A China Update

Sorry it's been so long since we updated the blog.  We've been trying to keep Facebook up to date and I was reminded by Kristine this morning that we need to keep the blog up to date too.  So, I am going to add some pictures here and bring you up to speed.
We are in Guangzhou waiting for Joylee's US visa to be approved.  Today, Wednesday, December 21, we have our appointment with the US Consulate office.  We will submit all of our paperwork and apply for her US Citizenship.  If all goes well we'll be taking her oath to become a US citizen once we land on US soil. 
Joylee is doing amazing.  She is adjusting so well to all of us, but she has a special connection with her Jie, Jie, her big sister Bethany.  They are great together and Bethany is so patient with her.  It's an answer to prayer and we are so thankful. 

Parenthood

Hi again, Kristine here.
I am not sure what to address this time as I haven't posted for a while and so many thoughts have flowed through (and out of!) my mind these last 7 days or so. I had a lot of time for those thoughts as I would routinely awake around 12:30 or so and kill time till morning so I could finally get up. I really feel for those who deal with insomnia on a routine basis. So not fun! But an awesome hotel breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee would clear the cobwebs and keep me running until about dinner time.
But the day we got Joylee, I slept pretty well and was able to go back to sleep after the usual awakening. It's been that way since. Wierd, huh? I was beginning to think God was just keeping me on Central time or something to avoid jet lag going back.
Not that our nights haven't been eventful, though. Either the first or second night with Joylee, she freaked me out a bit when I saw a lot of blood on the sheet under her face! At first I thought it was from her coughing and we needed an ER immediately but then I figured out that it was a nosebleed. We got it stopped and filled her up with some Pedialyte and called for a medical opinion in the morning. Thankfully they thought it was just the dry air and, so far, it hasn't repeated. Whew! I just wonder what housekeeping thought and whether they debated calling CSI or something when they saw the sheets...
So last nights excitement was Joylee popping a fever in the middle of the night. Still don't know how high it actually was because the thermometer under the arm for only about 10 seconds showed 100.8. She does NOT like people making her do (or not do) things. Typical 18 month-old. We had come prepared and figured about how much Tylenol to give and she has been cool to the touch so far this morning.
Thank you Lord!
Parenthood has fun times and challenging times, happy times and sad times, joyous times and scary times. In all of them, we just keep loving and trusting and doing our best.
My prayer today is for all the parents out there currently going through one of the difficult times.
May God hold you and give you strength and hope.

Joylee's Jie Jie

Joylee has an incredible Jie Jie, Big Sister.  I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly, but a big sister is called a Jie Jie in Chinese and Bethany is a fantastic one!  From the moment we mentioned to Bethany over three years ago that we were going to adopt she has been nothing but encouraging and excited.  Now that the day has come she has really stepped up and shined!  She and Joylee are like two peas in a pod.  Joylee wants her Jie Jie all the time and Bethany is not one to disappoint!  Last night after dinner Joylee even said "Jie Jie" when she was upset and didn't know where Bethany was because she couldn't see her!
What's interesting as well is how God has worked this all out.  Joylee and Bethany have similar personalities - outgoing, fun, friendly, not wanting to be held back or retrained, engergetic, laughing a lot, having fun.  These two were made for each other!
I have always been thankful for Bethany and proud of the girl that she is.  Seeing her in action as a "Jie Jie" just confirms what a blessing she is.

Adventures in dining

I've always been a fan of Chinese food.  That hasn't changed, but I have to confess that I have a MAJOR craving for nachos that I won't be able to satisfy for another week and a half!  I've never been a huge fan of dumplings.  I thought they were kind of dry and bland.  Well, Echo, our adoption guide, took us to a restaurant last night that specializes in dumplings and they were great!  Turns out it's all about the sauce that you dip the dumplings in before you eat them.  In China they mix vinegar, soy sauce, peppers and garlic in a sauce.  You coat the dumplings in that before eating them - now that is some good eating!  By the way, I am not starving even though I am eating some meals with chop sticks.  Not saying I'm ready to make the switch permanently but at least I can get through a meal!

