Shanghai Day 2-The Day Before Brody

Vivianna and Steven left this morning for home so we decided to check out some places around Shanghai that they recommended to us. Our first stop was the Pearl TV Tower. The tower is 1,500 feet tall, one of the tallest buildings in the city.



The view of the city is amazing at 750 feet.



There's an additional transparent sightseeing platform that literally suspends you above the city. The kiddos enjoyed the view above the streets and river. I was a little less thrilled about being so far up without a "solid" floor.







After the Pearl Tower, we ate lunch at a Korean/Chinese restaurant. The rice was great and Maeli liked the noodle bowl.









We stumbled upon a 10 story mall that also happened to have a huge arcade. It is a great break from walking and the kids enjoyed the games.


The malls here have displays that are really interesting.



We finished the day wondering about the pearl and goods market off the Shanghai Science and Technology Subway (we survived the subway alone!) stop. It's fun to look around there and also to negotiate prices with the shop owners. We picked up a few souvenirs and headed to a well known park area to find dinner. After dinner we went to the supermarket for a few items. Once back in the room we had a great time talking, laughing, and spending the last few hours as a family of 5.

It's simply impossible to accurately describe my emotions tonight. I can't help but wonder about him... I pray his heart will be easily opened to us. I know he's had to protect it. He's learned that he's the only person he can trust. We know it will take time to build that trust with him. My heart hurts for the time I've lost with him, the time he's waited... And then I'm reminded that timing is everything... God makes all things work for the good of those who are called according to his purpose. He's been working long before we committed to be Brody's parents that this day would come. I have to trust that He will guide and lead us. Does that mean his journey will be easy? I don't think so. In many ways over the past few months, my faith has been tested... But one thing that has remained the same is God's faithfulness in our process to bring Brody home. 6 months ago, we followed a call and God has been in the details to bring him home God speed. Please, please pray for Brody tonight. At 9 pm CST (Sunday), Brody will see his forever Baba and Mama for the first time face to face. The courage and bravery that it will take for him to walk away from everything he has known the past 8 years into a family, is incomprehensible to me. So I ask that as we celebrate being a forever family, that we remember the loss and pain that came with that new chapter and I ask you to cover him in prayer that God, who can do more than we can imagine would give Brody comfort and courage to let us into his heart.

Blessings,
Jessica

We Made It! Shanghai Day 1

We left for Atlanta Wednesday night for our Thursday morning flight to Shanghai. Our Korean Air flight stopped in Seoul for a layover before arriving in Shanghai. It was neat to be able to spend a few hours in our youngest daughter's birth country.

Ready for takeoff!







When we arrived in Shanghai, we were greeted by our dear friends from China, Vivianna and Steven, who traveled to Shanghai for the weekend to visit with us. It's amazing how God has woven our friendship together. What started as a friendship between her and I at school during her 1 year internship in the USA has transformed into a lifelong friendship with her and her husband. We visited her and Steven last year when we traveled to bring Maeli and home and thankfully their schedule allowed for them to spend some time with us again. What a blessing that God worked out.

We are staying in the Pudong district in a loft style hotel that provides a little more room than the average hotel. The extra space will be helpful as we plan to spend most of our time in the room playing and bonding with Brody. Here's the view from our room on the 17th floor.






Eating Breakfast with our friends. Thankful for the Starbucks next door to our hotel after the 16 hour plane ride with limited food, we were ready for something familar.



Shanghai has a unique mixture of modern living and ancient culture. My first impression was that city is similar to New York.






I'm amazed at all the bikes and scooters here. Chase had a near crash experience with a bike this evening. It is never safe to cross the road even when the crosswalk says it is!
There are so many shops and goods. With traffic being impossible, many vendors transport goods on bikes.



With Vivianna and Steven's help, we tackled the Subway! There were SO people crammed into a small space!



That would be duck stomach... Steven encouraged us to try it... We passed! :)



We spent the morning at the Yu Garden. There are lots of shops and activities nestled in ancient type Chinese buildings.



Paper cutting is popular in Shanghai and can be made while you wait.



