Famiily Photo

Here is the last photo of us as a family of five!

Ok, here is the real one!

The winners of the drawings are....

In addition, Randi is the winner of the portrait sitting from Lulubelle Photography.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us in this journey. We are leaving Monday morning very early.

I will still be running some fundraisers to help pay for the travel expenses so look for some new items and a new ChipIn after we return. One item still available is the custom tutu by Tutu Crazy--I'm sure many of you have a little girl who would love a tutu! And we will have the Just Love Coffee store for the next year.

I will be using the site www.nataliecarol.com to blog from China if anyone would like to follow our trip.

Two More Days for Natalie's fundraiser!

The drawings will end on Sunday November 29th so you have two more days to donate to Natalie's fundraiser and a chance for the quilt or necklace.

the annual Thanksgiving photo shoot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good News for Today!

We received our itinerary today, and Gotcha Day will be next Friday, Dec. 4th! The schedule will be:
Nov. 30--depart Harrisburg
Dec 1-3--tour Shanghai, fly to Beijing
Dec. 4th--Gotcha Day!
Dec. 5-11--adoption paperwork and touring
Dec. 11--fly to Guangzhou
Dec. 12--medical exam
Dec. 14--visa appointment
Dec. 15--take oath at consulate
Dec. 16--pick up visa
Dec. 17--fly home!
Now the bad news is that the cost for the in-China portion of the trip is $4815. But that is for all of us as this time we can all cram into one room. If anyone still wants to get in on the drawings for the quilt, necklace and tutu, please donate through the ChipIn button. We are drawing a winner for the quilt and the necklace this weekend so time is running out!

The machines are out of my house and now we wait for the insurance estimates on repairs.

Today is our 25th anniversary! I don't have a scanner so i will spare you photos of our wedding. Needless to say, we were thinner and had no grey hairs back in 1984! We never would have thought, 25 years ago as new graduates from Houghton College setting out to face the world and marriage, that we would have embarked on the journey of adoption back in 2004 that would bring us such joy in our mid-to-late 40's!

 There has been a standing joke between us about the number of roses appropriate at special occassions for years, so this year Tom brought 25, one for each year. He said that next year he is starting over at one!

 

I don't think there are many couples at their 25th anniversary who are toasting a trip to China to pick up their fourth child in five days!

Less than a week....

less than a week until we leave. We still, however, do not have our itinerary once we land in China. I'm getting a little nervous that we did not receive it today. With the holiday this week, there aren't many days of mail. And we have to be at the airport by 5 am next Monday morning.

The dehumidifying machines are still in my house, and now there are three holes in the ceiling. More water was found in the subflooring under the tub and the header to the door (from the original waterfall) is still wet, as is the subfloor under the tile of the kitchen and the Pergo of the dining room. My house sounds like an airport. We can't be on the first floor at all so we either leave and run errands, or hang out in the basement. I am hoping these machines will be out by Wednesday--I am cooking Thankgiving dinner to boot.

In other news, Susannah was accepted to Messiah College, and will get a scholarship if she chooses to go there. We have yet to hear from Elizabethtown (which is way more expensive than our budget) and Millersville (cheap but she doesn't want to go there); but it looks like she will probably be at Messiah. The campus is about 50 minutes from home, 45 minutes from the barn and down the street from the horse shows we frequent.

The drawing for the quilt and the necklace will end this weekend--thank you to everyone who has donated. if you haven't donated yet and would like a chance at these items, please get your donations in soon. I will need time to have Olivia draw the winning entries and post the videos to the blog and contact the winners before I leave.

Please note: i will be posting to our babyjellybeans site once we depart for China. The link is www.nataliecarol.com

Tom's Adoption Message

November is National Adoption Month and in honor of our upcoming trip to China, Tom spoke in church last week on the subject. Here are his remarks:

Thank you for letting me take a minute during adoption month to talk to you. I want to start with a true story. A mother is in Walmart with her adopted Chinese daughter and runs into an old friend who is very pregnant. Naturally to conversation turns to babies, and the pregnant women leans over to the precocious three year old and says “ I have a baby, and my baby is in here” patting her belly. The three year old looks up at her and says “you don’t have a baby in there, you’re just fat!  Everyone knows babies come from China!”

As a parent with one adopted daughter and soon to a second, I get a lot of questions about why people adopt. Couples not able to have children immediately come to mind, but in addition, many singles adopt who  want children and realize that perhaps marriage is not in Gods plan for them. For us it was a complex love of children, a desire for kids in the home, and a realization that perhaps the empty nest wouldn’t be so great after all.

What about the process and cost? Well, unless your name is Angelina Jolie  or Madonna,  international adoption can take years. As adoptive parents we count pregnancies in years rather than months--anywhere from 3 to 6 years is average. Domestic adoptions often can occur much quicker depending on the agency and situation.

