Where we have been!

I have had a lot of emails wondering why we never posted from China and I am so sorry for those who missed my note that we would be posting at Waitingonemma.com (it is our Baby Jellybeans site). We posted there as the site was not blocked in China. If you would like to read about our journey you can go to Waitingonemma.com and click on China trip and there are posts from each day. We have been home a week now and things are going good. We had a bad case of jet lag and had a rough 1st week with sleep but it is getting better. Emma is doing good and we are still working on the bonding issues.
Mike had to go back to work today and Emma had a little meltdown this morning without her BaBa. I think BaBa had a meltdown too!
This past week we tried to just hang out and spend time with Emma. We did do a few little day trips to the aquarium and the zoo. We also had some wonderful visits from family and friends.
I will try to give a better update later but just thought I should address my emails and let everyone know what was going on!

They Have Emma!!!

First let me say..... Life is Good! Kimmie and Michael have finally been united with Emma! SHE IS JUST BEAUTIFUL! My sister and brother in law look so happy! Emma just smiled as she sat in between her Mommy's legs, and reached for her daddy! THIS IS WHAT MAKES ALL THE WAIT WORTH IT!!! This beautiful little girl was meant to be a Kramer! Please check out Kimmie's other site at waitingonemma.com she has posted under the China Trip bullet! This is my last update as Kim will be posting on her other site for you to follow!

EMMA..... We are all here waiting and can not wait to meet you! We love you so much already

Gothca Day is only 2 hours away!

This is it, the day they have been waiting for! Its Gotcha Day! In just two hours the Kramer family will become WHOLE! The missing link will be placed in their arms, The Kramers will finally unite as a family!The Count down is on!

WHAT A FIRST DAY!!

Kim and Mike had a great first day in China. They said the cities are beautiful! They visited the Great Wall, The Forbidden City, and much more! They are traveling with a couple that had previously adopted from China. They have their little girl on the trip with them and apparently Kimmie and Michael have really made up with this child. Emma will have her daddy wrapped around her finger in no time at all. It is now 9:25 in China and they have paperwork to finish before the big day! Gotcha day will begin very early, Wake up call is set for 5:00am! WOW.... in 7 and a half hours Kimmie and Mike will be getting ready to meet their DAUGHTER for the very first time! They will officially have her in their arms around 3:00pm (3:00am for us)
Thank you for the prayers and thoughts I know Kim and Mike really appreciate them! Im Sorry Im not very good with this updating stuff but Kim will have reigns again very soon!

They have arrived!

The Kramers are now officially in Beijing China! Thanks for all of the prayers, We will keep you posted on their journey as they meet their daughter for the first time!

We should have arrived!

It is now 4:49pm in China, Kim and Michael should have arrived about an hour ago! I am waiting for confirmation!! Emmas mommy and daddy are now just a day away from GOTCHA!!!!

Still in the air and 5:38am in China

Isn't it funny how hard it is on the people in the waiting room..... It is now 5:40am in China, this has been one long delivery!!!!

They are now on the 14 hour flight from Chicago to China!!!

They are on there way!! Flying high , Please keep Kim and Mike in your thoughts today ..... Wishing for a safe flight! Ill keep you posted!

And They Are Off!!!

Kimmie and Michael are officially on there way! Stay tuned for more updates!

It's Almost Time!

We are now at crunch time, 35 hours and counting! How could that be? I still have so much to do! I still have a 12 hour shift of work to fit into that 35 hours! I had so much I wanted to share and now I am running out of time! I will try to post one more time tomorrow night! I wanted to tell you all about the wonderful shower our families gave us. It was amazing! I took my camera and then never got it out so I will have to get photos from my sister. I did take some photos of all of the wonderful gifts we received so I will try to upload a few of those photos! How have I had all of this time to prepare and here I sit so unprepared?! I want to thank all of my wonderful family and friends for being part of our amazing journey to bring our daughter home. I promise to post one more time before we go!

Our Itinerary!

China Itinerary

Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009 - Depart Louisville at 8am

Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 - Arrive in Beijing, China at 3:15pm

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 - Tour Great Wall, Olympic Park, Forbidden City,...

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 - Fly to Nanchang -- GOTCHA DAY

Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 - Civil Affair Office
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009 - Visit Tengwang Pavillion
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 - Visit Anyi Village
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 - Visit local park
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 - Fly to Guangzhou
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 - Medical Exam
Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 - Church
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 - Shopping
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 - Free Day
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 - US Consulate to take Oath
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009 - Fly Home - Arrive in Louisville 6:05pm

Moving along

I had the week off from work but decided that since we would be traveling soon I didn't really need to take all that time off. I ended up working Monday and Tuesday and then took Wednesday off. It was nice to have yesterday off as I have a lot I need to do.
We were having some problems with some paperwork. I think I may have mentioned it before but we had to do an addendum to our home study as Emma will be 2o months when we get her. Our paperwork reflects that we requested a child 6-18 months (which she was at the time of referral) but China will want to see that we will take a child up to 24 months. I started on this the week we got our referral but have hit a couple of bumps in the road. Finally yesterday we found out the paperwork was being processed and we would have it by the beginning of next week! (Takes a little stress away!)
I also came home yesterday and our Visa's and travel paperwork had arrived! Things are starting to fall into place. I still have some things to get in order around the house and of course I need to start getting our stuff together for the trip. I did at least make 2 trips to Target, it's a start! The big challange starts in making sure we stay under the weight limit! We are allowed 2 suitcases under 44lbs., 1 carryon and 1 personal item each! I need to weigh the suitcases and see how much they weigh empty.
I had emailed a couple of bloggy friends about what they took on their trip and have gotten some great responses (thank you to everyone!) but if anyone wants to share any tips I would love to hear it. I would love to know if there is anything you couldn't live without, things you wish you would have taken or things you wish you would have left at home! You can leave me a message here or email me at Kramer651@cs.com

Our other site!