We have Joylee!

Today was our "Gotcha Day" and what a day it has been!  We were taken to a building about 20 minutes from our hotel and ushered into a big board room where Joylee was waiting for us, along with the two little boys who were being adopted by the other families in our group.  It was a bit chaotic at first, but we spotted her and Momma quickly made her way around the huge table to get to her.  She took to us pretty well and has been equally favoring each of us, which is a huge blessing and answer to prayer.  As I type Momma and Bethany are trying to get her to go to sleep because she is very tired and has been crying for most of the last hour.  She was like this earlier before she finally went down for a nap with me for about an hour this afternoon. 
Please continue to keep us in your prayers as she is adjusting well, praise the Lord, but we know she has a lot of transitions to go through yet.  Thank you for your prayers already, we know God is in control and He has done great things!

We would also ask you to keep in prayer the other two families that are a part of our group adopting today:  Jeff, Caroline and their 4 year old daughter Hannah and their new addition, Alex and Barry and Anastasia with their new addition, Seth.  Seth has had a particularly difficult time adjusting and it has been a very hard day for him and for them.  

China here we come!!

Finally! Whew! Our bags are packed and we think we're ready to go. It took a lot of shuffling of contents to get the bags to the proper weight for the in-country flights but I think we'll be fine. I never knew formula could be so heavy! We will just have to be careful not to buy too many anvils while we're there.
We've talked a lot about the time difference (14 hrs) and how to handle the jet lag. So when I awoke at 2:30 this morning I changed my mind about rolling over for another couple hours of snooze and got up instead. Now I just have to figure out when I can have a cup of coffee. Now? in 12 hours? Haven't decided yet. If I can make it past Chicago then take a nap, that would be ideal. Maybe I'll just see how long I can go...
It's 4:40 now and Jeff just got Bethany out of bed. It's amazing to me how resiliant and mature she is now. She pretty much packed her stuff herself. Of course I had to go through the checklist and ask "Do you have (insert item here)..." seventy-two times until I irritated her enough. But she did great! She also packed Joylee's outfits into Ziploc bags so we could just toss them into whatever suitcase had room. I don't think I've heard any doubts or complaints from her about getting a sister or having another child in the house this whole time. She has been supportive and excited since day one and I am so glad she gets to experience this with us.
Must go put the last couple things in the bags before we head out.
Thanks for reading my random thoughts,
May God bless the stuffing out of you!

It's time to go to China!

God is so good!
We have been praying and hoping that we would be able to go to China and have Joylee home before the end of the year, preferably before Christmas.  For that to happen we knew that we had to receive our "Travel Approval" before Thanksgiving.
Well, last Wednesday afternoon, the evening before Thanksgiving, we got the call!  Our "Travel Approval" had come through.  Isn't it great how God chooses to act - it's all for His glory!
Today we received our travel dates, are you ready for this?  We have to be in Beijing, China by NEXT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9!  WOW!  We should be in China through the 23rd and hope to be home by Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at the latest.
Thank you for your continued encouragement and prayers - they mean so much to us.
I would ask that if you haven't given yet to the Puzzle fundraiser or purchased some of Joylee's Jova coffee fundraiser that you prayerfully consider that at this time.   As we prepare to take this trip we are facing some of our most expensive parts of the adoption process.  Please know, however, that we believe and have seen that God will provide and we are trusting Him to do so for His glory. 
If you feel led to give that's wonderful, but please know that the greatest need we have now and during our trip is your prayers.
Specific prayer requests include:  Getting organized and packed for the trip, all the funds necessary for the trip, safety with all the flights and ground transportation, Joylee's safety, well-being and adjustment to us as her new family, good health for all of us as we travel to and from China and within China and a good adjustment down time once we return home
Once we receive our final iteneary, I will post it here so you can pray specifically as we travel.
Thank you again for your support of our family during this journey to bring Joylee home.

