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Sunday, May 31, 2009 9:02 AM CDT
Well, it has been awhile since I have posted a journal entry. Busy with work, kids and all. Malia will be 4 yrs old next month...actually in July. Her vocabulary is excellent. She has absolutely NO speech delay whatsoever. She still continues to be a very active, on the move little girl and is very expressive. She has her "to be expected" toddler meltdowns which for the most part is normal. We have noticed that she tends to be a bit bossy and can get very angry in almost an abnormal way. She recently has had a bit of "difficult behavior" at daycare..almost knocking over a fish tank on purpose and hitting other children. We are having her evaluated by a social worker to see what is going on. From what the social worker says, she has the classic symptoms of attachment disorder. Malia has had no control over what has happened to her in her first precious year of life...which may explain the bossy controlling behavior. The majority of the time she is just fine but for the other moments, she is "hell on wheels" to put it mildly. She still laughs and giggles a lot and has a never ending appetite which we are also working on. Nurturing herself with food??? We are looking into that as well. Constantly eating. She is growing tall and her weight is about 45 pounds. She goes to La Puerta De Los Ninos which is 10 min from my work. At the end of next summer, she will be done with La Puerta and will start going to KG at the nearby elementary school that her older sister just graduated from. Malia looks up to Anna so much and their sibling relationship has come a long way. I have to always be on the lookout for ways to help them be nice to each other. Many times they fight b/c Malia got into Anna's room etc. Anna has moments of being a wonderful older sister and it is nice to see this. With the age gap, they don't have a lot in common but do enjoy playing horsey back and watching movies together.
Her latest vocab consists of :
"thats DISgusting", "I don't wanna take a bath" and "when can I play soccer?" She always says "thank you Jesus" at meals ..oh and "can i have a popsickle?"
She also likes to help out when ever she can...setting the kitchen table, putting things away for mommie etc. She is a real helper outer and i love that about her.
That is it for the latest and greatest Malia news!
Theresa
Thursday, September 18, 2008 5:01 PM CDT Malia is now 3 years old....AND POTTY TRAINED!!! HOORAY, HOORAY. She is in daycare 3 days a week at La Puerta Del Los Ninos in Albuquerque close to where i work. She has been moved up to the "Panda" room and is just thriving. She continues to be a very happy and active little girl and laughs much of the time which brings much joy to our lives. Her latest and greatest brush with vocabulary goes something like this...."Hello, i am talking to you" and "Momma, are you listening to me?" She has quite the vocabulary and amazes us almost daily. Believe it or not, she is getting so big that she can actually wear some of Anna's (she is our small 10 yr old) clothes! Per the doctor, she is a very healthy little girl and has gone WAY off the chinese growth charts and is in the 90% for height on the USA growth charts. We will be taking her and her sister Anna to the balloon festival this year so this will be a family fun event. Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:16 AM CST One thing i have noticed that is just so cute about Malia is that each night after her bath i put a towel around her and dry her and she always says to me "Mommy, sing rock a baby" which translates into "Mommy, sing rock a bye baby". I do and she just giggles and giggles every time. Thursday, February 14, 2008 2:20 PM CST Valentines day 2008. Malia is almost 2.7 mo old. Sunday, January 27, 2008 10:27 AM CST Wanted to make a list of things Malia is saying and doing. Saturday, January 19, 2008 9:08 PM CST Hi all,
Sunday, September 16, 2007 9:15 AM CDT Hi all, Thursday, May 17, 2007 1:57 PM CDT It is mid may 2007. Malia will be 22 months old this month. Malia's older sister Anna just turned 9 yrs old recently. Anna is growing into a very mature yound lady. I think being a big sister has had a lot to do with that. Anna had a sleepover birthday party and Malia wanted to join in on the fun. Anna and her friends made Malia feel like a big part of the party and Malia was giggling with the rest of her and her friends until bedtime of course. Malia will be 2 in July and recently had a 24 month developemental check by one of the local county child and family support group specialist. She is totally developmentally on target. I was not worried as i did not see anything about her that caused concern. Since it was free i decided why not have her get checked. This was the 2nd of 2 developmental checks. Malia is talking a lot now and attempts to say everything we say. I have noticed that she does say a few 2 word sentences like "bye bye daddy" and the like. She has developed an "awareness" of things around her and sometimes gets frightened but we are quick to help her learn to not be afraid. Recently she was terrified of airplanes and screamed loud when she saw an ant crawling on our bathroom counter. We have learned to say "hello airplane", "wave to airplane" etc and she quickly calms herself. Naptime and bedtime is going well although we did have a spell for about 1 week where going to sleep was an issue. Thankfully that was short lived. She will be starting at La Puerta De Los Ninos at the end of May 2007. Malia will thrive in this environment and we are very lucky that we got a call to say there was an opening. She will learn a lot of social skills and La Puerta's goal is to learn through play so it is not a preschool environment. She will learn about how things grow in the garden in the back of the playground. She will learn about butterflies and the like and hopefully how to go potty pretty soon. We are looking forward to being off of diaper duty. She still hates to get her diaper changed. Malia feels very comfortable and has adjusted so well to her new home and family. It is just amazing. It it is great to see that others can tell too. Since we are with her day in and day out, sometimes it is hard to tell. Our friends have noticed a big difference from the first month or so that we had her and now. She feels so comfortable in that she acts like a typical (almost) 2 yr old. She screams and throws fits which is so normal. I would be worried if she didn't! She loves to be the center of attention and will actually pose for a picture if someone has a camera. She thought that the "end of the season soccer party" that ended Anna's soccer season was all about her. She sat in her elmo chair in front of all the girls waiting for her trophy too. Ah, to be 2 again. One thing she does that is really funny is that we will say "happy feet" and that is her signal to dance and jump and dance. She just laughs and laughs which makes us laugh. We are learning to brush our teeth all by ourselves and we are learning to clean up after ourselves. One learns from child #1 not to make the same mistakes with child #2. I may have said this before but we are feeling more and more like a family and so much more comfortable with each other...us to her ..and her to us. She is a strong little girl. A real survivor and happy too which is an extra bonus. Saturday, April 7, 2007 8:38 AM CDT Happy Easter! Sunday, March 11, 2007 10:01 AM CDT Hi and Happy Spring! Sunday, January 7, 2007 9:18 AM CST Hi
Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:44 PM CST Hi all, Saturday, November 4, 2006 8:40 AM CST Saturday morning 11/4/06. Life is in full swing here at the Yamasaki household. Malia is used to getting up early....even on saturdays and sundays now! Yikes. Yesterday morning I heard her in her crib ..not crying, just playing. I opened the door and she was just sitting there smiling! She has such a happy disposition about her. Halloween was quite the hit this year. Malia was a leopard and Anna was a cowgirl. Anna went out with her friend around the neighborhood and when it was all over, she promptly counted all of her 163 pieces of candy. We dressed Malia up but bedtime for her rolled around to quick to get her out and about this year. She is walking so well now..walking faster. We are hearing different baby babble sounds from her which is great. In the bathtub, i notice that she is quick to imitate me. I will splash my foot in the water and she is quick to follow with her foot. She is really coming along and adjusting very well to her new Americanized environment. She loves to eat beans and taquitos and to my great delight she eats just about every fruit and vegetable imaginable. Tomatoes are not her favorite but watermelon is her absolute favorite food. Now about Anna, i had a parent teacher conference the other day and to my great suprize i find that Anna is doing very well in school. She is almost at a 4th grade reading level and doing pretty well in all areas. She is learning cursive writing and her times table. This is a huge year of adjustment for her and she is doing pretty good with it all i think. I try to make sure i look for opportunities to talk with her as much as i can and spend as much one on one time with her as i can....even if it means playing a game of cards when it is late and she (NOT ME) has some energy left from her day. Michael and i come home pretty darn exhausted but we are so very thankful for our jobs. We are blessed to have the life we have. Mom and Dad will be here soon to visit. I can't wait for them to see Malia and to see how Anna has grown. They arrive here in mid November. Sunday, October 15, 2006 10:04 AM CDT Malia has been with us now for over 3 months now. We are all still bonding,accepting and getting to know her...and her us. I am back at work now and have wednesdays off to have special mommy/daughter time. She is walking now and doing really well at it. She also has learned to climb up onto the couch and is quite thrilled about it. Her first steps were on 9/25/06 which was Michael's moms birthday. She is really developing and changing with each day almost. I was dreading the day when i had to take her to the new babysitter. This day arrived on 9/28. I have to get her up out of the crib when she is asleep, change her diaper while practically still asleep and drop her off at 6:45 am! She is with the babysitter all day till about 6 pm when i get her after work. It makes for a long day without us being together. I have a photo magnet picture of her at work and i look at her and think about her in between my mammogram patients. Her picture sits on the counter in my work area. Her smiling face makes me feel so good. I love her so much. Anna is coming around to accept her more and more. I see little snipits of her love for her. When she comes home from school or being out with her friend at soccer practice, she will ask about Malia as soon as she walks in the door. The caring and the love will take its own time. It is something that will grow into hopefully something very wonderful. Anna has grown up alot in the last 3 months probably faster than she has really wanted to. Anna is helping Malia with locating where her nose is as they sit in the back seat of the car while they are being shuffled to where they need to be for the day. Malia is learning new sounds with each day. Her main sounds are da da, ba ba and i think i heard bye bye the other day. I think dog will be her next sound/word. She is coming along and thriving well and we all love her and accept her...every little bit of her...from her cute little toes to her beautiful nose! Sunday, September 17, 2006 10:29 AM CDT Today is 9/17/06 and Malia is 6 days shy of turning 14 months old! Things have come along nicely for our new Malia. She is standing for longer periods of time now and just lacks a bit of confidence in taking those first steps. She has been pulling her hair less and less at bed time when i feed her a bottle. Hair pulling is almost non existant now. Her recent doc appt revealed that this is a comfort mechanism. I take it as she is feeling more and more secure in her environment. She sleeps well thru the night. Down at 8:30 pm and up at 7 am. Now, i have her on a sippy cup. The bottle phase is over so technically, i am totally finished with bottles forever. Kinda bittersweet. I loved feeding Malia with a bottle as it fulfilled both of our bonding needs. I still hold her and rock her at nap time and bedtime with the sippy cup as if it was a bottle. She and i both enjoy it i think. She is getting to feel more and more comfortable in her environment b/c i noticed that she is less and less frustrated. She smiles more and seems more relaxed all together. She is very curious and very active and leaves me pretty tired at the end of the day. I try to talk to her as much as i can so she can hear english words