Day 0: We've arrived

We finally got to Beijing! Long uneventful flights! Not much sleep last night - still trying to get used to the time difference ! We are headed on our own today to sightsee. We are missing everyone very much! Can't wait to get Jailyn and begin our journey with her!
We will post photos of our sight seeing tonight. Love you Brady, Kenzie and Conner! and mimi and papa paul! Hope y'all are doing well!

Test

we are testing our new computer...getting last minute things together for our trip!!!!

talk to y'all soon!
jodi sue :)

Another day closer!

We are so excited to get on that plane and go get our precious Jailyn! Sometimes I have to pinch myself... I can't believe it's really happening!
The past week has been crazy with more paperwork, getting the house ready and packing!
We are going to Beijing for a few days, so we will see The Great Wall, The Hutongs, Summer palace and The Temple of Heaven. Sounds wonderful! Wow! A real grown up trip for Bryan and I. (Atleast for a couple of days.)

Mimi and Papa Paul get in town tomorrow and then I have a few days to show them the ropes. Leaving the kids is going to be soooo hard! They will be in good hands but I will miss them terribley!

Soccer update:
Brady's team won the Championship game!! Totally cool!
Bryan's team came in 2nd place
Kenzie's team plays their Championship game.
Conner's team has had a hard season - didn't place but have improved a lot and will come out fighting the next season.
Jodi's team - yeah right! Though I would love to try to play - I would never have time. That's okay! Managing the teams is enough for me.

thanks for checking in with us! Feel free to leave comments while we are gone - think I will be very homesick! Have a great day!

YEAH!!!!

We just got "the call"! Our agency has our travel approval in hand!!!!
Tonight they will be talking with our Social Worker, Lily , and she will be confirming our Consolate date for 12th! Gotcha' day should be around the 4th!
I'm so excited!!!!! Can hardly sit still!
Can't wait to cuddle my sweet little girl!!!

Have a great day!
Jodi Sue :)

Missing my girl!

I found this song today and just sat and cried. I think we wont be traveling until March to bring Jailyn home. We are all very sadddened and are trying to keep our emotions together! This song is beautiful, doesn't help my lonlies but sometimes a girl just needs to sit and cry!

It is from a Christian band, "Third Day" and even though it's not
Christmas, it's still how I feel!


There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
and we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
and prepare a place for us
so we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

A depressing day!

Last night and today have been very depressing! I am beginning to think we will not be traveling to be with our precious girl until March. I'm not sure if I'm being emotional or realistic or is it just PMS?
I had been told that the average TA for SN is received 80 days after LID. Tomorrow is 80 days. Recently, I have heard from others on a yahoo group who have waited 95 and 109 days. This is what has me disappointed! (If these sentences didn't make sense to you see my list of "What does Jodi mean by LID?"

Bryan and Conner are having a great time at the soccer tournament. Conner's team won one game and tied the team that won their age group last year! So that is cool! They have two more games tomorrow! They ofcourse, stayed at the fields to watch other games today!

Brady had a game today too and they won! Next week they play for the 1st place!
Kenzie's team doesn't play until Monday, first game of their play-offs!

Thanks for checking in on our blog... feel free to let us know that you are here and if you have any questions!

Jodi Sue :)

And so on!

I spent the day arraning registration for soccer teams for the kids! Thankfully, everything has gone through without any problems! Yeah another season of soccer! Conner is in a 3v3 tournament this weekend at Disney World! Totally coo! He loves tournaments!
I also went shopping for medicine for Jaiyn. Tylenol and anbesol... all that good stuff! And Pebto Bismol and Dramamine for us! More bibs and burp clothes.
Will be finishing up the nursery this weekend - so I will post pictures as soon as possible!

Our Visa's came yesterday! So, we are in good shape! A few more things to pick up for the trip and we will be ready for "the call".

I got home this afternoon and looked at my email! There was a message from another adoptive family who found out today that they are traveling on the 19th! 7 days!!! Oh my goodness! Though we haven't received our travel approval yet I am encouraged that we will be going before Chinese New Year!!!!! :)

Hope y'all are doing well!
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!
Jodi

Another day of waiting!

