I forgot...

At one of our various appointments last week the pediatrician asked me if I was ready for "toddler-hood".   Now, I love this woman, and I trust her completely with my children, but what a funny question. Am I ready? I thought I was before I went to Hong Kong. But I had forgotten a lot!

I forgot that clothes were changed multiple times per day for all kinds of crazy reasons. "Not dose pans momma, new pans" . Really? Whatever.If it makes the kid happy to change pants, what's the big deal? 

And then there is the pee. We change more clothes due to overflow of pee than I can even count.Not to mention the sheets. If you didn't already know, John has diabetes insipidus (different from blood sugar diabetes) which basically means he doesn't produce the hormone to tell him to stop peeing. We give him medicine to supplement this hormone but he still pees SO MUCH! Which leads me to...

Diapers. I can't find one I like. I had just gone to Costco and bought PullUps. Because he's a toddler, right? Nope! PullUps are no match for the Pee Master. Maybe during the day, but not at night. A mother of five recommended Luvs. They work better but he still requires a diaper change in the middle of the night. I'm not complaining. He's a sweet little boy and even more so when he's sleeping.

I also forgot how heavy toddlers are. The muscles on the left side of my body have been spazzing out since we first met John. I took me a while to figure out what was going on. My left hip is my baby slinging hip. My purse and diaper bag tend to go on the left side as well. I've gotta change that.

One last thing I forgot, just how frustrating it is to have a clingy toddler. Last night we went to a friend's Christmas party and John wouldn't let me put him down. I know you've all felt it. The, "if I could just among adults for 5 flippin' minutes without a toddler attached to my hip" feeling.

And then something clicked. The toddler attached to my hip was choosing me to comfort him in a situation that he was uncomfortable with. This is HUGE y'all!

Orphans don't come home knowing what a momma is. They may know the word but they have no reference point. They simply are unaware that there is actually a person whose job is to comfort and protect them. Heck, they've been having to self comfort and protect their own selves for as long as they've been in the orphanage.To rely on someone else to do that for you is a big deal. And John's done just that. 

I was only party kidding the other day when I wrote on FaceBook that John had claimed me as his momma by handing me his booger.In all honesty, he knows me to be the one to take care of things. So when something gross is stuck to your finger, why not just give it to the person who has been taking care of you day and night for the past 2 & 1/2 weeks? I am thankful that God has provided us with such a precious gift. 

It hasn't been the easiest of Christmas seasons. We've had several untimely deaths, but when is death ever timely? As a result we've been sad and stretched thin with a new toddler. Even so, our cup is overflowing. God is good all the time.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Life Marches On

I thought I'd give everyone a little glimpse into our new life for the past week. It's hard for me to believe that a week ago we were boarding a plane for Tokyo to bring John home. Sweet boy was so good for the 25 hours of traveling we did.

My sweet friends ( mother-in-law included) had brought food to my house before we arrived. That was so helpful. I keep digging in my pantry and refrigerator and finding new things. It was awesome! We've still had to make many, many trip to the grocery store for food items that John will eat. So far he really likes grits, Greek yogurt, white rice, and bananas. The irony of his affinity for grits is not lost on me.

Our first doctor visit was Monday morning. John had a lingering cough and runny nose. We dragged Calvin along since his asthma had flared up. It turns out Calvin had a sinus infection and John had a double ear infection. Oh, joy, joy! Both were started on antibiotics.

We had to leave Tuesday to go to S.Ga for David's grandfather's funeral. Papa Buddy died the Saturday night after we got home. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for about 6 months (that we know of). It was a hard loss. Papa Buddy had always been a strong, vivacious man. It was only within the last month or so that his body just gave out. On a side note, we name our son after Papa Buddy, who was the original Calvin Schramm.

John loves to ride in the car. He did fantastic on the trip and even at the funeral. He sat there and whispered quietly to me until he realized he needed to poop. I tried to very discreetly step out of the pew and exit the church so I could get his diaper changed. Of course we were sitting in the middle of the pew so the whole process was not carried out as delicately as I had envisioned.

I don't think I mentioned that the doctors and nurses had a really hard time drawing blood from John. We ended up having to go to Scottish Rite to get the rest of his blood drawn today. He fights us and cries so hard he screams. It is heart breaking. Poor baby lived in a hospital for the first 1 & 1/2 years of his life. I'm actually a little surprised that he doesn't show a stronger reaction to anyone in a lab coat. David went with me today for which I am so thankful. I needed an extra pair of hands to help hold him still. It was also good for David to see John have such a strong negative emotion. It was really hard on both of us to see him so upset.

Tomorrow we'll go back to the pediatrician to get her to recheck her ears. I'm thinking the amoxicillin that was prescribed isn't cutting it. It is probably time to bring out the big guns. Hopefully he'll keep eating yogurt so that his tummy won't hurt. We also have our first post placement visit with the adoption agency. I pray that goes well.

As I type this John is sacked out. He loves his room and is happy to go to sleep in there. As long as I don't tell him he's going to sleep. His automatic response has been " I no sleep". To which I respond, "ok, but you have to stay in your bed". He's usually out within 10-15 minutes. He's been sleeping through the night which is such an amazing blessing. I never did real well when Calvin and Holley Kate would wake up in the night to be fed. To be honest, having to wake up in the middle of the night and feed a baby was one of my biggest fears in adopting. I'm just a zombie when I have to get up in the night. How sad is that?