which will help when the "talking" stage rolls around. Her hearing test and labs and check up all came back negative so we have a very healthy Malia on our hands ===Thankfully !!!! We are so very blessed. She has a very healthy appetite. She moans and groans for more food so we try to feed her fruits and veggies so she won't be a fat baby. She is 21 pounds mid sept 06. She has gained 3 pounds since we got her in mid July 06. She is very intrigued by her big sister. Big sister is learning how to live with little sister and it has not been easy. Big sister has had 8 years of no little sister so this is a rather big adjustment for her. She will come around in her own time. All we can do is look for opportunities to teach her how to be nice big sister. All in due time. Malia giggles when i play the "going to the chinese market" game on her little toes. It goes like this....this little piggy had some fried rice, this one had some dim sum, this one had some lo mein, this one had some congee....and this one (the big toe) did not know what to eat so it went all the way up to the chinese market to get something good to eat. This is when i tickle her little neck and she just laughs and giggles so very much. It is cute and quite amazing to see her laugh so hard. It is refreshing and wonderful to here a babies laugher in our house again. We also love to here her ramble in her baby talk in the car seat in the car. She quietly mutters to herself. So cute and innocent. A real gift. She is so cute too. Need to get her a bang trim tho. More updates to follow......... Monday, August 28, 2006 8:36 AM CDT Hi everyone, Saturday, August 12, 2006 3:32 PM CDT I wanted to share with you what it was like on the second leg of our adoption journey. This was THE best part of the whole trip because we got to meet Malia Miao Ling face to face. We arrived in Wuhan which is the capital city of the province of Hubei on July 9th. We knew based on the itinerary that we got in the beginning that the next day 7/10 was "GOTCHA DAY"!!! A very very long awaited day...since Jan of 2005 to be exact. We arrived in Wuhan and it was raining. Wuhan seemed to be a bit more layed back than Beijing and it seemed a bit cleaner. I could barely sleep in anticipation of what the next day brought....our most precious Malia. Ok, finally 7/10 and we (all fourteen families) are on the bus headed for the White Rose hotel which is where we get our babies. We were told to go to the 4th floor conference room. This we did and to the 4th floor we go. As soon as i get off the elevator and walk down the hall who do i see but our precious Malia being held by someone...a nannie...foster mom perhaps. I look at her and Malia gives me a big grin that i have become all too familiar with. I said her chinese name as if questioning the adult that is holding her. The lady shakes her head "no" to my suprize. Hmmm, i thought as i walked back to the conference room thinking the whole time that i knew it was her it just had to be. I knew that face. There were so many families in the conference room like 75-100 just waiting for this glorious moment. Finally, we heard the name Miao Ling and Michael, Anna and I bolted to the front of the room to get her. They handed her to us. I had assumed that the clouds would open up and the angels would come out singing but it was just sort of an ordinary thing for them to just hand her over to us. It was a glorious moment i must say but it was like....ok, here she is ...and then she was in our arms. Malia did not cry. She just kept looking at us as if to say.."Just who are you?" I fed her immediately and held her and loved on her. Michael and Anna were just looking at her, smiling at her. Anna was so excited and Michael was taking picures constantly. Malia seemed rather oblivious to all that was going on. As we left the conference room to head back out to the bus, we saw many nannies and/or foster families that were sitting in cars and vans watching and looking to see the new parents of these wonderful babies that they had been taking care of from the beginning. Michael told me later that many of them were crying as it was so hard for them. I sometimes wonder if the lady holding Malia was the foster mom. We were told that to meet and talk with the foster family is not allowed. This to me is very unfortunate. How will i ever be able to thank them for what they have done?...the care that they have provided for Malia? Maybe she was in the van watching as we got on the bus. I kept profusely thanking the orphanage director. I almost could not stop hugging her. I wanted to cry. On the bus, Malia fell asleep in my arms. I was starting to fall in love with my Malia. We all--Michael, myself and Anna felt like we had been given the best gift in the world. We just kept looking at her. She woke up later back at our hotel and we played with her and got to see what she was like. Within one hour, she was giggling. Anna could not get used to the profuse drooling from teething. She kept getting really grossed out and it was funny to see her reaction. We decided to keep her in her "gotcha day" clothes for as long as possible as we didn't want to overwhelm her with too much change. We decided to follow her que's. We noticed that she is a happy baby and likes to laugh and smile. A few days later, she started to be very fussy. I wonder if a light bulb went off in her little brain that said, "where is my foster mom" "where did she go" and "who are these people". We comforted her as best as possible and just loved on her. With each day, even to this day, she gets more and more used to us. I will never forget that week. Such a huge transition for ALL of us. I was happy most of the time but i did have moments of sadness because our family will never be the same again. Not that it will be bad...just different. I had to grieve the 8 years of one on one time i had with Anna. I do not love her any less because we have Malia. It was a wierd transition for me. I had to grieve it and let it go. I noticed that 3 days or so after we got Malia that Anna was feeling rather left out. She would not admit it to me but i know my Anna and i knew what was going on. I comforted her and spent some one on one time with her. It was just what she needed. Some good ole' lovin. Saturday, August 5, 2006 8:24 AM CDT Hi Everyone! Monday, July 10, 2006 0:30 AM CDT Hello, everyone from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China! Michael here pinch hitting for Theresa. Mommy is taking a nap with baby, Miao Ling. We got her today at the White Rose Hotel. There were over 100 couples present ... all waiting for their little ones. Wednesday, July 5, 2006 8:13 PM CDT Hi all, Tuesday, July 4, 2006 9:38 AM CDT Oh my Lord, we leave for China TODAY!!!! It is moving from a very "surreal" experience to a very "REAL" experience. We will be leaving around 2 -2:30pm. to head for the airport. We have discovered that Air China's luggage restrictions are pretty strict. They do not allow carry on's any heavier than 11 pounds so this means that we will be checking our luggage from the states to China. Checked luggage can weigh no more than 40 pounds or else there will be a charge for over wt luggage! I need to re-arrange some weight from my back pack into the other bag that i thought we'd be able to carry on. blah blah blah..details details. The most import detail is that we get to meet Malia in 7 days! This time next week, our life will be changed....forever! Those of you following our journey, continued prayers for OUR FAMILY, MALIA, FOSTER FAMILY and BIRTH MOM are still very much appreciated. Happy 4th to you all!!! Friday, June 30, 2006 7:39 PM CDT As many of you know, we are due to leave for China on 7/4/06. We are almost totally packed and ready. We are attempting to go carry on only. We will see how that goes. There is plenty of baby supplies there to buy so no need to pack extra stuff. Michael and I both have one more day of work and then i am off of work until 9/27.Michael goes back to work on the wednesday after we get back. We get back on a Fri. 7/21. We are all very excited to travel to our daughters home land. I want to take it all in so i can tell her everything about her birth home. We may get to meet the foster family and if so a picture of them would just be priceless. Anything to connect her with the life that she had before us would be great. It will be wonderful getting to know our new child. We have been looking forward to this for a very very long time.....and now the time is finally here! Saturday, June 24, 2006 8:36 AM CDT Well, it is official. We leave to go to Beijing, China on the 4th of July and return on 7/21!!! Malia Miao Lings birthday is the very next day after our return on 7/22. She will be one year old! We have rec'd updated photos and updated report on Malia. Updates were from 5/30/06 when she was 10 mo old. She has been in foster care from the beginning (whew, i am very happy about this), can stand and sit well. Not walking yet, says "mama and baba", has four teeth, is 72 cm tall (2-2.5 feet) and healthy. Pls go to the photo section for updated 10 month old photos of Malia. The change is amazing. There are 13 families in our travel group and there is one husband and wife family up north in Santa Fe, NM!! I was so thrilled to learn this. I rec'd a call from Deborah Sie and we talked a bit. We will meet up in Beijing on 4/6. They are traveling on their own a bit before meeting us in China. Most of the other families in our travel group #995 are taking the same flight out of LAX at 1:40 am (yes, i said 1:40 am!!) on Air China. Our flight from Albuquerque to LAX leaves at 5:10 pm on 7/4. We arrive in Beijing at 5:30 am on 4/7 (or maybe 4/6 cuz we fly over the int'l date line and loose a day..i think). When we get to China, our agency has already pre arranged a tour of the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong tour, Temple of Heaven (i will love that:) and Acrobat show (Anna will love that:) We are in Beijing a couple of days and then fly to Wuhan --where Malia is--on 7/9. Our 11th anniversary is 7/8 and "gotcha day" is 7/10. Ironically, 7/10 was the day that i almost lost my leg(and my life) in a bad accident 20+ years ago. I can now replace that very bad experience with a most wonderful experience. We will be in Wuhan untill 7/15 when we fly to Guangzhou in Southern China where the US consulate is. This is where Malia gets a physical and visa before we can bring her to the US. We leave Guangzhou to Hong Kong on 7/21 and fly from Hong Kong to home! Whew, i am already tired. Aren't you? I have so much to do between now and then. Even tho Michael and I are tired from not sleeping much, we are still very excited. Sunday, June 18, 2006 9:07 AM CDT Great news! I rec'd "updated" information from our agency regarding Malia Miao Ling. Rec'd it in yesterdays mail. I thought that the information would be more recent. The date at the bottom says 2/16/06 which is when her referral pic was taken. Aside from that, i am really very happy to get this information. The information speaks about where and when Malia Miao Ling was found, what she was wearing, birth weight etc. They estimate her birthdate by when her umbilical cord fell off. It fell off on the first day at the orpanage. She was in the observation room for a day and was healthy enough to be given to a foster family the very next day. Some other information tells me that she is extroverted and likes to laugh and giggle at the sound of music, bells in particular. She crinkles her nose and smacks her lips when she is hungry and this makes all the nannies laugh. She cries very hard if her request is refused and has to be held by the foster mom and her back has to be gently rubbed to calm her down. Her favorite food is fish dumplings and when she attempts to speak she is said to make "yi ya" sounds. She also says "mama" to the foster mom. She sleeps soundly on her back and on her side. Naps regularly. She has a healthy appetite ---gotta love those chubby cheeks! She also anwsers to her name Miao Ling. I was hoping to get updated pictures of her but at some point i am sure i will. Saturday, June 17, 2006 8:07 AM CDT It has now been 3 weeks since "the call" about our adorable Malia Miao Ling. Travel notices are still pending for our travel group. We are in travel group 995. When we get the travel notice telling us when we need to be in China, we will call our travel agency (JC Travel out of S Francisco) to make the arrangements. I am told it may cost a bit more to go thru JC Travel but to me it is worth it. There is just to much pre trip planning to have to deal with all of that. Michael and I (and Anna) are getting more and more excited to go. I am still not sure if Anna really understands that we will be coming back from vacation with a baby sister. It will be an amazing experience. Many thanks to my good friends who are supportive and excited for us.