Still now good news. We heard from wonderful Karla at Lifeline... she had to Overnight our Letter of Intent to us to be signed
and tomorrow I need to overnight it to China. We (including Karla) weren't too sure why this had to be done ... there were no signs of anything being wrong with our paperwork. Tonight Karla called back and told us that she had found out that it is a new policy for those adopting Special Needs children to have this letter signed again. Guess we are on the ground breaking of this policy! Something I would have rather avoided, but okay... another day! We are just getting nervous the closer we get to February 17th! We need to travel and be home by then! Feb 17th begins Chinese New Year and all the government office shut down for two weeks.
God has his tender hands on Jailyn until we can be with her and hold her too!
Thanks for checking in on us!
Goodnews is sure to come soon!

Jodi Sue :)

Travel Dates still not confirmed

Our travel dates are still not confirmed. We do feel a little better having just found out that another family just received rumor of their dates for the 18th, 19th or 20th. They wont know officially until Tuesday or Wednesday. That is less than 2 weeks! Guess I need to get packing!

Have a great day!
Love,
Jodi Sue :)

Jailyn's Name

Some of you might be wondering how we came up with Jailyn Hope. JAI are the first initials of our dear friends (that we see as family!) Izzy (Isabel), Julie and Amanda. Cal and Jason if we could have fit you in there some how we would have! :) Lyn is Bryan's sister's middle name, and Hope is Mimi (my mom's) middle name.

Jailyn's name given her by the Orphanage is Cao Yunyan. Cao is the surname given to many of the children in her orphange and Yunyan means bright clouds. Not sure if we can add this to the name we have given her... we'll see.

Have a great day!

Jodi Sue :)

Jailyn's story as we know it

We don't have a lot of information about Jailyn but we do know that she was loved by her birth mother. She was found the same day that she was born, September 30th, 2005. The police received an anoymous call that there was a child left. She was left with a note from her birth mother. My heart goes out to this woman! Somehow, this was the best thing that she could do for her baby. I can't imagine being in the position to have to do this.

Since that day, Jailyn has lived in an orphanage. She was born with a 3rd degree cleft lip and cleft palate. When we saw her picture on the Lifeline Children's Services, Waiting Child list, we knew she was ours. We told Lifeline that we were interested in adopting her. We were told there were two other families ahead of us. Each family would have a week to decide if they wanted to continue with the adoption. I asked if we could be on the Waiting List. Lifeline agreed. (Later, we found out that they didn't give us much hope.)

Two weeks later, Sept 12th at 10:35 am I received "the call". It was Karla, at Lifeline! The other families decided not to pursue and we had a week to decide if we wanted to go forward. We didn't need a week... we didn't even need a day, or an hour! We already knew she was our daughter!

So, the journey began!

We hadn't finished all of our paperwork yet - so we got all of that submitted. China agreed that we were a match and now we sit and wait for news as to when we will travel to bring her home!

Karla, at Lifeline, had sent a letter to the Orphanage asking them not to do any surgery on Jailyn. Although we asked, the orphanage doctors decided that it would be better for Jailyn to have her lip repaired before she went home. We were surprised! The pictures after her surgery look great! She looks happy and beautiful!

We have not received any updated information on her... weight, height, health... We are thinking she is pretty small - about 9-12 month clothing size. In the pictures she looks chubby, but that is the many layers of clothing she has on.

We are so excited to be united with her! Brady, Kenzie and Conner J are very excited too! They will be staying home with family. We will miss them so much! But we know they are in good hands!

I have added some websites if you would like to learn more about the situation in China.

Thank you for your continued prayers!
Jodi Sue :)

Into the 21st Century!

Wow! Can you believe Jodi is doing something on the internet besides emailing and shopping! Set the whole thing up by myself... Not that difficult, but I did go out of my comfort zone to do this!

We will be using this blog while in China meeting our baby girl! Feel free to follow us as we travel there and back home with Jailyn Hope. We are hoping that this blog will help (especially Brady, Kenzie and Conner) feel closer to us while we are gone!

Enjoy our Blog and please check in often... we will try to keep it fresh and new!

Thanks!
Love y'all,
Jodi Sue :)