God did such an amazing job when he created John for us. And yes, I believe that before time God knew that John would be our child. He answered our prayers to adopt a child who was truly an orphan Even if you're a non-believer it would be difficult to not see God's hand in this whole process.

John fits in with our family so well. I couldn't love him anymore if I had given birth to him. I feel like I've known him for years. He's clinging to me and always wants to be picked up. David is better at making him walk ( it is good for strengthening his muscles) than I am. If  he lifts his arms and says please I melt and tote him around.



He does so many cute things. I'm going to have to save that for another time though.

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Today is Calvin's 12th birthday. It is hard to believe he could be that old. Unfortunately, he woke up coughing again. I started the steroids a few days ago but it seems to be taking longer for the cough to subside. So, since John had to have his very first doctor appointment in "Uh-mer-ee-ka" I figured I'd drag Calvin along with.

Calvin's diagnosis: sinus infection. Oh well, at least we know. John's diagnosis: double ear infection. Ugh, well that explains the slight fever and runny nose. And let me tell you, home boy does not like his ears looked at. My mild mannered three year old morphed into a crazy beast when they tried to look at his ears. Apparently the tubes aren't working so well.

On top of that it is hard to get a vein on John to draw blood from. There were 5 of us (including me) trying to hold him, albeit lovingly, to draw blood. He broke my heart. In the end, they only got about 1/2 vial. We were written a prescription to go to Scottish Rite to get the blood drawn.

I guess I haven't written about our flight home. John did so well. He didn't cry the whole time. His main focus was on making sure he was buckled and that everyone around him was buckled too. Once he got tired of the seat belt he played with my Chapstick. He's just a happy little boy.

We were all exhausted when we got home Friday night. I think John may have slept about 5 of the 24 hours we were traveling. He was beat. We've mostly recovered from the extensive travel except for the fact that I turn into a pumpkin about 9pm. I just can't go any further.

I would like to thank everyone for praying for us and I ask that you continue during this transitional period of our lives. It was hard for me to pray on the trip since I was sick and constantly going. Not to mention being overwhelmed trying to get back into the groove of taking care of a toddler with medical issues. I appreciate knowing that y'all were praying on our behalf.

David's grandfather passed away this past Saturday. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for about 5 months. His body just finally gave out. We'll be laying him to rest on Wednesday.  I think I speak for the family when I say that we are glad that he is now at peace and with Jesus. Cancer is an awful way to die.

On that happy note, I'll leave you for now. Talk to you soon.

Gotcha Day!!

Hello everyone!

If you hadn't noticed, I didn't post yesterday. It was a baaaaad (sheep sound, here) day. It started off fine enough. We met Stella (social worker) at the orphanage and went with the kids to the library where they played in a special area for little kids. We hung out there for about 45 minutes then went and had lunch at the cafe in the building. The 5 of us, including Stella, then headed back to the hotel so that John could take a nap. That was the first time he had been to our hotel.

Here is John playing outside the library. It had been raining so he was playing in the water.



John is such a little trooper. Sweet boy came in our room, played a round for a bit, then fell asleep for one and half hours. No fussing, no fighting, no screaming. I have to tell you, I don't expect this to me the norm. I think he is in shock, so to speak. The ladies that work in the orphanage say he talks non stop, but we haven't found this to be the case. That is one of the main reasons I don't think we're seeing thre real John. But for now, I am totally digging the no fussing thing though.

John finally let David carry him. This was a big deal!


Our first problem started outside the hotel. In the madness of getting 4 adults out of the taxi, handing John over to David so I could pay the taxi driver, and actually paying the driver,  I misplaced my wallet. We scoured the room and called the front desk. It was nowhere. Of course, we then had to call and cancel all of  our credit cards. Unfortunatley we did not have much money on us and when we cancelled the VISA credit card that left us without a way to pay for things. The debit card would not work. It was the middle of the night at home so there no one to help us. Thankfully, David  had his work AmEx card. He was able to pay for meals with it until we got somebody on the phone in Ga. Apparently AmEx is not accepted as worldwide as the commercials would have you believe.

Later that afternoon I began to feel weird. Kind of a thirsty, nauseated, cold feeling. I knew something was wrong when we were riding in the taxi back from the orphanage, and I was cold. Westerners are not cold in Hong Kong. If we're cold then the locals are freezing. It is really comical. The locals are decked out in hats, scarves, and heavy coats and we're in pants and short sleeved shirt. I honestly would have been more comfortable in shorts for most of the time.

Anyway, I digress. I got back to the hotel and puked. Well, that explained it. I'll spare you the gory details but it was food poisoning. I have no idea what I ate, but my body was having no part of it.  The blessings in all of this are 2-fold. Number one, I was the one and only one who got it. I would've felt awful if Holley Kate had been sick. If David had been sick then he wouldn't have been able to take care of the credit card/money issue. So, praising God for that. Number two, it couldn't have happened at a better time. John had already been here and had his nap. I didn't have to worry about getting him back to the orphanage and explaining what was wrong with me. I also didn't know at the time if it was the flu or some other such bug.

Today was Gotcha Day!! It was just great. I'm not sure that John really understood what was going on though.  They had all the kids in a semi circle in the room. They sang song after song. John got to go in the middle of the circle and sing and dance. He was the star of the day.

