June 27, 2007

The wait to bring Michael home

It is just over 3 weeks since that wonderful day that we received our referral phone call that told us we were parents of a beautiful son. Since we have received Michael's first pictures, we have thought of nothing else but getting on that plane to bring him home to us.
But, processes have to be followed, and so we continue to wait. But only for a little while longer.
We have received this week a list of the names/addresses of the other couples that we will be traveling with in China, those in our "travel group". We actually participated today in a conference call with those couples and our agency, learning more about what we need to do to prepare for the trip. There are two travel groups going from our agency. One group of 6 couples will travel to Michael's province, the Jiangsu Province, and another group of 8 couples will travel to the Jiangxi Province. Initially, both groups will start off in Beijing, where we will stay for the first couple of days. We will attend a group orientation session, and do some sightseeing. We think we will plan to travel a day or two earlier so that we can make sure to schedule in a visit to the Great Wall (and have time to recover from the trip!).

The Jiangsu Province, China

Once we leave Beijing, we will travel to the Jiangsu Province where Michael's orphanage is located. We will go to the capital city of Nanjing. We have heard from others who have traveled there before that it is a beautiful city. We will spend a week or so in the Province, and then on to Guangzhou in Southern China where we will finalize the adoption at the US Consulate. We will fly home with Michael out of Hong Kong. A total of 12-13 wonderful, adventurous days in China!

Getting back to our travel group......we will be traveling with a couple from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Maryland among others. But our biggest surprise is a couple on the list who are also from Illinois. In fact, they live 40 minutes away from us, in my hometown of McHenry!! What a small world. We have emailed each other already, and hope to set up a chance to meet in person before we travel. Even better, we have found out that they also have been referred a little boy, who is 12 months old, and this is their first child too!! Only 2 families from our agency received boys, and it is us and them. Michael will have an immediate friend! It would be amazing if they come from the same orphanage.

All indications point to us getting our travel approvals possibly within the next week or so, as TA's usually come out right around referral time. And those behind us are anxiously waiting for their life-changing call, just as we were one month ago. Once we get our TA, we should get travel dates shortly after that. Our best guess is: China here we come, end of July / beginning of August!

Michael, Mommy and Daddy will see you soon!!!

A Wonderful Evening

Last Friday evening was a great night! My family gave me a wonderful baby shower, to celebrate the addition of Michael to our family. It was such a fun night, shared with my immediate family and close personal friends. I walked in to a beautifully decorated Chinese-themed table and a huge cake with a picture of our son on the top, with "Hi Mommy" written down the side. My Mom found adorable "goody bags" that looked like Chinese jackets, and an adorable stork for a centerpiece. And the most appropriate menu for dinner....Chinese food, and lots of it!! Although I tried to use the chopsticks, I had very little luck, so ended up using the fork after all. Guess I better start practicing! It was so nice to visit with everyone, and then to open some absolutely wonderful gifts. You should see the library of books Michael now has. Amazing!!! We are so fortunate to have such a loving family and friends around us to share in our joy. It truly was a wonderful evening!

Oh, by the way.....for those of you that read my "Father's Day" post and my description of our Babies 'R Us excursion, you will be relieved to know that YES, we did receive as a gift the rubber ducky that measures the bath water!!! That was Brian's favorite gift of all!!!!


"THE" Rubber Ducky

So many wonderful things for our Son!

June 19, 2007

Technical Difficulties

If you have tried to view our blog over the last 24 hours, you probably were not able to open it and saw a notice that the blog was being reviewed for usage violations. I promise we did nothing wrong (but for a minute, I thought...."what did we do wrong??") Anyway, blogger pulled our site down to check to make sure it wasn't a "spam blog". I'm not even sure what that is, so I knew that we weren't guilty.
So, no, we didn't get in trouble, arrested, or thrown in jail. All is well at the Zapien house, and the blog is back up and running! Thanks for your patience!

June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day!

