NEXT!

We picked her name over five years ago when we started this long roller coaster of a journey. Her bedroom has been done for four years and after telling everyone for years " hopefully within the next year ". We are NEXT! We will see Hannah's face for the first time in the next set of referrals from China sometime next month.
The CCAA has sent out referrals this week for all those families logged in through 5/29/2006 and we are 5/31/2006. The wait for this last batch was a little stressful because there was a chance that we could have been included if they did a larger batch.
Merry Christmas everyone and God bless you all during the holidays.

It's getting closer!

Referals came out earlier this week from the CCAA and they have made it up to May 23, 2006. Once again we were logged in to the CCAA on May 31, 2006 so we are looking at an early Christmas present or a very Happy New Year. We will finally get to see our daughter Hannah's face.

We were fingerprinted again this week which is the 4th time in the last five years we had to get fingerprinted for our adoptions. We should recieve our I800 approval within the next couple of weeks.
It was New Year's Eve last year that we got word that Anthony's paperwork was complete and he was ready to come home.

China update

Anthony has been with us just over 6 months now and we are in the process of finalizing his adoption with our local probate court. A little bit of paperwork left and Anthony will be officially ours and the newest American citizen and with no time to spare because the CCAA is up to May 10, 2006 with referrals. That means we are just 21 log in dates away from our date for our daughter Hannah.
It will be 5 years next month that we started the paperwork for her adoption from China and that doesn't mean she is 5 years old. She may not even be born yet. The adoption process that we have gone through with James and Anthony is completely different than what we have gone through for Hannah.
We have to update our home study for the third time and file new immigration paperwork with the INS at the same time we are finalizing Anthony's adoption. Busy, busy, busy.
We anticipate that we will be traveling to China early next year.
James just turned 3 and is a big "Toy Story" fan.

Whats going on here...

OK I've been threatened by family members to update the blog because they are not on Facebook. I thought everyone was on Facebook by now :)

Anthony has been home for three months now and was christened three weeks ago. He is still dealing with some eczema issues and being very clingy at times but is doing great. James is starting to catch up in the weight category.... only about 3 lbs behind Ant now. Everyone thinks their twins when we're out.
Anthony is starting to say words. He says cheese when he sees a camera. If we ask him if he wants to go outside he runs and gets his shoes (loves being outside). He has a handful of other words also. He has come a long way in three months and is catching on quick.

Now for our China update.... China's adoption referrals are up to April 17, 2006 (Exactly 4 years behind) as of right now. Our log in date is May 31, 2006, which means 45 log in dates until they get to us. If China does 6 referral days per month we should be getting our referral in December and if they do 5 days per month it will be January or February. We thought we would be going to China for our first child not our third. WOW I still can't believe the journey we've been on and are still going on. We are so blessed to be able to do this.

A Little Something Special

Now that I have a little time to reflect on last weeks arrival of Anthony, I wanted to share a little something that happened when we were getting Anthony for good from his foster family. It was a lot harder than it was with James because Anthony wasn't feeling well when we showed up. We go to the seventh floor meeting room with ourselves, the foster family, the kids, and our social worker where we proceed to ask questions about how Anthony was feeling and the medications that were prescibed for him. There was some confusion about when he was taking the medicine, when his next dose should be taken, when his next feeding was and so on. It was mostly because of the language barrier and we didn't think our questions were getting interpetted or answered to our liking. I think at this point you might be able to imagine our hearts were beating out of our chest. We were about to take this child, our son Anthony, to our hotel, away from the people who he had been raised by and loved for the passed year, he was sick, and we didn't know what to do next.  A lot of tears were shed and I think they were at a point where they knew we were not comfortable. Anthony's foster mother took him back down to the doctors to get him looked at again for diarreha and a bad diaper rash. So now it was myself, Rachael, James, and a different social worker who was trying her best to console Rachael, who was visibly upset, in the room alone. This is when our 2 1/2 year old son James took matters into his own hands, grabbed his mother by the hand, and said "pray". We all grabbed each others hands, including the social workers, we raise our hands and say "Amen" and then clap. It's a little something we do as a family at dinner when we say a prayer. We looked at each other and were just amazed at the timing of it. It was the perfect moment. This room was full of toys that James was playing with, yet for some reason he stopped playing, and knew exactly what was needed at a time of very high tensions. It was something that we'll never forget. It helped calm us down and we were able to relax a little more, get through the meeting, and goodbyes. We believe in Jesus Christ and the power of prayer, and I'm pretty sure our 2 1/2 year old does too. :)
Anthony is doing well, feeling much better, and starting to get familiar with us and the house.
 

A couple more video clips

Anthony has quite a personality. Last night, while we were eating the outrageously priced room service, Rachael was feeding me a sandwich while I was holding Anthony.... Thats right I said feeding me, he grabbed a french fry and fed me the whole thing. He also bowed to Rachael after she gave him a french fry to say thank you. Very cute! He has slept very well.