Waiting for Travel Approval and Tentative Travel Plans

This is an article that I wrote for our church family to bring them up to date about Joylee's journey home.  I thought I would share it with everyone.  Thank you for your continued prayer and encouragement.  
As of two weeks ago we had one major hurddle left - what is known of as the Travel Approval from China.  This will be the finalization of appointments with both the Chinese government and US government that will all take place in China on our trip.  The last word we received was that it could be up to five weeks before we receive our Travel Approval.  Once we receive the Travel Approval it could be another five weeks before we are actually able to travel.  As of now we are still hopeful that we will be able to travel to China to pick up our little girl, Joylee Aiyu Wells, before the end of the year.  (Joylee is the name we are giving her - it’s a combination of names, Joy in honor of my late mother and lee in honor of Kristine and her mother as it is their middle names.  Aiyu is her Chinese name that we will keep as her middle name as a way to honor her heritage.)  
When we do get to go get her we will be gone around 16 - 18 days.  We will fly into Beijing first where we will spend three days.  We will go through orientation with our adoption agency, Holt International, as well as get acclimated to the time change and prepare for the rest of the time in China.  On about day three we will travel to the Provence of Jilin to the capital city of Chanchun where Joylee is in foster care.  The Provence of Jilin is located in the northeast part of China with borders with Russia, Mongolia and North Korea.  The day we arrive in Changchun we should meet and be given custody of Joylee.  In adoption lingo this is refereed to as “Gotcha day” and is celebrated like a birthday.  We are so excited and looking forward to “Gotcha day” when we will get to meet Joylee and begin to include her into our family.  We will spend about five days in Changchun as we attend appointments with various government officials as part of the adoption process and wait for her Chinese passport to be processed.  After that work is completed we will travel to the city of Guangzhou, which is located in south central China, just north of Hong Kong.  We will spend about a week in Guangzhou where we will finalize the adoption and complete all U.S. immigration requirements.  We will then travel to Hong Kong where we will probably fly out from for our return flight to the U.S.  Kristine, Bethany and I will all be making the trip to bring Joylee home together.

Waiting...

I know it's been several weeks since our last post.  To be honest I thought we'd have a lot more to share as the time was drawing nearer for our trip to China and to meet our new daughter.  As it is we are making progress towards the goal of completing all the necessary paperwork yet it seems like the time between forms being received and approved are being drawn out.  We were hopeful that we would receive our Travel Approval and dates by the end of October.  As of this week that seems unlikely. 
With each passing day we are becoming more and more excited about the time.  For now we continue to wait.  Our anxiety is softened by the truth that we know that God's timing is perfect and as such we trust Him.  We do trust Him!  We busy ourselves with getting her room ready, buying toys and clothes at yard sales and praying for her.  I have to confess that I find myself staring at her picture several times a day either on my phone or at the picture above my computer in my office at church.  She is so cute and is growing up so fast!  So, we ask that you continue to pray for us, for our joy in the journey and for our patience.  Please continue to pray for Joylee, for her protection, care and well-being.  And, we ask that you join us in prayer for the process to go as God plans.  No delays, no issues, no problems.  It's our heart's desire to have her home by the end of the year.  If that is God's will it will be.  If not, we know that God is in control and He knows best. 

So many things to share!

There have been a lot of developments in the last few weeks.  Kristine is wanting to update many of the specifics and she hopes to blog soon.  In the meantime, I get to share NEW PICTURES!  We received an update today with new pictures of Joylee Aiyu that were taken in September!  She looks amazing!  She's standing on her own and walking!  Remember, she's now 15 months old!  In these two new pictures you'll see her standing and looking at the camera - she's great!  The other picture shows her sitting on the floor playing with a ball.  This picture reminds us that even though she's growing, she's still a little girl. 

We're waiting on some additional paperwork to clear and our passports and visas to come back as we look forward to travel to get her.  Hopefully we will have her home by Christmas!

The end of this week I will be sharing with you all about our Adoption Fund week of fundraising, "7 Days in October".  For now, enjoy the beautiful new pictures of our little girl, Joylee Aiyu!

