WE HAVE CODY

We are so excited to say that we are now a family of 6!! Well officially that will happen tomorrow but we have actually been a family of six for a long time. We finally had a good nights sleep last night. After getting up we called our life group that were meeting on Sunday night at home. They prayed for us for our big day!! It was so great to talk to all of them. We had to do a few things this morning like getting the gifts for the orphanage nannies together and exchange some money into Chinese currency. The breakfast buffet here is huge. They even have a juicing bar for you juicers. Lots of western food. We really fill up on breakfast then Dave and I usually skip lunch. I can't wait for Cody to see all that food and tell him he can eat as much as he wants.

When our guide met us in the lobby we hopped into a van them off to the Civil Affairs Office. When we arrived Cody was not there yet. We soon saw him being taken to the rest room. They then took him behind the curtain. The curtain is in place of a door to a big room. I remember the curtain well with Max. When we were there with Max our group was big and they bring one child out at a time to meet their families. Max was last out. It was different with Cody we were the only ones from our group so he soon came out from behind the curtain and we went over to meet him. He looked to have new clothes and shoes on. We don't have any pictures of that first meeting but it wll be forever in my heart. He just kept looking at us and smiling. So differant than the meeting with Max. Max was pretty much in a trance. Cody was full of smiles and excitement. We really just followed his lead and he shook our hands. It felt a little awkward I so wanted to hug him but wanted to respect him. We then went over and sat down. Cody came with a backpack and inside were a few toys given to him by his teachers at school. He did not have anything we had given him. We brought him a backpack with a few toys inside and some art supplies. We found out he likes to draw. The women who brought him gave us a few little photo albums of some pictures of Cody from when he was younger. We had our guide ask Cody if he was ok with us giving him the name Cody and he repeated it and said he liked it. It was an easy one for him to say Max is a little more difficult because of the x. He knows how to spell his name already. We had a chance to ask the women some questions about him. I really don't think they knew to much personal stuff about him. One was the accountant and the other the director I believe. They said he is very easy and cooperative. We will go visit the orphange on Thurs. and be able to meet his actually caretakers at that time. After a few questions and pictures we need to do about a 1/2 hr worth of paperwork. We were then free to go. When we arrived back at the hotel our guide said "see you tomorrow at 9:30 and we were on our own. Cody walked inside of the hotel and looked around in amazement. He was quick to catch on to how the swipe card worked to use the elevators and to get into our door. That is now his job. He came into the hotel room and quickly gave his approval. We use the ol thumbs up or thumbs down and we have been getting lots of thumbs up. After being in the hotel room we all decided we were hungry so made the short trek to McDonalds. It was our first meal with Max so thought it was fitting. When we were done he rubbed his belly telling us it was full and we went back to our room for the night. We brought a few movies from home that we purchased when we were here with Max so we watched finding Nemo in Mandrin. We also brought Nerf guns so Dave and Max had fun shooting at targets. Cody would not shoot at Dave or I just the targets. I wish I could say the same for Dave because I was shot at several times. Dave showed Cody how the shower worked and gave him the soap and shampoo. He seemed very anxious to try it out. We gave him his privacy and he was in and out of the shower and dressed in less than 2 minutes. I gave him the smell test and he passed so don't know if that is his quick routine or just didn't want to miss anything. The Stellwagens sent along a few litlle gifts for Cody to unwrap and he was very excited to open them and loved them all. I was told Kola and Eli gave them the boy approval. One of the things was this cool little remote control car. He loved that it really zipps around quick. He hops from one thing to another in excitement. We were able to skype with the girls. Kim was up and ready first so we skyped her while she was at school. Cody liked to sit in front of the computer and show her things in the camera. We thne skyped with Kasey, Max and Grandma and Grandpa. Max was didn't want to look at us at first but with some coaxing from Kasey came around. He had just woken up so he was a little out of it. Cody saw everyong and said hello and repeated who they were. Cody and Max then showed each other some of their toys. I think they will be good buddies. Cody blew everyone kisses and we signed off and headed straight to bed we were all exhaused. We really wanted to skype with Grandma and Grandpa Roberts but it had been a very long day so we will be doing that in the a.m. I know I should be sleeping now but can't its 4:15 a.m and I have been up awhile. Sorry this post is so long and may bore some of you but it is also my way of documenting our days. If you would prefer to skip my rambling and head straight for the pics its ok.. Love for now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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TRAIN RIDE TO GUANGZHOU

