Our Travel Approval arrived at our agency yesterday, and this morning we were notified that our consulate appointment (at the US consulate in China) is scheduled for January 21st. This means we have everything in place to start booking flights and planning our trip! We will leave next Thursday, January 8th, and I should have Kellin in my arms on January 12th - less than two weeks from today!
Hold on, sweet boy - you'll be home soon!
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
TA Online!!!
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| One last silly picture with Santa, next year Kellin will be there in person. |
We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
No TA Yet
We had hoped to receive our Travel Approval by now, but we have not. It is not really late yet, but of course we are impatient and want things to be moving forward. This is our LAST approval before we can move ahead with scheduling things in-country. Please join us in praying that we will receive it tomorrow or Friday! I'm not sure I can stand waiting all the way until next week!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Waiting for Travel Approval
I am thrilled to share that our Article 5 (don't ask me what that actually is but apparently it's important) was picked up today, which means we are now waiting for China to issue Travel Approval! The last approval we need before we can make travel plans! I could be heading to China in a month!
As the time gets closer, I find I am getting more and more excited to meet Kellin, but more and more sad for all those children who are not coming home. As we've gone through this process, I have learned so much about the adoption process and about the waiting children in this world. Adoption is frustrating, overwhelming, emotional, and expensive, but it is not impossible. I have read many accounts of adoptive parents who describe adoption as the hardest thing they have ever done - and the most rewarding. And many, many adoptive parents (perhaps even most of them) return to adopt more children after seeing firsthand the orphanages and the conditions these children live in.
This little boy is four years old, soon to turn five. He is just a little boy. And yet, because he is blind, and because he is a boy (not a girl), and because he is an "older child," it is unlikely that a family will choose him for adoption. He is special to me, and I know there must be a family out there for him. If anyone is considering adoption, or knows anyone considering adoption, please consider him?
http://reecesrainbow.org/59002/jesse
As the time gets closer, I find I am getting more and more excited to meet Kellin, but more and more sad for all those children who are not coming home. As we've gone through this process, I have learned so much about the adoption process and about the waiting children in this world. Adoption is frustrating, overwhelming, emotional, and expensive, but it is not impossible. I have read many accounts of adoptive parents who describe adoption as the hardest thing they have ever done - and the most rewarding. And many, many adoptive parents (perhaps even most of them) return to adopt more children after seeing firsthand the orphanages and the conditions these children live in.
This little boy is four years old, soon to turn five. He is just a little boy. And yet, because he is blind, and because he is a boy (not a girl), and because he is an "older child," it is unlikely that a family will choose him for adoption. He is special to me, and I know there must be a family out there for him. If anyone is considering adoption, or knows anyone considering adoption, please consider him?
http://reecesrainbow.org/59002/jesse
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Letter on Attachment
Dear Friends and Family,
As we prepare to welcome our little Kellin into our family, we know that many of you are anxious to meet him. And so we feel we need to share with you some information on the steps we will be taking to help Kellin to bond with us.
Kellin has had a traumatic start to life. Unlike the newborn baby who is cared for by the biological mother whose voice and movements he already knows, Kellin was born to a mother who was unable or unwilling to care for him after his birth. He was abandoned. Instead of being nurtured by a loving parent who responded to his cries and kept him fed, clean, and comfortable, he was cared for in an orphanage where he was most likely fed and changed on a schedule, and left to lay in his crib most of the time. Instead of a parent who cooed to him and smiled at him, encouraging his early efforts to communicate and interact, Kellin's cries and noises were likely ignored. From his earliest days, he did not have the nurturing that allowed him to learn to trust adults to meet his needs.
At about ten months old, Kellin was sent from his orphanage to a foster care home (more like a group home) for children with visual impairments. Although this was a good change for him, the change itself was likely traumatic. Suddenly he had a new routine, new caregivers, and was probably very confused. Here he had more nurturing and opportunities, and made great developmental gains.