Don't Cry

I have always been drawn to the power of music, especially the lyrics and the impact they can have on a person.  In the last few weeks of waiting on our Letter of Approval from China, I found myself listening to one song over and over again.  Being a teenager during the 80's I must confess that I am a huge fan of 80's music.  On our return trip from Hudson, Ohio I found myself listening to the song "Don't Cry" by Asia.  This classic 80's song has a unique sound with a catchy chorus.  Bethany had compiled a long playlist for our family's upcoming baby shower for Joylee.  As we were driving I listened to the wonderful list that "Sissy" had put together to play in the background during our first baby shower for Joylee.  I must confess, she did a great job!  She included songs like "Be My Baby" by the Bay City Rollers along with songs like "Beautiful, Beautiful" by Francesca  Battiselli.  She even included one of our special songs from when she was little - "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies.  Like I told you, a great list of songs!  Well, after we were done listening to her list I pulled up my 80's playlist where I had randomenly dumped over 300 songs from the greatest decade ever!  After a few trips down memory lane the song "Don't Cry" by Asia came on.  As I listened and sang along with it I told Kristine and Bethany that it too needed to be added to the Baby Shower playlist.  As I listened to the song, I couldn't help but think about my baby girl in China waiting for me to come get her, bring her home, love her and protect her for the rest of her life.  Ever line of the song spoke to me as I thought about Joylee Aiyu.  From the moment I first saw her picture I feel in love with her and hoped that this was the baby girl God had for our family.  See the lyrics below and see if you don't agree with me about what a tremendous song this is and how it speaks about the beauty of God bringing together an orphan and a loving family.  I can't wait to sing it to her for years to come. 

"Don't Cry" by Asia

Hard times you had before you
I knew when I first saw you
You girl you’ve always been mistreated, cheated

So leave it all behind you
It took so long to find you
I know that we can last forever, ever and more, more, oh



(chorus)
Don’t Cry now that I’ve found you
Don’ Cry take a look around you
Don’t Cry it took so long to find you
Do what you want, but little darling please Don’t Cry

I knew I’d never doubt it
I was so sure about it
Don’t think of all that’s been before

I’ll hear you when you’re calling
I’ll catch you when you’re falling
Don’t worry I will always be there, like never before, or, oh

Patience

I will be the first to admit that patience is not my top characteristic.  I too know that as a Christ-follower that patience is not an option but rather one of the fruit of the spirit that I have.  Galatians 5:22-23 tells us
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."  Now, all that being said I also know that I am still a work in progress and I am not the most patient person in the world.  You'd know that if you were to have me behind you at the traffic light and you paused just a nano second longer than I thought you should and I commenced to lay on the horn to remind you that you were too slow for the jerk of an impatient person behind you - me.
By now you may be asking what all this about patience has to do with Joylee.  Well, we received word this week that the next phase in our adoption process, the "LOA" or "Letter of Approval" from China is delayed.  Not just ours but every family that had a match in May or June are experiencing a delay.  We were matched with Joylee and should have received our LOA this week as this was the 8th week since being matched.  We were informed this week by our adoption agency that everyone is experiencing a delay and that it could be several more weeks before we receive our LOA.  Thus, the entire point of the first part of this post.  We are having to be patient.  I know that God is in control and He has a plan, but I am so ready to go to China to get Joylee and bring her home.  On a purley practical side, we are hoping to be able to bring her home before the end of the year because that would be best for our vacation schedules and time away to make the trip.  The hardest part, though is seeing Joylee's pictures and wondering about how she is doing.  I know she is ultimately in God's care and He will give her to us when He is ready.  We pray for her every night as a family and I pray for her often throughout the day. 
As I close, I would ask for your prayers for a couple of things:  Joylee's well being and care, that we would receive the LOA soon, that we would still be able to go get her before the end of the year and finally the financial means to meet all the needs we have to bring Joylee home.  Thank You!

Remember when...

Okay, I need to tell these little bits that just show you how God is in the details!

Jeff and I had prayed about the adoption idea for around 2 weeks and it was very apparent that this was what God was telling us to do. I mean, every time I read my Bible it was all about taking care of orphans or trusting God, etc. Then came the big question...how do we pick an agency? I pulled tons of info off the internet but the ones that appealed to us most were not Hague accredited (recent international standardization). But Jeff remembered the child we sponsored and asked if that agency handled adoptions too. Turns out they did! And they were Hague accredited. Cool detail #1! We had years of experience with Holt so decided to look into the adoption side of things.