These guys are too much fun! Steven keeps us entertained with his jokes and antics. Notice the cup... He is partaking in the duck stomach snack.



So many people... The New York feel except the population of New York is 8.4 million people. Shanghai is home to 14 million people. A little overwhelming in some areas.



Chase and Steven watching an ancient Chinese movie being narrated. Those two are inseparable.









Having fun! Laughing lots!



Apple Store in Shanghai, different country, still busy... I need to invest in Apple stock when we return home! :)



Nanjing Road-Western Shops



This is the Bund area of Shanghai where the river and cityscape come together to make a beautiful scenery at night.









More of the city at night. We had a wonderful time seeing the city and spending time with our friends. It's hard to believe that we are in the same city as our son. I find myself observing the little boys and wondering what Brody is doing. Does he know we are here? Is he scared, nervous, excited? Only two more sleeps and he will forever be a son to a family that has pursued and loved him for months... A family that doesn't have it all together, but has enough love and dedication to embark on this journey and be his forever.



Blessings,
- Jessica

Steps closer...

We moved several steps closer to our sweet boy.  On September 11th Brody's immigration paperwork also known as the I800 was provisionally approved.  We are hoping for a mid to end of October travel date.  I spent that weekend getting Brody's travel backpack and clothes together for the trip.  The nesting process creates a greater longing to hop on a plane and bring our sweet boy home.  Half way across the world there's a little boy who is loved more than he can imagine.

A week later, on September 18th, our case was sent to the US Embassy in China in order for Brody's visa to be processed.  We completed his visa application and our paperwork was dropped off on September 22 at the Embassy in Guangzhou for processing of his visa.  Typically it takes 2 weeks for this step.  However, his case was expedited and was ready for pickup on Wednesday of this week.  So....  as of September 25 we are officially waiting for Travel Approval (TA)!  Our expectation is that will come after the Chinese National Holiday as they are out of the office from October 1-8.  If Travel Approval were to be issued it would be a miracle.  Since our paperwork arrived on Thursday, that only leaves the Chinese government 4 business days to process our paperwork.  Praying for our TA before the holiday so we can travel mid October but we know that late October is most likely.

~This blog post has been in process since mid September~  And until today (October 3, this was as far as I had blogged and saved....)  Time flies when you are having fun or when life is crazy, lol!  With all the life commitments, schedules, and house addition to make room for Brody, my blog post has been in process for a few weeks

So onto our big announcement:  This afternoon (October 3, 2014) at 1:03 CST, we received our Travel Approval!!!  This is the last China approval before making travel arrangements to get Brody!  We will have a more definite itinerary Monday after our US Consulate appointment is verified, but tentatively we plan to leave October 16th or 23rd.  

It's amazing to see how God has worked throughout this entire process.  Our timeline has been extremely fast, and to me I see God moving mountains (literally mountains of paperwork and tedious details) to get our little guy home quickly because he has waited and been returned and waited some more.  To know we are only weeks away from meeting our forever son, brings such joy and emotion.  This is where we, as a family really need prayer.  He needs prayer.  This adventure will be hard.  He's seen loss and hurt.  We know our parenting will be tested (by him and our current kiddos). We also know that prayer, grace, love, and the Lord as our foundation with consistent trust based parenting techniques will carry us.  I'm sure in the coming weeks and months we will laugh, cry, experience rejection, feel joy.  In all of it, the support of our family and friends will be priceless.  Thank you for those who have prayed, inquired, rejoiced, cried, and supported our journey whether by words or financially.  Your love and support is deeply cherished.  We can't wait to share him with you this side of the ocean.  

This Adventure Just Got More Exciting!

What a week!  After what seemed like months of trying to decide on the perfect name for our little guy, we have chosen a name that we feel will match his personality and have a special meaning.  

Brody Miller

Brody means "second son."  As he will be joining an awesome big brother, we felt Brody fit him well, was easy to spell, and passed the pronunciation test of his teenage sister adopted from China last year.  We also considered a couple of other names, one, when pronounced meant cow in Chinese...  Needless to say it didn't make the final cut.  Miller is the maiden name of Ryan's grandmother as well as Brody's grandfather's middle name.  We hope he likes his name as much as we do.  We also plan to incorporate his Chinese name as an additional middle name in case he decides to use his Chinese name in the future.  We want him to know that his heritage is important to us.  