Then, just about eight months later, he was suddenly removed from the foster care home and placed back in the orphanage. Another traumatic, confusing change for a very young child. Another new routine and more new caregivers, and most likely much less attention and stimulation.
All of these changes have surely had a profound effect on Kellin's ability to trust adults. He has not had the opportunity to bond with a primary caregiver. The lack of a consistent, trusted adult to bond with has a lasting impact on a child's brain and emotional health. Kellin will have to essentially re-wire his brain to learn about love, bonding, attachment, and family.
In order to help Kellin begin to attach to his family, we will be putting limits on his interaction with others at first. He needs to learn to be dependent on us, his parents, for everything, and to learn that we can be trusted. We will be the only ones to hold him, feed him, change his diapers, and show him affection, at least for a while. We may carry him around much of the time, if he will is able to tolerate that contact. In short, we will need to do all the things for him that a new parent does for their newborn baby. This will help him learn to trust us.
We will have to consciously parent Kellin differently than our other children. One of the main goals when parenting most children is to foster independence, but this will not be a goal for Kellin for a while. He needs to learn DEPENDENCE and TRUST.
Thank you all for your understanding and patience as we teach our precious little boy what is means to be loved.
As we prepare to welcome our little Kellin into our family, we know that many of you are anxious to meet him. And so we feel we need to share with you some information on the steps we will be taking to help Kellin to bond with us.
Kellin has had a traumatic start to life. Unlike the newborn baby who is cared for by the biological mother whose voice and movements he already knows, Kellin was born to a mother who was unable or unwilling to care for him after his birth. He was abandoned. Instead of being nurtured by a loving parent who responded to his cries and kept him fed, clean, and comfortable, he was cared for in an orphanage where he was most likely fed and changed on a schedule, and left to lay in his crib most of the time. Instead of a parent who cooed to him and smiled at him, encouraging his early efforts to communicate and interact, Kellin's cries and noises were likely ignored. From his earliest days, he did not have the nurturing that allowed him to learn to trust adults to meet his needs.
At about ten months old, Kellin was sent from his orphanage to a foster care home (more like a group home) for children with visual impairments. Although this was a good change for him, the change itself was likely traumatic. Suddenly he had a new routine, new caregivers, and was probably very confused. Here he had more nurturing and opportunities, and made great developmental gains.
Then, just about eight months later, he was suddenly removed from the foster care home and placed back in the orphanage. Another traumatic, confusing change for a very young child. Another new routine and more new caregivers, and most likely much less attention and stimulation.
All of these changes have surely had a profound effect on Kellin's ability to trust adults. He has not had the opportunity to bond with a primary caregiver. The lack of a consistent, trusted adult to bond with has a lasting impact on a child's brain and emotional health. Kellin will have to essentially re-wire his brain to learn about love, bonding, attachment, and family.
In order to help Kellin begin to attach to his family, we will be putting limits on his interaction with others at first. He needs to learn to be dependent on us, his parents, for everything, and to learn that we can be trusted. We will be the only ones to hold him, feed him, change his diapers, and show him affection, at least for a while. We may carry him around much of the time, if he will is able to tolerate that contact. In short, we will need to do all the things for him that a new parent does for their newborn baby. This will help him learn to trust us.
We will have to consciously parent Kellin differently than our other children. One of the main goals when parenting most children is to foster independence, but this will not be a goal for Kellin for a while. He needs to learn DEPENDENCE and TRUST.
Thank you all for your understanding and patience as we teach our precious little boy what is means to be loved.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The End Is In Sight
We are getting SO CLOSE! Our Article 5 paperwork was dropped off at the US consulate in China today, and our case was approved to be expedited, so it should be ready to be picked up very soon. If we are very, very lucky, maybe tomorrow (actually it could be tonight - China time), but more likely it will be early next week. After that, 1-2 weeks until China issues Travel Approval, and then we begin making travel plans! All I can say is WOW. This is getting real, folks!
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