They did a candle ceremony where John held a (fake) candle and took it around to all the kids in the room. The children would put "good wishes" into the candle for him. At some poing during all this I looked around and noticed the workers crying. Crap, y'all! I lost it. And it just kept getting better. They started to sing the I Love You Barney song while John went around and hugged everyone goodbye. By this point I'm a blubbering mess and Stella is feeding me tissues.

All in all, it was really sweet and well done. After that they took him to each room to tell the room goodbye. We even had to go down to the office to tell the piano goodbye. It was finally time for us to leave. I think John was just done by that point.

I can't imagine how hard this was for John's workers. He primary worker, May Yi (sp), wasn't even at the going away party. She said she just couldn't do it. We did get to tell her goodbye yesterday though. She was such a nice woman. John was so blessed to have had such a kind loving woman to care for him.

Y'all would not belive John's suitcase they bought him. It is huge!! They filled it to almost overflowing. I had no idea he was going to come home with so much stuff. It wasn't just clothes. The ladies that work there bought him gifts!!



Can you believe it? It is 75% gifts. I'm just floored.

As I type this John is napping. We'll wake him up in a bit and head out for some exploring.

I found out some information about his biological parents which I'll share in a later post. My mind was really opened and my heart changed with this information.

I'll post some actual pictures of John over at my other blog.

We're praising God that John is officially ours today! It almost doesn't seem real. I guess once we get back to the states and settle into a routine, it will be more real for us.

Talk to you tomorrow, Lord willing.

We Met John!

So today was the day. We met our son. How weird is that? For 3 years he has lived in a country without a mommy and daddy, and today he got them. How would I have known that on July 12, 2009 my son was being born half way across the world. I have often wondered what I was doing on that day. For the life of me, I can't remember. More than likely, I was schooling Calvin and Holley Kate and spending the afternoon at the pool.

Ok, enough contemplation. On to the meat of the day. Our case worker, Stella, met us in the lobby of our hotel at 9:15. She is a very sweet, petite Asian lady. Very warm and friendly. And she loves those kids. We all took a taxi over to Mother's Choice which was only about a 10 minute ride.






Here is Holley Kate posing out in front of the sign. Mother's Choice (MC) is in a really pretty part of the city. Funny thing is, we went right past MC yesterday and didn't even know it. The tram that goes up and down to The Peak is right next to it.

They are very big on cleanliness. You have to take your shoes off and put on some of their slippers. You then wash your hands with soap and water. After that, you spray your hands with alcohol. It was kind of like going into the NICU.  We then went into a waiting area. Stella could hear John before he even got to us. He came in wearing a traditional Chinese outfit. We sat a while and got to know him. He then wanted to go play with the piano.

I'll tell you now, I can't show John's face on this blog because it is public. If you'd like to see him, you'll have to go to my private blog. I'll give directions at the bottom.


I just can't express to y'all just how sweet he was. He absolutely LOVED Holley Kate. He sat there and played and played the piano with her. I really think he would've done it for an hour had he been abe to.

We first met with the physical therapist. John gets around real well but is a little unsteady. I'm not sure they know exactly why, but they guessed that it was due to his poor vision in his left eye. He pulls everything up very close to look at it. He even makes his fist into a sort of telescope to look through to see more clearly. I really believe his eyes are going to give him trouble. We'll be seeing lots of specialist to address it. It make my heart lurch a little when I think about it. But really? How many people live with just one good eye? My brother for one. I somehow know many people who only have one working eye. And who knows what the docs in the US can do for his eyes?

Stella said John wasn't talking anything like he usually did. She said he was nervous. Can you blame him? How strange all of this must be for him.

We then went upstairs for lunch. They fed him rice, egg, and eggplant. He seemed to love it. He scarfed it all down. They then gave him dragon fruit which was similar to kiwi. After that, yogurt. He at every.single.bite. Water came after lunch. He pours his own water and gulps it down.

It was then time for a nap and lunch time for us. We joined Stella at a resteraunt about a 10 minute walk from MC. Poor Holley Kate. She's having such bad luck with food. She didn't like her lunch. The good news is that there was salad bar that came with it. She was able to fill her tummy on salad and fruit. I think I made need to try and broaden their palates a bit once we get back to GA. The most adventurous we get is
Italian.







After lunch we walked back to the orphanage and got to hang out with John a little bit more. I was able to see a little more of his personality. There are 2 or 3 boys in his room that are quite rambunctious. And I mean, they take those walkers and run with them and ram into the walls. The slower kids ( not mentally just physically) have to steer clear or they'll get run over. John is one of the slower ones. He sat on a mat way out of the way. David, Holley Kate, and I sat on the floor with him and played. He had a little cash register that he was very interested in. Truly y'all, he was happy just to sit there and play with his toy. He enjoyed playing with us, especially since Daddy have him some Hong Kong coins to put in his register, but I really think he would've been fine by himself.

Bathtime was next. He seemed to really enjoy it. I can't wait to get him home so he can just sit and play in the tub. They have 12 kids to bathe so there is not "tubby time". I think he'll thoroughly enjoy getting his bath toys and hanging out in the water.


The only little glitch is that he seems to be a bit afraid of  David. I think it is a combination of him being male (most of the workers are female) and the Grizzly Adams beard David has going on. John gave Holley Kate and me tons of hugs and kisses but only when we asked. He just wasn't quite as warm with David.

