Waiting to Become a Big Sister

So, Lilly is very interested in the whole adoption thing...actually, you could say obsessed! It is very cute. She requests the same book every night at bedtime (for weeks!): "The White Swan Express". This book is about 4 different families traveling to China to pick up their new baby girls. She is seriously disappointed that there are no Chinese adoption books about getting little brothers, though. She doesn't understand why other people don't have Chinese brothers!

She loves to sit on my lap while I read blogs about China...trust me, this opened up a whole can of worms about cleft lips and special needs and why Emmett's foot is "hurt!" She met a little girl with a cleft lip the other day and she was so excited because she knew all about them! She kept whispering in my ear all the facts she has stored in her super scary smart brain. I was pretty impressed.

But the funniest thing is that she keeps playing "adopting from China" with her friends. One day as I was cleaning a closet in the basement, I heard her and her friend Hailey Whittier playing this. Lilly led them through the whole process of getting a baby brother: the paperwork, the physicals from the doctor, taking pictures, and - my personal favorite - getting shots. I watched as Lilly led Hailey into the play tent to give her the shots she would need. Then I heard the whole conversation:

Lilly: Ok, Hailey, we have to give you a shot.

Hailey: Ow, ow, ow! (author's note: I am not sure what instrument was used in the process, but I suspect it was a princess figurine hi-jacked from the toy castle. Trust me, she has a pointy hat that could do some serious damage!)

Lilly: (Soothingly) Shots hurt, don't they?

Hailey: They hurt real bad, Lilly. I don't think we can play this anymore. It really hurts!

And that was all there was to it. I, of course, was laughing hysterically - actually, I'm doing it again just thinking about it! I love that little girl!

One Step Closer To China!

Our China Visas have arrived!!! We have everything except our travel approval and dates. Basically, this means that we are waiting for the Chinese government to assign us a time when we are allowed to come and for the US government to assign us a consolate appointment time. We were told we would get this info in about 2-5 weeks from getting our Acceptance Letter. It will be three weeks tomorrow! Almost there...

Emmett's Bedroom

Right after we received our match and found out we were getting a totally adorable little boy, I FREAKED OUT!!! I mean, what do I know about BOYS? I have 2 sweet (and sometimes not so sweet) "little" girls. And we had been expecting another little girl for 4 years. I had it all planned out...Lilly and Sophie (that was the name we picked out) would share a room. I bought not 1, but 2 matching quilts fom Pottery Barn Kids, put Lilly in the largest room with a double closet, made sure all of her clothes were kept in pristine condition so that they could become "hand-me-downs" (it also gave me an excuse to buy lots of clothes since 2 girls would be wearing them). We had the pink, flowery bath, the cutest, girly playroom...it was perfect. Sophie could move into the Sharp household with hardly a ripple in our sea of tranquility... And then here comes Emmett making a huge splash all over my plans!

Don't get me wrong I was really excited - a bit shell-shocked- but, happy. As you all can imagine (at least everyone who is aware of my OCD tendencies) I layed awake at night rethinking all my plans. I finally had a solution...I would change everything!

I spent the next two weeks running around like a crazy person and making my family crazy in the process. But I was successful! I switched Lilly and Hannah's rooms (afterall Hannah is the oldest and by right deserves the biggest room with the biggest closet), dismantled my office/guest room, set up my office in the basement, neutralized the bath, painted all three bedrooms and bath, redesigned Hannah's room (she went from a twin to a queen bed), and decorated Emmett's room in the cutest Robot theme you ever did see! WHEW!

And look how cute it turned out! Now, about the playroom...

Our First FCC Activity

Last night we went to our first official FCC (Families with Children from China) dinner. It was a casual dinner for families waiting for their matches. We were a bit nervous about dragging Lilly to a restaurant with people we have never met and hoped she would be on her best behavior ( for the last week she has been throwing these really LOUD, drawn out fits!!!). But she did great and even had another little girl to play with ..whew!

We were a bit ahead of most people there in the waiting game, but it was still fun to exchange stories and feel their support. As one person said last night, it's hard for people to understand what it feels like to be waiting for what seems like forever unless they are going through it too! Right on!

There was one family who already had 2 little girls from China (4yr old and 2 yr old). They adopted both through Holt, too! We loved talking to them about their trips (they just returned about 6 months ago with their youngest) and the settling in phase. This is what we learned:

1. The flight to China is fun and exciting. The flight home is a nightmare to be dreaded!

2. The first 24 hours with your new child can be utter H-E- Double Hockey Sticks...but hang in there it will get better in a twinkling of an eye and suddenly your child accepts and loves you. How cool is that?

3. The kids will adjust to time changes easily - we (yawn), on the other hand (yawn), will suffer for weeks:) YAHOO!...(YAWN!)

4. Learn to haggle and you'll get great deals. Neither Eric nor I are very good at this. Luckily we have a friend who is an expert and can give us some tips...Never give up, never surrender!!!

5. Pack your suitcase light (no more than 40 lbs), but stuff your back pack until it is almost heavy enough to force you to fall over on your back with your feet kicking in the air like a flipped over turtle.

6. The food is great, but you can pretty much count on getting sick sometime during the trip. Yum, yum!. We have our anti-biotics already filled and waiting!

There was lots of other useful information and tips, but this is all that is coming to me at the moment. The point is we learned a lot. Our next activity is the Chinese New Year Celebration on the 30th...Can't wait!

Next Steps

On Wednesday January 14th we received our official Acceptance Letter from China. This basically means that China has reviewed our Letter of Intent (LOI) for Emmett and accepted our petition to adopt him. (We had to write the LOI within 24 hours of receiving our Match (Nov. 21) and officially declare that we wanted to adopt Emmett. ) After six weeks of waiting, we received the Acceptance letter from China. It was pretty cool...the letter was written in Chineese and was green and red with an official seal (we made a color copy for Emmett!) We had to sign and overnight it back. Now it's back to the waiting game...

After the acceptance letter, we were told we could apply for our Visas. We received a notice that we will be getting them on Monday, Jan. 26th. All we need now is our official travel dates. Than it's off to China!