Taya's Monthly Update

 

 

 

Update: September 30, 2005

 

We have gotten travel approval from China, and have definite dates of travel!! We will be leaving on the 26th of October (1 day earlier than the rest of the group). We will begin our trip site seeing in Beijing for 3 or so days, and then travel to Nanchang in the Jiangxi Province. Nanchang is where we will get Taya. We will stay in Nanchang around 5 days, and then travel to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is where the American Consulate is, and that is where we will get the okay to take Taya into the United States. Our date of return is Nov. 9th. We just can't believe that it is finally right around the corner and we will soon be holding the daughter God chose for us in our arms!! Please make sure to follow us on our journey!
Amy

 

 

 

 

Update: September 13, 2005

 

Friends and family,

We are now in the process of getting all of our documents in order to go to China. We also have to apply for Visa’s, fill out more paperwork (tooooo much!!!!) and more paper work!! Our travel coordinator told us to tentatively plan on traveling the last week in October and the first week in November. But, it sounds like the CCAA (Chinese adoption people) are slowing down the process of issuing Travel Arrangements, so the date may have to be moved back a little. I am hoping that it won’t, but nothing will surprise me any more. We have just learned to be patient and remember that it is in God’s hands. That is hard to do sometimes when little Taya’s picture is staring at us all around the house telling us to “come get me!!”. I have ordered a care package to be sent to Taya’s orphanage, and hopefully they will send it on to Taya’s foster family. The lady that I am having do it for me is Chinese and she will write a letter to the orphanage stating that we would like the package forwarded on to Taya’s foster family. We are putting in the package a small teddy bear, a blanket, 2 disposable cameras, and chocolate for all of the nannies at the orphanage. Many people have had great luck with orphanages taking the pictures with the disposable camera, and the pictures they do get are keepsakes to help these children understand and know what their life was like and that there were many people who loved and cared for them before they were placed with their forever family. I am soooooo hoping that we will be able to get pictures!! We have joined a yahoo group of families that have or are going to adopt from the Ruijin Social Welfare Institute that Taya is associated with. It has been very comforting to know that all the children have been very healthy upon the placement with their forever families, and they also state that the nannies are very much in love with these girls, and they mean a lot to them. The one thing that is sad that I hear about the Ruijin Social Welfare Institute is that it is located way up in the mountains in the Jiangxi province, and that they to through a grueling 10 hour bus drive to deliver the babies to us. From what I understand the road in many spots is dirt, and very bumpy. I wish there would be an easier and more comfortable way to get them to us. The babies are usually very tired and cranky when they arrive, which makes the hand off of children with their families that much harder. We will be receiving the girls in the town of Nanchang (http://www.gurrad.com/china/city1.htm) which is just a small city with a population of 2.5 million (you know I am kidding on the “small” part!!). If you are interested in seeing what Taya’s orphanage looks like you can go to: http://www.gurrad.com/china/rj2.htm . There will be 12 other families from our agency that will travel with us to Nanchang to receive babies from the Ruijin Social Welfare Institute. AWAA (our agency) has a total of 27 families traveling at the same time as us. We will all be together for the first part of the trip to tour Beijing, then we will split up into provinces that our babies are in , fly to those provinces, get our babies, and meet up again in Guangzhou to finish up paper work at the American Consulate. All American families need to go through Guangzhou to leave the country with their children. Well, hopefully our next posts that you get will be from our journal entries. I am planning on emailing people with our definite dates. If you are interested in knowing our dates and are not sure if I have your email, just contact me at myoberloh@yahoo.com and I will make sure to include you in our mailing!!

Amy

 

 

 

 

 

Update: August 11, 2005

 

Well, here is our July/August update. We are still in the waiting phase, but I am happy to say that WE ARE ON DECK!! That means that we are next and that we should receive a referral this month (August). The wait has been a long one, and I find myself with butterflies in my stomach now that "the call" will be here soon. We are not expecting a call from our agency, AWAA, until towards the end of the month. We will be updating our site as soon as any news comes. We have a busy 2 weeks coming up. Peter and his family are coming to Minnesota to visit, and we are going to spend some time at the cabin. He’ll then come home and spend some time in Worthington. The county fair will be going on, and his kids should really like that. I welcome them here, hopefully helping with the distraction of the end of the month referrals. I have this feeling that the referral will come on the 26th of August. The reason is because I will be in a Reading Recovery workshop for the whole day, and my worst nightmare is that AWAA will not be able to get a hold of me!!! I will be taking my cell phone, putting it on vibrate, and staring at it constantly. Hopefully we will be pleasantly surprised and the referral will come before then!! I guess we will see!! So, stay tuned and pray for a speedy referral! ( : 

 

-Amy

 

 

Update: June 7, 2005

I just wanted to give friends and family an update on where we’re at on our adoption. We are still in the waiting phase, hoping for a referral in mid August. Word has gotten out that China’s CCAA (where they assign children to adoptive parents) is running behind on referrals, so the wait may extend for an extra month. That would put us in September for a referral. That is not good news, but we are still optimistic that our referral will arrive as predicted in August. It’s in God’s hands. For as long as the United States has been adopting children from China, people have been trying to predict when referrals will arrive, and the truth is, China will do it on their time, not when all the adoptive parents want it to be! ( : I know that they are working as hard as they can to match homes for all of the children they can. It just is a long process.

Now that school has gotten out, I am able to fully work on getting the bedrooms cleaned out, switching boy’s rooms, and beginning work on Taya’s room. My mom has graciously agreed to make a quilt for Taya’s crib, and also make matching curtains!! She is an awesome quilter, and it will be very special to have that touch in her room! We are planning on having a HUGE garage sale, with money going to finishing the rooms and purchasing items for Taya.

As I am typing this I have the cutest ladybug walking around the counter next to my computer! Adoption circles say that the ladybug is a link to China and our little daughter’s waiting for us. My outlook on ladybugs has definitely changed since we began this adoption! Now when I see them, I say a prayer for our daughter half a world away and pray for our referral to come as quickly as possible! Just think….the ladybug just happened to show up as I am typing about our adoption journey…Hmmmmm…!!

So, as we wait, we try to predict when referrals will come in (and predict some more!), rearrange bedrooms, organize files for our trip, purchase items that we will need for Taya, and dream about holding her in our arms. We are sooooo thankful that the Lord has led us down this path! He is so awesome, and we thank Him for leading us on this journey!

Amy, Dana, Dustin and Jonah