Thursday, June 8, 2006 6:55 PM CDT It has been two weeks since i got "the call". Malia is on my mind constantly. I always wonder what she is doing at the moment.....asleep, playing, crying? Next week i am hoping to get some updated pictures of her and an updated health report and weather or not she is in foster care for sure. Michael and i have been busy getting the house in order especially her room. The crib and changing table complete the room so i feel like i am ready to get her now. Her high chair needed cleaning and it now looks brand new as it sits there in the kitchen just waiting for Malia. We have sent off our travel packet #2 back to our agency. We had to get documents signed and notorized. We also mailed the orphanage fee to our agency so they could wire it to China instead of us having to carry it on us while traveling. It was a chunk o' money so we were more than happy that it can now be wired there. We also filled out the visa applications and sent them to JC Travel who will be making our visa and travel arrangements. Less than a month i'd say that we will be headed over there to get Malia. Man, this waiting phase is hard too. Can't wait to all be together as a new bigger family. Thursday, June 1, 2006 7:10 AM CDT With each day we grow more excited to meet, hold and love our little Malia Maio Ling. I went to sleep the other night with a picture of her on my chest. I am so glad that i have a picture so i don't have to keep guessing about what she looks like. On my day off yesterday, i did some errands as usual...one being getting Anna her Hep A shot for the trip. Of course, i had to show all the girls in the doctors office at UNM hosp peds clinic Malia's photo. They wanted to know ALL about her. Well, gladly i would love to share ALL about her. I was non stop talking for 15 min....but they were listening and so interested in knowing all about Malia. Later in the day was my appt for my much anticipated facial and massage at the La Bella salon and day spa. Michael had given me a gift cert for moms day. It was the most wonderful gift. I was celebrating being a new mom (and realizing that boy i will sure need more massages later!). It was great...got to soak in a hot tub before and after being pampered. Working full time and getting this adoption in order is and has been extremely stressful so my massage was very well deserved. Good news is that in addition to having one day off every other week, my supervisor Becky has granted my my request of having one day of work off EACH week. Woohoo i say. This starts after my return from "bonding leave". Things are falling into place such as...our re-fingerprinting has cleared, i finally won a bid on a brand new carry on size wheeled back pack with removable day pack from ebay....for $64 no less!! Awesome deal and the best thing is that i think i may have already found good quality in home day care 10 min from home for when i return to work. We interview with her next tues nite. She loves her job, 20+ years experience and has exp with adopted chinese children!! I say a big "WOW"...i am impressed already and we have not even met yet! I am excite about getting more updates on Malia which will be in about 2-3 weeks. The orphanage that she was brought to is about 2 hours or so northeast of the capital city Wuhan. I would like to be able to drive to the area where she was born to take pictures and get a feel for her true homeland...her real roots. Saturday, May 27, 2006 11:42 PM CDT Today has been crazy. I am a new mom who did not get any sleep last night because i was thinking so much about Malia Maio Ling. Today two fed ex people came to my door. One guy came with Anna's expedited passport. Whew, so glad to have rec'd that in a timely manner. Then a bit later, another fed ex truck pulls up with the packet i was waiting for from our agency. It had the "acceptance letter" in there with more photos and a complete and very thorough health history. I learned that i have a very healthy little girl per the physician's report. Her favorite activity is to play outdoors and she is a deep sleeper. Wakes at 7:30 am and bedtime is 8:30 pm. Takes naps twice daily, eats well and mostly drinks milk. Solids that she eats is rice porridge, noodles, veggies (yeah!) and fish. I look forward to getting more updates and more photos. Friday, May 26, 2006 7:50 PM CDT The day has finally arrived that we got "THE CALL". I was at work today 5/26/05. It is Friday at about 10:00 am. I was busy busy doing my job and all of a sudden i get the call from CCAI. I was shocked because i thought i'd get the call in the evening when Michael and Anna could get the news with us all together. I was happy to get the call and i started to cry and shake. It was like time stood still and the earth just stopped spinning for a moment. I went to an area at work--to a quiet room and broke down crying before i could pick up the call that was being transferred to me. On the other end of the phone would be information that would literally change my life. All the information was good. She is healthy, Birthday is 7/22/05, 10 mo old, in foster care since 8/2/05, Hubei Province and Chinese name is Li Maio Ling. We travel in 5-7 weeks. I get shivers just thinking about it all. I am told that she is active, likes to imitate, likes music, toys and has moments of being quiet. She can be obstinent sometimes and is not impatient. She likes picture books and smiles often. After the call, i immediately went to look at her picture. It was a bit overwhelming to see on my list of emails "your beautiful daughter". I could barely click on the email msg and had to be prompted by Valerie one of my co workers. She said, "come on now, click it, just click on it--you can do it". I was so happy and a big sense of peacefulness welled up inside of me. I had that feeling like all is perfect in this world. Michael and I ironically agreed on "Malia" as her first name just last night. So when i learned that her Chinese first name is Maio, i realized that Malia would flow with Maio Ling. So, she has a first name that is Hawaiian and middle name that is Chinese and her last name is Japanese. Perfect, just perfect i say!
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:28 PM CDT 5/23/06 Sunday, May 21, 2006 5:09 PM CDT Today is Sunday and yet one more day closer to match day. I am really hoping we will hear something this week or next. Last week Wednesday, we went to ge re-fingerprinted. I was SO very happy that it went well. We went to the local immigration office to talk to someone there about getting an appt to get the prints re done. We had an appt to speak with someone at 9:30 am, spoke with the officer and to my big suprize we got appt's to get re-fingerprinted for that very day! Michael and I whipped on over to the fingerprint place and got in taken care of in less than 30 min. I have to call the FBI # sometime towards the end of this week to check that we have been cleared. As Michael and I were driving back home, we were re-discussing weather or not to bring Anna along with us. Since she is getting out of school on 5/24 and we "more than likely" will be traveling durring the summer, we decided to take her with us. Earlier on, it was a school issue and a money issue that steered us to not take her. We discussed this with her and her response was "hmmmmm"....will there be a swimming pool there?" She is slowly getting used to the idea of baby sister and i can see that she is beginning to see the reality of it especially when "baby sister" is all mom talks about. She will have her own "going to China" experience that she will have memories of for years to come.
Saturday, May 13, 2006 10:03 AM CDT Hi all,
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 9:15 PM CDT To my devoted friends and family,
Thursday, April 20, 2006 7:02 PM CDT ok, this is really maddening. I can't think of anything other than getting matched with our girl. Our agency said that CCAA is matching up thru the first week of June and maybe more than the first week(which would include us 6/9). This was last Friday 4/14 and now it is almost 1 week later and still no news. This is just crazy. I tell the girls at work to look at me and repeat the words "Focus", "Focus", "Focus" because i am finnding it harder and harder to concentrate on what i am doing. My girlfriends at work have learned to just not ask anymore because i always say the same thing which is "No, i have not heard anything yet". Geez, i ask myself how much more patience does it take cuz i am running very low on patience. I just wanna know who she is...thats all...really, thats all! Friday, April 14, 2006 7:01 PM CDT It is now 4/14/06 and todays message on our agencies website states that they have learned that CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) is working on the next group of matches which they "believe" will cover those families with Log in dates from 5/31/05 thru the first week of June of 05. We are June 9th, 2005 which is the SECOND...(arrgghhhh!!!!!) week!!! Go figure. As i type this journal entry i am printing out a newsletter from our agency. They are wanting us to know that "the CCAA accepts dossiers (the paperwork of adoption) from 16 countries and 157 agencies (93 U.S. agencies) every day." "The number of dossiers that they accept on a daily, weekly or monthly basis is not information that they share with anyone. The CCAA does not know month to month how many children's files they will recieve from the 300+ orphanages that have adoption programs." Sunday, March 26, 2006 10:05 AM CST Unfortunately this post does not contain the good news that i thought it would. I thought for sure that we would have heard something by now. No such luck! It's tough i must admit. I ran into someone at the scrapbook store though who I had corresponded with over the internet but had never met who has a 3 yr old from China. It was such a blessing to talk to someone who had "been there and done that" with the waiting phase. It took her awhile too. It was SO uplifting to talk ---adoption talk-- with her. I think i am done guessing when the good news will arrive because it just sets up hope and expectations that could possibly get dashed.
Thursday, March 16, 2006 7:11 AM CST Well it is almost mid March and still no match. I must say that i am a bit discouraged but i still have hope that we will get good news soon. My elbow is healing well and i do my exercises like i am told. Just don't wanna go to physical therapy. I keep busy at work and really enjoy learning about bone density. My patients ask questions that help me to learn about it. At home, Michael has been helping me alot around the house. I have now crowned him head cook. He makes some wonderful meals. Anna is looking forward to spring break and i have enjoyed putting together our "soon to be" daughters life journey book. It is really coming along. The "birth parent" page took a lot of thought and preparation. Had to get the wording just right. Friday, February 24, 2006 8:49 AM CST Since it has been awhile since i have posted a journal entry i thought i would just go ahead and post again. I did not think that my web page was check out that often PLUS we are STILL WAITING!!!!!!!! --So there is really not much of an update. I guess the Lord knows that we have the patience that it takes to endure this process. Also, since i FRACTURED MY LEFT ELBOW----arghh, it actually has taken the focus off of THE WAIT and on to my very, very sore elbow. Yes, i had a fall from grace 2 days ago while taking a walk and ended up kissing the sidewalk. I fell vey hard, heard a crack and now sit here with my arm in a splint. Doc says i can't use my arm or do mammography for 6 weeks!!! I asked him if he could use a better choice of words but he did not budge. I have a very small non- displaced radial head fx. Fortunately, my boss--God love her--has offered to train me in DEXA which is a bone density test to check for osteoporosis and other bone problems. It is a sit down job, can be done with one arm:) and the computer does most of the work. This is just wonderful b cuz i get to learn a new skill and not loose any of my paid leave--i can still accrue it for special bonding time with baby. So, it is official--i am totally crippled on my left side of my body. Sunday, January 1, 2006 11:29 AM CST HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Saturday, December 10, 2005 9:11 AM CST Good Morning all! Saturday, December 3, 2005 8:37 AM CST Happy Holidays all!! Thursday, November 3, 2005 6:40 PM CST ***********SOME DISCOURAGING NEWS********************
Friday, October 28, 2005 6:54 PM CDT Hello Sunday, October 9, 2005 9:44 AM CDT Hi Saturday, August 20, 2005 10:02 AM CDT Hi all,
Sunday, July 24, 2005 5:39 PM CDT Hi all,
Sunday, July 10, 2005 8:58 AM CDT Greetings all, Thursday, June 16, 2005 7:58 PM CDT Greetings all!!
Thursday, June 16, 2005 7:58 PM CDT Saturday, May 28, 2005 6:13 PM CDT Hi everyone,
Monday, May 2, 2005 7:25 PM CDT ************HUGE WEBPAGE UPDATE***************
Monday, April 11, 2005 7:02 PM CDT Hi to all. Thanks to all who visit and check our progress with this journey. The paper chase is nearing its end YES, I AM SEEING THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!! Some really great news to share with you. Sunday, March 27, 2005 4:19 PM CST Happy Easter all!! Saturday, March 12, 2005 9:11 AM CST Hi everyone,
Sunday, February 20, 2005 0:01 AM CST Lots of great info to share here. A lot has happened from last journal entry. First of all, we rec'd something in the mail from our local immigration office. I was doing a dance because i just knew that it was our fingerprint appt.
