Monday, December 28, 2009

PICS?!?!

Yes, one of my mom's dear friends, Laurie, (whom she met through Yahoo groups) is in China right now, picking up her dear daughter, Avery Ya, and sent us pictures! (from just yesterday!) It turns out that Avery Ya and Caelyn Yi are in the same class at the orphanage (we think they are seperated into age groups). Laurie told us that Avery Ya showed her pictures of "Yang Yi" and spent time drawing pictures of herself and Yang Yi together! :) How neat!? Then when they went to the orphanage the director let them see their classroom, bedroom, lunchroom, etc. Avery did not go because she was crying. When her parents asked why she was crying, a little boy passing by said, "Because she does not want to come back to this place." When I read that my heart broke. But it was great to see the early stages of attatchment between Avery and her parents, and really encouraged me since she and Caelyn Yi are such close friends! Anywayanys, Laurie said she got many pictures of Caelyn Yi and a video (which we haven't gotten just yet). Here are some of the pics:


My family had a hard time picking out Caelyn in some of the pics, which is why I edited them (using Picnik.com). It is strange trying to pick out your daughter/sister whom you have never seen before, except in pictures which are obviously posed. It's great to see Caelyn in her normal every-day life and it makes us even more excited to meet her!!!

Thank you for your prayers. We are having a shower in a couple of weeks. :) Thanks everyone who planned/are planning that!

In Him,
Chelsey :)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

It's been a long time coming...

It's long process, but let me tell any of you who are considering adoption: It is so worth it.

June 15, 2008- Home from China missions trip
July 27, 2008- Initial paper work finished
August 2, 2008- First official home-study meeting
December 3, 2008- Fingerprints complete
April 6, 2009- Complete Home-study sent to Immigration
June 15, 2009- Immigration Approval
July 27, 2009- DTC/Docier to China
September 16, 2009- Official Referral for Yang Yi
September 17, 2009- LOI/Letter of Intent sent
September 28, 2009- LID/Log In Date
October 12, 2009- PA/Pre-Approval
November 16, 2009- LOA/Letter of Acceptance
November 27, 2009- I-797C (application recieved)
December 16, 2009- Visas recieved from China
December 22, 2009- Article 5 Letter completed and arrived in America

!!!!!!! Article 5 to America !!!!!!!

This morning we recieved a call from Karla saying that our Article 5 Letter was just successfully turned in to the CCAA! We will now begin our wait for the Travel Approval (TA) and we are approximately 3 weeks from it! This is so exciting! Each time something moves along, reality sets in just a little bit more! This is really happening! Its been happening for a year and 5 months, but now we can all see the finish line! :D



We have decided that my parents, my little sister Carli, and I will be going to pick up Caelyn Yi. Carson and Casey are indefinite as of now. My parents have refinanced our house, and we are now financially prepared to travel- thanks be to God! :)



Please pray for my Chinese! :) It's a very tough language, and I can't imagine speaking it as a fist language and trying to learn ESL (English as a Second Language)! I'm learning slowly but surely! We'll see how well I'm doing once we get to China, but I do have to remind myself incessantly that I've only been taking it for one semester. Also, my family wants to learn a little Chinese. :D On the subject of learning, please pray that whenever we do travel, we wont get too far behind in school. When the time finally comes, Carli and I will be missing atleast 2 weeks of school. Just the thought scares me, especially as a Junior in my high school. We would appreciate it if you'd keep us in your prayers as we travel!



Today was a great day! We got the call from Karla, and soon after that a very encouraging call from our beloved relative in an Atlanta treatment facility. He seems to be doing very well, and even creating beautifully artistic Christmas presents for his family since he has no money. It was so neat to hear him sounding so healthy!



Thank you for your prayers! And thanks to anyone who has donated stuff for Caelyn Yi! In case anyone is wondering, we believe she wears a size 4 or 5T, shoe size: 10 (I can't remember exactly... don't write that one down.) Thanks again!