To add to the excitement of finalizing his name, we received an email from our social worker yesterday (Thursday) that our dossier should be reviewed and we were one step closer to receiving our LOA (Letter of Acceptance).  Typically LOA's come a few days to 2 weeks after being reviewed.  I woke up to a surprise email today that our LOA has been issued one day after being reviewed!  Words can't describe how excited we are to be another step closer to bringing home our son.  The emotions of today have been overwhelming and humbling.  We have been waiting for our LOA for 50 days and even though that seems like a lifetime as his mommy, some wait twice that long.  Initially, I was in shock.  And as my devotion this week stated so well:  Sometimes our best plans are not His plans.  I'm thankful that as I prepared my heart for a long wait and "planned" it that way, God had other plans.  As I franticly try to revise my to-do lists and prioritize all the things I would do while I waited, I am reminded to focus on the journey and our son, even though it would be easy to focus on other distractions.  He's teaching me to find joy in the journey, to not sweat the menial things.  To give God the glory when He comes through in a big way.  As we rejoice in our wonderful news, we ask that you pray for our kiddos, all of them, as we try to cherish these last weeks as a family of 5 and for our precious son who will soon begin to learn what it means to be a son, brother, grandson, nephew, and cousin.

For those who are keeping up with our timeline, our next step will be to submit for our US immigration approval (I800).   This should take about 3 weeks.  The approval and our documents will be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) and sent to the US Embassy in China (1 week).  Once the Embassy processes our documents (2 weeks), China will issue Travel Approval (TA).  We will leave for China a couple of weeks after Travel Approval.  If all goes well, we hope to be traveling by the end of October.  

Waiting for Qiu Le...

We are waiting...  But as we wait, we are preparing.  When we receive our LOA (only God knows when that will be), we will send our sweet boy a care package.  With Maeli, we included a photo album with photos of our family and home to help her learn more about us.  This time, we are doing the same but compiling a photo book that Maeli and I are working on together.  I'm writing simple English sentences about our family and Maeli is translating them to Chinese so that hopefully someone at the orphanage, or even Qiu Le, can read them.  We can only imagine that "getting a family" is going to be overwhelming.  So we want him to know a little bit about each of us.  We are also including some photos of our extended family and our home to help him have an idea about what's to expect once he comes home.

Since in all ways possible we consider him to be family already, we wanted to include some family photos with him in them.  We are so thankful to have a friend who also happens to be a wonderful photographer.  He captured our family and our longing for Qiu Le perfectly.  We hope Qiu Le sees his photo and knows that he is already part of our family.  

The Waiting for You sign also says I Love You in Chinese.  We hope Qiu Le knows that even though distance may separate us now, that we still love and eagerly wait for him to join our family.

As we wait, we are comforted by God's promises to work this out for HIS good.  And although I am eager and longing to cross the ocean and bring our boy home now, we will wait for HIS timing...

Something to Celebrate

Today I woke up to an email from our adoption agency:  Our dossier has been logged in!!!  Our paperwork arrived in China on Monday of this week and as of today, we are LID (logged in dossier).

Now our LOA wait begins...  This part of the process can take anywhere from 40-100 days.  Please pray that our LOA is issued early so that we can travel for our boy before Thanksgiving.  We expect to travel 8 weeks after LOA (if there are no glitches).  As we prepare our home and begin to purchase clothes and items he will need, my desire and longing to bring him home continues to grow.  Having a child grow in your heart is hard when you aren't in control of most of the process.  I pray he is safe, full, and happy.  I can't fathom what our little guy has been through over the past 8 years, but I know that we will love him fiercely and forever.  My heart wants to guard against the what if's, but my head knows the road is going to be tough.  We are so thankful to have family and friends that support us and are willing to walk this road alongside us.  Thank you for praying for Qiu Le and loving us BIG!