The Wait Begins!

97 Days!

On the ride back from Lexington last week I sat with this FedEx package in my lap (as you can see it was unopened!). Mike and I had the discussion that once we opened the package our life would forever change. A combination of feelings went through my mind as I thought about the contents of the package. I was so excited but also scared. I wondered how we would feel seeing Emma for the first time. At that point I knew we had a daughter, her Chinese name Yu Xiang, and her birthdate, January 2, 2008 but that was it. We had received the call at 2:25pm and it was 7:55pm that night when we finally saw Emma's face for the first time. It was hard to wait on opening the envelope (what was a few hours after almost 4 years of waiting!) but we were so glad to share this moment with our family. We were right, when we finally opened the envelope and saw Emma's picture for the first time our lives changed! Not only did we fall even more in love with our daughter, the one that had been growing in our heart all of this time, we immediately got that feeling that every day we had to wait to go get her was going to be harder than the next. For years I have been reading the posts of those who got their referrals and them saying that this part of the wait was the worst and in one split moment I knew exactly how they felt. I couldn't imagine her being in the orphanage one minute longer. We have already missed 18 months of her life and we don't want to miss a minute more!
With that being said, the wait begins (the long wait!). On referral day (our unexpected early day) Phillip told us that our travel would be delayed due to Chinese holidays and trade fair but I thought that maybe he was overestimating our wait. Well, yesterday our wait was confirmed. I had drove to Lexington for our 3 hour travel meeting and we went over most everything for our trip, the most important to me being our estimated travel dates. That was when it was confirmed that we will not be traveling until Nov. 5th (97 days away). It seems that not only is there a holiday Oct 1-8 and then the trade fair from 15-31 but there is a holiday week in Sept also. How did China get so many holidays? How are we going to be able to wait 97 days to go get Emma?
Now I know we have waited this long and I know we have plenty of things to keep us busy between now and Nov. 5th but now we know that each day we wait Emma is sitting in an orphanage, getting older and we are missing all of these milestones in her life. This by far is going to be the hardest part of the wait. I will continue to pray everyday for our daughter to be well cared for and loved until we get there.
I feel like our early call came for a reason, Emma was ready! Since we thought our LID was 3/29 we thought that it would be Sept or Oct when we got our referral with travel in Nov or Dec. So even though we got our referral early it looks like travel will be the same. The thing I do know is if our LID was 3/29 than Yu Xiang would not be our daughter. We were approved for a daughter 6-18 months old and at the time we got Emma's referral she was 18 months old. With this being said if we had to wait a few months longer than Yu Xiang would not have been referred to us. I believe God had this in his plan long ago and knew that everything would work out to unite us with Emma in perfect timing. So while we are so sad to wait for Emma to be placed in our arms we know that it will all happen in God's time!

Still on Cloud Nine!

I can't believe it has been 4 days since we saw Emma's face for the first time. It all still seems like a dream. All the excitement of the week has taken a toll on me and I am in bed with strep throat. I guess I need to get all this out of my system before we bring Emma home. My sister took lots of photos of the day and I want to make a little video, hopefully soon.




This is a picture of Mike and I just after we pulled up at our house after driving to Lexington to get Emma's file. If you notice, the package is unopen! (Of course Mike looks good in his work clothes, hey, I did just get done operating!)


This picture is the first one taken after we saw Emma's face for the first time (love at first sight!)

This is our very first family photo! Now we just can't wait to have Emma in our arms for a real family photo. I'm sure you can tell we had both been crying in this photo.

A little about our girl:

Yu Xiang

Born: January 2, 2008 (My Mom's Birthday!)

YuDu SWI, Jiangxi

As of April 30, 2009

Weight: 19.8 lbs

Height: 29 in tall

She is walking (so sad we have missed this)

She loves the TV and Music

Her favorite toy is a ball

She is saying a few words like Baba and Mama

She is a moderate sleeper

Not afraid of strangers

Loves her caregivers to kiss on her (I can't wait to do that!)