I know that once he gets more used to us he'll cling to David. Both Calvin and Holley Kate did that. They love me but they see me all day long. Daddy is always the fun one :0)

Anyway, I've posted some "real" pictures of John at www.schrammclan.wordpress.com If you haven't already, you have to sign up. It will send me an email to see if I allow you to see the blog. Let me know if your username is something weird that I won't recognize. I have to be careful who I let see his pictures. That just basically means I have to know who you are. Family for friend. Hong Kong has some pretty strict guidelines on how their kiddos photos are used online.

We're praising the Lord for such a wonderful first meeting with John. It really was what I wanted it to be. Very sweet and low key. I didn't want there to be lots of drama. With that being said, please pray that John will grieve the loss of his friends and substitue moms at MC. He needs to miss them and feel that loss. That way he'll cling and bond with us. As his mother, I don't want him to hurt. But, I know that this is an important part of the process.

On that happy note, I'll leave you for today. Tomorrow we go for an outing. Woo Hoo! Talk to you then.

Day 2 in Hong Kong

Last night I fell asleep at 10pm which is waaaaaay early for me. And when I say I fell asleep, I mean I went completely unconcious. I think David and Holley Kate tried to call Calvin or something, but I was out. My body is so stinking confused. We are downing the coffee.

The good news is we got up early enough to get dressed for church and go out in search of a McDonalds. We really wanted to go to one of the bakeries we've heard so much about, but apparenty they aren't open on Sundays. The nerve of them!

McDonald's has all the normal breakfast foods that the states do along with some other very strange foods. I watched the woman next to me eat a breakfast soup that had an egg, sausage patty, noodles, and vegetables in it. Yack!

Speaking of which, I don't think I mentioned how everyone just sits together at the tables in restaurants  here. It was rather strange and somewhat uncomfortable in the beginning. I'm getting more used to it. I guess since we speak another language nobody feels the need to engage us in conversation. So we're sort of still sitting by ourselves. Maybe???

The church we went to today was pretty interesting. It was very different for us but not because it was a "Hong Kong" church. It was different from what we're used to simply b/c it was a non-denominational, contemporary service. The leader of the worship music was Chinese and did a fantastic job. They did the whole American contemporary service thing where they had the words to the songs on screens.

The sermon was on sex. Oh.My.Stars. Welcome to Hong Kong! They had asked for members to text their questions that they wanted answers but were too afraid to ask in person. The preacher and his wife sat on the stage and answered these questions. Y'all, I thought Holley Kate was going to DIE!! That of course made it all that much funnier to me.

This afternoon we took a bus up to The Peak which they say is the highest point in Hong Kong. Unfortunatey for us is was foggy and drizzly, so we weren't able to see very far. We rode one of those double decker buses up the mountain. I couldn't watch out the front of the bus. The roads were tiny and we were in the outside lane ( they drive on the opposite side over here). I'm pretty sure we were having to pull over so other buses could pass.

We're planning on going on the Star Ferry tonight. It's supposed to be a really cool place to watch the light show.

Oh, I almost forgot! One of the sweet ladies at the church told us some restaurants to go to that were more "normal" for Holley Kate. You know, I blame her for all this but I'm more than happy to accomadate her. After seeing the cooked chicken heads in the market next to our hotel I'm good with going to the American joints.

We meet John tomorrow! So excited and nervous! Thanks again for your prayers. We know that God ordained that John would be our son. That gives us peace in knowing we are doing the right thing. As crazy as it sounds, I'm not very nervous about meeting him. I'm just really looking forward to it. I pray that his heart is opened to us and that bonding can begin. That is the part that worries me. But good or bad, he's ours now.

Talk to y'all tomorrow!! Love you!

Day One in Hong Kong

So we made it! That was one massive trip. We left Atlanta at 12 noon on Thursday and arrived here at 11:30 pm. I think that is about lunch time in GA. We were beat. I think I slept, at most, 1 & 1/2 hours the whole trip. David and Holley Kate got in about 3 hours. It was really hard to sleep on the plane. Delta did a great job entertaining us. There was a tv on the back of the seat in front of us with tons of movies to choose from. Not only that, there were some television shows we could watch as well.

I am not a big movie person but I figured I needed to become one for the trip. The first one I watched was Breaking Dawn part 1. Oh my stars, it was awful. I read the book and actually enjoyed them. The movie was a completely different story. I think I ended up watching about 4 movies. I finished the trip with the Kardashians (on the plane from Japan to HK). Yep, that was awful too. But you know, it was entertaining enough to keep my mind somewhat off my aching body.

Once we made it to the HK airport we had to go through customs. Ugh! Think Six Flags in the summer only a little cooler. Not to mention only working on 1.5 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours. Yea, that was fun.

I could have kissed the guy that was waiting at the airport to drive us to the hotel in our limousine which was minivan :0) I guess we finally made it to the hotel around 2am. Everybody got a hot shower and a dose of Benadryl. We slept hard.

I guess we woke up about 10am and headed out to explore. You know how skinny the streets are in Atlanta? They have NOTHING on Hong Kong. HK is crowded, hilly, stinky, strange, congested etc. It was totally cool though. We found ourselves at a mall where we ate lunch. Our choices were either McDonalds or Asian food places, duh. Have I mentioned that Holley Kate doesn't eat Asian food?
We shared some sort of beef dish. She did eat a little but we had to buy her some M&Ms afterward. We're looking for an American food joint for dinner tonight. Poor Holley Kate needs some "regular" American cuisine.

