Changes in plans

So life throws us curve balls sometimes.  This is how last evening and today went. Since we planned to leave really early this morning for Chicago to visit our foreign student friend, Jack, we really hit the online classes HARD to get them hammered out before we left.  We had been studying about Chinese culture for probably four hours, when I decided to order a pizza.  It seemed to be taking a long time for it to arrive, when about 10:30 pm my cell phone rang.  I remarked to Ethan, "Good grief!  We aren't even a mile from the place and they got lost?"  because I expected it to be the pizza delivery person.  I answered my phone to hear a man with a very strong Chinese accent ask, "May I speak to Randi Lanz, please?"  Right then the doorbell rang, and Ethan and Tikvah ran off to get the pizza, leaving me with my mouth hanging open and wondering what had happened to Abigail to cause the Chinese authorities to call my cell phone instead of the agency! 

Yeah, it was Jack!  I hadn't heard his voice since Christmas of 2009, and just didn't recognize it.  He got in to New York from China to find that his flight to Chicago was cancelled.   He was on standby with no idea when he would get a flight.

This gave us a work day.  Our goal is to have all of our paperwork and documents in by the end of next week, so we really needed the day.  We were able to take our final test for what I call the "Monster Class."  This class was 19 sessions, each about an hour long, with one to three homework assignments per session.  Wow.  It was a hard one.  So we are DONE with our educational requirements!  The local agency required 40 credit hours (don't confuse that with actual hours, it took lots more!) and the placing agency required certain Hague Convention classes.  We are so, so happy to be through them.

Ethan spent the morning measuring rooms and learning a software to print out a diagram of our floor plan.  We have to post fire escape routes in each bedroom and on each level of the house before we get our fire safety inspection.  No, it still isn't done.

I spent the day cleaning, cleaning then cleaning some more.  We are required to take a photo of each room in the house, and of course I didn't want any photographic evidence that my house wasn't in order!  I cheated in one room  - our bedroom - where I hid two baskets of laundry waiting to be folded. Hey, I can't do EVERYTHING!   The rest is clean.  I'm pretty sure it isn't healthy to have a house this clean. (smile)

I got photos of every room upstairs, main floor and basement with the exception of Tikvah's room.  It isn't too bad, but not photo ready.  She has been happily playing with several neighborhood girls and then went next door to a birthday party.  I figure tomorrow will be soon enough on her room.

Ethan has gone to Lafayette to pick up James.  He is due back at Cedarville University by 8AM Monday morning, and we need to do things with him tomorrow to help him get ready.

And Jack?  Well, he got to Chicago but too late for us to visit today.  We are hoping to get away one day this next week.  It would really stink for him to be this close and not get to see him.  If you are wondering, Jack isn't his Chinese name.  We never could say his Chinese name, nor could anyone at Purdue apparently.  He told us to just call him Jack!

I feel like I was given a treasure today!

I joined a Yahoo group called "Shenzhen Kids" which is limited to people who have adopted from or are in the process of adopting from the orphanage district where Abigail lives.  I have been able to find out so much about where she is and what her life is probably like.  For instance, this particular orphanage seems to be one of the good ones.  The children are well cared for, clean, have toys, etc.  In fact, the orphanage is sponsored by WALMART, so they have the goods, like Mickey Mouse sheets and blankets and Hello Kitty on their head boards!  LOL!  I was super happy to see that (unlike so many that we've been told about) this orphanage is a colorful place.  It looks much like preschools in the states with animal cartoons, etc.

Abigail has been attending an English speaking preschool and actually understands English!  Fantastic!  We were able to find two more videos of her on the agency website of a new online friend.  In it she shows us that she DOES actually have the ability to speak.  We heard her singing - in English.  Granted, it isn't super clear speech, but is better than we were led to believe.  She loves to dance, and has the biggest, most beautiful smile!  At this point I am not allowed to post any photos online.  You'll have to trust me on this assessment, or stop by and I'll be happy to show you the pictures.

A mom from Pennsylvania who adopted her little girl in May of this year sent me a photo and asked if the girl sitting beside her own little girl was our Abigail.  Indeed it was!  It turns out that they were friends in the orphanage.  Abigail is called DAWN in her English speaking preschool.  Seems that we may have a middle name now!  Abigail Dawn works pretty well for us.