We are so sad that we have missed so much of her life already but feel that Emma was definately meant to be part of our family and we can't travel soon enough to get her. This week is going to be very busy getting paperwork done and we have a travel meeting on Thursday. Right now we are hearing that we won't travel until November due to the Trade Fair in October. We are just going to do a lot of praying that our TA will not take long and maybe just maybe we will be able to travel before that.

We want to thank all of our family for being with us during this special time and for all the love and support from our family, friends, and our bloggy friends. All of your calls, visits, and comments on our site have meant so much!

Most of all we want to thank The Peoples Republic of China for sharing one of their daughters with us!

Still in Shock!

What a week it has been! We have lots of photos from referral day but my computer is still being uncooperative so I hope to post them soon. I did want to write about our day while it is very fresh in my head (not that I will ever forget one moment of it!)

I am sure if you saw my post a few back I was very anxious to see rumors. Now I knew that we would not be getting our referral but I have bloggy friends that are ahead of me and of course I wanted to be a few days closer to Emma. So what happened next took us by total surprise.
On Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Mike and I were at work just like any other day. It was nearing lunch time and I was in the operating room when our secretary called in the room to let me know I had a phone call. Now since I am in surgery no one EVER calls me unless it is an emergency so I quickly relayed to them to find out who it was. The response I got was Phillip Aldridge (Who? the name wasn't familiar to me). I told them to take a message and when I finished our case I would return his call. I was just happy to know there were no emergency at home. I finish the case and go to the front desk to retrieve my message and written on a piece of paper was: Phillip Aldridge, his phone number and the words: with help (I asked our secretary, with help for what? Thinking it was not important, Terri and I went to eat. While we were eating I kept looking at the number and finally remembered (859) area code is Lexington and the only person I could think of from Lexington was our agency A Helping Hand (a light bulb went off in my head and of course I laughed thinking how she just came up with, with help!) I decided I should see what they needed, I was sure it was something updated or our contact info since we are starting to get close to the 29th. I grabbed my cell and went outside only to have a message on my phone from Phillip also saying that I needed to call him today. So I made the call only to find out he was on another line and would call me back in 5 minutes at the front desk. I then called Mike to chat and told him that I thought it was weird that Phillip had called (BTW, Phillip is not our family advocate, ours was out of town so he was covering for her and we had never met him). At that moment Michael said someone was calling him with a 859 number so I told him to take the call and I would call him later to see what they needed. I hung up the phone and within 30 seconds the phone was ringing at the desk and I could see the same number. I was very confused as to why 2 different people would be calling both of us at the same time. JJ, our secretary, said it was my agency so I picked up the phone to hear...
Phillip: "Kim, this is Phillip and I have Mike on the line."
Kim: "Hi Phillip, how are you?"(thinking why are we both on the phone)
Phillip: "Well, I am great. Referrals came today."
Kim: "Yes, I know that is great"
Phillip: "I just wanted to let you know that your referral is here."
Kim & Mike: "What?"
Kim: "It can't be, it's not our time."
Phillip: "There was a mistake with your date. We thought it was logged in on the 29th but they had it earlier"
Kim: "What, Oh my gosh! I can't believe this!" (with this I start scrambling for anything to write on)
Phillip: "Her name is Yu Xeing and she was born on January 2, 2008. (I started trying to figure out how old she was and missed half of what he was saying)
"I have 3 pictures of her that I have attached to an email and are sending now for you to open" (With that I yelled to Mike, "don't you dare open that!" Mike said "I won't!
Phillip giggled and I told him we wanted to be together to see her for the first time.
He gave me very limited other info about who would be contacting us and sending the file by FedEx and the call was over.
I was in total shock so I ran down the hall to call Mike in private. Neither one of us knew what to say as we had planned for this day and we were totally not ready for this! We called our Moms (what a funny call that was) and then decided that we should drive to Lexington to get her file (73 miles away!) My best friends at work Terri and Betty were so excited and helped me get out the door as quickly as possible. Mike picked me up and we were off to Lex!
Now, a long time ago we had decided that on referral day we would take the day off, be home for the call (tape that) and then would go to get her file and bring it back so the family could be here to see her for the first time with us. Heck, I have been there for all my nieces and nephews births and I wanted them here for Emma's delivery.
On the way, Mike told me about going into work this morning and a ladybug walking up the window (he laughed and said, yes referrals should be coming today). The odd part of this is that Mike works on the 33rd floor and you never see any bugs up that high. It gave me cold chills.
We got to AHH's office and as soon as we got inside Mike told the receptionist that we got our referral today. She laughed and said you must be the Kramer's and took us down the hall to Phillips office. When we got to the door Phillip smiled and started to pull Emma's file out of the FedEx envelope and I quickly told him not to show us and explained how we wanted to be with our family for that moment. I even asked him to seal the package so we wouldn't be tempted to look. We had a wonderful conversation with him and he let us know we would have our translated info on Thursday or Friday. I gave him a big hug and we headed back to Louisville.
Now, we had talked to all our family and they were coming to our house. Tommi and her family had even left their mini vacation it St Louis when I called her to be back to see Emma (they were hours away). We drove home in shock as Emma sat on my lap. We knew that as soon as we opened that envelope that our lives would change forever. We got back to the house and it was decorated with signs, balloons, flowers, champainge and cake. We couldn't believe DeeAnna and the gang had done this so quickly. We decided to order pizza and wait for everyone to get here. The only thing missing was I knew that my Dad couldn't make it back in town to be with us, but I did get to talk to him. Two and a half hours later, after everyone got here and had eaten we sat down to open our file and share Emma with everyone. We told them that we were going to get to look at her first and then we would show her to everyone. (I was so nervous about seeing her face for the first time hoping that the connection would be there). Mike opened the envelope, pulled out the pictures and our hearts melted as we saw our beautiful daughter for the first time. We are so in love with her!
Our daughter, the one we have waited almost 4 years for, was worth every minute we waited. She was so meant for us. I can't wait to share all the information about her with you as soon as we have it. Oh, and did I tell you that Emma was born on my Mom's birthday January 2nd and we received her referral on my Grandma's birthday July 21!

