Merry Christmas!

another doctor visit

Willem saw the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today. The doctor looked in both of Willem's ears really carefully. He had to clear some fluid out of one of them which Willem really hated! Willem has two perforated ear drums and it looks like he has another ear infection. We're starting him on another round of anti-biotics and ear drops. Willem's ears need to be cleared up before they can put ear tubes in. Right now the doctor's are hoping to coordinate his oral surgery and ear tubes so he only has to be anesthetized once.

As far as life in general... We're getting into a good routine with naps and sleeping at night. Thankfully, Meili and Willem take their afternoon naps at the same time which gives us some time to clean up or just to hang out and relax. The two of them are getting along so well. Willem makes all of us laugh with his funny faces and crazy waving arms!

doctor visit

Willem is doing great. Yesterday he had his first doctor appointment. The doctor checked him all over, weighed him, etc. She said he seems pretty healthy and that we can expect to see a lot of changes over the new few months as he starts to get caught up. She checked his ears to see if the infection is better. Like we had guessed, both ear drums are perforated so we need to get ear tubes in asap. He's 20.8 pounds so we were able to turn his car seat around to face the front. That's nice because now we can see him while we're in the car and it's much easier to get him buckled in.

Willem's a great eater - finished off two pancakes this morning. We're glad that he has such a great appetite and does not have a hard time with solid food. We're sticking with soft stuff and so far he's been able to push food back with his tongue and swallow it. He has two molars coming in which he's already starting to use to chew things.

We have a new nephew (name still being decided) born to my sister Jana and Cory this morning. We can't wait to meet him later today. Willem and the new baby will both meet one set of grandparents for the first time today!

Merry Christmas everyone!

What a happy baby!!!

Willem is such a happy baby. We are adjusting well to being a family of five. Here are a few pictures of our new little boy!

We're home!!!

Hey, we're back from China. Here's a new picture of our family!

Our Travel Blog

This is the website we'll be updating while we are in China.

http://www.youbelong.net/invisiblethread





Our Itinerary
Nov. 29--depart Grand Rapids
Nov. 30 - Dec 3--tour Shanghai, fly to Beijing
Dec. 4th--Gotcha Day!
Dec. 5-11--adoption paperwork and touring
Dec. 11--fly to Guangzhou
Dec. 12--medical exam
Dec. 14--visa appointment
Dec. 15--take oath at consulate
Dec. 16--pick up visa
Dec. 17--fly home!

We're going!!!

We got a call today that we'll get Willem on December 3. That means we need to travel to China late Thanksgiving weekend. We don't know the dates for sure yet. We'll post updates with our travel times and the travel blog we'll be using in China. Praise God!!!

traveling???

Lots of Travel Approvals have been coming in this week for people who are at the same point in the process as us. The travel dates are November 30-December 12 for one family and December 5-December 26 for another. Maybe we'll hear something this week! That would be so exciting!!!

something completely different

I love my dogs...


and my little girl!

December???

So... our travel phone call didn't come yet. It's been about two months since our final paperwork went to Guangzhou. Normally, people get their travel approval between 60 and 80 days after their final paperwork is sent over. We were really hoping to travel before Thanksgiving but now are hoping we'll be able to go before Christmas. A family who got their travel phone call today was given travel dates of November 30-December 17. That's already getting really close to Christmas!

We trust that God has his hand in all of the steps of Willem's adoption. This last part of waiting is still so hard. We're ready to go and just want to get Willem home.

meet "Sophia" the puppy

still waiting

different website

We have our passports back with Chinese visas ready. Now, if only we'd get the phone call saying our travel has been approved. We're just WAITING for that!!!

That website I listed last time will not be the one that we use when traveling. I found out that wordpress is also blocked in China right now. We'll set something up later with a different blogging website. A friend in China is trying to help us find a good one.

For now, stay tuned, we hope to hear our travel dates SOON! This girl is ready to go!

Travel blog

We've been told that firewall in China is blocking Blogger right now so we've created a blog that we can update while we are in China. Feel free to bookmark this new site if you'd like to check in on us while we're gone.

http://invisiblethread.wordpress.com/

Today we sent the applications for our travel visas for China. We still don't know what our travel dates will be but we're trying to get this kind of stuff ready. We've got a large suitcase sitting open in Willem's room and are starting to gather stuff there. Once our travel appointments are made, we might not have a lot before we travel and there will be a LOT of preparation to do at work and at home.

This week all government offices are closed in China for a national holiday so we don't expect to hear anything yet. Hoping we hear something soon!

new pictures!

the next form came!!!

Our I797 form came today from the U.S.A. immigration people. Next steps: - our agency sends this form to China, China looks at it, China sends us a Travel Approval. That's the last thing we need. Most people go to China about two weeks after getting the Travel Approval. Our travel dates may be slightly different - they will depend some on some official holidays in China in October. One more step done! Exciting!

First day of preschool, year 2

Meili was pretty excited to get back to preschool. She's going all day Monday-Friday. Here she is as we left the house Thursday morning:

walking to school


with Miss Jessie and Miss Tasha (afternoon teachers)


with Miss Lorna (morning teacher)


Meili at the end of the first day.

will we travel in October???

Will we travel in October???
Here are two things that could make our travel more complicated.

One: National Holiday - the first week of October is the National Holiday - just about everything is closed in celebration, including government offices.

Two: Guangzhou Trade Fair with an influx of tens of thousands of additional people into the city, takes place the last two weeks of October so flights, hotels, ground transportation, etc. is next to impossible to secure during this time. Guangzhou is where the US Consulate is and we can't take Willem home without a stop there.

update on Willem

We have some updated stats on Willem. What a tiny peanut!

Height 30.0 inches
weight 17.6 pounds
head circumference 19.1 inches
chest circumference 19.7 inches
foot 4.5 inches
teeth 2

I800 & Alaska

We're still in a waiting period before we'll know anything more about traveling to get Willem. I dropped off some more immigration paperwork yesterday. One form is a petition to classify Willem as an immediate relative instead of an orphan - basically saying that he has parents now. The forms have to be reviewed by the US government, then sent to the U.S. consulate in China who will pre-adjudicate them (whatever that means). After that, a document is sent to the Chinese government telling them that we're all set. That's what they need in order to issue a travel invitation. Once that comes we can make our travel plans. It will likely be October before that all happens. But that's just our best guess. I'd love for the time to pass quickly - at the same time, I'm in no hurry for this summer to be over.

Henry and I recently returned from a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was an amazing trip. Here are a few pictures:

Our ship: the Sapphire Princess

sitting on the deck, eating french fries while cruising past Alaskan wilderness= a slice of heaven

A humpback whale: whale watching was the highlight of the trip for me. The weather was incredible and we saw about 16 whales. We observed a whale breaching, a group of whales using bubble net feeding and many whales diving.

There were also Orca feeding in this area. This group of Orca were about 50 feet from our boat. Amazing!

crusing along the glaciers of College Fjord


First formal night on the cruise
(We missed the second one because we both got motion sick.)