At some point during the day we ended up at the Lady's Market for souvenirs. We found lots of cool gifts. You get to haggle over the prices which is totally fun for me except when they vendors follow you down the street, grabbing your arm, trying to get you to buy the wares.

Tomorrow we're going to church with a friend of our pastor's. Hopefully we'll go on a tour afterward. Then Monday we meet John!! Woo Hoo!

Thank you for all your prayers. This has been a relatively easy trip so far. We miss Calvin something awful but we know he is great hands right now. We've been able to talk to him via FaceTime,which is really cool, btw.

Talk to y'all tomorrow!

High Court Order and Travel

Well Hello!

So last Tuesday we got fantastic news! The High Court Order was issued. Praise The Lord! Hallelujah! It only took 7 & 1/2 weeks. I cannot even tell you how shocked I was to receive the news. It took 10 & 1/2 weeks for my friends in Atlanta to get their HCO. We were not expecting to hear from HK until the week of Dec. 6.

So it happened like this. The kids and I were sleeping late. It was about 9:15am and my home phone began to ring. Nobody but soliciters call my home phone. I take that back, my sister in law and a few friends call it occasionally, but for the most part, it is just junk calls. We have one of the phones that announces who is calling. So instead of getting  out of my warm bed to answer the phone I waited for my phone to tell me who it was. When she announced that it was Bethany Christians Serices I lept from the bed to reach to phone. I couldn't see the phone so I mashed the wrong button and somehow had Alison on speaker phone.

It was really quite hysterical. The big kids were coming from their bedrooms all sleepy eyed trying to figure out why mom was knocking things over and making all kinds of noise to get to the telephone. Once they realized what had happened they joined me in celebration. Happy, happy day.

Mother's Choice recommended meeting John on Monday Dec. 3 which meant we needed to arrive the weekend before.  That gave us roughly  1 & 1/2 weeks to get to HK. Good grief, these people don't play. David spent the rest of the day making flight arrangements.

On a side note, our church (Old Peachtree Presbyterian) decided about a week or so ago to give us some extra money for the trip. God's timing is perfect. With the extra money we were able to buy Holley Kate a ticket to come with us! Yippee! She has been such a good sport about this whole process. She desperatley wanted to go. We have told her time and time again that we probably wouldn't be able to afford it, and not to get her hopes up. But guess what! God totally proviced a way.

Now you may be wondering about Calvin. I kid you not. The child begged me not to make him go. He had no desire to sit on an airplane for hours on end, go to a foreign country, eat weird food, etc. He just wasn't having any of it. The good news is that our family has come through for us. I'll drop Calvin off with his grandparents the day b/f we fly out. He'll go between both of David's parents' houses and maybe even get to go to Americus as well. I found out later on that he was super stoked to get to have his grandparents to himself. He said he had never had them to himself. Come to think of it, I guess he hasn't.

Praise The Lord for plans coming together! Everybody is happy with the arrangements. Of course I'm worried about leaving my eldest. I am not one of those moms that leaves her kids for any extended amount of time. I'm not super mom. I'm just extremely needy and want the ones I love close all the time. Heck, I  usually take our dogs with us everywhere we go. They even go skying with us in the summer. They hang out on the boath with us and bark at boats that come too close.

I have experienced about every emotion you can imagine in the last couple of days. I feel like I'm going into labor without the labor pains (for which I am grateful). I'm anxious about leaving Calvin, leaving the dogs, leaving my house... You name it and I've worried about it.

If you think about it, please remember us in your prayers. We've got a long road ahead of us. I'll be keeping everyone updated at this blog while we're gone. I'll also post pictures of John and maybe some of the other kiddos on a different blog, my password protected blog.
Here is that address:
schrammclan.wordpress.com

If you want to look at the picutres just  go to the site and fill out the new user info. It will send me an email asking me if you can view my blog. I'll say yes, then you can see all the pics.

 Love and kisses to all!

Waiting, waiting... and Pictures!!

Well, today marks 6 weeks that we received the Article 5 letter. The count to our High Court order began. The adopting agency told us the average is 8 weeks. So theoretically, we should hear in 2 weeks.

I'll tell you right now, I don't believe it. I think we have at least 4 more weeks before we hear. My friends, that arrived in Hong Kong this morning, had to wait 10 & 1/2 weeks to get their HCO :0(

That would put us in Hong Kong the week of Christmas. Oh, I do NOT want to be in HK the week of Christmas. But,  if that is that is what it takes to bring John home then we'll be there with bells on.

On a brighter note, they finally told John that he has a mommy and daddy! He didn't understand why we were changing his name from Kevin to John. How do you explain to a 3 year old that his older brother's name is Calvin which is way to similar to Kevin?

Funny thing is, on the video that we sent to John, I kept saying Calvin's name. That confused John since he thought I was saying "Kevin". Oh, this is going to be confusing when we get him home.

I'm not sure if I mentioned the video we sent John before, but it was about a 10 minute tour of the house. We made sure to go out in the back yard and show him the play set. Calvin and Holley Kate demonstrated the swings and slide. Apparently, the ladies in HK asked John if he was scared to go down the slide. His response was no, that he would sit in his sister's lap and go down.

Our heart melted! Holley Kate cried; I cried; I think we had everyone in the house in tears. It means so much to Holley Kate to hear that John wants a big sister. She loves him already.

So, for the most important part! Pictures! HK is real weird about us showing pictures of the kids. I have another blog that has pictures of John since I couldn't figure out how to password protect certain posts here.