And it is a Happy Father's Day at our house, as Brian celebrates his first one as a new daddy! He doesn't think he is officially a Dad yet, until he brings Michael home. But he sure is acting like one!
Let me explain our trip last week to Babies 'R Us, and you'll see why. We went to Babies 'R Us one night last week after work, to register. We arrived at the store around 6:15pm. That was the beginning of a long, really fun night as we wandered the store trying to figure out what we need for Michael. Because the store is very newborn-focused, we had to take time to determine what was needed, and what we did not need as Michael has already passed some of the stages that infants go through. We had such a good time picking things out. I think we spent a good hour just looking at strollers, diaper bags, and car seats!
Now here is where we get to the part about Brian acting like a new daddy.....
As we walked the store, Brian was in charge of the scanning machine, that little gun that you scan the bar codes of the products that you want to register for. We reach the "bath time" aisle. Now me being the practical one, I am choosing items that will be needed for Michael's bath, including the non-slip mat for the bottom of the tub, a mesh bag to hold his bath toys, etc, etc. What is Brian looking at (and scanning) but a yellow rubber ducky with a temperature gauge attached to the bottom of it. You put the rubber ducky in the water, and it tells you if it is too hot or too cool for the baby. I'm laughing, telling Brian that I think we can reach the same conclusion by just putting our hand in the water, and that little ducky is more for a younger infant. Of course, being the protective daddy that he already is, he said that is not good enough, and we need to get this rubber ducky bath water temperature predictor thingy. Too funny. And there it sits on our registry. We laughed in the car on the way home (after spending a full 3 hours at Babies 'R Us), thinking that all our friends who have had children will be looking at what we registered for and will laugh at the things we chose.
My family is giving me a baby shower this coming Friday, and I cannot wait. It has been a long time waiting to be given a baby shower, so I am really looking forward to it!
Oh, getting back to Daddy..... Brian picked out Michael's first outfit during our marathon visit to Babies 'R Us.
Outfit complete, including the little bucket hat. Yes, Brian is a new daddy, and will make a wonderful one. There is no doubt!

June 12, 2007

Our First Week

It is hard to believe that a week has already gone by since we received our referral call. We have literally been in the clouds since we became parents. We have been so busy, and have been running ever since, that I am not sure that we have fully been able to let this all sink in that it is really happening!

We have loved hearing from all of you, and appreciate so much all of your comments, well wishes, and love from near and far. We continue to look at Michael's picture and are just amazed at how lucky we are that he is our son. And even though I am not a big fan of flying (as some of you well know), I cannot wait to get on that plane and get to China so we can bring Michael home. We wish we could leave today.

Many of you have asked what is next?? The first step for us was to get Michael's medical information translated and reviewed. We received those translations last Friday afternoon, and spoke with a doctor Friday evening. All of Michael's tests were good, his development is on track, and we found out that he loves to eat just about anything! (that could explain those chubby cheeks!!)

Monday morning, we then officially signed our "Letter of Acceptance" and sent it to our Agency. (yes, we took pictures as each one of us signed it!)
This document indicates that we have accepted Michael as our child. Our agency will be sending it to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). Once the CCAA receives the acceptance letter from us, they will process a travel approval from the country which will give us permission to come to China to pick-up Michael. Once "TA" is received, we can begin planning our travel. "TA" usually comes about 3-5 weeks after referral. We then will receive our appointment date with the consulate (which is where everything is finalized before we leave China to come home). Once that appointment date is set, we will know when we need to be in China. Our total stay in China will be approximately 12 days, and we believe we will be going sometime around the end of July/early August.

So for now, we have to wait again. But for just a little longer. We have so much to do to keep us busy that I think the time will go by very quickly.
I'll have much more to share with you, so check back often this week as I will post some more pictures, and fill you in on what us crazy new parents have been doing!

June 6, 2007

WE ARE NOW A FAMILY OF THREE!

We are proud to announce the new addition to our family
Michael Charles Zapien


The Fed-Ex truck arrived right on time this morning at 10:00am, as we waited out on the front step with camera in hand. The driver laughed when she saw me take a picture of her truck. She asked if this was for an adoption, as she knew just by the look on our faces!

We couldn't have opened the envelope fast enough, to see these wonderful pictures of our adorable new son! We are absolutely totally in love with him already!!! Just look at that chubby face!!!

Some more details about Michael:

Date of Birth: March 31, 2006

Height/Weight: 31.5 inches/19 pounds (at last check-up in March)

He was taken in to his orphanage when he was just 4 days old. He is a deep sleeper (yeah!) and he knows the word "No" (although in Chinese! Guess we will have to learn that one!). As you can see in his pictures, he stands alone and can walk some. He can hold a pen and scribble (just like his Daddy!!). He can turn pages in a book.

His personality: he is active and loves to imitate (again, just like his Daddy!). He is fond of listening to music, playing with toys, and singing. He gets along well with others, loves picture books and playing games.

What else can we say! We think he is the most adorable little boy in the world, and now he is ours.

June 5, 2007

WE GOT THE CALL!!!! WE ARE PARENTS!!!

Do you know how long we have waited to say these words!!!???!!!!
At about 3:50pm this afternoon we received the call we have been longing for!
We are thrilled to announce that we have been referred a BOY! Yes, a BOY!!! We are so surprised it is a boy, as we had been thinking a girl since the beginning, and girls are more commonly adopted than boys. So this makes this gift even more special to us!