We were also able to get a few more photos of her from May of this year, and a BUNCH from December of 2011.  I picked up ONE HUNDRED pictures from Walgreens today!  So, if you DO stop in to see photos, plan to stay awhile!

What did we accomplish today?  We finished our monster class!  We do still have to take the test, but we've been at it for over five hours this evening, and our brains are mush.  It will be done by the time the weekend is over, anyway.

I got my check up papers in progress yesterday.  The Ohio papers are signed and in our folder.  The China papers are in the works.  I went and got a bunch of lab work done today.  The doctor will finish filling out the China form and have it notarized once the labs are in.  Ethan's check up is on Tuesday.

Tikvah and I did some grocery shopping today - at her request - at an Asian Market that we happened to drive by on the way to the lab.  We especially looked for things from the Guongdong Province in China.  Tikvah thought it was a lot of fun. 

I read in Abigail's records that she eats congee quite often.  I had wondered what in the world that was.  We found out today!  It is a sweet black rice and bean dish.  We had it for dinner, and it was actually pretty good. 

We are hoping to make it to Chicago tomorrow to visit "Jack."  He was our assigned student in the Purdue International Friendship Program.  We have lots of really good memories of the times we had with him.  He returned to China a couple of years ago, and we've missed him.  He was supposed to be flying in tonight, but his plane from New York to Chicago was cancelled.  He is on standby for another flight out, and we are waiting to hear.  If there is any way at all possible, we will get to Chicago to see him while he is there.

Keep praying for Ethan's birth certificate to arrive!

Passports, yay!

I found passports in our mailbox today!  Yay!  Keep praying about that birth certificate!

And it is back to the races...

Whew!  One fourth grade homeschool portfolio is completed.  It wasn't particularly "hard" but it did take all day.  Tomorrow we see the state certified teacher to go over the records and collect our "written narrative" from her to include with our fifth grade "Intent to Home School" form.   Our outline of intended curriculum and book list is complete, and all of our books are either sitting on the school shelf, or have been ordered.  We are as ready as you can get for the coming school year.

Now the race is back on to get our adoption paperwork in order.  We completed several more sections of the "Monster Class" last night, so are nearly half way through it.  The fire extinguisher (in a lovely red!) is mounted on the kitchen wall, and there are several more smoke detectors hung on ceilings throughout the house.  We never were able to find our fire escape ladder, so Ethan purchased a new one.  It may be just as well.  This one is very lightweight, and Tikvah should actually be able to handle it if she ever needs to.

I had thought we could call for the fire safety inspection today, but we are still missing a couple of elements.  We need to post WHEN we are going to have fire drills, and we need to post a diagram of the fire escape route in each bedroom.  I'm wishing that an art gifted friend would happen to stop in for coffee!

Good news on the physician issue.  Amanda recommended her doctor, who happens to have an office manager who is a notary.  Ethan and Ruth have appointments next week.  I see my local doctor on Thursday.  If she is not able to update my physical from a couple of months ago and notarize it all, I will snatch Ruth's appointment.  Since hers doesn't have to be notarized, we do still have the Urgent Care or Kroger walk in clinic options for her.  This should not only eliminate the need for two checkups, but also get it all done at least a week sooner than if we had to go to Lafayette.

No goodies in the mail today, so keep praying for Ethan's birth certificate to come!

Chasing different papers...

When I look at the list that sent me into such discouragement just a little over a week ago, and what we have managed to get accomplished in that week I am amazed!  So many of these things that looked really complicated, ok let's be real - WERE REALLY complicated - are done.  Our document folder is looking  pretty good.  Our Hague required classes are done.  We are still working on a required class for WACAP that is a doozy.  It claims 4 hours of credit, but is going to take so much more time than that to complete it.  There are 20+ homework assignments, videos to watch, activities to complete, yeah it won't be finished in the next day or two.

We worked like crazy and made so much progress, but alas, I don't feel ready for the fire safety inspection today.   There are still a few things that need to be accomplished, so we won't be calling for it until tomorrow or Wednesday. 

