We are here!! FINALLY!

That has got to be the longest trip I have ever taken. Marty and I have arrived safely and so did all of our luggage. I am so sorry that I am blogging a little late but we had to try to get some sleep. It is now 5:15 a.m. in Beijing and we are wide awake. We were scheduled to go to the Great Wall this morning at 8:00 a.m. but called and had it changed to 10:00. We did not know that we would be awake. It will take a few days for us to get adjusted to the time change.

I do not have much to blog at the moment. I did take of view pics throughout the day.

This is Marty and Me trying to keep our eyes open in Tokyo.

Our long awaited flight to Beijing was on time!

Yep!! That is the women's toilet. Needless to say I waited in line for the American toilet.

When we arrived in Beijing a beautiful young lady met us named Wynona. She is planning to attend ETBU next semester. She escorted us to our hotel and has arranged our tours for tomorrow and Saturday. She has been a blessing. We look forward to the next two days with her.

I am going to try to get a little more sleep now. I will take plenty of pics today for you so be looking for an update soon.

We love you and thank you for all your prayers and support.

CHINA!!! Here we come!

We are leaving in the morning as Marty and Me and coming back as a family of three! YAY!!

I will post as often as I can. We love you guys and want to thank you each for your love and prayers.

China Angel

I received a message today from an Angel. Well, actually she is an individual I met on the internet thru another adoptive family. We will call her "Angel" for now. She saw my baby today!! She messaged me and said that he is adorable. Of course, we already new that. She said he is very shy and stand offish to her and her friend. Most likely because they are American and he has not seen anyone that looks like them. He also has been in a foster home since he was much younger so he is quite confused and I am sure scared being in a new environment, especially at the orphanage. The angel said that she gave him a big hug and kiss and told him that his mommy and daddy are coming next week to get him. She asked me to send her some pics of us so she can show him who we are. I sent them to her so he should see us next Sunday if not sooner. The foster family also received our pics but I am sure they did not show him. If they did that would be great but now I know he will for sure see us. I am so glad that he received a hug today. I pray it wasn't his first. Of course, tears came to my eyes as I read her words. Only 3 more days until we leave and soon I will receive my first hug from him.

New "Gotcha Day"

The agency called and said that we cannot meet Kaegan until the 3rd!!! Crazy!! I guess it is not meant for us to meet any sooner. I will not question this and accept it as it is. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

New Pictures of Kaegan

Here are some new pictures we received of Kaegan! YAY!!!!!

Kaegan's Back Pack

I have packed Kaegan's back pack. I have filled it with cars, candy, bubbles, playdoe, crayons, water gun, football and plenty of other stuff. I also put the stuffed animal that Vanessa (exchange student from Germany) sent us for Christmas 2 years ago. It is the German mascot for the soccer team. He is so cute so Marty and decided to pack it for Kaegan.

Kaegan's Measurements

I found a website that will track down your adopted child and find out more information for you. I just received Kaegan's updated measurements. She also received 2 pictures of him. I should receive them in the next 24 hours.

His measurements are:

Height: 89 cm = 35 inches
Weight: 12.5 kg = 27.5 lbs.
Head cir: 47 cm
Chest: 50 cm
Length of Foot: 14 cm
He has 20 teeth.

He is a healthy boy!

We Leave on February 25th!!!

YAY!! We leave on the 25th! Our agency just called and our appointment is scheduled for March 9th. Our "Gotcha Day" (the day we get Kaegan) is Sunday, March 1. We are now booking flights and confirming hotels. As soon as we get this complete I will post our itinerary!!

TA RECEIVED!!!!!!

Our TA was received today! The agency is waiting on a call back from China in regards to our consulate appointment. We will have a definite date, flights booked and hotels reserved by the end of the week. YAY!! Because of the Chinese New Year there was one complete week that everything closed. Because of this our appointments may be pushed back to March. Possibly the first week. That will put us flying out the last week of February. Our prayer is that we leave much sooner. We will let you know as soon as we find out.

Travel Approval has been mailed!!

Our agency emailed yesterday and said that they were concerned because they did not receive any TA's last week. The agency contacted China and were told that ours was mailed out and should be received Monday or Tuesday. This means that we should have our itinerary later next week if not sooner. The date that we leave on will be determined by the US Embassy and Chinese Consulate appointments. These appointments are the critical ones and are also our exit appointments. YAY!!! I hope to tell everyone next week our confirmed dates.

If you can recall, when we originally began the adoption process we were adopting a girl or twins girls. Well, our homestudy was approved for girls, not boys or a boy. Crazy!!!! I freaked when I heard that we had to redo this paperwork process. It originally took approximately 6 months to do this part the first time. The agency told me that it should not be problem that all we needed to do was an addendum to the original homestudy. No problem, so I thought. Then she followed up by saying that if we did not get it corrected on State side than we may have to stay longer in China to have this completed. I contacted our local agency and she got right on it. We re-wrote the homestudy to say that we were adopting a boy and somehow she managed to get it sent out rather quickly. Believe it or not, the form that took originally 6 months to receive was received in 6 days!!!! I have it to take with us so everything in China should be correct and there should not be any delays. Even if there was a delay it would not have mattered because we would have already had Kaegan in our arms. Once I get him in my hands they can have all the time they need.