 

We had a rough night last night. Neither Dave or slept very well. We were up early and down to breakfast around 7:00. We met our guide Matthew at 8:15 in the lobby then off for the train station. It was about a 1\2 hour ride. Our train ride was pretty good. The train was not the cleanest but it was fine. We saw a lot of countryside and people out working in the fields. When we arrived at the train station in Guangzhou we went through immigration and customs and met our guide. She led us to a van where a driver was waiting to take us to the China Hotel. It's pretty nice. We were spoiled by the Garden Hotel last visit it is so beautiful. Our room is really nice and has a lot of space. We have a separate bedroom with a king bed and they brought in a roll away for Cody. We set it up next to our bed. We found out we leave here at 2:00 to go get him tomorrow. In the morning we have to go get our money for the orphanage donation exchanged to Chinese money. Our guide gave us a few more things to do in the morning before she comes. Dave and I took a walk this afternoon to a park across the street we had take the sub walk under the road. It was really nice and a lot of people walking around enjoying the beautiful day. We then went to a restaurant our guide told us about called Macau Street it is Portuguese. We both had noodle dishes. It was good but the menu was about an inch thick with pictures of the food with American descriptions and what I ordered was really the only thing I would eat. We walked back to our hotel and are now settled in for the night at 5:27. We are just gonna relax and watch a movie (if we can figure out the dvd player). We are both really excited to go get Cody tomorrow. We have been wondering what is going on in his head today. Praying they have prepared him for whats to come. Because Cody is older he does get a say in if he wants to come with us or not. The Chinese government will not make him come if he does not want to. I really feel in my heart that he is already our son and will be coming home with us. I am a little disappointed that our guide is not staying in the hotel with us like we were told she would be. We were told we would have 24 hour access to her. I really don't anticipate any problems but with an older child and a language barrier it would have been nice to have the security right down the hall. The other adoptive parents we met in Hong Kong will arrive here on Saturday. It will be fun to see them with their kids. We spent some time bonding over Dim Sum and sitting pool side on Saturday night. Side note, we just had a nock at the door it was housekeeping wanting to come in and turn down our bed. Who needs that? Anyway the families we met have all been waiting 6 years for their kids. I just don't get why this process has to take so long when there are so many kids needing families to love them and so many couples willing to be those people. I also have to say how proud I am of my kids at home. We have gotten reports from grandma that they have been very helpful. I really had no doubt that they would rise to the challenge. Max has even been very cooperative. Knowing things are going well at home does lift some weight off of my shoulders. We are also very grateful to grandma and grandpa for staying at our house and making sure things go smoothly. Next time I post we will be a family of 6!!!! That just seems so crazy to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tour Hong Kong and Dim Sum lunch

 

Today we went on a tour of Hong Kong with our guide Matthew. We first headed down to a great breakfast buffet lots of food we are use to along with plenty of Chinese favorites. I stuck to what I knew. We met our group in the lobby of the hotel at 9:00 and headed out for a 5 hour tour. It was a beautiful day in Hong Kong and we enjoyed the company of everyone in our group. We are the only ones adopting an older child. The rest are 3 and younger. Dim Sum was pretty good, I was full when we left but didn't eat everything. We head out tomorrow at 8:15 with our guide to catch the train to Guangzhou. The Guangzhou guide will meet us at the train station and take us to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

view from our room

 

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Hong Kong

On our way to Hong Kong

 

Well we are on our way. Our flight took off at 3:00 p.m. Its about 7:00 right now. It really has gone pretty quick (so far). Watched a couple episodes of the office and watched a movie the Descendants. Our dinner was ok I had chicken and rice. We have 11 hours left to go. Have to say we do have a couple of loud crying kids in front of us. I hope they will go to sleep soon. Oh and I sure wish I would have brought my chap stick "my lips hurt real bad" That line was for you Kim and Kasey. I wish Kip would bring me some. It's really hard not to know how things are going at home. I know everyone is doing fine but I wouldn't be a mom if I didn't worry. The anticipation as to what to come seems a little overwhelming at times. An advertisement just came over the personal t.v screen as I was writing this and it said "we love the future". How great is that. I can't wait to see what the future holds. Parts of me are pretty nervous and other parts are so excited. I was remembering the beginning days with Max and the total lack of understanding each other. How great we became at charades. I am hoping the translating app I have works for us. The most important thing I want Cody to understand is the love we have for him. I don't think we need an app for that. Wondering if he will allow us to hug him. We just plan to follow his lead trying not to have to many expectations. So much lately I have tried to put myself in Cody's place. Wondering what he might be feeling. Thinking of how brave he will have to be to leave everything he knows, good or bad. To follow these strange looking, strange smelling, strange sounding people. Not really understanding the word family at all. Not realizing when he gets home he will have so many people who love him. We are ready for this adventure!!!!

