adoption update

We got our homestudy finished and sent it, along with our I800a application to the USCIS office in Texas the last week of January. A couple of weeks later we got our fingerprint appointments, and went in early to get them done because Eric had something going on on our appointment day and frankly, we don't want to waste a moment! We learned with Jeb's adoption that as long as you are in the system, you can go in early. Many adoptive families know the secret and pass it on to other waiting families.

Eric went in first while I sat with the kids. The employee was not thrilled and informed him that we can't just walk in whenever we feel like it. Then she informed him that if anyone comes in (to the big empty waiting room) he would have to wait for them. He let her know that his wife was waiting in the car and would she allow me to come in and she said "I can't make any promises".

When I went in I recognized her as the same unhappy lady who was annoyed when we went in early last time (because we went in early, Jeb came home a week before our fingerprint appointment). She gave me the same speech she gave Eric, then gave me the form to fill out. I filled it out, returned it, and didn't even make it to my seat before the lady in the back called me in. I was in and out in under 10 minutes too.

I understand honoring appointment times and if someone else was there, I would have had no problem waiting. But the entire room was completely empty. What do they care? She has to sit there at the desk whether people come in or not. I hope that by the next time we go back for fingerprints she'll have found a job that is less life-sucking and we can annoy someone else :)

The fingerprint office is in Detroit, the only beautiful building for blocks. One of the roads we went down had more boarded up collapsing houses than it had houses that seemed to have inhabitants. So so sad to see!

So now we wait for I800a approval, which goes out with the rest of our paperwork to be sent to Hong Kong. After it is approved we get approval to officially match with a child and start heading toward the court process and hopefully homecoming before Christmas!

What homeschool looked like at our house this week

Apparently my goal of using the ipod to post so that I could post more easily and more often isn't working, my posts haven't been posting and a couple have just disappeared! Anyway, I wanted to start a recurring post called 'what homeschool looked like in our house this week'. Because homeschool means so much more than sitting at the table doing school work.

Vivi worked so hard on this rainbow picture! She struggles with staying focused and she really wanted to color this rainbow. It took a long time and a lot of reminding her which lines she was supposed to be staying inside, but she was so proud of herself when she finished!

At our homeschool enrichment hub, they had pajama day. At first Jeb thought we were joking and wasn't going to put on pajamas instead of clothes. Then he was worried that he would be the only one wearing pajamas. But right after we walked in, he saw his good friend in pajamas and looked relieved.  Of course they all wore their rainboots...

And we ordered yet more storage for our homeschool supplies! This is a new thing I'm going to try with the girls called workboxes, where they complete an activity in each drawer, which represents different subjects. It helps them see what they have done and what they still need to do. Jeb thrives on workbooks-if I get out his whole stack of 7 or 8 different workbooks, he'll insist on doing at least one page in each one. Often he'll want to just keep going. The girls are still on the young side for that-Journey has a dry erase workbook that she can use to practice tracing lines. Vivi has a couple of workbooks that we'll pull out maybe once a week if she's in the right mood, but I don't think it's going to be her preferred method of learning. I'm hoping that some well planned activities will help her motor skills and concentration, and keep the girls busy while I do some more in depth stuff with Jeb. I'll let you know how it goes!

Jeb's schoolwork

Finally figured out (thanks to Eric) how to post to the blog from the iPod! Here are just a few fun things Jeb has been doing the past couple of weeks:

We have started reading chapter books to Jeb after the girls go to bed. This is his pictorial book report on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:

When Captain Nemo and the main character went for an under water walk to see Atlantis

And The Nautilus going under the water-sorry they're on their sides, I'm not sure how to fix that!

Jeb had to sound out the days of the week on notecards, put them in the right order, then write them in his notebook

Color mixing activities-it's always fun to watch their faces as I mix the paint up in front of them, it's like magic!

This isn't a school paper, just one Jeb drew for Journey. It's Journey, complete with glasses and purple aids! So sweet!

Adoption update, and some related adventures

Our adoption home study was completed last week and this week it was sent to the agency supervisor for approval, then to the Hong Kong program director for approval, and finally to us to make sure it was correct. Yesterday afternoon we got an email that it was done and they would get it notarized and send it out to us. But since we had to go out in that direction today anyway for the kids' homeschool enrichment hub, we called this morning to ask if they could get it ready for us to pick up this afternoon. They said yes, so after school we headed over that way to pick it up.

On the way, we were at a red light and I saw an interesting sign at a plaza up ahead. It said China Merchandise, and I was intrigued! We have been keeping the kids informed about the process, and have been teaching them that their new little brother or sister will be Chinese and that they eat Chinese food, and other little things about Hong Kong and Chinese culture. On Wednesday I was telling the kids about Cantonese cuisine, which is the most common in Hong Kong, and Jeb announced that we should start eating a lot of Chinese food so we can like the same kind of food as their little brother or sister. Jeb asked if there was a Chinese food store we could go to, and I wasn't aware of one, but told him we could probably find most of what we need at Kroger, or the local Japanese grocery store. He has been insistent that we find Chinese food stores and get real Chinese food, so finding this store was perfect!