Sorry that was so long but I wanted to share our story with all of you. We laugh as we sit here thinking about how long we have waited and planned for this day but never in a million years did we think it would happen this way. We would like to thank all of you for being here for us during this long wait and can't wait to share Miss Emma Yu with all of you!

We love you!
Michael and Kim

Introducing Emma...

THIS IS WHAT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR...
INTRODUCING OUR DAUGHTER
EMMA YU

Yu Xiang
Birthdate: January 2, 2008 (my Mom's b-day!)

I can't wait to fill you in on all the details but Mike and I are exhausted. All I can say is WOW what a delivery! When I woke up this morning I had no clue what was in store for us today. All this time we thought we had a 3/29 LID and it ended up being 3/21! We are over the moon. As Lisa would say, Oh my heck! I can't wait to give you all the details. But until then, enjoy these pictures of our beautiful daughter (how wonderful does that sound!)

We have delivered!

WE ARE IN SHOCK!
WE GOT THE CALL TODAY, YES THE CALL!
IT SEEMS OUR LID IS REALLY 3/21/06!
STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS...
WE GOT THE CALL, DROVE TO LEXINGTON AND ARE NOW HOME WAITING FOR THE FAMILY TO GET HERE SO THAT WE CAN FINALLY SEE EMMA'S FACE!
BE BACK SOON.....

Why is it so quiet?

WHERE ARE THE RUMORS?!