Baby Jellybeans

We have another website that I started before this one.

We are hoping to use it while in China.

Waitingonemma.com

Another step closer!

Airline Tickets have been booked!

We got a call from Mike at AHH today. He wanted to let us know that our Consulate date has been confirmed for Sept. 22, 2009! That means that we are leaving on September 10, 2009. I don't have our schedule yet but it looks like we will fly out on Thursday, arrive Friday, tour Beijing on Saturday, fly to Emma's region on Sunday and either get Emma on Sunday or Monday!

Mike and I both got the nervous stomach as we booked the tickets. It made everything seem official. I can't believe we will be in China in 2 1/2 weeks! Hang on Emma, Mommy and Daddy are coming.

I will post the official schedule when we receive it!

Another big surprise!

OUR TA HAS ARRIVED!

Once again we were caught off guard! Yesterday afternoon right before I left the house I checked the rumors to see if anything was going on. Of course another quiet day! I was so hoping referrals were going to arrive so we could find out all about sweet Hannah. Since there was nothing happening I went to eat lunch with Mike. While eating we of course talked about Emma, our TA, the rumors of referrals and how it looked like it was only getting to 3/24/09. I was so sad for all

of the families waiting as we too would still be waiting! Anyway, Mike said it looks like since nothing is going on that there is no hope of traveling before November. Now, we were told that would be when we would travel but we always hoped and prayed that it would come earlier. Now with it being August 20th, it looks like there is not a chance of going before. We finished lunch and I left for home. DeeAnna had called to talk to me about the shower they were planning for us on Sept. 26. While on the phone a call came in. When I looked to see who it was I saw the Lexington number! DeeAnna of course said "Go, take the call!" On the other line was Mike, our travel coordinator. He laughed at me at how I answered the phone and said he could tell I was on the road (think it may have been the radio was a little loud. Oh, I know, I shouldn't be riding around talking on the cell!) He asked me if I wanted the good news or the great news! I told him which ever he would like to tell me. With that, he told me that our TA (travel approval) had arrived. I couldn't believe it as there hadn't been any talk of it on RQ. I was so excited! Now, he said, would you like the great news! I told him that I thought he had already told me the great news! (Laughing again, he told me), It seems that China has changed their holiday schedule so we are anticipating that you will leave for China on September 10, 2009 and arrive home on September 24, 2009.

How could this happen twice? I was caught off guard again! After all this time of waiting I am so unprepared! Now, I have been getting a few things done but no need to move so fast, I had (HAD being the key word) 3 months to get ready. My 3 months just turned into 3 weeks! (guess I shouldn't complain as Pug Mama only had about 48 hours to get ready!)

Now the countdown is on! We will know by next Wednesday the official dates of travel. If all goes as planned we leave to get in Emma in exactly 20 days!

Emma's care package

As I told you in my last post we sent Emma a care package this week.

We used Ann at Red Thread China.

I had already posted the picture she sent us but I really like seeing at the top of the blog so I wanted to put it there again!

This is a picture of what was included in the care package we sent.

It included: a photo book with 8 pictures, a musical bear, a book, candy

and tea for the caregivers, a disposable camera (we hope the caregivers will

take pictures of Emma and the orphanage for us), and a letter that we wrote along with

questions that we hope will get answered. Thank you Ann, we can't wait

for Emma to get it!

Look what we got!

Before I left for work this morning I checked my email just to see if there was anything I needed to see in there and boy was I surprised. I yelled for Mike to come and see! The email was from Ann at Red Thread . We had ordered a care package for Emma from her this weekend and she send us this!!!



This picture was taken yesterday! It looks like they got our precious little one all dressed up for the photo! It looks like she has had another hair cut, I can't wait for it to grow long enough for some bows. She looks so much smaller without all of those clothes on. Emma is now 22lbs., 30in. tall, and her feet are 12 cm. We are so blessed to have this photo sent to us by Ann! I highly recommend her services as she is an absolute angel!
Still no word on travel, I will keep you posted.

Lots to do!

Things have been really busy around here this week. We had a crazy week with the weather and had a lot of flooding in the area. My work just happened to get hit really hard and they had to close down the OR's from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday. I am sure with all the cancelled surgeries we will be overwhelmed next week.
I have spent yesterday and today getting paperwork in order. We are going later today to get our passport photos for our Visa's and get them in the mail today. There were a ton of other forms to print (I think I used a whole forest worth of trees). We also got our letter written to send to Emma's orphanage and the pictures we wanted to send. We are using Ann to send the carepackage. We had heard wonderful things about it was all so true, she is amazing!
I've gotten lots of emails about the delay in our travel. Nothing is set in stone yet but our agency seems pretty firm on our travel dates. I am still hoping that our TA's will come in very soon and they will go ahead and send us in September. Believe me, I am getting our stuff together just in case but if I have learned one thing from this whole process it is to not get my hopes up but to always expect the unexpected!
I hope to have some news soon and I still want to upload photos from referral day. I'll see what I can do!

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!