Lastly, I had to tell the agency his full name for the paperwork. That means we are very close to seeing him. In case you are new to the blog our son's chinese name is Dang He Liang. We will rename him Kaegan (Kay-gan) Michiah He Liang Kent. I know that it is long but we wanted to keep a part of his chinese name. In China the first name listed is actually the last name. So we are dropping the last name of Dang and keeping his first name He Liang.

Thanks to everyone who has followed us on this journey. I can't wait to share more with you soon!

I hope to blog the itinerary next week. Talk to you then!

VISA's Received!

YAY! We got our VISA's today. Now it is official!! All paperwork is complete on this end of the adoption. The rest is to be done while Kaegan is in my arms!!!! We are still waiting on the travel dates. Please pray that we receive them this week.

Tracking VISA

Our Visa's have left Washington and are on their way to us. We should receive them tomorrow. YAY!!! Now all we need are our confirmed travel dates and we are good to go.

Tracking the paperwork

Ok, so call me crazy but I have tracked the package that is holding our VISA paperwork. It was received today!! YAY! I actually used a courier service that will hand deliver the paperwork. The courier service will mail it back to me next week. I have the tracking number for the return envelope too because I sent them one that was prepaid. Thought it might speed up the process. Anyway, I had to send our original Passports to them because the VISA is actually a stamp that is stamped into the Passport. CRAZY!! I did not realize that. Can you imagine if this were to get lost in the mail. This is why I am tracking it's every move. We are too close to have any mistakes now.

Applied for Visa!

I just mailed off the Visa paperwork. This is the last bit of paperwork needed in order to travel. We still do not have our travel dates yet. I am hoping for a phone call this week. I will let you know as soon as we hear something.

The Conference Call

Well, we are still waiting on our confirmed travel dates. They stated it normally takes 3 weeks to receive them. We should receive them next week.

Things that we discussed were the documents needed when traveling, traveling in country, hotels, money, visiting the orphanage, what the coordinator will do with us and not do with us, site seeing and the "Gotcha Day." Lots to remember.

Another step closer. I will let you know when we get TA.

Pediatric Appointment

We just returned from our first appointment with Dr. Rich. He is Kaegan's pediatrician. Dr. Rich was great. He read the medical reports that we have, answered all of our questions and set Kaegan up as a patient. We will schedule Kaegans first check up the following week we return home. Dr. Rich is not too concerned about the hole in Kaegans heart but does want to check it out. He said that it amazes him that China would consider this child a special needs. His heart condition is so normal here and has most likely already healed up. Isn't that great!! Dr. Rich will run some blood tests and check all vaccinations to determine if a certain vitamin will be needed. Most of the adopted children are malnourished and he said that it is nothing that a few happy meals won't fix.

It was great meeting with the Doctor and I look forward to Kaegan's first visit. Hopefully next month.

Conference Call set for next week

Just an update for the bloggers. We have a conference call scheduled for next week. There are 3 other families that received their LOA's the same time we did. 2 from Ohio and 1 from Tennesse. The agency wants to conference us all in together just to introduce us and talk about applying for VISA's and travel plans. We hope to find out more then but for now this is all I got.

LOA signed and mailed again!

I told Marty this morning that I was not leaving the house until I had the LOA document in my hands. I sat here all day and finally it arrived by UPS around 3:30. The UPS man thought I was nuts because I was so excited to see him. I ripped open the folder and read the paper. I cannot explain the emotions I was feeling. Now I had to rush to the office to get Marty to sign it and then stop by the post office to overnight it back to the agency. I was at the post office by 4:30. The day was a successful one.

The agency will now process the paperwork and mail it China. We still do not know our travel dates but they are coming soon. As soon as I hear I will let you know.

By the way, On the LOA document China uses a red seal with the date of actual approval. Our date stamp is 12/25/08. CHRISTMAS DAY!! Isn't that an awesome Christmas present.

His Timing

Isn't God amazing! As I was driving home this evening praying to the Lord asking Him to wrap His arms around my son I began to think about my friend Shelli and how I wish I could call her and tell her the good news. It is so hard to believe that this New Years Day marks one year since Shelli went home. I now know why it has taken so long to receive our LOA. Crazy huh! Well, today is the day that I recall holding Shelli's hand in her hospital bed telling her over and over that I loved her and to stay strong and fight. At this time Shelli knew I was there. Her heart rate was lowering to normal and she just sat there and listened to me. I am so thankful for that time with her. "I love you", were the last words I spoke to her. Today Shelli let me know that She loves me and reminded me once again that God is control and His timing is always perfect. I guess a phone call wasn't necessary after all, Shelli already knew.

Please keep Eric, Dawson, Brit and the rest of the family in your prayers this week.

LOA - YES!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!! We finally received our LOA today! We are so excited and are looking forward to seeing our son soon!