Today is July 17th and as of yet I haven't seen any rumors! Last month the batch came out June 19th so you would think we are in the time frame to at least start hearing some rumors. Nothing, Nada! Please don't send us into the weekend without at least some kind of rumors. I know I don't always believe the rumors and in some cases I don't want to listen to them but I at least like to see them! So this morning I will be checking the rumor board over and over to hopefully get some kind of news. I so appreciate RQ for all the time she puts into this board and I like reading about book, toy and baby gear reviews but where are the rumors?

UPDATE: THE FIRST RUMORS ARE IN.... IT COMES FROM AN AGENCY SAYING THAT THEIR MARCH 21 AND 22 CLIENTS ARE IN. NOW THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THIS IS THE CUT-OFF BUT IT IS A GOOD CHANCE IT IS. I AM SO HOPING FOR THE 23RD TO BE IN BUT 2 IS BETTER THAN ONE AND THAT WOULD PUT US AT 7 DAYS (2 WEEKEND DAYS). IF THAT IS THE CUT-OFF I AM FOR SURE NOT IN FOR NEXT MONTH BUT MAYBE SEPT, WE'LL SEE.....

Busy as usual

Once again I am slacking on the blog. I am just finding way to much to do these days and haven't been finding the time or energy to post. The last few weeks have been crazy. We took a trip to Florida with my entire side of the family the week before the 4th of July. We had an incredible time just being together. I am just praying this is the last family trip without Emma. I keep thinking each year she will be here for the next but here we are still waiting. The trip was so needed! Work had been crazy and the time away really did me good. Of course it is always bitter sweet when we come home and our house is so quiet. We love all the activity of having 7 nieces and nephews running around.
I came back to some changes at work as one of our major insurance companies and our hospital couldn't come to an agreement on their contract so for now those patients with that insurance are unable to come to our hospital. It made our case load much lighter meaning a lot of budget time for the staff. With the China trip almost in sight this is not what I wanted to hear but thankfully the doctors I work with have stayed busy so it hasn't hurt me yet. I guess with the economy the way it is I should remember to be thankful for my job!
I have promised for some time to post pictures of our remodel on the house but I was trying to wait for it to be completed. We are getting close but have been waiting for some time now to get projects done. Hopefully I will have some to show you soon.
As for the adoption (I know this is the only thing you are interested in). We are still waiting for the July referrals. In June they came out on the 19th so hopefully we will start hearing some rumors this week. Last month got to March 20th, but then right before we left for Florida a Canadian agency received a batch for March 21-23!? No one is sure why they got them but that means a few more people in front of me got their forever daughters (and sons). The exciting part about that is that I really felt like this month would only get March 21 and 22 as the days are good size but with the news of that extra batch I am hoping that means that when referrals do come that the 23rd will be included. (I always want them to do more but I try to stay realistic) If this happens it puts us 6 days away from our LID with 2 of those days being the weekend, so 4 referral days. If this happens I really think we will have our referral in September (best case August, worse case November). So for me the next week will consist of visiting the Rumor Queen many times a day. I will keep you posted!
Oh, one last thing! I got an email from my friend Cyndee last night and she received wonderful news! (Let me back up!) I met Cyndee when we decided to go to Ukraine. We went to the initial meeting together, our paperwork went off to Ukraine at the same time and when we got word of our appt date we had the same date! The only thing was Cyndee and Dan decided that Ukraine was not the right route for them and decided to pull their file and pursue a China adoption. They then started all the paperwork over and in 2005 they brought home their beautiful daughter from China. Cyndee is the one who continued to encourage us to look into China adoption and was so supportive to us with everything we went through. (ok, I am rambling) Anyway, earlier this year she sent me an email to let me know that they had decided to adopt again, from Ethiopia and that they were looking at a sibling group of 4! Once again on the paperwork trail and waiting for news. Yesterday I received an email from her and everything has been approved (Thank God!) and Cyndee and Dan are now adding 3 girls and one boy to her family. Congratulations Cyndee and Dan!