So, here is the address:

schrammclan.wordpress.com

The wordpress blog  is password protected so if you want to see the pictures just private message me and I'll send you the password. You can do it via Face book or my regular email which is :

schramm.julie@gmail.com

Love to all!

Article 5 Approval

I know, I know, long time no blog.

Well, I'm here to update on all things John. Last Thursday, September 30, we received our Article 5 letter. I really don't know a whole lot about what an Article 5 letter, but I do know this. You have to have it to adopt. It takes about 8 weeks after you get the Article 5 to receive the High Court Order. Once we get the HCO we will be given travel dates which are usually 1-3 weeks post HCO.

I've been scouring the internet looking for blogs from people who have adopted or are in the process of adopting from Hong Kong. So I'm going to add a little technical info here for others who may be reading this blog to get some answers.

We received our Matching Approval on August 10. It took about a week for the documents from HK to arrive at our adoption agency. In the mean time David and I filled out documents for immigration. Everything was mailed to USCIS on either 8/20 or 8/21. We received immigration approval on 9/5 which was about 2 & 1/2 weeks.

After than all of our immigration info was supposed to be sent to the US Consulate in  Hong Kong for the Article 5 letter . A friend of mine who is a few weeks ahead of me in the journey told me that it took them 10 days after immigration approval to get their Article 5 letter. That was not the case for us.

Ten days came and went without hearing anything from the consulate. After much fretting and gnashing of teeth I called Bethany. Long story short, our paper work got left on a bureaucrat's desk and was not sent to the consulate. Craziness ensued on my part which involved me calling the consulate on a Sunday night to try and figure out if they had received our documents. Ok, I have to tell you, those poor English speaking Hong Kong ladies had no clue what this South Ga redneck was saying. I kept yelling "article 5" into the computer (I called on Skype). Travel over there is going to be real interesting for us.

Thank the good Lord, Mother's Choice confirmed with us that Monday that the consulate had received our immigration and was in the process of getting the Article 5 together. The actual Article 5 was issued September 27. Hallelujah!!!

Now we are waiting for the High Court Order. They say it take 6-10 weeks with 8 being the average. Please pray with me for the HCO. All of this has been perfectly ordained by God. I know His timing is best. I want to be comfortable and peaceful with God's timing. But, I really want that HCO to come sooner rather than later. God hasn't been doing any of this according to my time table, so maybe I should start going with His. The only problem with that is that I can't print off His table study it, and make plans accordingly :0)

I got a video in the mail last week. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Almost there!!!

Almost a week ago today, we found out that Hong Kong had approved David and me to be the parents of our 3 year old boy (we knew he was ours even when they didn't). Woo Hoo! It only took 3 months & 27 days to make that decision, but who's counting? We are so excited! It almost seems unreal that we are getting closer to traveling.

So that is the next question. When do we travel? From what I understood them to say, here is the break down:
2-3 weeks for I-800 approval
2 weeks for Article V approval
8-10 weeks for the High Court Order

So that is roughly 4 months, which puts us into December. I also found out that we will only get about a 1-3 week lead time for airplane travel and hotel. I'm already worried that the airline tickets will be astronomical because of both the time of year and the fact that we can't buy the tickets earlier. I'm praying about that. I called Clark Howard's consumer action number to ask the best way to handle this. They said the best way was to sign up on various websites to track ticket prices.

Another reason I'm concerned about ticket prices is because we had originally planned to take Calvin and Holley Kate with us. If the tickets are real expensive then that will not happen. Of course, that make me sad    :(

But you know, whatever happens is what was supposed to happen. God may not make a way for Calvin and Holley Kate to go with us. He may have other plans that my human self has no way of grasping. And if that is the way it shakes out, I'll be ok with that. I'm trusting in Him to handle this little hiccup.

We started decorating his room. Nautical!! I'm painting a Goodwill dresser right now. I'm so excited to do these little things for him. We have to work on a video to send him too. I'm having a lot of fun right now.

God Bless Y'all!

For the Love of All Good Distractions

Good grief! It really has been a long time since I last blogged. I have to say I've been rather busy.

So, where to start? Let's see. The dossier finally got sent to Hong Kong. About 6 weeks later ( 2 weeks ) ago we received a ton of questions from the HK government. Most of them were very well thought out. With that being said, I practically had to write an essay to answer the questions they asked.

One of the questions read, "Explain to us in concrete terms how you understand his diseases and what you are doing to prepare yourselves for them". Whew! So basically, I had to take each of his illnesses one by one, explain to them how I understood it, and what we were planning to do to best treat these illnesses.

Most of his "diseases" are life long that he'll just have to learn to live around. It just comes down to finding the right physician to help manage them.

Our sweet pediatrician wrote a fantastic letter explaining that she had reviewed his charts with us and that we knew what we were getting ourselves into. It was really a glowing referral, and I am so very thankful to Dr. Khan for that.

There were also many questions about finances. Oh joy! I deferred to David for that. It should be relatively easy to show why we had way more money in the fall than we do in the spring, mainly because it belongs to Bethany now. But, of course, nothing is easy. For some reason everyone wants proof ;0)

About 2 weeks later we had answered all their questions to the best of our abilities. Now we are praying that that is good enough for the Hong Kong government. The next step is getting the referral which is, as I understand, the approval from the Hong Kong gov't that we can adopt their kid. Once they give us that, we'll get our travel dates, Lord willing.