Monday, February 7, 2005 6:01 PM CST Wanted to check in to let you know the latest on what has been done and what is pending on our adoption paper trail. Tuesday, February 1, 2005 11:25 PM CST Well, i still don't have the fingerprint appointment yet. We know they received it at our local Immigration office because we got back that little green certified mail card. So what is the hold up? Ah well anyway, there is plenty of other paperwork to keep me going. Here is our recent progress: I received my passport on 1/31/05. I mailed off my birth cert to the KY sec of state to get it notarized. I sent it via UPS and it should arrive on 2/3/05 at 12 noon KY time. We also have our first appointment with our social worker for our homestudy. Appt is 2/16/05 @ 2:30. My boss ok'd me for a day off :) Tomarrow, i am sending money orders and requesting a current,certified, notarized copy of our marriage license. This i was told could take 3 weeks to get back to me. I have been studying our dossier guide and i swear i learn something new everytime i read that thing! Friday, January 28, 2005 5:27 PM CST We are patiently awaiting or "invitation" to get fingerprinted. We know that the USCIS recieved our documents so they are supposed to send us the appt for fingerprints. Maybe it is in today's mail. We have really made some progress getting a lot of the paperwork done. I amaze myself that i can work full time and still find time to do baby quilts and paperchase. We recently requested our local police reports, sent letters to 5 people to write reference letters and sent a chunk of paper work to our social worker Cindi. We are currently working on our biography. That is incredible undertaking but all very worth it. More later. Friday, January 21, 2005 1:34 PM CST Yesterday, 1/20/05, we mailed our I600-A form in to the USCIS. We realized that Michael needed a copy of his passport because he is a naturalized citizen. We don't have our passports yet so a quick phone call to our agency saved the day. Since we will be mailing more documents to the USCIS, we were advised to attach a note saying that passport photocopies are forthcoming. We will mail it in along with our completed homestudy. We also met with Cindi Rose who is our social worker who will be doing our homestudy.Nice gal and really knows her business which is fantastic! Within minutes (ok, about 15) she was handing us paper after paper to be signed, notarized, stamped etc and mailed back to her. Whew! I was getting a bit weak in the knees. She tells us that if we are planning on getting her home in time for Christmas that we would have to have all of our paperwork done by end of Feb 05. Michael and Cindi helped me to understand that the day we get her is not on our time table and we will get her when we are supposed to get her. Sunday, January 16, 2005 8:13 AM CST We recieved confirmation and approval from our agency that we can go forward with the adoption. We are eligible for a baby from 0-24 months! Next step is to sign and notarize fee and service agreements and send it to them with our first agency fee. We in turn will get a dossier packet which digs us deeper into the paperchasing. On Thursday 1/20/05 we are going down to our local immigration office. It is called USCIS (United States Citizenship and immigration services).We will be filing the I600A form and at 12 noon, we meet with our social worker--Cindi--who will be doing our homestudy. On this day 1/20 is also the day that the story of our adoption/quilt making quest will be in our local Rio Rancho Observer. You may be reading this because you got our webpage address from the article. We appreciate you visiting! Your prayers and support are welcomed and appreciated. Michael and I are thinking of names for our little one. We feel so bonded already and its only the beginning! Just can't wait. More updates to come so stay tuned. Sunday, January 9, 2005 9:33 AM CST When we went to apply for our passports yesterday, we were very pleased to find out that i did not have to pay the full $85 fee as my passport from 1992 was still within the timeframe to just pay the reduced price! We saved $30. Since i am such a tightwad these days, i was understandibly very thrilled. We are just waiting on some kind of paper chasing packet from CCAI, our agency. Saturday, January 8, 2005 9:27 AM CST Today we are getting our passports made. Upon the advise of other adoptive moms, its best to get this out of the way before the REAL paperchasing starts! On another real positive note, i have been getting more and more baby quilt orders which is wonderful. To our friends and family--much gratitude for your support! I will total up the profits and share it with you soon. More later:) Monday, January 3, 2005 3:01 PM CST Had today off from work and i am relieved to say that i did it. I put the application in the mail! WHEW!! The first step of many. Anna was with me and cheered me on by saying "Yippee, i am getting a sister!". I smiled and said a silent prayer to myself. Next saturday 1/8/05 we go to Walgreens to get our passport photos taken. I found out that another post office nearby will process our passports on a Saturday which is great for us. We both have Saturdays off. The journey has really begun! Sunday, January 2, 2005 9:53 AM CST Happy New Year Everyone!! Wednesday, December 8, 2004 9:43 PM CST Hi everyone,
Saturday, November 20, 2004 9:58 AM CST Hi all, Sunday, November 7, 2004 7:32 AM CST I am preparing for a craft fair to earn some money for the adoption. It takes a lot of work. I am almost half way done with preparing everything. It is on Friday Nov. 19th at the Womans Hospital on Montgomery. I will be selling baby quilts, beaded scarves, bracelets, bath salts and a few other crafty things. Please come by and visit with me. I will be there all day!! Wish me luck!$!$!$$$$ Wednesday, November 3, 2004 11:40 AM CST Hello all,
Monday, November 1, 2004 7:04 PM CST We will begin our journey in Jan. 2005. By end of Dec. 2004, we will have filled out the application and will be ready to mail it. We will let you know what happens next
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The other thing she does is when i am rocking her to sleep at night i will ask her what song she wants me to sing to her. She always say "ole Mcdonald". I say ok and then i proceed to sing it to her and before i get to the part where you make the sound of an animal, she always says PIG MOMMY PIG. "What about a duck Malia?" --NO MOMMY PIG MOMMY PIG. Every time each night...what a hoot. She has SO much character and personality.
She is fast approaching 3 and the potty training is not a happening thing but this mommy is not worried in the slightest. After all, i really don't see her wearing diapers in high school :)
T
At the kitchen lunch table today:
"I want to put corn in my tee tee ya".
Translation: I want to put corn in my tortilla.
Can't pronounce her "s" sound yet. Real cute to hear her talk.
Malia has a cold now but it has not slowed her down. We are enjoying Chinese New Year. She is scared of the dragon dancing. Naps are an issue lately. Not wanting to go down for naps. Is she outgrowing them already?!?
Planning a family vacation to Disneyland for the summer when Anna gets out of school. Planning on driving to California and stopping in Flagstaff going and coming back and checking out the Grand Canyon and the Sedona, Arizona area. Much Love
Theresa
Jan. 2008---2.7 mo old
Malia: I want the poon mommy.
Translation: I want the spoon mommy.
Malia: Look!! Two tucks mommy.
Translation: Look!! Two trucks mommy. (while sitting in traffic)
Malia: I wanna do it myself
Malia: i wanna my p ups
Translation: I want my pull ups
Malia: i want my tocks mommy
Translation: I want my socks mommy.
Happy New Year Everyone!! We hope that you and your family had a wonderful holiday. It went by so quickly and now ...boy, we here in NM sure can feel the cold, cold air of winter this January. Malia is currently 2 years and 7 months old now. We attempted potty training which was unsuccessful. She adamently states "I don't WANNA use the potty"!!! ok, you win i say. I guess the M and M reward treat did not work. Better luck when we try again in about 6 months or so. Not gonna stress about it. She is growing, growing into a really cute little girl. Still giggles most of the time and still very, very active. I believe she is the most talkative child in her day care class. She enjoys it there very much....still at La Puerta on Mon, Tues and Fridays. I continue to be off on Wed and Thurs. I must admit that it feels a bit strange to not be working M-F but i am NOT complaining. I enjoy being with Malia and getting to know her. She loves for me to read to her. Found out she loves play dough and tries to feed it to the dog. She is fun yet challenging and i know that in no time she will be a young little lady like Anna. Anna will be 10 this May. She is doing fine in school although she struggles with math. All in all she is doing fine and LOVES her new Wii game that Santa got her for x mas. She continues to play soccer and stays pretty active most of the time. She still has a love for reading which is wonderful. Michael still continues to work at Advent Solar and loves it so much. He is challenged and is just thrilled to be a part of an emerging technology--solar energy technology. That is about it. Will touch base again later. Happy New Year and Happy Chinese NY which begins 2/7/08--the year of the Rat.
With Love
Theresa
Have not posted in awhile. Wanted to post to say that we currently have had Malia for more time than China did. We have had her for over one year now which is a major milestone for her and our family. She continues to thrive, adjust and thrive some more. She met her daddy's family in Hawaii in Aug. 2007. Loves the beach and of course all the attention she was getting from all her new aunties, uncles and cousins. She was able to meet her Grandpa Yamasaki before he passed away shortly after our visit on 9/1/07. Currently she is doing well at La Puerta child care. The caregivers there really like what they do so this is a good thing. She is using her words more at the dinner table instead of saying "uh-uh-uh" and pointing at what she wants. She is saying 2 and 3 word sentences and loves for me to read to her. Mommy tries to keep her eyes open on the 3rd and 4th books. :) We are learning body parts and how to count 1-10 in Mandarin, Chinese. This coming Sept 25 is Autumn Moon. We plan on dressing in our Chinese outfits and having our neighbors over for chinese tea and moon cakes. We will light a candle for birth mom and foster mom. It is my hope that the tradition will stick and she will eventually get something out of it later in her life. Malia is happy, active, sometimes stubborn and challenging at times...best part of all is that the other night she said "i love you" after i said night night. Melts my heart.
Love and Peace till next post!
Today is Saturday. Tomarrow is Easter Sunday. This will be Malia's first Easter. Can't wait to get her in her cute little Easter Sunday dress and shiny white shoes. Malia is now 20 months old and really talk, talk, talking. She screams now and then...like last night at Applebee's. Had to do the discipline thing....sheesh she can scream. She is smart and KNOWS that her scream will get attention. I tell her that we are going outside untill she behaves. Her response is "ok, outside"...not what i wanted to hear. It is a work in progress as any parent knows. I am almost finished making her "adoption gotcha day" quilt and it has come out very nice. Next thing to do is buy a hope chest. I will put all "Malia momentos" in there. Anna and Malia are bonding more from what i have noticed. Malia keeps saying "Anna" all the time so i know that she wants to be with Anna. This makes Anna feel very special which makes Anna want to be with little sister Malia more which is very nice and refreshing to see. I think Anna likes the fact that little sister likes her so much. We have had Malia now for 9 months and things are going pretty well...no major drama or dramatic behavior from Malia. She has had her share of colds which is to be expected. No major health concerns and she is old enough now to introduce the potty chair. Right now, she thinks it is a toy. She has sat on it twice and asks for toilet paper. She is not ready and we don't push it with her. On that note i will end this entry saying that i grow to love Malia with each passing day. I feel more and more like her mother which is a great feeling!