 

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12 MORE DAYS

I can't believe it is less than two weeks and we will be on our way to our son. It seems so crazy to me that I will be a mom to 4 kids. 10 years ago if someone were to have asked me the question, "where do you see yourself 10 years from now?" I certainly would not have said, "oh I am gonna make two trips to China and bring home two older boys to be part of our family."! I feel like Dave and I thought we had it all figured out, we were gonna live in our nice comfortable house and raise our two beautiful daughters. I'm telling ya we were almost there. I gotta say life really changes once you accept Jesus into your heart. Once you really allow the holy spirit to work inside you it's crazy what happens. Jesus has given me such a heart for adoption. He has given me the faith without a doubt that this is the plan for our lives.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

I know that there are a lot of people who think we are crazy or wonder why we are doing this. Believe me I have days that I think we are crazy and I wonder too sometimes why we are doing this. Those thoughts fade (well the crazy sticks around) when Max tells me he loves me or asks me to come and "nuggle" (snuggle) him on the couch or when I see him jump on Daves lap for protection from something that has scared him. I could go on and on. Before we made the decision to adopt Cody he had been in a Hope Journey Camp that is where American Adoption Agency's go to China to the different districts and have a camp for the kids in the nearby orphanges and foster homes. They do all kinds of fun things with them along with interviewing them for adoptive parents to see. About a year after this camp when I had opened a post about him he had just asked the orphange director if the Americans found him a family yet. These kids need families, someone to love them and teach them about the love of Jesus. I doubt myself everyday I wonder if I can do this. I imagine all the things that can and might happen, good and bad. Worries of different issues, no language, food issues, behavior, health, financial. We know that we can not do this by ourselves but with Jesus in our lives we can and will.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13 NIV)

I know some of you are saying "Angie Roberts Maue quoting scripture and talking about Jesus?" I KNOW, pretty awsome right?

We are coming to get you ZI XUN!!!!

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SO MUCH TO SAY

Lots has happened since I have posted last.  After Getting home from Traverse City we went to Florida to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Cody's birthday was August 18th.  I had ordered a cake and some candy to be shared at the orphanage for Cody's birthday through a company called Lady Bugs and Love.  They are based in China and will send the money to the orphanage asking that they buy a cake and candy for the kids to celebrate.  They also ask for pictures of the party. You don't always receive them.  Well on August 19th I woke up to 23 pictures in my e-mail from Angela at Lady Bugs and Love.  That was such a great surprise.  Cody looks so good.

 



 While we were there we got our I-800 approval letter.  From this point we wait for a a letter from the NVC or National Visa Center.  This letter states that they have received our immigration information at the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  At this point our agency e-mails thot is letter to the Guangzhou staff and they will deliver our documents to the US Consulate.  In the adoption world this is called Article 5 drop off, this process takes two weeks.  Our Article 5 was dropped off on Thurs. August 23rd and picked up by the Guangzhou staff on Thurs. Sept. 6th.   The Article 5 is a preliminary approval of our immigration file by the US Consulate and is required by the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs)  in order to issue our travel approval..  Once picked up this is mailed to Beijing and delivered to CCAA. We then wait for official TA or Travel Approval.  They say travel approval can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.


                                  TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!

It took only 11 days!!!!  We got travel approval on Mon. September 17th.  What a great way to celebrate Kasey's birthday.  Yes that is Kasey's 16th birthday and YES she has her LICENSE!!