Please pray for expediency. This waiting process is quite difficult for me. Most of the time I am either impatient, mad, gloomy, irritated, or all of those at the same time. I should be resting in God's peace and perfect timing. But unfortunately, most of the time I do not.

I did beg the Hong Kong specialist for information about my baby. Glory Hallelujah! We got some news! He is now walking and speaking in full sentences, albeit Cantonese. He is also reaching for tiny objects. I'll take that to mean his vision is not as bad as I had feared. Woo Hoo!

I found out the name of his primary care giver is Stella. She is holding my baby in her arms and teaching him how to love. From everything that I've read, the orphans that have a caregiver that they bond with have an easier time bonding to their family. Please pray for Stella as only the body of Christ can!

So, there's the adoption update in a nutshell. I hope I have new news soon.

Oh, and there's been this little thing called VBS that has been going on this week. I'm the director. Praise the Lord for fruitful distractions!

The kids are having a blast! We've got two extra kids going with us, one of which is un-churched. Please pray  that through VBS and gospel presentation God will draw her to Him. That would be amazing!

Now, I will be completely unproductive and go take a nap. Peace out!

Roller Coaster of Love

I'm sitting here at the computer when I really should be cleaning the house. But honestly, I'm sick to death of it. I've got so many things on my mind that I thought maybe blogging would help me chill. So here goes.

This week has been full of many fabulous ups and one not so fantastic down. The I800A not only got approved, but I received it Friday. I had it in my greasy little hands for about 1 hour before I rushed to the post office and overnighted it to Alison, the lady in charge on Hong Kong adoptions. Before you ask, yes, I made a copy of it before I mailed it off.

On Tuesday I found out that we were accepted for the Promise 686 Grant. If you aren't familiar with Promise 686 I'll give you a quick tutorial. Perimeter Church in Atlanta ( a Presbyterian PCA church like us) backs this grant. It is a matching grant of up to $8000. Meaning they match dollar per dollar up to $4000. You have to live within the greater Atlanta area to qualify.

I cannot tell you how thrilled we were! And the crazy part is that we already have people giving us money. I'm trying desperately trying to figure out how to set everything up. What an amazing problem to have!!

I have to tell you, I'm not a very eloquent prayer. It usually sounds something like, "Please, please Lord let so and so happen ", or " Please, please Lord heal my kid, save my kid, help him/her find a Godly spouse". See, not very original. But one of my best friends, Allison (who happens to be a wonderful Godly woman), had told me that she prayed for open or closed doors ( in a situation they were dealing with). So that is what I did. And guess what? He has blown the doors off the hinges for us!

We did not have the money to do this adoption. We were in a doing ok financially only because God had led us to Dave Ramsey. We had become debt free in October '10. But we were still working on our emergency fund when we started considering adoption. Money was probably the biggest hindrance to adopting. How were we going to come up with the estimated $20,000 it would take to pay for this adoption? I spoke to some ladies at my church who had adopted multiple times and asked where the money came from? They said that it just comes. What?? How in the name of Sam Hill does that happen? We were about to find out.

For some reason, we decided for forge ahead without a check for $20K sitting in front of us. The first thing we did was have a garage sale. I've blogged about that. It was AMAZING! So to date, we've paid $8700 to the adoption agency and probably $2000 in miscellaneous bills related to the adoption ( passports, I800A, doctor visits etc.) So where did we get the money? We made about $4500 with the yard sale. The rest was just bizzaro. We got a tax refund, and somehow we had the rest of the money in the bank. Crazy, huh? Not crazy, but God. David and I didn't do anything fantastic but trust that God would provide. I can't explain the amount of peace I have had with the "money" issue. I just trusted it would be there. If you know me, you know this is SOOOOO not my personality. I'm a worrier and I especially freak out when it comes to money. God is providing in more than one way.

We still have about $10K to raise. But as crazy as this may sound, I'm looking forward to raising it. This adoption process and helped strengthen my faith. If we are doing His will, He will provide. That has been shown to us over and over again.

So, as for the bad part of the week, I think I'll wait and see if that situation sorts itself out. It could look pretty bad for a company and for their employee. I'm not into bashing them publicly on the internet. Not saying I wasn't ticked, but I've had time to calm down. David and I made a decision together to turn the problem over to our pastor and elders (if it is not handled properly). I am much more at peace knowing I don't have to go after Goliath by myself.

Ahhhhh! I already feel better ;0)

Hopefully Alison will mail out the dossier to Hong Kong on either Monday or Tuesday. Then we get to wait for Hong Kong to give us a referral. After that we travel!!! Please pray for an expedited referral. The little boy we are adopting is turning 3 in July. We'd really love to have him in our arms to celebrate his birth.

One last thing I forgot to mention about praying. David and I had about an hour long discussion with our pastor a few weeks ago. It was and interview for a grant that requires your pastor to ask you some questions about salvation etc. It turned into a "mini" counseling session. It was fantastic. One of the little gems I picked up while there was another way to pray. My pastor said that a way to ask God to expedite our plans, and help with funding would be to make our case to God. Basically list the reasons why we want to hurry up an get to Hong Kong. List the reasons we need the money to make this trip possible. I am so grateful for this advice. David and I are truly blessed to have such a wise and Godly man as our pastor.

That is all for now. Hopefully we'll have that referral soon!

Would You Like Some Cheese With That Whine?