Theresa
Its been awhile since i have logged on and posted to my journal. This post will detail the latest and greatest news with Malia. She is 19 months old now..just shy of 20 months. Funny how time has just flown and before we got her time seemed to drag by ever sooooooo slooooooowly. We were very very fortunate to have gotten Malia Miao Ling when we did, before the long long wait started happening...like we didn't wait long enough...11.5 months! Now the wait is around 15-16 months with more restrictions placed on adoptive parents. Apparently, there is a huge increase of adoptive couples and a large number of babies in China that are not "paper ready". Per our adoption agencies newletter, the wait will go back down to 8-10 months in 2 to 3 years. OK, now for the biggest and best news is that Malia is really beginning to say words. Here is her word list.........apple (very clearly), Anna :), Daddy, Mama :):):):):):):):):):), please, thank you (tu tu), up, down,chip, all gone, woof woof, cookie, night night and finally NO...wonder where she learned that :) I have finally decided that in her little chinese brain that she really DOES understand everything i say in english. I ask her to do something like put your shoes over there or lets go brush your teeth etc. She tottles over and does exactly what i say. Hmmm, i think we are onto something here. I am basking in the glory of this b/c i know that one day she will start saying NO to me when i ask her to do something. It is amazing to me to see how she is getting more and more comfortable with us. She can be demanding but for the most part, she is a pretty happy baby. She continues to sleep well through the night and eats a lot. She is SO extroverted. She laughs and giggles a lot. The other day, she burped and then laughed at herself and tried to burp again. As an older mom (and maybe more wiser???HA!), i take the time to be "in the moment" with her more. I also don't sweat the small stuff as much so if she wants to put the speghetti sauce in her hair--so what, hair gets washed out eventually. Since i have had more time off from work, i have noticed and learned a lot about her especially at the playground. She entertains the idea of going down the slide, stands there, looks down the slide, ponders and then in the blink of an eye, shes off and down she goes. She likes to play the "you can't catch me" game. So darn cute to see her run and think that "ha, mommy will never catch me". Our favorite bonding times are when we take a bath together (except the washing her hair part) and rocking her to sleep for naps and at bedtime. At these tender moments is when i find myself thanking Malia's birth mom and wondering who she is and what her life must be like. I have always felt a sort of 3 way connection...me, Malia Miao Ling and birth mom since Malia came into our lives. She is a joy and i am ever so grateful to the birth mom for her. The Anna and Malia bonding thing has gotten better and it has had its ups and downs. From my own experience, i know that sibling relationships are not always as rosy as we'd like them to be. Michael and I do our best help teach Anna to adapt and learn to love Malia. Their relationship will grow to be what ever it is meant to be. In the meantime, we are just enjoying doing things as a family and have decided to spend one sunday a month doing something fun together and cancel going to catholic mass. With our busy schedules it is important to spend quality time with each other. The zoo pass has come in handy and today we are trying something new called letter boxing. It is a treasure hunt so to speak that involves coming up with a family team name and a stamp. Other big news is that Anna will be celebrating her first Holy Communion on April 14. We wish our family could be here for this. We plan on having some friends over to eat some bread that Anna and I will make together on the morning of this very important catholic sacrament. Other than that and that our family is finally cold free (except for Michaels allergies)we find ourselves grateful for each moment of our lives, the jobs we have and the love that we have for each other and our friends and family.
Peace and Love
Theresa
Yesterday, 1/6/07 was our 6 month post placement study with our social worker Cindi Rose. She came to our house to observe/evaluate the new enviroment that Malia is now in. I must admit that i was a bit nervous because i didn't know exactly what the Cindi was evaluating but i figure --ah heck it will be ok. It was just that---ALL OK and i think the report will show that we have blended nicely as a family. Malia is attached to her new family and very happy so this is what is most important. We meet her needs and love on her all the time and it showed as we were being observed by Cindi. There really probably would have been no need for this 6 mo report but it is what China wants so what China wants, China gets. They also want a 1 yr post placement study as well. What i have realized is that we are falling more and more in love with Malia with each passing day. She is fun and adds a real positive energy into our family. We each love playing with her and teaching her new things. We try to be patient when she screams for something. We have accepted that her screaming is just part of her personality. She is determined and very driven and knows what she wants and she will scream about it. She can say woof-woof, please (pease), thank you (tu tu), apple, bye bye, baby, daddy, up. She knows where her nose and tummy are, knows up from down. It is really fun to see what she will learn next. She is like a rose opening up into full bloom. Hmmmm, that sounds like a hallmark card.
Theresa
Malia is officially 17 months old now as of yesterday 12/22/06. It is amazing to me to see how she has changed as i look at some of her earlier pictures. She has grown, changed and adapted so well. Some of her developmental changes are that she runs now and is saying "peese" for please and "tu tu" for thank you. I am glad that she is getting the manners thing down. :) She will say "ma ma" but only when i am not around per what others tell me. She has been to 3--yes 3 different doctors due only to insurance reasons (we switched to Michael's health coverage) and Malia has gotten a very healthy check up each time. The 3rd and final doctor --Dr. Crago said that she is right on target developementally for a chinese adoptee. I was thrilled to hear these words. This is Malia's first christmas and just recently on 12/20/06 she learned what snow was all about. Yep, 5 inches! Malia's grandparents --mom and dad Hardesty came out for Malia's baptism on 11/19/06 and got to meet and love Malia. We then did a suprize visit to Ky for Thanksgiving and to celebrate mom and dad Hardesty's 50th wedding anniversary. They were in shock to see us after just seeing us one week earlier. Everyone in the Hardesty crew got to meet and love Malia. She has so many aunties, uncles and cousins. This will be Malia's first christmas. She is not sure what to think about all the hoopla but she will love opening up her presents. After the new year starting in Jan. 07' Malia will have a bit more time with me as my position is being cut to PART TIME at my request. I will be working 63 hours per pay period as opposed to 80 hours. This gives me more time to be a stay at home mommy and get to know Malia even more. This will be the first time since 1985 that i have worked anything less than full time.!!! Since this is my 2nd and last child i want to take advantage of the opportunity to go part time and spend more time with my kids which is very important to me. My two girls deserve it cuz i love em so much!!! More updates in 2 or 3 months.
Merry Christmas to all!
Theresa
Theresa
Theresa
Wanted to finally sit down and journal the lastest goings on with Malia. As you can imagine, i have been quite the busy mom. Life has been a whirlwind to say the least. Things are falling into place now and i think Malia is finally not feeling that she is in the land of the lost. She is doing quite well in my humble opinion for as much as she has been through. No chinese faces! No chinese language! What is this mac and cheeze stuff?.... and where is my foster family whom i have known since 8/2/05? It has got to be overwhelming for her. One day about 2 weeks ago, i noticed that she was extremely fussy. I had not seen her that fussy before. I felt as if she was telling be to "take me back please", "take me back now!" I am told that there is a "grieving cry" that only an adoptive mom knows. Hmmmm...lots of cries and not sure what the "grieving cry" is yet. I am getting to know her little by little each day. One day last week in the morning when i got her from her crib in the morning, i changed her and we exchanged a giggle. It was not an ordinary giggle. It was a laugh/giggle that she and i both shared together. She did something that she and I both thought was funny and we laughed. It was the first time that i felt that we were "one" as mom and daughter. It was a great feeling. Many times i have looked at her and thought --"gee, i must have given birth to her because she is SO mine!" and then at other times i look at her playing in the living room and think.." who is this stranger in my house!" It is very odd at times but mostly it is great. My attention is always focused on her (and Anna) which helps me to not think so darn much about myself and my little problems. I love when Malia and Anna entertain each other. Anna has a distinct way of making Malia laugh. It is so funny and i love it. When Malia laughs, she crinkles up her nose and her eyes almost totally close. The cutest thing. She has a huge curiosity for things and when she sees something across the room that she wants, nothing will stop her and she WIll get that something she sees across the room. She is determined and i believe she will be a very smart, alert and focused child. She is not strong willed but when she wants something she really lets us know about it. It is like she gets frustrated if she can't get it. We have already set boundries with her. I feel as if i don't want to "feel sorry for her" because of what she has been thru so when she reaches up and pulls my cheek off with her little sharp nails, i have to firmly say "NO", "Lets be gentle", "that hurts mommy". I noticed that when i do this, she just sorta looks at me as if she is processing what i am saying. Anna and Malia are still trying to figure each other out i think. Anna gets bored with playing blocks with her after about 5 minutes but that is ok. I am not worried about this. One of my main goals is to make for darn sure that Anna does not feel neglected. We love Anna and she knows this. She knows that Malia will not take ALL of our love from her. This helps her i believe. Anna is in 3rd grade now. She is a bit overwhelmed (as i am) at the ammount of homework. That is ok tho in my book b/c this sets up good study habits. I am trying to get Anna to understand what the word "scholarship" means. I just keep repeating the word over and over again. I think she gets it. She gets to have a mommy/daugher weekend at one of the local hotels that has a swimming pool at christmas time if she does well now thru to the x mas break.
I had better go make her school lunch. Being a stay at home mom is great (minus the housework). Lots more time to give loving detail to things i never had time for. What a concept!
More journal entries to follow...when time permits.
Theresa
It was so hot in Hubei that we mostly stayed in the hotel which was fine as it gave us time to be together as a family. We did not go on many tours but did manage to go to the history museum in Wuhan which was great...mostly cuz it was air conditioned. We learned that Malia comes from a very musically oriented province. There is a lot of history in Hubei and my plan is to put this into her life journey book for her reference later.
We hope you enjoy the albums from the second leg of our journey.
Peace and God Bless
Theresa
For those following our journey, my apologies for not having any new updates. As you can imagine i have been quite the busy mom since our return from China. We have been home now for 2 weeks and we are all back on New Mexico time thankfully! Our trip to China was an experience that we as a family will NEVER forget. The memory will live in our hearts forever. It was truely amazing to spend time as a family, have a MUCH needed vacation...in a foreign country no less... and of course to get our much beloved Malia Miao Ling. Our journey started when we left on 7/4/06 and arrived in Beijing. The flight was great, plenty of leg room with bulkhead seats. Flight attendants and many others in China thought Michael was Chinese so his memorized phrase " I am an American and i don't speak Chinese, sorry" REALLY came in handy. When we arrived in the airport, we were met by our CCAI rep Jill. As i sat on the bus i was in awe of just where i was...gee whiz, we are not in New Mexico anymore. WOW i say. Pretty incredible. Lots of green and very hot. Jill was talking about many things and i was taking bits of pieces of what she was saying in as i was just staring out the window like a little kid. Jill was giving us a heads up about what to do and what not to do..ie.. learn to look for counterfit money, don't drink water from the faucet..only bottled water....watch for "picker pockets", no need to tip at restaurants and be sure to watch out for crazy drivers. They really do drive on the sidewalks! We spent 4 days in Beijing touring around and trying to stay up all day so we could sleep good at night. We toured and saw Tianamen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall and took a rick shaw ride throught some narrow streets called Hutongs. T Square is just the biggest thing. Huge. Like the size of 7 or 8 football fields. Just incredible. Also, just like you see on the news or in magazines, a huge pic of chairman Mao. The Great Wall was....how shall i say...pretty great!! It was a bit rainy and misty but still an incredible experience. All the steps are uneven and it was a difficult climb. Michael and Anna and some others took the hike up to the second tower. They really enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching them! The Forbidden City has SO much history and it is very big too. Frequently, Jill would take us all out for Chinese lunch (real chinese lunch!). Food was really good but many days later we realized that the food is too oily and spicy for our families gut. Living in Hawaii for as long as i did really helped me to not be a picky eater. Anna was adventurous too. One night before we left Beijing, we went with a couple in our group (who knew how to speak Chinese as they were Chinese themselves) to a great local restaurant to eat Peking duck. This is one of Beijing's specialties so we went with them and had a great time. They would cut the duck right at your table. The Chinese believe in eating many parts of animals so it was not unusual for them to bring out a platter of duck heart and duck lungs etc. Anna tried it and i was shocked. She said it tasted like beef. Go for it Anna!! The meal was finished off with none other than duck soup. Also while in Beijing, we checked out what is called the night markets. It was a few blocks from our hotel and about 10 of us went just to see what this was all about. Hmmm, well, if the smell didn't knock you over, the sight of the insects and misc other creatures on a stick would. These are what you are seeing in some of the pics that Michael took. I think some of us in our group had a hard time eating anything after that. We left for Wuhan, Hubei to get Malia on 7/9. Gotcha day is to follow on 7/10. I will post another journal entry on our 2nd of 3 legs of our journey. Hope you like the pics.