In Him,
Chelsey :)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Via Visa

Earlier this week we got our visas from China! They look the exact same as the ones my dad and I got last year. Its basically a sticker that says you're approved to go into the country, and it has a time-frame. We have approval for a year, which is good. :) It was very fun and exciting to see something move along- and this time have a visual appreciation!

Speaking of visuals, we are hoping to get new pictures of Caelyn Yi soon... we haven't heard from them since we sent our first package. And speaking of packages: we just sent her final (hopefully!) care-package yesterday! In it we sent some more personal items: a Mickey Mouse plush toy, a Mickey Mouse Playhouse puzzle, a kaleidoscope (sp?), a Hello Kitty activity book, a big bag of individually packaged Gummy Bears (to share with the other children), a box of Crayons, some little eyeshadow palettes for the Nannies, and a letter to Caelyn Yi. We stuffed all of this in a box and shipped it off to China. Shipping- $42... whoo... In the last package we sent there was a pre-stamped letter so Caelyn could send us a letter. I'm kind of thinking this won't happen...

Please continue to pray for my family! So much has happened in the past year; we need prayer and support!

I know this seems petty, but we have misplaced our family digital camera (our only camera). Next week is Christmas, and we would love to take pictures, as you can imagine! As simple as it sounds, please pray that we would find that camera! Thanks!

In Him,
Chelsey :)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I-800? Article 5? Letter of what? WHAT?

This past Monday, my mom sent me a text while babysitting. It read: "Our file is in China! Already!" Now honestly, I had no idea what this meant. It was progress, so I sent back a short reply, "yeah!" but then began the endless text-talk discussion with my dad about what exactly that meant, what we had left, and when we get to go. All that to say, I think we decided that this is what's left:

~Article 5 Letter must be prepared and taken to the CCAA or ABAC (I'm not sure which)
~We will begin our wait for TA (Travel Approval)
~We will recieve our appointment with the Chinese consulate (in China)
~We will prepare final paperwork.
~We will plan our trip to China around the consulate appointment
~We will finally go to China to bring home Caelyn Yi!


So as you can see, we are not far away at all! It could very well be anywhere between 1-3 months now! So exciting! I can't believe we're so close!

Once again, I ask you to pray for us! Pray for Kris (he's doing a little better, but has now moved to a different treatment facility), and our visit to see him over Christmas. Please pray that we will be prepared both in heart, mind, and body to bring home Caelyn! Please pray that God will provide financially for the trip to China and any expenses included. Thank you all for your support! We appreciate your prayers!

In Him,

Chelsey :)

P.S. The date for the shower has been set, thanks to the lovely Melanie O'Keefe! :) We love and appreciate you!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Meaty Meeting

Long story short: Life is flying by so quickly that its taking forever. I know that doesn't make any sense, but parts of my life seem to be snail slow (school...) while others seem to be flying high (adoption...)! Needless to say, exams are next week, so it's only gonna get tougher.

Today we went to an "Adoption Travel Meeting". However, it wasn't all about travel as I anticipated. It was almost 3 hours long. I was not excited. After having been there, done that, I am so glad that I went! There was so much information that I am not sure how to sum it up! Basically its a huge super long tedious process, and we're so close (relatively)! We are waiting for a certain form to be cabled from America to China, signed off there, and sent back here (should take a weeks or so, but a family we talked to has been waiting for over 3 weeks...). Then we begin the wait for Travel Approval (TA), which should take about 3 weeks. It's all so exciting, and only just now beginning to feel real! I can't believe this is actually going to happen! :)

We got the gist of the trip when we will finally to China as well as some advice about when we get back. Basically, they encouraged moms to be the ones to care for the needs of the child, the dad to be the assistant, and the children to be the playmates. Our case is very different from all of the other families in that we have 4 older children, and she is 6, not a baby. So, my mom will be following up with a social worker about post-adoption (for our specific case) later.

We also got financial estimates. Excuse me as I go pull my hair out...

...

...

I know God will provide for us, but that's a lot of money. Please pray :)

So as you can see we feel very close, and the anticipation is building, but still have a month or two to go. But I believe in miracles. :)

In Him,
Chelsey :)