As we walked in, the first thing we saw was a display of candies. Jeb yelled "Chinese candy!!!", causing everyone to stop and look at us. To the right was a fruit display, and he yelled "Chinese oranges!". I started picking out Chinese vegetables and brought him with me to get a basket, and he asked "Is this a Chinese basket?" And it continued all the way down the aisle :) 

They had a lot of fun things, lots of sauces and jars and a whole freezer section of various tofu products. They even had preserved duck eggs,  you're going to want to click that link if you're unfamiliar with this delicacy found in China and Hong Kong. Eric declined my offer of buying them and preparing them with a meal ;) Then we came to the meat section. And by meat section, I mean plastic bins of live lobsters (the biggest I've ever seen!), crabs, fish, and turtles! They did have a dead animal section as well-whole ducks and chickens with no feathers but their heads still on, resting ever so neatly at the top of the bag, big bins of bird feet and livers, and lots of whole fish on ice. The kids enjoyed looking at the live animals (Jeb was terrified of the lobsters!) and then asked if we could bring home a turtle for a pet. I gently but honestly explained that these are not pet turtles, they are turtles for food. Then they started begging me to buy a turtle and cook it for dinner!! My strange, adventurous children! I told them I didn't know how and I would have to learn about how to cook turtle, but that is a little bit wayyyy outside my comfort zone! Maybe we'll find a Chinese restaurant that serves turtle and they can try it?

We picked up some nice Chinese vegetables, some Hong Kong style noodles, a sweet chili sauce, and some other things. Unfortunately I didn't think to read the labels and when we got home I realized that the frozen lemongrass I bought had artificial blue and yellow dyes, and one of the packages of noodles has artificial red and yellow :( So I guess that will be for Eric and I. Luckily it wasn't the package of noodles that we are going to use for our Chinese New Year dinner, longevity noodles!

After the store, we swung by the adoption agency office to pick up our homestudy, then came home and Eric got back to work while I prepared our packet to send to USCIS. Eric ran it to the post office and got it sent priority mail so it will arrive on Monday. On the website, they say that it is their goal to get through each case within 90 days, but usually they guess a date that is farther away so that they aren't getting phone calls from anxious, impatient adoptive parents...I'm hoping to get it back within 6 weeks. Actually I'm hoping to get it back yesterday so we can move on to the next part of the process (sending our dossier to Hong Kong) but patience is a virtue, right? ;)

  

Journey's hand surgery, before and after pictures!

Her fingers are finally not too gruesome to share-check out the before pictures and then the afters-what a difference! She can wiggle the fingers independently and just in the past week has been able to use them just as easily as with her left hand for things like coloring and picking up small objects, they were a little tender before that. She is so proud of how they look and still announces "I have 5 fingers now!" at least once a day :)

Before



After!



The doctor used skin from her inner thigh to make the fingers, I don't know if it will be darker than the rest of her hand forever or not-something I'll ask at our next post-op appointment!

1st day of school 2013

We belong to a local homeschooling group that has an 'enrichment hub', where home schooled kids can take enrichment classes (music/art/dance, rather than the math/reading/science they are learning at home). They also have holiday parties so they can experience the halloween and valentine parties similar to what public or private schooled kids have. And it's a Christian group so it's in line with our beliefs, and that's always nice.

There are 4 blocks of classes, 2 blocks, then lunch, then another block, and the 4th hour classes have staggered start times. We haven't done a 4th hour class because we'd be there all day and it's just too long for the kids right now.

This winter 2013 semester is extra special because while Jeb is returning for his 3rd semester, it is Vivi's first! Look at my little girl, all grown up and taking classes!




They just look so old! They are taking their 1st class together, an arts and crafts class, then Jeb takes a music class while Vivi takes 'adventures in literature', where they read stories and then to a related craft. Jeb took this class his first semester and loved it, and the teacher is really nice. After lunch, Vivi plays in the parent/tot room while Jeb takes an acting class.

They both had a great first day of school and loved all of their classes. Vivi was very brave and there were no tears when I took her to her classes. It helps that parents are welcome to be in the classrooms or in the hall, observing. I stayed in the hall and got my exercise during 2nd hour running up and down the stairs watching Vivi's class on the 2nd floor, then Jeb's class on the 3rd floor. Jeb's music class has his 2 buddies in it that he's had a few other classes in, he was excited about that. It will be fun to watch them make friendships and interact with the other kids in their age group, they will likely be growing up together and experiencing the homeschooling life as well as the enrichment classes together, and hopefully make some lasting friendships :)

Our first time sledding!