Updates!

This adoption has been a harder wait than Audrey and Sam's adoptions, because Jay is real to me. I see his face and am impatient to get to China! But an amazing gift that helps during this wait, is Hope Station. Hope Station is an agency that serves the orphans in China and works closely with the orphanage in Chengdu where Jay lives. I know that they love Jay and are interacting with him and helping his emotional and developmental growth. They worked hard to find his forever family:  Meet Our Kids: Josiah (soon to be Jay)

They post pictures and videos frequently. It's amazing to get a glimpse into Jay's life before coming home. I cherish every picture and will use them to make sure Jay remembers his early days. They've posted tons videos of Jay:
Making funny faces! (earliest glimpses of Jay... from a year ago!!)
Charging!
Reading books!
Being a goofball!
Sword fighting!

And as I watch each video, I analyze every little detail. In this video, most people might see a toddler having fun: Josiah blowing bubbles  I see that he's standing on his own, he has fine motor skills that allow him to put the wand into and out of the bubble bottle, I see him smiling, I see he interacts with other people when he's giving bubbles "cheers" to others, and the most important thing I see in this video is when his good friend gets a bubble in her eye, he walks over to make sure she's alright - he shows EMPATHY!

The latest video I've seen is Jay saying Goodbye to a friend who is being adopted... Goodbye Video.  Little does he know, his forever family is working hard to bring him home!!

Here's Jay with Hope Station's founder Rebekah! Not only has Hope Station provided love and support for Jay, but they provide interaction, love, and developmental activities to tons of orphans. I've been amazed and humbled following their website and facebook posts. These are people who have dedicated their lives to orphans (check out their website: Hope Station). As we get closer to travel, I will work with Hope Station to set up a way that friends and family could donate to them and I can bring supplies to China to help with all the friends who Jay will leave behind. More to come on that...

Oops, I did it again!

I'm calling this my "OOPS adoption!" I always felt like I'd have a bigger family, but I came to accept that wasn't what was in the stars for me and was completely happy with my family of 3. Until the evening of June 24th when the sweetest face smiled at me across the computer screen. I spent the next few days emailing back and forth with an adoption agency, an orphanage director, and an amazing agency (Hope Station) that was interacting with this little guy. My mind was rationalizing why this was a crazy thing to do, how my family was stable and happy as is, how it would be hard to raise 3 kids on my own, how he was older and it could be a really hard adjustment, but my heart just kept going back to him. Finally on July 9, I decided to listen to my heart and be courageous. I took a leap of faith and submitted a Letter of Intent to adopt Min Haijun. On July 12, I received my pre-approval to adopt and was official "matched" to Jay Haijun Baker!

Audrey and Sam are beside themselves excited! Audrey remembers going to China and adopting Sam and can't wait to do it again. She's been working on getting our office converted into a 3rd bedroom that will be "just perfect" for Jay! Sam cannot get rid of his smile - he's so excited to be a BIG BROTHER!

Just like how Audrey named Sam (she was really into Dr Seuss's Sam-I-am at the time), I wanted Audrey and Sam to name their brother. On his orphanage paperwork, his Chinese name was listed as Min Haijun. There were two American agencies working with him - Bay Area Adoption Services who named him "Jonathan" and Hope Station who named him "Josiah." So his paperwork, had one of those two "J" names all over it. In the two weeks we were considering the adoption, Audrey, Sam, and I were referring to him as "J" and the name stuck! We decided a 1-letter name was a bit pretentious :) So we went with "Jay!"

We immediately started the Home Study process which has become a bit more cumbersome than it was a few years ago. Audrey and Sam both were individually interviewed by a social worker, we went through two family interviews, I was interviewed several times by a social worker, I completed educational modules, a fireman inspected our house, we had a home safety audit completed, the dog's vet wrote a letter that our pets were well cared for (seriously!), I had blood and urine samples collected, my physician wrote a letter supporting my physical and mental health, and the kids' pediatrician wrote a letter about their health. And, FINALLY, our home study was approved on October 15 and I submitted all of our documents to US Immigration asking for permission to adopt!

We're one step closer, little man!