Theresa
Miao Ling seems very quiet and curious baby. She is very quiet (so far). Some of the other babies were screaming their head off.
It was such a dream like moment. All these babies and all these couples. Then off on the bus ... back to our hotel, The Shangri La Hotel.
Wish I had access to a scanner to show you our new addition.
It is currently 1:36 p.m. China Time.
Take care everyone.
Just a quick note to say that we are in Beijing. Long flight but we all did fine. Managed to get about 6 hours sleep so we are good. Anna slept well with some Benedryll --sleep real good! Arrived in Beijing at 5 am!! Gonna try to stay up all day to get on China time. Gonna go to the zoo with our group later today.
We are safe and healthy and enjoying it very much!
Theresa
Theresa
Theresa
bye for now!
Theresa
I had a wonderful time last night because my circle of soccer mom friends had a girls night out/dinner/baby shower for me. We went to Bucca de Bepo in Albuquerque. Good food, good conversation and really cute gifts. Girls clothes are always the cutest. My friend Heather organized it and i am just blessed to have a friend like her. My friends Ellen Stotzer, Barb Velasco, Christine Chavez, Courtney Kellog, Lisa Hemminger and Heather were there to celebrate the wonderful gift of a child that i will soon get to hold. It was a celebration in honor of Malia.
Have a blessed day!
Theresa
Theresa
Thanks to all of you for letting us share our joy with you!
Theresa
As frantic as i was today, i figured i had better start getting organized with packing. I am kinda sorta half way packed. Things are moving fast now. Before i know it, we will be heading to the airport!
Theresa
Thank you God! ALL credit goes to our most wonderful awesome God! More photos are due to arrive either tomarrow or in 3 weeks.
We have FINALLY BEEN MATCHED!!!!!!!!!! Michael and Anna and I are extremely happy and glad that "the wait" is FINALLY OVER!!!!!!!!! Just can't begin to explain how darn excited we are. I came home from work today to check our agencies website like i always do. Usually, there is no new news but not today :):)----to my great suprize, there was "breaking news" that they (chinese gov't) have matched families with LID's from 6/6/05 thru 6/15/05. THATS US!!!! We are LID 6/9/05. Man oh man it took forever. I feel like i just gave birth. Per the agency "breaking news", they expect to get the packet with all the babies photos, health records etc at the end of this week. As soon as they go thru all the pics etc to make sure no one was left out, then they call us with the most wonderful news about her. Her name, birth date, chinese name, how healthy she is, what orphanage or foster family, what province etc. It will be a most wonderful phone call. Anna is very excited and Michael is feeling a wide range of emotions. We have already called our families in Hawaii, Kentucky and California and told them the good news. We are so happy to be able to share our news with you as we know you are excited as we are. More news is forthcoming so stay tuned!
Theresa
Have a great day!
Theresa
With each day Michael and I grow a bit more excited (and nervous) about our soon to be bigger family. In the adoption process as well as with any pregnancy, there are a wide range of emotions. Michael and I have felt them all...and still continue to do so. I look forward to the day when things are settled down, we are all adjusted to the change and things are routine again. Then i can look back and say "Wow, we did it". It has taken a large ammount of courage and faith (and money which requires more faith :) to do what we are doing. It is not easy. I am so grateful to our many friends and family who have been excited for us and have encouraged and prayed for us. It is still very surreal and i still can't even begin to imagine what an impact we will have on her life as well as what an impact she will have on ours! Maybe i will understand that when get to hold her for the first time. God is watching out for her..this i know. She is loved and will be loved more by us. This is what makes me happy. I have been busy making packing lists and writing things down that we need to do before we leave. I am amazed at how much stuff there is to do before we go.
Thats it for now.
T
We DID NOT get matched with this last group of matches. Our agency said that the Chinese gov't (Chinese Center for Adoption affairs) is matching families with Log in dates from 5/31/05 thru the first week of June and maybe later dates in June. I was really hoping/thinking that we would be in this group. I found out today that our agencies website had updated with the new match news and the news was that CCAA has matched familes with log in dates from 5/31/05 thru 6/6/05..WE OF COURSE ARE LOG IN DATE OF 6/9/05!! Wouldn't ya know. I am very very very sad. I really thought we'd be getting our girl soon and had even started the beginnings of packing! Now we will have to wait another month, more or less (i hope less). We will probably travel to China sometime in mid summer is my guess. The GOOD NEWS is that #1, now we know that we will FOR SURE be in the next group of matches, #2 Michael and I will really be able to reach our financial goal (without taking out a loan --Thank you God), #3 we can get our FBI fingerprints re-newed now without it interfering with travel dates. They expire 6/16/06 so plenty of time now to get that done. If anyone can think of any other reason (other than it being God's ultimate plan to get her when HE wants us to get her) PLEASE let me know. That is the news folks. Thanks for riding the "adoption roller coaster" with Michael and I. As always, thanks for your support.
Theresa
Done rambling,fingers crossed and prayers said.
Theresa
Gotta finish reading the newsletter now but when i know more i will be sure to share it with you. Thanks for checking in. Your supports means a lot to Michael and I.
Happy Easter!!
Theresa
Easter is around the corner and spring is in bloom which is a really great thing......oh, and my elbow is getting better too!
Theresa
Maybe my next post will tell all the news about our girl.
Theresa
My Dad says that all i need is a bandage around my head and a flute and i will be good to go! Michael has been great adjusting to my new limitation and helps me get my shoes tied and shirt on over this darn splint. I believe that Love is in the little things we do for each other even if it is cutting up my meat so that i don't have to. I love my Michael!!! Anna is doing great and the look of concern on her face about my arm was priceless. Now, she just knows to hug me on my good right side. I love my family and look forward to the new addition!!
Peace an God Bless!
Theresa
Our family wishes you and your family many, many blessings in the year 2006. This year will bring many blessings to our family..most importantly, our little girl. Still not sure of what to name her! We have recently rec'd news that Michael is getting a better and higher paying job with Intel. His first day is 1/9/06. We are so happy about this especially that it is DAY SHIFT hours. What more can one ask for? For those still wondering about when we will get our little girl, your guess is as good as ours. We are STILL waiting, waiting, and yes....waiting!!! In mid Jan of 05, i filled out the application which was our first document in the paperchase. When all is said and done and we have her in our arms, it will have been almost 1.5 years. We Yamasakis thank you for your continued support. Please continue to pray for peace in our world, in our families, in our hearts and for all orphans throughout the world.
Happy 2006!!
Incidentally, today 1/1/06 we are celebrating the New Year Japanese style which is tradional in Michaels culture. 1/29/06 starts the beginning of Chinese New Year which we intend to start celebrating once we have our girl. Derby day is when we get to celebrate Kentucky style. This is always the first Sat in May.
Blessings!!!
Theresa
Our agency website posted this past Wednesday that "in the forseeable future" the wait time is 9-10 months from LID (6/9/05) so we are looking at a March or April match with travel in May or June. I am trying to still reach my social worker regarding getting an updated homestudy. Also, i am planning on getting a "life book" for our girl. I may start that in January 2006. It will be a great project and i look forward to getting it started. Lots of info on the web about it. It will be like a scrap book but more detailed about her life journey. Have a good day everyone and more later. Happy Holidays!
Theresa
We just received a "pre-placement" packet via email from our adoption agency CCAI. Many pages to read through. It was exciting to read it. It was talking about how the Chinese gov't matches up families and how our agency CCAI puts us in travel groups. It was really good information. It was just great to know that this is one more step closer to getting our child. I realize that i have to call our social worker to ask about a few things but everything seems to be in order. All we need to do is assemble the crib and changing table and put it in her room. I just hope we travel and get back to the states before June as our finger prints expire in June 2006. We would have to go down to our local gov't office which was a real hassle when we did it originally. We would also have to pay $75 per person to get it re-done.
It will be an exciting year in 2006 as we will be a family of 4....well 6 if you include French Fry and Lickey. Yep, a family of 6!
God Bless
Theresa
I made a call to our agency in Colorado to get some facts about what the back log in China is all about. I was so glad to have talked to Andrea about the slow down with child matches. She told me that things have NOT slowed down like this for about 2 years now. For the past 2 years, it has been a consistent wait time (to get matched) of 6-7 months. She told me that the Chinese gov't does not give any details to them regarding why the slow down but they (our agency) will monitor the situation for the next two months to see if there is a trend. They are currently matching the last half of the March paper work to China families. They are only currently matching 2 weeks at a time when it WAS one month at a time. Andrea said that things could pick up and get faster after the first of the year but then she also said that it could continue to be slow. The bottom line is that we will get our little girl sometime between Jan and June of 2006 and it is too soon now to know exactly when. Quite honestly, this really bums Michael and I out b/c it is like being pregnant with no delivery date!!! I mean, really--geez!! Our federal FBI fingerprints expire on 6/10/06 and we may need to get re-fingerprinted. On a brigher note, it will give us more time to save more money for our little one and i will also earn more paid leave time by the time we leave for China. I will have been at X ray assoc for almost 1 year by the time we leave and i will have accrued about 1 mo paid leave. This is good. All in God perfect plan is the way we HAVE to look at it or else i will just go bonkers!! Thanks for your support and when match time grows closer, i will let you know. Also, please include our little one (Malia Mei) and all orphans in your prayers.
Theresa
Well, per the CCAI website we are finding out that the Chinese gov't is getting behind in the child matches. They should be matching up those parents who have had paperwork in China with April log in dates since it is currently the end of Oct. For them, it has been a 6 mo wait so far. They are working on the second half of March log in dates. What this means is that now our child match will be even later than normal.....like the end of Jan 2006. This is a real bummer as it makes the wait time EVEN HARDER than the normal HARDER wait time. Things however could change and they could get "their groove on" over there in China and get caught up so that we could have our baby girl info at the end of Dec/first week of Jan like i have been expecting it. This would mean travel date in late Feb/early March. Ah,patience,patience,patience.......ever so sweet patience........aarrrggghhhhh!!!!!
Theresa
It is almost mid October 05' and we are about 11 weeks away from finding out about our little girl. As each day passes, i get a little more excited mixed in with a lot of other feelings. Recently, my friend Jennie rec'd info about her baby girl--Hallie Joy. Her baby girl is healthy and was born on 10/15/04. Well Praise the Lord for that bit of news!!! I saw the picture of her and was quite excited for her. What a relief to finally know who your baby is!!! Michael and i figure that we will be flying to China sometime in Feb or early March. I figure that the hardest time will be the time from referral to the time we actually get to meet her face to face. That will be a killer i think. Ah heck, tho, we have waited so long anyway ---seems like forever--so what is another 6-8 weeks after referral. All in Gods time i figure. I have been a reading maniac about parenting/attachment/bonding issues. It is all very interesting to me. Mainly, what i am finding out is that a lot of a childs behavior (in an adopted child) is due to their feelings of loss and abandonment. Their little brains know what happened to them even when they are little little babies. More than anything, i think our baby will fit into our "already asian" family. It is my hope that she will feel like she really belongs to us!! Meanwhile, the wait continues and i have decided to spend as much time as possible with our one and only Anna as she will not get so much alone time with us later after we get back from China. My baby quilts are taking a back burner to the much too important "family time". Adios for now and more later!
