Day 0 - shanghai here we come!!!

We are at the airport and ready to roll! Shanghai here we come!!

Travel Approval!!

We received our last approval needed so we are now booking our travel, yea!

Here is a brief overview of our crazy itinerary.  I feel like every trip I have ever taken has been leading up to planning this one.

China here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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12/5 - Leave Detroit
12/6 - Arrive in Shanghai
12/7 - Take train from Shanghai to Nanchang, Jiangxi (Train)
12/8 - Gotcha Day for Lingao at hotel in Nanchang
12/9 - Civil Affairs appointment in Nanchang
12/10 - Visit orphanage in Fuzhou
12/11 - Free Day - finding spot in Fuzhou
12/12 - Free Day - visit foster village
12/13 - Travel to Guangzhou, China (Flight)
12/14 - Medical appointment on Shaiman Island in Guangzhou
12/15 - Free Day (church on Shaiman Island)
12/16 - Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou / Fly to Beijing (evening)
12/17 - Meet up with our guide in Beijing
12/18 - Fly to Kunming
12/19 - 12/23- Visit Kunming orphanage, Foster Villages, and Birth Parent Search
12/23 (evening) - Fly to Beijing
12/24 - Fly home from Beijing

And for the AP's our there - yes we are birth parent searching for our first child on our second child's adoption trip. Call us cheap but we want to capitalize on our time there!!

Redemption

In the next 24 hours, there will be one less.  So happy for this adoptive family and their newest addition!

For all of you that read my post last week and thought I was sensationalizing the state of things in orphanages across the world, read on.

http://www.lorimccary.com/2013/11/one-life.html

Every home is made differently...

I have gotten so many questions lately, why are you adopting internationally? Why not just have biological children (apparently I have proven it is possible)? Or, I often hear, why not just adopt domestically - isn't it cheaper?

All valid questions coming for wondering minds....let me help explain.

The majority of young children who are needing homes internationally are living in cribs for 22-23 hours a day in impoverished orphanages with minimal food and staff. It is not uncommon for them to starve or freeze to death, to be underfed intentionally because they have physical deformities.

To give you more of a landscape....I have heard of families adopting a child with a Cleft Lip or Cleft Palate being spit on. Literally, people looked at them and smiled, then looked at their child with the cleft lip and gasped at the horror. Then a few gutsy individuals actually spit on the child or the couple.

Can you imagine?

Why are we adopting internationally?  This is why.

Every child deserves a home (assume we all agree here).

Yet every home is made differently.

• Some homes are made for biological children only. 

• Some homes are made for children with special needs.

• Some homes are made for toddlers.

• Some homes are made for older children.

• Some homes are made for foster children.

Our home, with 3 kids under 5, is currently made for toddlers. We have excellent jobs and can afford to adopt (so long we drive used cars!). We have excellent medical care and have consistently hit our out of pocket maximum for the last 3 years so we assume it won't cost us a dollar more next year for Luke's surgeries. Finally, we know we can love a child born in our hearts, not in my womb.  

If I take all of the above facts and put them in the 'what type of home is this' calculator we get:

Lillie Home =  'perfect for international special needs adoption'

Let me turn the question around..for those of you having biological children, why do you keep doing it? Why not adopt?  I have heard countless people say having a child biologically wrecks your body and that 'they are too old' to do it again but would love a 3rd or 4th child.  Why NOT consider adoption then?

Moreover, you have NO idea what you are missing out on.  To experience the love grow within yourself for a child that you did not birth is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I can only compare it to the day my biological child was born but stretched out over the course of time.  I actually have started feeling bad that others that I love won't get to experience such a positive life experience.

I can promise you that at the end of your life you will not say 'oh i wish i would have bought that new car instead of a used one'. But I cannot promise you that you won't say 'Oh, I wish we would've had a third child'.  I can't promise you won't say, 'Why didn't I do more with my life?'

Come to our FAQ night to learn more. We can tell you how to adopt domestically for free (literally not one dollar) or how to adopt internationally without ANY debt.  Or, maybe you decide adoption is not for you.  At least you have scratched the itch and can move on with your life.  

Check it out & contact me with questions.

2|42 Community Church

410 S. Maple Rd. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48103

(Behind Kroger)

China in December {cabled}

So we are moving right along with our adoption for Lingao. We were informed this week that our paperwork has made it to the US consulate (i.e. we are officially cabled).  We have a few steps left and then we can start booking our flights!

We have been asked a lot about what the trip will include...here is a brief overview!!

• Arrive in Hong Kong (2 days) - relax and get over jet lag
• Kunming, Yunnan (4-6 days) - Visit Kunming's Social Welfare Institute (hopefully to meet with the new director), meet with Emma's 'finder', and visit the foster village where Emma was likely fostered.  
• Nanchang, Jiangxi (4-6 days) - Meet Lingao, Visit his finding spot, visit the Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute (note - this is an hour or two drive from Nanchang), and visit with his foster family, if possible. 
• Guangzhou, Guangdong (3-4 days) - Lingao has a medical appointment to ensure he is healthy/clear to travel to the US, and then he has an appointment at the US consulate to become a US citizen (which will occur the day he lands in the US).
• Drive from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to fly home!

That is the itinerary!! 

We are currently looking for a guide for the non 'lingao' part of the trip. This will include the trip to Kunming, if not the entire thing. Please let me know if anyone has any leads!! Must be bi-lingual, love little kids (we have 3 of them!), and comfortable with the adoption process. We will pay for time, travel, air/hotel, etc.

We will be traveling in December at some point.  We really have some flexibility so it may come down to costs, timing of when we can do it, and when can get a guide to facilitate the trip to Kunming with us. Happy planning to me!! ;-)

~Christy

I800 Approval! {Lingao is now an immediate relative of ours!!}

We finally have I-800 approval!  That means the US Gov't has formally listed Lingao as an immediate relative to our family. He is a Lillie!!

Our next steps:

• We need to get a copy of the I-800 approval to the US embassy in China who will schedule an appointment in China to allow Lingao to come home with us.  
• Once we have the Embassy appointment, we will send that date to the Chinese Gov't who will schedule our 'gotcha day' for Lingao.  
• Once we have the gotcha date, we will schedule our flights to China!

In 2011 we received our I800 approval on 11/7 and picked up Emma on 1/8...~2 months later. So this go around we think we could get Lingao as early as the first week in December.  Meaning perhaps he will be home for Christmas (or we will be there)!

For those of you following our earlier timeline, I did have a bit of a mess up that caused a delay. I actually forgot to send a check with my application to the US gov't.  Apparently my 'crisp execution' and attention to detail have gone by the wayside.  I guess 3 - well almost 4 - kids does that to you. ;-)  In any case, I have no other tasks to complete so hopefully everything from here on out is smooth sailing!!