Our Adoption Journey In Pictures

                                                      Beijing
            Our arrival city before taking the train to Jinan

    L.J.'s friend Mick traveled to meet with us and treated us to a trip to the Great Wall! Mick and L.J. met at the Bring Me Hope Summer camp for orphans in 2011. The view was absolutely breathtaking... and the company was a delightful treat.

 

  

        TRADITIONALLY A BRIDE AND GROOM TOGETHER PLACE A LOCK ON THE WALL.

                                                              

                                                                
                                    
                                   Jinan
    Our peanut, calm and confident in manning the camera, while Mom and Dad are rushing around preparing for Blue to arrive in our room. 

    We are so excited that we can barely withstand the suspense of waiting one more moment... after a year and a half of waiting for our Blue! I am sure we were a pitifully funny sight to see... ;-)

            He is here! ... no wait, false alarm.... it was only housekeeping at the door. At least we found out how fast we all can jump over, around, and move beyond things to find our places before opening the door to greet our new son.

                    He is here!... It is the real deal this time!

                 Nanny at orphanage, Blue, Dad, Brother, Mom, Asst. Director of orphanage

                                   
                                  

                                                   Blue, orphanage Nanny, Brother

    We are asked to sign the papers while informed that we will have twenty-four hours to change our minds about adopting him if we decide we don't want him... I will not subject you to reading through the fit of grief, sorrow, and injustice for Blue, that I had inside of my heart over that statement! I felt just awful for, Blue. We quickly moved on and focused on the joy of our new son being with us.


                                                    Dad and Mom Signing the paperwork

                         
                         
                    
                                            LATER IN THE EVENING... HE IS SO HAPPY

                 




           
                      BLUE'S MEDICAL EXAMINATION...

.

 

                                                                     BROTHERS

                                               BLUE TAKING A PICTURE OF DAD

Home At Last

   We arrived home at at 3:45am, after 25 hours of traveling... still up and going with two excited and very happy little boys. Definitely going to have to get these two happy hams to take a nap soon... Dad and I could use some shut-eye too! ;-) It is good to be back home for us, and for Blue, it is good to be in his first and only home ever in his life. 

Well... the boys are asking for breakfast now... looks like a dream land and my sheets are going to have to wait.... gladly.

~Wendy

Finally, I was able to get on our blog after five days. Yay! We are doing well and actually preparing to leave for Guangzhou tomorrow. We will stay there until the 26th of January.
SUNDAY--As much as I would like to, I won't try to fill you in on every detail of the last five days as that would be way too lengthy. I will just give you some of the highlights so far. We arrived Sunday evening and Blue was brought to our hotel. We met Blue's Nanny and the orphanage assistant director. The assistant director was a key person in our being able to adopt Blue. Blue seemed excited, shy, and a little nervous. The director explained that Blue was happy, but nervous about his English. We assured him that we would help him learn and that seemed to abate his fears for the moment.
Blue and Adam connected instantly. I think that bringing Adam with us was a really good and healthy thing for both of the boys. We spent the evening talking and playing. Both the boys fell asleep quickly while being read to.
MONDAY-- The adoption appointment was a bit fast pace but all in all, went well. Blue uses the handheld translator constantly. I think it comforts him to know he has it. Blue asked us about charging it...L.J. let him know it would be ok... we would charge it if needed.
We took a lot of pictures...I wish I could post them. The nanny and director spent most of Monday with us including a nice lunch. They were quite curious and asked us many questions. They expressed interest in the adoption process, our home, and how we will care for Blue... with concerned voices they asked us if we had heat in our home. When we told them we have both heat and air conditioning in our home they both smiled broadly with shocked expressions and began rattling off something in Mandarin to Blue... who smiled.
TUESDAY-- We have noticed Blue is a very open, affectionate child. He does seem to get quiet when others are around though. Sometimes a bit stressed. He has decided he wants to be called Blue, not anything else... so Blue it is!
WEDNESDAY--We are so happy to have him after all of this time.
Blue called me Mama today!!! He was excited over something and called me Mama, for me to look at the fish he caught in the game. (I told L.J. that it probably helps that he doesn't know my real name yet. ;-) He doesn't know other names for me.) He imitates L.J.'s constantly, every sound or gesture. So Cute.
THURSDAY-- OK... the boy can eat!!! ... and sleeps like a rock. We will have to get him seen by the doctor when we get back though... he falls asleep every afternoon no matter where we are! He will just lean over and go to a deep sleep then wake up fine. Maybe anemic-- poor nutrition??? We will see.
He cannot wait to see his new home and wants to share a room with his brother. He shares everything. Those who know me well... know I don't share food with anyone... but our adoption education training indicated that for him to share the first of all of his food is a huge bonding and acceptance step! So yes, we drink and eat whatever this dear child offers us.
As far as our stay so far, and what China is like for us... it is well. I will write about that another time if I can get back on here.
Thanks to everyone who helped us get here with our son. This Mama's heart is overflowing. L.J. and I are beyond grateful for our family and friends. I know the road ahead of us is a long one, but it is a road worth walking... and we are comforted to know we are not taking this journey alone.
Sorry, this is so long! I just don't know when we will be able to post again.
Wendy, L.J., Adam, and Blue

 

January 04, 2013

Gotcha Day Is Almost Here!