Soon after that, we were dropping by a convention center where Bethany's school had a booth and Jeff ran inside to check how things were going. He came out and whispered to me that there was a Holt booth inside (Cool detail #2!) and would I like to dash in to get some info? You bet I would! So I literally ran inside, grabbed a packet, shook a hand and ran back out. (I don't know where we were going but we were on a schedule.)

We sent an application to Holt to see if we were even eligible to adopt but wanted to wait for approval before saying anything to Bethany (9 at the time) to avoid disappointment in case it fell through. So we were at church one evening and Bethany was holding the sweet new baby girl of our youth minister and his wife. She looked up from that baby at Jeff and me and said "Mom...Dad...you should adopt." Since we had said nothing to her so far, we were speechless!(Cool detail #3!...what Bethany said, not that we were speechless...) It was such a confirmation that God was working out the timing of ALL things including our daughter's acceptance of it.

It is important to remind ourselves of the cool details when we are frustrated or afraid of the unknown. If God has done it before, He can certainly do it again. REMEMBER

Kristine

Are you adopted?

Jeff is leading a summer camp this week and was talking about the fact that we are adopting a little girl.  He made the point that adoption is forever and Joylee Aiyu will be a permanent part of our family.  In the same way, we are adopted into God's family when we accept what Jesus did for us.
Joylee cannot say "yes" to our family but the officials in China have to do that for her. We, however, have the option of saying "yes" or "no" to Jesus.

Our adoption may be expensive but, to get into God's family, it's priceless.We can never "pay" enough with our good deeds to get into God's presence in heaven. It required the payment of the life of a sinless and perfect sacrifice which we can never be. Jesus was the only one able to make that payment and offer us a "paid in full" stamp on our account.

Have you been adopted into God's family? Do you know for sure that Jesus has paid YOUR account? I would love to know that, no matter what this life holds, that I will get to see you forever in eternity.
E-mail me if you have any questions, want to argue or discuss any of these points (hoosierbabybmw@gmail.com).

I care about you but God cares most!

Kristine

Prayer Request: An increase in fees

Please pray for us.  We just received word this afternoon that China is increasing the number of post-placement reports from 3 in 1 year, to an additional 3 over 5 years!  While we certainly don't mind giving them an update on how well we are caring for our girl, at this point our concern is the additional costs involved in the additional 3 reports and 5 years that our adoption agency will now be charging us for.  In addition, we have to pay these additional fees prior to our travel to China to pick up Joylee Aiyu.  Please know we are faithful to know that God will provide, it's just a bit of uneasiness about an unexpected fee increase especially since we are still in the process of raising the funds we were already aware of.  We'd appreciate your prayers and we'll keep you posted.  At this tine we have no idea of the costs involved, but I don't need a number to know that we need to bring this before our Heavenly Father who already has it all figured out.  I, on the other hand with limited knowledge and forward vision would appreciate your prayers as we wait to see how God will provide.

One Year Old

They tell us they don't know "exactly" when Joylee Aiyu was born.  They know she was premature and was tiny at birth, just a little over three pounds!  She was left where she would be found quickly, an indication of the the love of her birth mother and father.  When she arrived at the orphanage, she was taken to the hospital for about a month of treatment.  They guess that she was about four days old when she was left to be found.  With that, they estimated that she was born on June 28 and that is the date they assigned as her date of birth on all official records.  So, our little girl was born a year ago June 28.  That date came and went and while we celebrated her birthday with a small cake for breakfast, we quickly got into a busy day with Kristine having knee surgery.  It was surreal in many ways.  While we celebrate her year of life, we don't have her here with us yet.  We know she is real and her year of life is more special than we can ever imagine or communicate.  So, we celebrate Aiyu's first year and look forward to many more as a part of the Wells family. 

What's in a Name?