When they called to tell us we had our travel approval they asked if we could leave on Oct. 4th.  WHAT!!  For just a quick minute I thought hmmm well maybe.  My heart wanted to say yes but my head (and Dave) said no.  Dave is in the middle of a big job and then has some outside work to do October is a nice month to work outside.  We have decided to go on Nov. 1 and return on the 15th.
We have our plane tickets!!!!  Our GOTCHA DAY is Nov. 5th.  We will fly into Hong Kong stay for two nights.  We will then take a train to Guangzhou.  I am excited to be able to see some of the countryside.  The only thing bad I have heard about riding the train is the squatty potty is really disgusting.  No coffee for me that morning!!

Along with all the adoption happenings and Kasey turning 16 and driving we have Kim who has started college.  She is attending Olivet Nazarene University.  She is majoring in Elementary Education.  So far she is really enjoying college life.  We miss her around here but also know she is in a good place

Kim and her roommate  Natalie

Max is doing pretty well.  School is pretty tough so far this year.  When he gets home the last thing he wants to do is school work.  I usually give him a little bread then we do his homework and his computer work.  He is doing Rosetta  Stone.  He can get pretty frustrated on the speaking parts he has to repeat what they say and he does not have all of his blends down. Like he tells me he wants to nuggle (snuggle) it's so cute I don't want to correct him.  The computer tells him he is wrong and he knows he is right.  He then may have to repeat the section.  I think we will see a lot of progress this year but it's gonna be tough, on him and me. 

LOA

Yes we finally have LOA (letter of acceptance) after 77 days. We are actually up in Traverse City MI on vacation. We happen to be out on a pontoon boat in the middle of Crystal Lake when we got the e-mail ( I love my I-phone). I e-mailed back right away the alternate address to use. We are staying at campground in Empire MI. Our agency even called me to get the address I wanted our paperwork overnighted to. Well for whatever reason she wrote our home address on the mailing label. Needless to say it went to our house. FedEx picked it up from our front porch the same day and got it to us the following day. So we received it yesterday August 1st. We signed and sent back all the necessary paperwork same day so our agency should receive it today. The letter of acceptance is a piece of paper from China saying it is ok with them that we adopt a specific child (Pan Zi Xun) . Next step is for the US to say the same that is the I-800 form. I t takes about 2 weeks for that paperwork to go through. The estimated time for travel is 10 to 14 weeks from getting the LOA to traveling. That would put us into Oct. but October is probably not going to happen. The first week of Oct. all government offices are closed due to a holiday and the later part of Oct. is the yearly trade show where all hotel rates go up. My guess is we will be traveling the first part of Nov. hopefully to be home for Thanksgiving. Cody won't know what to think going over to Dave's aunt and uncle's (Jim and Barb Stellwagen) house for their Thanksgiving feast. It will probably be more food than he has ever seen on a table. I am hoping that Cody will be more adventurous with trying new foods than Max has been. The time from now until we travel will go very fast. Still lots of paperwork to complete along with travel arrangements and just getting things ready to welcome Cody into our home. We also have Kim, Kasey's and Max's birthdays before we go. Cody's birthday is on 8-18 so I will send him a cake and hopefully get some updated pictures.

WOW our lives have certainly changed in the past two years. I know a lot of people are wondering why we are doing this, why pretty much start over when your bio kids are pretty much adults. I have to say it has not all been easy and yes we have had all had to sacrifice along the way. I guess life isn't always about trying to take the easy road when possible. These kids need families, they need the unconditional love of a mom and dad. When I see how far Max has come it is really amazing. He does have far to go but we see progress. He has trust issues and definitely tests us along the way. I fail so many times, I know I tend to give in to him way to much (just ask my girls if thats true). I think its because of the way things were when we first got home. The way he would react when he was being disciplined honestly it really scared me. He would cry scratch his face, bang his head and pretty much go into a trance. I am not saying we stopped the discipline, we just had to find different ways that worked for us. Discipline is something I need to be continually working on. I also think I am just getting older and more lenient on things. I really also think that God has given me lots of patience. Max really does not do those things anymore. He is so funny and really is a lot of fun. I feel like so many people don't get to see the real Max. He is definitely more comfortable at home and doesn't like to be in large crowds. When we do go out to visit people he is demanding and out of sorts. You could say he pretty much acts like a spoiled brat. I feel like thats how a lot of people see him and believe thats the way he is. It really makes me sad:( He really is a good boy not perfect but who is?


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