Here are a couple more short video clips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH_9b453kLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXrEoBLiDU

He's here

It's been scary, but getting better. Anthony is not feeling well but right now he is on my lap laughing as James runs at him and touches his legs. A few bad hours followed by a couple good ones. James helped feed Anthony and then Anthony threw up on me :( Here are some pics. I'll try to fill in the blanks later if I could find some time.

A little more about our visit with Anthony

It's 4:30 am here and I've come to the conclusion that we can't get use to the time change. We've been up since 2:30 am.
So anyway when we drove to Anthony's home we did not have James in a car seat.... I'm assuming that there is no law here for it because it wasn't a concern to Anthony's social worker but very hard too hold on to a 2 year old.
We get to the apartment building and take the elevator to the 7th floor. Walk down the corridor to the apartment and no one would answer the door. So our mind are going a million miles a second and then our social worker gets on her phone........ yep....... wrong floor and it wasn't my fault this time. It was a funny moment. So down to the second floor we go and the foster mother was waiting for us with the door wide open. To see him walk out of that room and touch him for the first time.... what a feeling. We are so blessed! Rachael was great and asked some very important question but the one that sticks out the most to me is " Does he have a special pillow or blanket that he sleeps with?" The foster mother walks into the bedroom and grabs his blanket and proceeds to show us how he stuffs the blankets down his mouth and sucks on it..... just like our little Corey. The way she did it was pretty funny.
We get Anthony today @ 2pm which is midnight back home and will be locking ourselves in the hotel to get to know each other. We are very happy about getting him a day earlier than we expected and the fact that we are so close to the agency. Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers for an easy transition.

Thank you Jesus for this amazing gift that You have given us.

Lots of love to all of you who are following us and with us on our journey.

Jimmy, Rachael, James, & Anthony G.

Tommorow is our day

Well tommorow is the day we get Anthony for good. We are happy about that because we get a little more bonding time with him before our long flight home. James was a little shy and he got wacked a couple of times by Anthony, he's gonna have to learn to defend himself.
He is very sociable and nosey. He was going through all our bags. He was running all over the apartment too... very active. We are scared, very nervous about how he and James are going to adjust to each other.
We were a half hour late getting to see James' foster family and thought they might not be there when we got there. Holt is a 40 minute subway ride from the hotel and we got a late start because our meeting with Anthony went a little long, but they were there and sooooo excited to see James and us. The whole family was there again James was very shy and needed a little time to warm up to them. He was a riot when we got back on the "choo choo train".
It's 7:30 pm here and time to go to sleep. We are so exhausted and are gonna need all the sleep we can get tonight. We hope you enjoy the video. Check the you tube bar to the right of the blog or ckick on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV5x8g0enxQ

WOW

As well as we thought we were prepared for doing this again you can never prepare for a moment like this. I have to make this quick because we are off to meet James' foster family now. Anthony has a couple of pounds on James and an extra chin. I'll write more later..... lots to talk about.

2:30

"It's up to you to create your own adventures today" That's what the fortune cookie said that James just ate. Well looks like our adventure is starting at 2:30 am. Can't sleep.... having dreams that were late and missed Anthony and his foster mother and they said we have to come back. Well we can't let that happen so we'll  just stay up.
We set out early yesterday morning to find Social Welfare Society. We are in a perfect spot. It's a five minute walk. So no long taxi rides on the way back to the hotel this time.
We met up with our friend Sarah and her husband for a walk and some lunch. We had to ride the subway to get there. James kept yelling "choo choo train" and "Thomas". He loved it!
The park was cool. It had a few real helicopters and airplanes on the grounds & exercise equipment anyone can use. Someone would get sued if they had exercise equipment in a park at home.
James slept on the way back and it was a good thing because we went the wrong way out of the exit of the subway and walked about a mile the wrong way. I'm not saying whose fault it was but his name rhymes with Timmy.
6 more hours until we meet Anthony and 10 more until our reunion with James' foster family. This is gonna be good!!!!!

GO COWBOYS!!!!

Safe & Sound

We have arrived in Seoul. The flight was great but we didn't get to sleep until the last three hours (James wouldn't allow it) He was only cranky for about an hour because he was so tired and not one poop yet. We landed @ 5:10 pm Korean time which is 3:10 am CT time so we are 14 hours ahead of you guys back home. We would've gotten to the hotel by 7 if someone didn't stand in the wrong bus line. I'm not saying who it was but it rhymes with Timmy. :)
So I cashed in $400 and got 432,400 Won. I feel rich but NOT. 28000 Won for the bus here. 25000 Won for the internet for 24 hours, 60000 Won for room service.
Tommorow we go to find the adoption agency so we know where were going on Monday morning.