It is so hard to write on my blog when I'm frustrated. I think it will sound whiny and pathetic. But maybe if I get that out of the way real quick it won't sound so bad??? So here goes!

It is taking forever to get the I800a form back. For those of you who don't know the "adoption lingo" that is some form that has to go to INS. Once they take a look at it they send me a form to get our fingerprints for our VISAs. It's been almost 7 weeks and still no appointment for fingerprints. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

The adoption agency is calling INS every other day. They are also submitting some form to speed up INS. Ha! Speed up the government. Good one.

If this form doesn't work they'll have to get GA's sentator, Johnny Isakson, involved. I'm just so over this. I asked if there was anybody I could call and bless out. They said no. Dangit!! I really need to unload on the government employee who is holding up the process. And people wonder why I REALLY dislike the government. Hmmm???

The super, fantastic, incredible news I got last week came in the form of pictures. They sent me pictures from the orphanage!! I screamed and cried and smiled! And then I did them all over again. I also showed everyone around me the pictures. Since David was at work and all my friends weren't around I had to show them to the Home Depot guy and the ladies at the dry cleaners. Bless their hearts, they pretended to be happy for me at least.

It was great taking the pictures to church yesterday and showing him off. Everyone clucked over him just as I had hoped. It was great. Now they have a picture in their heads of the little boy they've been praying for.

I'm hoping I can put his pictures here on my blog. We'll have to wait and see though. They are very funny about putting kid's pictures out there.

In other news, Calvin signed up for football. I think it is a conspiracy b/w my son and my husband to see how much stress I can take. He'll be playing for a home school league but I hear they are fierce. Great.... Calvin is tall and thin. He wants to play wide receiver. I assume this means he wants to be the one to catch the ball when the QB throws it. Eeek! I just hope he's fast.

I hope all of y'all are doing well. Thanks for reading!

Social Security Numbers and Such

My social security card arrived in the mail today. That thing was a pain in the rear end to get a hold of. I am so excited it is here!

Why, you ask, am I so excited that a government issued ID card has arrived? Well, because it is the latest piece of information that was missing which I desperately needed to finish up some of the paper work.

I think I am close to being done. I have to take some of the paper work to the county clerk and then take it to somewhere in Atlanta to get the state seal. This is a monstrosity of a pain. But, I'm jumping through these ridiculously silly hoops with a smile so that I can get my hands on our baby.

Woo Hoo! Join me is saying Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! There is no way my social security card could have gotten here this quickly without a little help from our Lord. It was less than a week ago that I went to the SS Admin to put in the request. It had to be mailed from Baltimore or Boston (some where starting with a "B").

OK- I'll post more soon when I know something.

Adoption & Stomach Viruses

Good grief! It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. Well, hold on to your hat. Here goes.

Adoption:

The home study was finished and approved in December. We paid for it ($3800) so now it is put to rest. We still owe about $4000 in adoption fees. Hopefully David's W2s will hurry up and get here, the government will issue our refund check, and we can pay that fee.

The next step is the dossier. If I understand right, the dossier is similar to the home study but it requires different documents which are specific to Hong Kong. I spoke to the lady from Bethany who is in charge of adoptions from Hong Kong. It looks like we are still looking at traveling late summer(ish). That is assuming the funding is there.

When I started writing this post I remembered I had to pay for the I800A (about $900). I believe that has something to do with immigration. I really can't keep up anymore. I think it takes about 2 months to get approval.

Please don't hear me complaining about money or the high cost of adoption. I am simply stating how much we owe. For those that are considering adoption, you need to know what you are facing. David and I also know that God will provide one way or another. This is a big leap of faith for us. We really don't know how we'll get the money to pay for this. All my friends who have traveled this road before me have said the money will come.

I have been working on applying for grants. I just can't emphasize how much NOT fun that is. If it were just about filling out a form and signing on the dotted line that would be one thing. But unfortunately, you fill out forms, sign on the line, and provide about a bazillion documents to prove that you are legitimately adopting. What they don't know is that perseverance is my middle name.

Life in General:

Holley Kate has had a stomach virus this past week. Again with the not fun. She seems to be getting better slowly. Gatorade and soda crackers have been our friend. School work has been minimal, at best, this week. Calvin has used this to his advantage. What he didn't realize is that I would have lots of time to spend with him doing English. :0)

Oh and one more thing. Even though we haven't "matched" with our little boy in Hong Kong we have already picked out a name.

We have always given our kids family names. Holley is actually my great great grandmother's maiden name. Kate came from David's grandmother, Mary Kate. Calvin is David's dad and grandaddy's name. Jeffrey is David's middle name as well as his uncle's name.

David and the kids were happy with the name we picked out but I was still struggling with it. And really it was all because both of his names (first and middle) came from David's side of the family. Yes, I am petty like that. However, the other night I stumbled across a book at my house that chronicles the Rushes since the original one (Abraham) came over Germany. Guess what?!! The name that we had picked out is the same name of my great, great, great, great, great Grandaddy Rush. Woo Hoo! I'm happy with it now.

I'm not going to announce the name now. But if you really want to know, my loud mouthed kids will probably tell you. I just want to keep it somewhat under wraps until we are matched.

As always, David and I appreciate your continued prayers. The kids are memorizing Romans 8:28 right now which I believe is very appropriate to put here. It is what I repeat to myself when things seems to not be working out the way I think they should be.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.