Over the moon ...

Thanks so much to Paige and Kent for hosting the Moon Festival get-together. We have so much fun gathering with other families who have adopted from China or other Asian countries or are in the process of doing so.
It really means a lot to us that you open your home to us all. It was a lovely evening.

Happy 23 months!

Today, Jacob turns 23 months old.

When we first laid eyes on his photos he was just shy of being 18 months old. Of course, he wasn't 18 months in the photo (the referral information we received was from when he was 9 months, but we don't know how old he was in the photo). Look at him now. Our little man has grown so much.

We are so thankful we will have him home before his 2nd birthday.

Be well Jacob. We'll see you soon.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Safe ... we hope

Great Wall sent out an e-mail today concerning the tainted formula in China.

The pertinent parts of the e-mail are:

"Our Beijing office has indicated that the CCAA is checking on each of the orphanages, but that they have not issued a formal report yet. Our Beijing office has stated that they have not heard of any of the orphanages being affected by the contamination."
"We have also heard that the milk based products including the Beijing-based Sanyuan Group Ltd. and Nestle SA. formula were examined and found to be free of contamination. Many of the orphanages that we receive referrals from use Nestle formula and we are very thankful to hear that the Nestle formula was not contaminated."

We don't know whether or not Jacob's orphanage is one of those that uses Nestle formula. Great Wall hasn't had many referrals from his orphanage so we are just unsure.

Hopefully, his orphanage uses Nestle, but we will make sure soon. We are taking some powdered formula with us and will have him use it.

Until then, please keep Jacob in your thoughts and prayers.

Kevin

Jacob's room

At long last, we finished Jacob's room. We think it's pretty cool and can't wait to have a little boy living in it to mess it all up. LOL

Kevin

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist ...

This is Kevin driving while using the force.
:)
Violet

2 weeks!

I just missed getting this posted on Thursday by a few minutes, but Thursday marked the 2 week mark until we travel.

But, who's counting? LOL

Can you believe it?

Kevin

Our little prince

After receiving Jake's updated photos this past week, I just had to comment on our little fashion plate.
Kevin calls this his Prince Valliant outfit, and I think it describes it quite well.
Throughout our adoption of our son, the one theme has been pink shoes. The only time his shoes have not been pink they were magenta. Kevin says the pink shoes (and clothes for that matter) will be a thing of his past once he comes home, but I'm secretly hoping he is wearing pink shoes when we get him (hee,hee).

Violet

We think his new nickname is Ramstam!

We are so blessed! Today we received an update on and three photos of Jacob from Ladybugs n love (http://www.ladybugsnlove.com/). We just can't say enough good things about Angela and Kelly, who have given us two updates and five photos and have delivered our care package to Jake since May. They are so friendly and their prices are so reasonable.
Last week our agency also received an update (no photos) and he had grown little since our last Ladybugs update in the first of June. We were kind of down because we had hoped he would have developed more (although we are not sure of the date of the measurements.)
However, with this latest update, he has gained a few pounds and a few inches and has 15 teeth (agency said he has 20, so not sure what's up there). But best of all we have photos AND HE LOOKS SO GOOD! There are three, and they are all basically the same photo, with some different poses on what looks like the orphanage grounds.
He still loves cars, but he also likes the toy phone. He gets along well with others but is a little "ramstam," which we thought was a bad translation, but Kevin looked it up and it means headstrong.
Here is one of the photos! It is our favorite. He looks like he's Joe Cool.





Here is some more information:

> 1. What are Dang Wen Feng's daily activities?
>
> 6:30am get up; (early riser - oh no!)11:30am-2:00pm nap time; 8:00pm go to bed.
> He eats well, full of energy.
>
> 6:30am take a bottle of formula; 8:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm
> congee, vegetable soup, noodles, cracker, etc. his favorite is formula.
>
> 2. Is there a finding advertisement available for Dang Wen Feng that we can have?
>
> Yes. They are going to give you a copy when you come to adopt him.
>
>
> 3. What is Dang Wen Feng's latest height and weight
> report, and how old was he at these measurements?
>
> Height: 78cm; Weight: 12kg; Foot: 12.5cm; Head: 48cm;
> Chest:50cm; Teeth: 15 (7 upper and 8 lower)
>

> 4. Is Dang Wen Feng potty trained? (We'll see how this goes)
>
> Yes.
>
> 5. Does Dang Wen Feng have a favorite caretaker or friend?
>
> His favorite nanny's name is Xin Hui Fang.
> >
> >
> Other information on the report:
>
> Motor development: He can walk alone, he can run.
>
> Intelligent development: he can say Ma Ma, Ba Ba. He knows to clap hands, wave to say bye, etc.
>
> He recognizes facial expression. He can follow simple instruction.
>
> He is active, outgoing and full of energy.
>
> His favorite toys: toy cars, colorful pictures, toys can make noise.
>
> His favorite activities: outdoor activity. He is very friendly.

> Have a wonderful day!
Angela

--Thanks to you Angela (and Kelly) we did!

God is good,

Kevin and Violet

8 years

Tuesday, Sept. 9, was our anniversary. It's been eight years of great times.

As much as we've enjoyed these last eight years, we're both so happy this will be our last anniversary that it's just us in our family.

Our trip to China

Looks like we are in for a fun trip. Take a look at the itinerary lined out by Great Wall China Adoption:
Oct. 2 - Fly from Wichita at 9 a.m. We make connecting flights in Detroit and Tokyo before arriving in Beijing at 9:35 p.m. on Oct. 3. Wow, now that is some day!
Oct. 3 - Arrive in Beijing at 9:35 p.m.
Oct. 4 - Tour Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square.
Oct. 5 - Leave Beijing for Xi'an, arriving in Xi'an at 9:20 a.m. Gotcha Day is at 3 p.m.
Oct. 6 - Paperwork.
Oct. 7 - Shopping for child.
Oct. 8 - Go see the Terracotta Warriors.
Oct. 9 - Sightseeing at Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Oct. 10 - Pick up Jacob's passport.
Oct. 11 - Fly to Guangzhou.
Oct. 12 - Sightseeing to Chen Family's Temple.
Oct. 13 - Medical checkup and Jacob's visa picture.
Oct. 14 - Consulate appointment.
Oct. 15 - Get visa.
Oct. 16 - Heading home! Leave Guangzhou at 8:20 a.m.; arrive in Wichita (with stops in Tokyo and Minneapolis) at 3:55 p.m.

We are going to try to visit Jacob's orphanage, but we aren't sure that will happen. Families that have traveled recently have said they were not able to visit the orphanage. We will try anyway.

Oct. 5 is THE DAY!

We got our in-country itinerary from Great Wall today.

Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. (China time) we get Jacob at Civil Affairs in Xian!

OMG, I'm about to bust! More will come later about our trip when we can. Work is calling.


Kevin