Some neat and exciting things have been happening with our adoption process. Our agency (which we think is just the best!) knows that the "waiting" stage of the process can be the hardest. To keep us occupied they have sent us some DVD's. One is on travel training and one is on parenting/bonding and attachment. The travel training DVD has a panel of parents who have been there and done that with chinese adoption. They take turns telling us what to expect on our trip. For example....not to over pack. Don't bring a stroller (we can rent one there) and don't bring a car seat, there are doctors in the hotels if you need one,don't drink water unless it is boiled, take as many pics as possible so we can make a "life book" for our new girl etc. That plus a lot of great info for Michael and i to review. The other DVD has taught us about what to expect on "gotcha day". Our baby could attach to Michael and have a rage fit if i come near her or visa versa, she could also be listless and not react at all to being played with, she could cry with fits of rage for days etc. In other words, it is best for us to not have any great expectations of "gotcha day" being this warm and fussy moment. Our plan is to stay calm and remain patient and well....just love her!!! We will see how the "stay calm and remain patient" part goes tho :)
Some of you know from an email that i sent you what the travel interary is. For those of you who did not get my email, we found out that we fly from the states to Hong Kong and stay in Hong Kong for 2 days to get adjusted to the time change (12 or 15 hours ahead of us) then we fly to the capital of the province where our girl is, get our girl at about the first or second day there and stay there for about 5-7 days to bond with baby, then we fly to Guangzou to the US Embassy to get a visa for our new little one. Our agency will have already pre arranged this Visa appt. in Guangzou and the whole trip is based around this appt. We will be in Guangzou for 2-3 days at the end of the trip and then fly back to Hong Kong and then back to the states. Total trip will be 14-15 days. The average "wait" time for a baby girl with no known medical conditions (which we have requested) is 6-8 months from the time our paperwork reached China which was 6/9/05. So we could get a match with a pic in the mail as soon as the end of Dec. 05 to as late as mid Feb 06. We figure with the matches that other couples have been getting, that we will get matched at the end of Dec or the first 2 weeks of the new year and travel 6-8 weeks later. The Chinese gov't tells our agency when we can fly out to get our girl. We will be traveling in a group with aprox. 15-20 other couples. When the holidays roll around it will really be getting close. It will be SO exciting to see our new family member. You will be sure to see a pic of her via our webpage here....so stay tuned.
Blessings!
Theresa
Wanted to touch base again to let you know how things are moving along with the adoption. I am very excited to say that things are moving along for us "financially" for the adoption. Michael and i have managed to save the total ammount of the orphanage fee which is $3000.00. We finally hit this one big major goal and i am just very thrilled to let you know about it. The other REALLY BIG news is that someone sent us a check in the mail for $1000.00!!!!! Michael and i about fell to our knees in gratitude for this. We never expected anything like this.
More quilts to make and sell and more money to save but when we see our daughter i know that all the sacrifices and the generosity of others will be SO worth it!
Theresa
Well, now that we are in the waiting stage i thought i'd post here to keep things up to date. We are in the process of painting her room. It is SO cute. It is pastel yellow on the bottom half and white on the top half. Just above the yellow, we (actually Michael) is stenciling some tulips, bumble bees, butterflies and dragonflies. We plan on putting chair back railing just beneath the flowers. Yesterday, a friend of mine let us have her crib, changing table and high chair. Whew, what a relief to get those items! I of course paid her for her generosity. I figure that i just need to get about 3000+ diapers and we are good to go. I must admit that it is an odd feeling to try to bond with a baby that i can't feel kicking. The feeling of love is there but i can't put a face to it which is just odd. I imagine what she will look like and what her personality is like. Fortunately, i am a very busy working mom and wife so i don't have time to sit and think too much about it. She will be such a gift. I keep thinking of that saying "Life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what your gonna get". I am making the time (what little of it i have) to read about adoption and what it is like for my future baby to be in an orphanage. It has helped me to understand what to expect later when she has questions relating to her identity. The really good thing is that being married to Michael will help make her feel intergrated into a multicultured family. We eat asian food although we will have to look more closely at those chinese recipes. The bottom line here is that i feel like i am expecting and my due date will be the day i hold her in my arms. It is just so exciting. Well, at this point i feel like crying because i know i will cry when i hold her for the first time. Where are the tissues?
Theresa
We here in the Yamasaki household have been VERY excited that our dossier finally made it to China!! The Chinese gov't rec'd it in mid May. Well-----BIG NEWS HERE-----
we finally got word that we have a log in date (LID) of June 9th!! This is GREAT news because this is when the count down begins to our girl. Untill further notice, her name is Malia Mei. This name could change to Maddie so please stay tuned :)
According to the newsletter that our agency produces every other month, the current wait time from LID for children with no known medical conditions is 6-8 months. We are told to count the next month as month # one....so we are looking at a match around December 05' or Jan 06' with travel date (8 wks later) of Feb or Mar of 06'. This will give us a lot of time for us to reach the huge finacial goal that awaits us before the journey ends. It is so exciting (especially for me) to think that i will get to be a mom again and that we WILL get a baby at the end of this journey. We are so very thankful that God has provided us with jobs so we can meet the challenge, for my quilt sales and for good friends and family who have helped us. We have been so blessed that the adoption process has run as smoothly as it has. We continue to pray for future daughter and that the journey continues to run as smoothly as it has. We ask for your prayers too. As always, we thank you for your support! Adios for now
It is Memorial Day weekend and lots of news to share here.
First of all, the BIGGEST NEWS is that our dossier has been mailed to China. To think that there is a little girl in a crib over there waiting for us as much as we are waiting for her is just amazing. To think that God has her all picked out for us! Just unbelievable to say the least!!! There was much excitement here in the Yamasaki household when i rec'd the email from our agency that our dossier was mailed to China on 5/25/05. China should recieve it soon probably no later thatn 6/1/05.
Next step is that they log our dossier into their computer. Once it is logged in then the official count down to our girl begins!! It is time now to think about doing some rearranging here at our house. Our fourth bedroom will be hers. Hmmm ---how to decorate/welcome her into our home? We need to slowly get ready for her arrival which is exciting.
When we have a log in date, i will post again here. Thanks for visiting!! Have a great weekend.
HEAR YE, HEAR YE, ATTENTION ALL, HEAR YE, HEAR YE
THE PAPER CHASE IS OVER. YES, COMPLETED, DONE, FINITO, PAU
***********ADIOS TO THE PAPERWORK!!!*********************
Happy to announce that great bit of news i must say! We rec'd our original dossier documents from the Chinese consulate in LA on 4/24/05. It took 2 weeks and 1 day from the day they rec'd it (seemed like forever)! Today, 5/2/05 i mailed the original dossier documents, copy of dossier, 3 couple photos, 8 family group photos, 2 passport photo page each of Michael and I, 3 passport photo pics each of Michael and I and appropriate fees (a big chunk of a fee at that!)to our agency in Colorado. I feel a huge relief --oh man, i am so happy and bonded more than ever now to our soon to "gotcha day" baby. We figure "gotcha day" will be soon after the beginning of the new year. I figure if Michael and I have not learned patience by now, then we never will. All in Gods most well intended time and Michael and i can wait for what God has in store for us.
What is next? Well, it will take our agency 10-15 days to "critically review" everything to make sure all is in order. Then it goes to translation and then to China. Once in China, it sits on a desk until the LID or LOG IN DATE. This could take 2 weeks after it gets to that desk. Once it is logged in to the computer the wait begins. It is a 6-8 mo wait to get a match/referral/pic in the mail. We travel 6-8 weeks after the match.
After i relax with a huge glass-o-wine, i will have to start making more quilts as a huge chunk of money will be needed when we travel over to get our little babe. This means that Michael and i have to cut corners even more so than ever. Frugal is my middle name anyway so this will be no big adjustment at all. Gotta save, save, save. I also plan on filling out grant applications just to see what we can get. Never know unless we try.
I hope you all are doing well and are as excited as we to be on this journey. I can't wait to one day show you a picture of our little girl. More than anything, i have learned that we have such a wonderful loving God. He loves each and everyone of us so much. He knows every detail of our lives---our struggles and our joys. He has blessed us on our adoption journey. His presence has been there from the beginning. He has gently been there through all the hoops!
I will post again when we have our "log in date".
Adios, cheers and most of all God Bless!!
Here is what has happened recently:
1. On Friday 4/9/05 i went to the post office to pick up the infamous and very coveted I171-H form! Whew, what a relief to get that! I keep the original and take it with me to China. This form tells the Chinese gov't that the United States says it is OK to adopt one of their children.
With that important document in hand i almost started crying again at the post office. One more step closer to her i'd say.
2. We celebrated the big event and then i had to get busy with the next hoop to jump through. I went to Kinkos and made copies of everything. I felt like the copy queen of Kinkos. It was really pretty overwhelming to keep it all straight. I had to make 3 piles of documents. One original document pile and 2 piles of copies of originals.
3. Then on Monday 4/11/05, i took the original pile with me to Santa Fe, NM to the Sec of the State of NM to certify everything. I was amazed that i could even find the building. It was just North of the round house in a bldg called Capital North. I found parking and everything. Things are going good--well--- There was only a small glitch with 2 of my documents. The notary signed 2 documents with his first initial and his last name when all the other documents had his full name. She was gracious enough to certify them anyway as long as i faxed her the revised originals. She must have thought i was real strange b/c i asked her to repeat it to me twice to make sure i understood her. Hey, what can i say, this stuff can make anyone go just crazy as can be.
4. I flew back home ( a one hour drive-but the strong winds got me home in about 40 min) and went to get a money order for my next hoop to jump.
5. I then went to the post office to get a return express mail envelope then hot tailed it down to kinkos to ----yep--make more copies, fax the revised signature documents to Santa Fe and then i checked, double checked and checked again to make sure all was in order before i fed ex'd everything to the Chinese embassy in LA. Should get there by 10:30 am tomarrow morning 4/12.
****************WHEW WHAT A DAY!!!********************
This is what is left to do:
1. Wait for documents to come back from LA, then --yep, make a copy of what they added to my documents. Staple that copy to my copy that i have here at home.
2. Mail original documents and a copy of documents, 3 passport photos of Michael and I, 3 couple photos, 8 family photos and copy of passport photo page , the agency fee ($2,300) and the CCAA (chinese gov't) fee of $565 in a personal check ----TO OUR AGENCY!!! Then go out and have a BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes it makes me crazy !! I WANT A BEER RIGHT NOW!!!!!
ok, i am pooped so more later ok--and again, thanks for checking in....sure do appreciate it.
What a wonderful, joyous day to celebrate the Lords love for all of us. Next Easter, we will be going to mass as a family of 4 instead of a family of 3. Each day that passes is one day closer to bringing her home.
Here is the latest and greatest:
We got our fingerprints done on 3/19. No hassles this time. In and out in 20 min.
We revised our homestudy and sent it back to Cindi our social worker.
