second pregnancy went better that the first but it was not without its problems. There were some complications along the way but nothing too serious. Beth was only nauseous for 5 months this time. When it came time to find out the sex we were hoping for a girl (especially Beth) but it seems G-d had other plans. A few months later Eli was born but not without excitement.
As difficult as pregnancy #1 was, labor & delivery was relatively easy. Eli however, had his own agenda. This delivery was not so easy, actually it was really difficult and we were very close to an emergency C section. Thankfully, it did not come to that and our Eli was born. He was healthy and Beth was exhausted.
At this moment that we understood that if we were going to have any more children it was not going to be biologically as G-d had made it pretty clear that Beth was not meant to get pregnant again. It was then that we decided our next family addition will be through adoption.
Story to be continued in a future post...
Now for the update.
As of 10/13 here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/28/2006
Current wait: 43 months
Projected referral date: 11/13/2012
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
Remember, these are simple projections based on extrapolating the current wait forward. Check out the Rumor Queen (link at top) for more thorough projections
Every since childhood Beth has wanted to adopt a child. She has always believed that it is something that G-d has wanted her to do. For Howard, adoption was never something he had given serious thought to until he met Beth. As our relationship developed and we moved closer to marriage the topic of children was discussed. We both agreed that we wanted more than one child but no more than three. We also agreed that it would be nice to have at least one boy and one girl although Beth really really wanted a girl. The next item to be discussed was how we were going to bring these children into our lives and this is where the topic of adoption came up.
After much discussion we decided to first have biological children and then look into adoption. In 2005 we had our first child, Benjamin. It was a difficult and high risk pregnancy. Beth was sick for 7 months to the point that she was put on anti-nausea medication. At 36+ weeks, Beth developed HELLP syndrome and since her life was at risk they did an emergency induction and Benjamin was born. Luckily, he was relatively healthy (just a short visit to the NICU) and Beth recovered.
Maybe with this first pregnancy G-d was trying to tell us something (like to adopt) but we didn't listen and were pregnant again with #2 in late 2007. The second pregnancy went better that the first but it was not without its problems. There were some complications along the way but nothing too serious. Beth was only nauseous for 5 months this time. When it came time to find out the sex we were hoping for a girl (especially Beth) but it seems G-d had other plans. A few months later Eli was born but not without excitement.
As difficult as pregnancy #1 was, labor & delivery was relatively easy. Eli however, had his own agenda. This delivery was not so easy, actually it was really difficult and we were very close to an emergency C section. Thankfully, it did not come to that and our Eli was born. He was healthy and Beth was exhausted.
At this moment that we understood that if we were going to have any more children it was not going to be biologically as G-d had made it pretty clear that Beth was not meant to get pregnant again. It was then that we decided our next family addition will be through adoption.
Story to be continued in a future post...
Now for the update.
As of 10/13 here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/28/2006
Current wait: 43 months
Projected referral date: 11/13/2012
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
Remember, these are simple projections based on extrapolating the current wait forward. Check out the Rumor Queen (link at top) for more thorough projections
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Baby China Girl Name
Recently, Benjamin asked if his baby sister from China has a name. The answer is not yet. We have talked about names but haven't agreed upon one yet. As per our history, the name will remain secret until we have the referral and have to put her name on the paperwork thus making it official and unchangeable. We did tell Benjamin that he(and Eli) will be the first to know the name when the time comes.
That begs the question of whether we're going to keep her Chinese name and so forth. We are planning to keep her Chinese name as her middle name and name her first name after a dead relative according to Jewish tradition. She will also be given a Hebrew first and middle name following the same tradition. However, she won't get her Hebrew name until she is officially converted to Judaism (we'll have a post on that another time).
Now for the wait update:
As of 7/13 (our 2 month wait mark) here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/20/2006
Current wait: 40 months
Projected referral date: 8/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
That begs the question of whether we're going to keep her Chinese name and so forth. We are planning to keep her Chinese name as her middle name and name her first name after a dead relative according to Jewish tradition. She will also be given a Hebrew first and middle name following the same tradition. However, she won't get her Hebrew name until she is officially converted to Judaism (we'll have a post on that another time).
Now for the wait update:
As of 7/13 (our 2 month wait mark) here's our wait statistics:
Referred through: 3/20/2006
Current wait: 40 months
Projected referral date: 8/13/2012
Projected months to referral: 37
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Dossier off to the Consulate!
We were informed today that Bethany's HQ in Michigan has deemed our dossier "perfect" and sent it off to the Chinese Consulate in DC. And no, this is not an April fool's joke :) as we are perfect.
Now it goes for more authenticating via the Consulate (2-4 weeks) then back to Grand Rapids. Bethany's home office will then send it off to China to be logged in and translated into Chinese. However, it is my understanding that this won't happen before April 24 as per China's rules our youngest child has to be a year old before our dossier can be logged in. We expect a login date (LID) sometime in late April/early May and then the real wait can begin. Right now, the wait is approaching 37 months but expected to pick up soon. We shall see.
So, you might be wondering how the boys feel about this whole adoption thing. Well, obviously Eli has no idea as he is not even 1 yet. By the time he can understand we'll be close to bringing her home, we hope. Benjamin is another story. He understands that he's getting a baby sister from China (apparently he's been bragging about it at school as one of his classmates asked his mother if they could go to China to get him a baby sister too!) and is very excited. Of course, he was very excited about Eli's birth until after he was born. He has a little different perspective on Eli now, as this conversation I had with him on Friday morning illustrates:
Benjamin: "Daddy. you don't have work today?"
Me: "No, I'm off today."
Benjamin: "Am I still going to school?"
Me: "Yes, Mommy and Daddy have to go to an appointment to submit all our paperwork for your baby sister from China."
Benjamin (with excitement): "Is she going to be here when I get home?"
Me: "No, we first have to submit all this paperwork and then wait and eventually go to China to get her"
Benjamin: "Are you going to China today?"
Me: "No, it's going to be a few years before we can go to China."
Benjamin (after a few moments of thought): "Daddy, when you bring my baby sister home from China are we going to take Eli back to the hospital?"
You see what I mean? Not the first time Benjamin has made such a suggestion. Much to his disapointment, we are not taking Eli back to the hospital just in case you were wondering. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