          We are leaving this week to go get our son! Our Gotcha day is January 14th, 2013!!! We will post pictures as soon as we can. I'm not sure if we will be able to access this blog while in China, but we will sure try. 

   We found out that friends from our church, who are also adopting, are going to be in China at the same time. We are getting our boys on the same day and will be staying at the same hotel for at least part of our China stay! They have requested the same hotel we are staying at for the other part of the stay... we are praying for that to happen too. L.J. and I are super blessed to be sharing this time in our adoption journey with this family. I can only imagine what a bond this will bring to our boys. 


[Gotcha Day- The day China brings child to adoptive parents]


Please pray for us:

- Safe and pleasant travel
 -The adoption to proceed without problems or glitches
 - L.J. & Wendy to have discernment and wisdom as we walk these first steps as new parents
 -Blue, Adam, L.J. & Wendy to have a close bond form quickly
 -For God's hand to be upon us and with us always 
 -For our three children who will be back in the States while we are away
-Blue... just pray for Blue. God will know what the needs are on the inside and out for our son.


Thank you and see ya when we get back!
 ~Wendy- for the Raffray family

LOA! Thursday, November 15, 2012

   Our letter of acceptance came today! [This is the letter China sends to ask if we accept this child.] We will be traveling to China soon to bring our new son, Blue, home with us.

   No words can describe my emotions right now... 20 years ago my husband and I were planning our wedding and our future, dreaming of having five children, the last of the five we wanted to come through adoption. We were two young people trusting God for, and through, our future together.

    20 years later, we are blessed with four beautiful, healthy, children and one on the way through adoption. It feels surreal that I am sitting here reading a line on a piece of paper asking us to sign here if we accept this child...
   
   We not only accept him.... we have wanted him, prayed for him, fought for him, sacrificed for him and he is about to really be ours... really be ours to have and call our son forever.... my heart is overwhelmed at the goodness of our God. ~Thank You Lord.

 

~Wendy

DTC - Dossier to China

Today, October 18, 2012, we received the message that our Dossier has been sent to China! This is such a BIG accomplishment in this very long process. It could be that we may be traveling to get Blue as soon as six weeks from now. Wow!
We are very excited and know that time is closing in on this whole process. If Blue were to turn 14 years old (January 2013), the adoption would be over without the opportunity of getting him. So, we will patiently and prayerfully wait for our Travel Announcement from China.

USCIS - FBI Check and Fingerprints

Looks like the government approved our digits! Our fingerprints were scanned on a Wednesday and our I-800(A) was approved on that Friday. Wow.  This is the last document we needed before sending our Dossier off to China. We are getting closer to bringing our, Blue, home!  :-)

~Wendy


  [I-800(A) Simply put, is the U.S.Immigration approval to adopt from a foreign country and National FBI Clearance]

 [Dossier- a complete file containing,  all of the information collected, required documents, and paperwork performed on the U.S. side of the adoption process.] 

Part of the BIG Picture

Piece by Piece

Puzzle Fundraiser 

Please consider supporting our adoption by participating in our Puzzle Fundraiser! 

Here's how the fundraiser works: 
We have purchased a 1000-piece World Map Puzzle for Blue (Lee) that will eventually be glued together, framed, and placed in our home. We are asking friends and family members to purchase a puzzle piece for a $5 donation. We will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece(s) you purchased. When all 1000 pieces have been purchased, we will glue the puzzle together, frame it, and hang it in our son’s room. The picture of the world map was chosen as an incredible example of how God can bring people together even with so many miles between them. When Blue (Lee) comes home, we will all put the puzzle together as a family and see the awesome display of people who helped make this possible. The picture will be a constant reminder of how many loved ones have helped to make our the come true.

You can use the Donate Button on the right side of the blog to donate or by clicking here: Donation. Donations will be sent directly to our account and will be used to pay agency fees and travel to China to pick up our boy. Please email us the names that you want on the pieces and if you would prefer to mail a check, send us an email at: blueskies2lee @ yahoo.com and we will send you our address.

This is what the puzzle will look like: 

Why we need your support: 
Adoption is costly, which not many people realize. Our international adoption is going to cost us $30,000-$33,000. We are fundraising for most of the money and applying for adoption grants to help with the cost. Adoption requires us to put out this money all at once; we don't have the luxury of paying a little at a time or paying for it over time. Also, unforeseen costs are a possibility. We hope that this fundraiser will lighten our load a little and allow us to focus less on the cost and more on the blessing we are about to receive.

We have so many wonderful people in our lives and we know that many of them will be anxious to help us raise the money to bring our boy home. We are grateful to have the support of so many loved ones and are truly appreciative of any donations we receive.