            The paperwork is complex and expensive requiring a well organized person to take charge- such as my wife Jen. I can tell you all about the Hague Convention on Adoption and I can even spell “The Hague.” The cost can be less than a thousand dollars for a domestic adoption and up to forty thousand for an international adoption. I have been fingerprinted by the FBI for background security checks more times than Al Capone.  And yes I passed them all. All of this is meant to ensure that the babies get into a good safe home.

The other thing I like to think about with adoption is the fact that as believers in Christ we are all adopted into the family of God. If you think about it, my daughter Natalie is in an orphanage not wanting or even aware that she is going to be adopted. How many of us were wanting or aware of our adoption into God’s family when for no reason, before the foundation of the world, God decided to lay his heart on us?

Natalie is making no effort for us to adopt her but it will surely happen . As a believer, God’s spirit worked in my heart to pull me towards him even before I knew it.  In a moment, Natalie’s life will change forever when we hold her in our arms. Different food, smells, clothes, opportunities all will be hers as she joins our family not unlike what happened to us as believers when we came to know Jesus. She will be a member of our family forever just like those of us that know the Lord are members of His family forever.

So, as you think of us on our trip we appreciate your prayers but also I would ask you to think of your own adoption into God's family. As you run into people who might be candidates to adopt I would also encourage you to suggest they look into it. I can say without a doubt that the blessing of adopting our first Chinese daughter Olivia has been just as much a blessing for us as a family as for her and we look forward to getting our other daughter Natalie in a couple weeks. Thank you. 

go with the flow

of water, that is.

The insurance company sent over a water mitigation company today to assess the amount of damage. They cut a small hole in the kitchen ceiling, ripped the trim off the baseboards, brought in industrial strength dehumidifiers, fans and hoses for the kitchen and the basement (the water got into the basement too). Fortunately there was no mold, so this water problem was a new problem and not something that had been brewing for awhile. But this equipment needs to run 24/7 for 3-5 days and boy is it LOUD. We can't stand to be on the first floor of the house at all.

I did reach a plumber from a company that was recommended to me. He came out this afternoon and cut a big hole in the ceiling, and found that the pipe was not leaking. So the culprit turned out to be a bad seal on the bathtub faucet, and Olivia had been taking baths and putting a large cup over the faucet, letting all the water backwash behind the wall and into the kitchen.

Then the power went out in the entire house. Definitely shaping up to be a really bad day and I had no chocolate in the house! But just as mysteriously the power retuned an hour later.

a new crisis

8:15 pm: Olivia was running the water for her bath when I had to run downstairs for something. I hear the sound of water running on the floor--"Charlie! if you are peeing on my floor again you are in big trouble!" but the sound kept going and I thought, that's a lot of pee for a little dog. Then I saw the waterfall coming from the doorframe between my kitchen and dining room! I ran back upstairs for towels, and checked on the tub: Olivia was  now in it but there was an ordinary amount of water in it--no overflowing baths there. The washer wasn't on, the toilets hadn't exploded, the sinks were also intact. There is also a puddle in the basement, directly under the dining room. This is just the thing to deal with right before a holiday, with guests in the house, and a major trip underway!
The dog, meanwhile, was actually not to blame and the cat is now sleeping on the pile of wet towels. And I am looking through the yellow pages for a plumber to phone tomorrow. Sigh.
UPDATE-- 9:50pm. Thought I was in the clear as the leak had stopped when the dog started barking. i was in the basement, finishing up a dress order. He wouldn't stop so eventually I came upstairs to find out what was going on, to find Charlie staring at the kitchen ceiling and barking. Water was dripping in two places--the middle of the room and right over my table. This leak is directly under the laundry room, but I had the water turned off there and the wash was not going! There is already ceiling damage and I just got off the phone with the insurance company. Now the water is turned off so it will be a fun night and day tomorrow.
I tried to phone two plumbers that advertised 24/7 service. I have seen both companies trucks driving around town and figured they were reputable. When I dialed company #1 I got a message that their phone was disconnected.Then I tried company #2. They had an even bigger ad in the phone book. Dialed the 800 number and got a recording about "call this number for an exciting conversation." OK, doesn't sound like a plumber to me!!! I even checked the number I dialed and yes, it was the correct number listed for the plumber. I don't want an exciting conversation--I want a plumber!

the countdown

Eleven more days. I keep going to Target to pick up odds and ends I forgot to pack. I did get some boots! yay for Marshalls and cheap lightweight boots! I still have to go through the coat closet and find hats and mittens yet. Tom's mother is here so the suitcases have moved to our room. There isn't much space to walk and now there is even less reason to vacuum!

Oh and silly me picked the wrong day to end the fundraisers since we have to be at the airport at 4:30 am on the 30th. So, I will probably have to end them a couple of days early. You can still make a donation to our adoption fund and get in on the drawing for the quilt, necklace or portrait sitting. Since the tutu is a new donation, I will extend that drawing into December.

We haven't received our exact itinerary for the trip yet or--ouch!--how much it will cost!
Bookmark our babyjellybeans site: www.nataliecarol.com as that will be the website I'll use to post from China.