Here is whats pending:
Our revised homestudy to arrive in the mail
The I171 form to arrive in the mail
Once we recieve the 2 documents above, i be taking a trip to Santa Fe to get all documents certified. Once they are certified i then send all the documents along with family/couple pics up to our agency. Upon reciept of documents, it goes to critical review then to translation....THEN TO CHINA!! What a day that will be.
In a nutshell, that is about it. I have been busy as a bee
with quilt orders and our saving acct keeps growing which is a sure sign from above that all is meant to be.
****************HAPPY EASTER TO ALL************************
We are almost at the end of the road with the paperchase.
Here is whats been done recently:
1. We rec'd my birth certificate from Chinese embassy in Washington DC (everything is written in Chinese --totally amazing--hope my name is on there somewhere :)
2. We rec'd our marriage lic from the sec of state of Hawaii
3. Michael and i both got our physicals and more importantly PASSED our physicals!!!
4. We finished our home study visits.
Here is what is pending:
1. Our fingerprints (will do on 3/19)--it takes 5 days for our fingerprints to clear through the FBI but then who is counting the days :)
2. Our finished/agency approved and social worker revised
homestudy report.
3. Send copy of Michaels passport and revised copy of homestudy report into local immigration office
4. Wait for infamous I171 form (this happens once the immigration office reviews the fingerprints, passport copy and homestudy report. Then the government gives us a thumbs up approval that we can adopt a foreign born child and we get the I171)
5. Upon recieving the I171, take trip up to the capital of NM in Santa Fe to visit with NM Sec of State to get her stamps of approval.
5. Then mail everything ($20 per document!!!) to the Los Angelos Chinese consulate for their stamps of approval.
6. Then mail everything to our Agency (CCAI) for critical review and then into translation to chinese language.
************THEN*****************EVERYTHING TO CHINA WHICH MEANS DOSSIER TO CHINA OR DTC. Once it is DTC, the really important step is the LID or log in date. Once it is logged into their computer, the 6-7 month wait begins---but hey, the PAPER WORK IS DONE so nothing wrong with waiting if you ask me. Time to learn as much as possible about parenting an adopted child and get her room ready!!
We hope that you are as excited about this journey as we are. The good thing is that our loving God has provided a means for us to make this happen financially. Family and friends have dug into their pockets and sent us checks in the mail. Michael and I have just been speechless about the generosity of those close to us...and strangers that have helped us. My quilt orders have been coming in at a rate that i can actually do them which is a blessing. I have made almost $1000. I will post again with more updates. Thanks for visiting and for your support! God Bless!!!
I was bummed to find out that our application was incomplete and all they needed was our social security numbers. Well,duh, why didn't they put that on the form if they needed it? Hmmm--go figure. We (of course) put our ss#'s on there and popped it in the mail the next day.
********* Here are a list of some recent updates:*********
1. We rec'd Michaels passport. Hooray!
2. We had our homestudy visit on 2/16/05
3. Theresa rec'd her birth certificate back from Washington D.C. (signed by Condelezza Rice--yes, she really signed it --Michael thinks a machine signed it)
4. Both or our job verification letters are signed and notarized.
5. Financial statement done---thanks to Michael!!
6. Theresa mailed her birth certificate off to Chinese embassy in Wash D.C. --should get there on 2/25.
************Here is what we are waiting on***************
1. Our marriage lic from Hawaii.
2. Theresa's birth cert from chinese embassy
3. Finish homestudy --we have individual interviews on
2/28.
4. Both of our physicals--to be done on 2/28.
5. Make appt with travel clinic for shots needed for
trip to China.
6. Fingerprint appt.
On a side note, more quilt orders have been coming in. It just a pure miracle that things are working out so well. I am so thrilled and very blessed to have a way to earn some extra money and to have good hearted people that are willing to help me in our effort. I rec'd a call from someone (Shannon) who is sending me a check in the mail! She and many others are very kind hearted and just wonderful people. Norma is always supporting me when i see her at Wal-Mart. She has the biggest heart ever. Lee knitted Anna a sweater and she wants me to make her a quilt. I have met some truely wonderful people since the journey started. We are almost done with the paperchasing
and more will be posted later when things start coming together more.
Homestudy visit sch'd for 2/16/05
Fingerprint appointment still pending
Finished biographies and mailed to social worker on 2/4/05
5 letters of reference mailed to friends and family (Cindi should be getting them)
Rio Rancho Police report sent to us in mail end of Jan. 05
Our marriage lic. is being notarized/certified as of 2/2/05.
Sent ltr of request to Hawaii --will take approx 3 weeks for this to get back to us.
Theresa's birth cert to KY sec of state 2/1/05 for certification.....then to Washinton DC for certification again ...then to Chinse embassy (somewhere) for authenication. Gotta do more reading to find out where my little birth cert goes for authenication.
Theresa's passport rec'd end of Jan. 05
(Still waiting on Michaels)
Theresa and Michaels physicals appt pending 2/28/05
Licky (our wonderful dog) shots updated pending 2/12/05
Anna (our wonderful daughter) shots and physical updated at end of Jan. 05
State police and child youth and family dept background check mailed in early Jan. 05 (Cindi should have by now)
Michael and Theresa job verification letters pending.
Michael ad Theresa financial statement pending.
2004 tax returns pending
Photos (to be sent to China later) are currently being taken.
Day trip up to Santa Fe to NM sec of state pending when there is a stack of the above papers to take to be certified.
Then.....to Chinese Embassy in Los Angelos for authentication
Then......to CCAI -our agency for approval and then to
CHINA
Then .....wait wait wait for child match--picture in the mail :):) This will be my delivery day and i will not go to work this day. I will be at home all day just staring at her picture!!!
In a nutshell, this is where we are. Things are working out really nicely and i feel at peace about all of it.
Theresa
It amazes me what one has to do. Many-o-hoops to jump through. What is really great is i am getting more and more quilt orders. The money from this is covering money orders and mailing fees. It is incredible how it really adds up but ironically, it is the least worrisome thing we are dealing with. I am just so focused on the hoops that i am not even thinking about hardly anything else. I am truely blessed that things are working out so well. We have had some friends donate money to our fund and i am just overwhelmed by our friends generosity. We are so thankful for the support we are getting. For example, when i opened the envelope for our local police reports, there was a note attached from the gal who had typed up the report wishing us well on our adoption journey and that they had done the same thing and how exciting it was for them--best thing they ever did. She was so kind and helpful. The bank guy at Bank of Alb. is very kind to us and the gal at UPS today said that she read the article that was in the paper about our adoption and was very happy for us. This is a truely amazing journey!
Hmmmm.....now what could i say to that. Not much. Gotta remember to take things one day at a time and the day WILL come....the GOTCHA DAY that is. Our dossier packet-o-paperwork is due in the mail anyday now and we have already printed some things from the computer from our agency to help guide us along. The story of our adoption journey and my quilt making blitz made it into the Rio Rancho Observer and it made the front page!!! Quilt orders are coming in and some kind friends in Rio Rancho have called offering support which is just fantastic. I was happy that the managing editor Betta Ferrendelli did such a wonderful job on the story! Many thanks to her. Great job Betta!
We now await an "invitation" to get fingerprinted and then who knows what is next. My job now is to make more room on our "adoption table" in the back office of our house for more paperwork and try to find a way to not get buried in it :) More adoption news to come.
We hope that tis year will be as exciting and full of blessings as we believe it will be for us. Tomarrow, 1/3/05 we put the application in the mail to our agency. It took us awhile to get that filled out. Had to get doctors letters and had to research our files for specific dates etc. It is a huge leap of faith for us to get this started. We will be glad to get going on this journey. As things move along i will probably be posting more often. I will be busy trying to earn extra funds and am on a hunt already for the first craft fair of 2005! As always, sent your quilt requests my way:) As for now, have a wonderful day and more to come later!
Well the latest news is that Michael and I have recently sent out many newsletters telling all family and friends about family news and our REALLY BIG NEWS that we are ADOPTING! It was our way of reaching out to all to share the good news and to ask for support. It really helps to have support whether it be prayer support or just to say "Hey, congratulations, how wonderful!". My mom and Dad, Ann and Greg Hardesty and my brothers Joe and Greg Hardesty
have been wonderful! They are helping to get the word out about my baby quilts that i am selling to earn extra money to help cover the expense of the adoption. My quilts sell for $25 or $30 with baby's name on it. If you are interested in purchasing a baby quilt, please contact me at my email address Theresa7895@hotmail.com. I can send you a picture of the ones i have made. The proceeds from my quilt sales goes into our Yamasaki Adoption Fund. I will post my quilt sale earnings as soon as i can tabulate it. So far i have made approx $400. With our monthly savings and quilt sale money,..and many prayers, we are hopeful that we can meet the expense of this adoption. Many people do not know the expense of an adoption. If you'd like to learn about the cost of an adoption and other information about the process that we will be involved in, please visit our adoption agency link below. It is a wonderful agency and they are located just north of us in Colorado--just south of Denver. They are a husband and wife team, Chinese themselves and have an excellent reputation. Their focus is the for the well being of these chinese orphans. They have set up charitable contribution funds that go to improvement of the care and conditions of the orphanages in China. They even have set up a school for chinese adopted children so that the chinese culture can be taugh and learned which i find to be very important. On a side note, i just have to say that it is a real faith builder to reach out and ask for support and to keep walking the walk of adoption. Ask anyone that you know who has adopted. It can be so easy to just give up as the path of adoption is not an easy one. Some of you may be visiting our site because someone passed our webpage address to you. I can thank my brother Joe for that. He sent out an email telling many people about our story in the hopes that it would be forwarded to others who would forward it to others and on and on. Well, my husband Michael and I thank you for visiting and we welcome your support too. If by some chance you feel it in your heart to do a random act of kindness, you can do so by purchasing a baby quilt from me or simply donate to our adoption fund at: Bank of Albuquerue, PO box 26148, Albuquerque, NM 87125
acct # (107006606 5080003139) Meanwhile, we are still trying to finish the 15 page initial application --lots of questions and its just the beginning. We wish you Happy Holidays!
Well....yesterdays craft fair was a success. I made $283.63!! Woohoo!! Every penny goes into our Adoption Fund. Thank the GOOD LORD for giving me strength, energy,
patience and perserverence to keep on sewing and preparing for this. Only through his grace did i find the time to prepare for this. God is so good! I also want to say a special thank you to my husband Michael. He has been and still is understanding and patient with me because a lot of my time has been spent sitting at the sewing machine for the last month or two. I also want to thank my friends Natasha James, Ellen Stotzer, Janet Robertson, Heather Himmelberger and Anne Jones for coming to visit and supporting me. Anne Jones makes the best toffee bars. They were the best sellers along with the apple and pecan pies that Lance Himmelberger helped me make. The bracelets sold and Addie Himmelberger gets a pat on the back for making those for me. Addie you are great! Without each of you it would have not been the success that it was. Michael and i count our blessings and we are especially grateful that you are in our lives.
..........so, now that i can take a breath, Michael and i will fill out the application and pop it in the mail soon.
More later on that. To all our friends and family, have a
very THANKFUL THANKSGIVING!!!!
I have added a link if you'd care to check it out. It is the adoption agency that we have carefully chosen to get our little one. Pls feel free to explore this site.
Have a good "post election" day :):)
Theresa
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