Want to hear a funny story about what happens when one gets busy and preoccupied? My big project over the weekend was to clean and reorganize the basement.  I have a work out room down there, and noticed that one of the big physio balls had kitty hair on it.  I decided the ball would benefit from a shower.  So, I hauled it up two flights of stairs, turned the water on hot, then went back to the basement with the intention of going back to retrieve the ball in a few minutes.  You see it coming, don't you?  Several HOURS later, Ethan asked me, "How long as the ball been in the shower?"  Oh boy.  It is clean, anyway.

Today I really must turn my attention to a different paper chase.  We are scheduled for our first ever homeschool portfolio review on Wednesday.  In Indiana these were not required.  In Ohio, you must file papers stating what you plan to accomplish, do it, then file papers proving you accomplished what you said you'd do.  I feel like we had a decent school year, but keeping a paper trail of these things is not one of my strong points.  Today I will be going back over the lesson plans from last year, documenting, printing reports and maybe some photos from field trips.  My friends here tell me it isn't really that big of a deal.  They usually know what they are talking about, so I'm not freaking out too badly.  It just needs to be done.

When the portfolio is put together it is time to write up the plan for the next school year. How can it be that school starts again in just a few weeks?  (And how can Tikvah possibly be going into the fifth grade??)  I know what we are doing, and have all but one of the books, so filing with the state shouldn't be as time consuming this time as it was last year.

So today, I'll be working on government papers for Tikvah until Ethan gets home from work.  Then its back to what should probably be called the "Monster Class" to go along with that "Monster Document" we turned in a few weeks ago. 

Several of you have asked how you can pray for us.  Here are our most pressing needs right now:

1. God's grace to keep it all in perspective.

2. Physicals for Ethan and Ruth.  This is complicated for Ethan because the physician's signature needs to be notarized for the China form.  We would prefer to not have to do the (no notary required) county check up at an Urgent Care (any docs out there who do FAST check up appointments?) and then turn around and have to do it all over again in Indiana for the China papers.  Our family physician there will work with us to document the way we need it.  BUT, we need the county check up done THIS WEEK, so we can't wait for our appointments in Indiana which aren't until the end of the month.  We'll do it twice  if we have to, but it takes a lot of extra time and funds to do the checkups twice.

3. Ethan's birth certificate to be sent quickly from the Dept. of State in Washington, D.C.  They tell me it usually takes several months.  We have a little girl growing up in an orphanage and don't have several months to wait on it!  God can make it happen, I know He can!

Thanks, friends!

Filling the File with Documents

The documents keep coming in and the file is getting large!  The mail brought my birth certificate and our marriage license.  I got the kitties to the vet and their papers are filed.  My autobiography is done, and Ethan's is getting there.  We have been getting a couple of our online classes completed each day, and those certificates are being added also.  Today we've gotten one class done already, and hope to pop off the three remaining Hague class requirements this evening.

If you aren't familiar with the Hague Convention, in a nutshell, "The process for adopting a child from another country (intercountry adoption) changed in some significant ways with the U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention). The Convention went into effect in the United States on April 1, 2008. The Convention is designed to protect the best interests of children and prevent the abduction, sale, and trafficking of children. In this country, the U.S. Department of State has overall responsibility for implementing the Hague Convention, although the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security also plays a significant role."  ( see: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/hague.cfm)

One big need we have right now is for Ethan and Ruth to get a physical.  We are having trouble finding a doctor who can get them in quickly. To further complicate matters, the physician's signature has to be notarized on Ethan's form for China.  We do have a plan to accomplish this in Lafayette (if we have to) at the end of the month, but that delays things.  If anyone knows of a notary that we could hire to go to - Urgent Care perhaps? - for physicals, let me know.

In our "free time" today we are getting ready for the fire safety inspection that will hopefully happen on Monday.  One question... does anyone know where we put the fire safety ladder when we moved to Ohio???

We have our pre-approval from China!!!

We just got a phone call!  We have our pre-approval from China and are OFFICIAL!  Happy Anniversary to us!

We spent the morning in a CPR class, then getting BCI and FBI fingerprinting and clearances.  But now, we are assured that we are doing all of this FOR something and not just to amuse ourselves.  So thankful for this news today.