Here is what we know so far:
Chinese Name: Xu Xiao Lu
Birthdate: March 31, 2006 (he is 14 months old)
Province: Jiangsu Province

He has been at an SWI (social welfare institute), which is another name for an orphanage, his whole life.
We are told that he is adorable, with chubby cheeks and a beautiful smile.
We are waiting for pictures, which are on the way by Fed-Ex, and we will receive them sometime tomorrow morning. With those pictures will be more details regarding his medical history, which shows normal health.

We promise to post pictures as soon as we can tomorrow.
We cannot wait to see the pictures of our son!!! The agency tells us that in one of the pictures he is wearing a baseball cap and overalls. Too adorable! Brian is already planning to make him a great hockey player, or at the very least, a great golfer!!!

This all happened so fast today, as most of the day was quiet with no indication that referrals were going to arrive. Then all of a sudden, the phone rang and now we are parents. It is an indescribable feeling, and we are truly overwhelmed!

I'll post more tomorrow, including pictures and more details. Right now, we are over the moon and back excited, thrilled, and blessed to have a son. Now, we can't wait to bring him home!!!

Referrals Are Arriving!!!

Several agencies are reporting that referrals have arrived, and many have already received their calls from their agencies. Those receiving calls so far have a LID of November 7th!!!! That means we are in!!!!!!!!!!
Agencies reporting that packages have arrived are on the West Coast and East Coast. Our agency is in Oregon.
We have not received any word yet from our agency, but we hope to get our call either later today or tomorrow! Stay tuned!!!!!!
Can this really, FINALLY, be happening?????????

June 4, 2007

Monday Has Come and Gone

Well, Monday is just about over, and we unfortunately have no news to share. Not too much has hit the rumor mill today. We had a small bit of hope this morning that updates were to follow, as news surfaced that European agencies were claiming the cut-off of November 7th. But then the rest of the day was quiet. We are still happy, though, that they are still talking about November 7th, as that is our day.
Some other agencies are speculating that referrals will not come out until later this week, or even into next. We sure hope not!
So on this Monday night we are just about where we were this morning. But still hopeful to hear something this week! No news is GOOD news, right???

Thank you to everyone who have sent us comments or emails about this blog. I will do my best to keep it updated daily with any new developments. Tomorrow is another day.........

It's Monday Morning......

And still no news. I have a feeling it is going to be a long couple of days! The rumor boards are quiet right now. I had hoped to wake up today with at least news of a cut-off date. But nothing. Well, maybe no news is good news??? We shall see. Stay tuned!!

June 3, 2007

We Are Getting Close!




So when will this stork fly?? That is the big question on our minds this Sunday night. As most of you know, we have hoped and prayed for the day to arrive, and we are now very close to FINALLY reaching the day we have been anxiously awaiting. The PHONE CALL and OUR REFERRAL!! At the beginning of May, referrals came out and covered log-in dates up to and including November 1, 2005. With our LID of November 7, 2005, we are only 6 LID's away from referral. Rumors have been swirling since that May referral batch, indicating good rumors (June will get to the mid-teens of November) and bad rumors (June will only see a couple of LID's referred). The rollercoaster has been quite a ride this month, more so for us as we are right on the edge. The latest speculation? That June's referral cut-off will be November 7th. If true, then we are in!!!!! But as we have learned way too many times, there are no sure things during this adoption process, so we are still very cautious. However, we do know that the rumors and speculation will be replaced by fact, and we think that will happen in the next day or so. At this point (where it is 10:00am Monday morning in China), we have heard no news yet. But, we think that we will begin to hear something more concrete hopefully in the next 24-48 hours. Maybe?!? First we will find out the cut-off date for referrals. Then we will wait for the news that the "stork is in the air". If we are in, we will wait for a call from our agency, letting us know that we are parents! We will get as much information from that call as we can, and then the next day, Mr. Fed-Ex man delivers our package with more details, pictures and more. All of this will happen over the course of just a couple of days.

Okay, so I am not going to get too far ahead of ourselves right now. Trying to keep a level head, because we know that ANYTHING can happen. We are keeping the faith and hope that this will be it! Keep checking this site for more updates as we will keep you updated through here. And once we get pictures, we will put them here too.

Thanks for your support everyone!

"I haven't met you yet or seen your face, but in my heart you hold a place. My hopes grow with each passing day, even though you're miles away. I know you're there waiting for me, as I am here waiting to see, the child God has sent from above, to make me a mother and share all my love."
(Karen Cooper)