introducing...

We'd like to introduce
Willem Maas FangRong Kingma

Willem is for Henry's Opa (grandpa)
Maas is for Liz's grandpa (Maas is a Dutch version of Thomas)

It's a boy!

We received a referral yesterday for a little boy from China. He's 16 months old and his Chinese name is Fang Rong. We're still deciding what his name will be when he joins our family. Meili is pretty excited. She wants to help buy baby clothes and get everything ready. She wondered why we were not getting the crib out first thing this morning. Travel arrangements take about 4-5 months so we hope to travel this fall.

preschool is done

Tonight we went to an ice cream social at school to celebrate the end of the preschool school year. Meili's last day was Friday. Tonight she enjoyed the chance to eat ice cream and see her friends again. Here she is with one of her teachers, Miss Jessie, and then playing with her friends Katie and Morgan on the playground.

Log in date

We received word today that our paperwork was logged in at CCAA on May 13. Now we keep waiting for our referral!

timeframe

Adoption update: We're still waiting for our paperwork to be "logged in" at the China Center for Adoption Affairs. After that, we'll be available for matching with a waiting child. Some things have changed a bit since we we through this with Meili. One major change is the amount of time it takes to get paperwork ready and appointments set up in China once we are matched with a child. It was about 2 months after being matched with Meili until we went to get her. Now, it sounds like the travel will be later - something like 4-5 months after we have our referral/match.

It's spring! Last weekend Meili helped me put mulch in the yard, pull the camper out, and clean out the garage. She loves helping out! After we were done working, it was time to open the sandbox again. She played in there for over an hour making cakes and pies. What fun!


We also took our annual trip to see the Tulip Time Festivities in Holland, Michigan. Meili liked seeing the pretty tulips and daffodils and eating the good food but her favorite part was playing at her new friend Ruby's house.

Meili and her new friend Ruby

Go Cubs!

Meili's first Cubs game!

do you take time at the zoo?

It was interesting to go to the zoo with Meili this week. We did a lot of animal watching and even more people watching. I came to the conclusion that there are different ways to "go to the zoo."

Some of the things I noticed...
- people pushing children in strollers while talking on cell phones
- people dragging kids quickly from one animal to another in an attempt to "see everything"
- kids crying because they weren't done looking
- people talking at their kids in loud, high-pitched voices saying things like "Oh honey, LOOK! Did you see it move?"
- kids crying for many other reasons

Does a visit to the zoo have to be like this? Could a visit to the zoo be better? Less stress? Less harried? What if people put their cell phones away, picked a spot and just sat for a while with their children? Are we missing opportunities to talk to and listen to our children because we're always trying to do too much? I think so.

This week at the zoo, Meili and I just sat and watched. I think it was one of my favorite trips to the zoo with her. We mostly watched the bears this week. I loved listening to the comments and questions she shared. Things like - "Mama, why does the bear only have claws on his front feet?" or "Do you think the bear is lonely?" and "I never want to go into THAT cage. Those bears have big teeth." When we were done watching the bears we walked around for a little while and ended up watching the lions for a while. Then we were ready to go. We didn't see everything but that was ok. We took time to sit and appreciate a few amazing creatures and left wanting more. Now we can't wait to go back!

Palm Sunday

Meili has been asking about Palm Sunday for almost two weeks. First thing she asks me in the morning is if we're going to church to do palm branches. She learned about Palm Sunday at preschool and has been telling the story. This week, we celebrate Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Meili waved her palm branch on Sunday and said, "Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is the King!"

earrings

Check out this happy kid who just got her ears pierced! No tears - just BIG smiles!

it came and went

My birth certificate came - state sealed and everything. We dropped our dossier (large package of papers) off at Bethany yesterday. They will take care of sending it off to be authenticated and then will mail it to China. Best guess is maybe one-two weeks for authentication and then two-three weeks before our paperwork is "logged in" at CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs). We'll be given a LID (log-in date) that means the Chinese officials have officially noticed that it got there. Now we have some waiting to do... better get that second bedroom ready!!!

looks like it's coming

The package tracker on the FedEx site says that my birth certificate will be in our mailbox by 10:30 tomorrow. That means we'll be dropping all of our paperwork off at Bethany after work tomorrow. They'll send it to the Chinese consulate in Chicago to have it authenticated and then it will be sent right to China. Then we just have to wait!

it came

My birth certificate arrived so I mailed it off to get it state sealed. I paid lots of money to have it get there tomorrow by 10AM and lots of money for them to send it back fast. Tomorrow I will make copies of everything so it's all ready. As soon as my certificate is back with the MN state seal we can drop our stuff off at Bethany where it will be checked and sent off for authentication. Sweet!

the park

We're still waiting for a copy of my birth certificate to arrive. It's the last piece of paper we need before we can send everything to China. It's taking a LONG time.

Today was a beautiful day. Meili and I went to the park for the first time this year. It's fun to see her climbing up ladders and trying all of the slides by herself. It's quite a change from last year when she wanted us to do everthing with her. Here are a few pictures...

paperwork almost ready...

Our fingerprinting approval letter arrived last week! Now we're gathering the final pieces together for our dossier (bundle of paperwork) that will be sent to China. On Tuesday we have a meeting with our case worker to check everthing over. If it's all ok, we'll get it state sealed and into the mail! We're getting closer!

Happy Valentine's Day

what happens on the way home

Meili loves going to preschool every day and by the end of the day she is really tired. Since it's so close, she and I walk there together. (She usually rides in a sled or stroller.) Here's what happens quite often on the way home.

just like daddy

Meili loves wearing her dad's sunglasses!

fingerprinting and a retreat

We got our fingerprinting letter this week which informed us that our appointment is scheduled for next week. After we are fingerprinted, we have to wait while the immigration people make sure we are not criminals. The approval form that they will send is an essential piece of paperwork that will go to China. One more step in the long journey....

This past weekend we spent with many of our Eastern Ave CRC friends up at AuSable Institute for a winter retreat. Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Happy Gotcha Day!

Today is Meili's "Gotcha Day" and our "Family Day." (There are a lot of great names to remember this kind of special day.) Today is the day that Meili joined our family. It's been two years already! Here are a few pictures from that Meili's gotcha day in 2007 and a few pictures taken this week. She sure has changed!

We first met Meili in Hangzhou and held her for the first time.

in a taxi going back to our hotel

hanging out with Daddy


We tried really hard to tire Meili out the first night so we could get her to sleep.
She sat this way for a long time and finally just tipped over in exhaustion.

Meili in her princess getup singing "Hallowed Be Thy Name"

and a song she made up called "You are Lipstick."


Happy Chinese New Year 2009!!!

Meili's first day

Here we see one happy kid who just finished her first day of preschool. Aside from an accident early in the morning (her legs are too short to reach the preschool-sized potty) she had a wonderful day!

exciting news...

We're expecting! We've started the process to adopt another baby from China! Not sure if it will be a girl or a boy and will be excited either way! We completed our home study this past December and now are waiting for U.S. Immigration services to complete some paperwork. We'll updated progress here on our blog!

Some other exciting news is that Meili starts preschool tomorrow. She's been going to a speech preschool two mornings a week this year but now she'll be going full days, M-F. I'm excited because she is coming to Oakdale so we get to walk to school together each morning! Meili packed her lunch and backpack tonight before bed. She is pretty excited for tomorrow!

manners

We spend a lot of time talking about manners with Meili - especially saying "May I please have..." instead of saying "I want..." The other day I asked Meili what kind of soup she wanted for supper and she said, "Want is a bad word, mama. It's not using your manners." How precious!

fall photo shoot

showing that she's three years old