A name is such a special thing.  We are called by it our entire lives.  God knows us, by name!  A name is special and even if we have people with our "same name" we know that we are special because of our name and our family.  We learned yesterday that we have been pronouncing Aiyu's name incorrectly.  We thought it was "eye-ya".  Turns out, Aiyu is pronounced "eye-you".  It means "beautiful jade".  Cool, huh?!  I love it!  We have chosen to rename her Joylee Aiyu Wells once we have her home.  Joylee is a combination of Joy, in honor of my late mother.  Lee, is Kristine's middle name as well as her mother's middle name.  We will keep Aiyu as her middle name in honor of her heritage.  Now, if you know me, you know that I love nicknames.  I have been calling Bethany "Beamer" and "Beam" since before she was born.  These special "Daddy only" names are important to me and Bethany has grown up being called Bethany, Beamer or Beam by her daddy.  I have been wondering about a nickname for Joylee Aiyu.  After learning about her name meaning "beautiful jade" I'm thinking about my special "Daddy only" nickname for her being "Jade".  It's a node to the meaning of her birth name.  I'll see if that fits her and let you know.

Painting Day

After 2 coats of primer to cover up the dark blue of one wall, Bethany and I were finally ready to pick out paint for Joylee's room. We had in mind two shades of pink and Bethany was a huge help in deciding the shades. I did more edging than I ever want to do again (but probably will) and Bethany filled the wall in with a lovely raspberry shade of pink. I took pictures so ignore the closet with all the junk stuffed into it. It was just to show the two different walls. (When I can get the pic to upload, I will.)
The aqua colored wall is going to be the lighter shade of pink that is smeared in a patch. I was trying it out to see if we would need to prime this one too. I think we might be able to get away with just a double coat of paint.
So we have one brown wall, one white and one of two pink walls done.
On our way to having a baby room!
I will admit, though, that it was a little sentimental covering up Bethany's old walls. I had to take a moment and hug Bethany and tell her she would always be my baby. She was tolerant and let me snuggle her for almost half a minute! What a sweet girl.

Aiyu in Action

We were blessed to not only receive several pictures of Aiyu but we also received a video of her!
It's great - enjoy!

Think Pink!

Well, we finally made a decision about the room colors. We had been seesawing about whether to paint the room (Bethany is for, the parentals are against) or not. We had painted it for Bethany's 9th birthday in dark brown, aqua, white and turquoise. Needless to say, painting over dark colors can be a challenge so we were not really excited about it. But Bethany was all for pink.
So Bethany and I went to the fabric store to get ideas from the fleece patterns and soon discovered a shocking lack of turquoise and brown.  Guess what, though! We saw the cutest brown and pink block pattern with butterflies on it and were inspired!
A compromise was reached keeping the brown and white walls and turning the blue walls two shades of pink. So far we have the turquoise wall primed with two coats and nothing on the aqua one yet. Do you think a dark pink color will cover the wall okay without a lot of show through? Never painted over a dark color before. This will be a new experience for me.
I'll post a picture when it is done.
Here's hoping...

Kristine

Aiyu's parents

I had hoped to add a lighthearted post about some of the cool events from the early days of the process.
But my heart is breaking for Aiyu's parents right now.
She is coming up on her first birthday and, even though the authorities can't know the exact date she was born, her birth mom and dad do. China chose June 28th as a very likely date of birth based on her condition, size, etc. She was 2-3 months premature so I can only imagine the shock her mom had when she realized her baby was coming that early! But God preserved her life and we are so grateful. Whether Aiyu's mom grieved at giving her up or not, whether it was a difficult choice or a casual one, whether it was made in fear or love, we know she will be thinking of her baby on her birthday. I pray that God uses this time to reach out to both the mom and dad. If they do not know Him now, we pray they soon will. And that He gives them the peace that passes all our human understanding.

Kristine

It's on!

After nearly three years of praying, paperwork and patience, we have been matched with a beautiful little girl in China! Praise the Lord! So many people have asked about our adoption journey and where we are in the process that we decided to start a designated blog. We will use this blog to journal about our experience, ask for prayer requests, update on progress and solicit donations to help bring Joylee Aiyu home.