Jay!

We all survived the flight - I don't think I've ever been that tired in my life! We were so happy to arrive at a beautiful huge hotel suite - our suite includes two bedrooms, a living room, two kitchens, two offices, and two bathrooms! We got to our hotel room around midnight and all crashed. Today we woke up early, had breakfast, and got our paperwork ready to meet Jay at the Civil Affairs Office.

When our driver pulled out in front of the Civil Affairs Office, Jay was walking in with his orphanage director and nanny. He'd just arrived from his 1 1/2 hour drive from the orphanage. As we pulled over, he screamed "Mami!" and came running over to us!

We went up to the office and spent some time playing and completing paperwork. Jay was happy and silly and didn't seem scared at all.



He had a small meltdown when his nanny left - which made Sam and Audrey very sad. It was heartbreaking to have him scream and cry for his nanny as I had to carry him out of the office and get him in our van. He cried and screamed the whole drive back to the hotel. But then, everything was better when he got out of the van and saw there were elevator buttons to be pushed. And, he's been great ever since!

We spent the afternoon playing on iPads, checking out the hotel play area, playing with balloons, and swimming. He LOVED the swimming pool and wanted to jump in all by himself. Just had to let him do that once, to see he needed to wait for someone to catch him. After swimming, he thought it was hilarious to walk around with his towel around him like a monk.











He's a little character and has already figured out that we don't understand what he's saying so he screams into my iPhone (google translate). His last message was: "I want Pizza Hut!"

Audrey and Sam love him and are doing great playing with him and helping me to figure out what he wants. We'll see how nighttime goes - that was always the hardest time for Audrey and Sam.

Ready, Set, Go!

After a great few days visiting Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, and Great Grandma, we are ready for this LONG flight! Sam has made friends with everyone at the gate and we are all ready to board the China Southern airplane. China, here we come!!

Updated pictures!

I realized it's been 7 months since I've seen a picture on Jay. We just received a few new pictures and he's growing up!! He's starting to look less like a chubby toddler and more like a little boy! Just 17 days until we meet him in person!

Travel Approval!!

We are going to China!!! We have our Travel Approval and booked our flights!!

In just 3 weeks, we'll start our trip to bring Jay home. Audrey and Sam have been amazingly understanding about the timeline for this adventure. Neither one wanted to miss the end of school, but now they are both missing the last two weeks of school. Sam's missing his last soccer game and Audrey has to miss her last soccer tournament and try-outs for next year's soccer team placement. We've talked with their teachers, principal, and coaches and have a plan about all the missed activities and they are both being really positive. 

So, the plan is we'll break up the flight to China by making a stop for 2 days in California. We'll visit family and then hop on the 21 hour flight to China! We'll arrive at 11:30pm on Sunday night and get to meet Jay on Monday morning.... May 23 is the big day!!!

Holy Smokes!

You are all amazing! The t-shirt fundraiser has ended and I got the final numbers. I was hoping to raise $100 and buy a bunch of diapers for the orphanage. But from the outpouring of generosity from all our friends, we've raised almost $1000!!!.. UPDATE: we've raised OVER $2000!!!!

This has opened the door to making a much more substantial contribution to the orphanage (ex: beds, playground equipment,...). I'm planning to take this donation with us to China and see what is needed at the orphanage and then provide the funds specifically for a need that will directly impact the kids living there. I'll post more on my blog while in China so you can see the impact you helped make!

This has been an amazing example to my kids about how to rally support from friends and how a small donation from lots of people can amount to a big impact - so thank you for helping me teach that lesson! And, THANKS from these guys taking selfies with my little man...

Fundraising: Be Part of this Adventure!

I am thrilled to be planning our trip to bring Jay home in just a few months! I also am preparing for the hardest part of the trip - leaving children at the orphanage. For Jay, he'll be leaving behind his friends of 5 years, friends who are essentially his brothers and sisters. I'm hoping we'll be able to visit his home and meet his friends to get a glimpse into his early life. And, I know it will break my heart as I look into his friends' courageous eyes and know that the majority of them will never experience a forever family, most of them will grow up in that orphanage. I've had so many friends ask what they can do to help with Jay's adoption and I have trouble accepting help, but I thought of a way that interested people can make an impact. I am planning to donate personally to these children who will remain living at Jay's orphanage, and I've set up this fundraiser so that anyone who is interested (and NO PRESSURE at all) has the opportunity to support Jay's friends, brothers, and sisters.

The most amazing thing I've learned through the adoption of Audrey and Sam is just how fierce and courageous children can be. If I were malnourished, neglected, and abused by people and a system where I was not valued, I would have such a chip on my shoulder and I doubt I'd ever trust anyone. My children have taught me that the most fierce and most courageous way to live is to be vulnerable. As I watched each of my children adjust to coming into our family, I saw their fierce and courageous vulnerability. I designed this shirt to remind myself of the way I want to live and to honor all children who are fierce enough to know they deserve love, courageous enough to have hope, and vulnerable enough to take the risk and open their heart to a forever family.

 Each shirt ordered will allow us to donate to Jay's friends. I've been told that the ladies fitted t-shirt runs small, so you should order one size bigger if that's the style you want. There is a $5 shipping charge and shirts will be shipped directly to you in mid-April.

 Please consider purchasing a shirt and wearing it as a visible display of support for these children. And, if you don't like the design you could order it anyway and just sleep in it :) Or, heck, you could order 100 shirts and we could take the shirts with us and provide each child at Jay's orphanage a new shirt. Now I'm getting a little carried away... But in all seriousness, I am amazed and blessed to be part of a loving group of friends and family and I would be honored to share our village's generosity with Jay's Friends!

 Order shirts at: https://www.bonfirefunds.com/jays-friends

100 Good Wishes Quilt

When we were waiting on Audrey's adoption, I had all this free time and heard about a tradition in China. To celebrate a new life, families would make a Bai Jia Bei (100 Good Wishes Quilt). When a woman is pregnant, her friends and family each contribute a single patch of cloth with a good wish for the baby. 100 pieces of fabric are collected and are used to make a quilt. At the delivery, the mother and father greet their newborn baby by wrapping the baby in the quilt which is believed to be filled with the good wishes of all their friends and family. I made Audrey a 100 Good Wishes Quilt and she still loves it today.

With Sam's adoption, one of my friends from China told me she'd never heard of this tradition (ha!) but I thought, I loved the idea anyway so I decided to make Sam a quilt too. I collected fabric again and started making him a quilt but was entirely overwhelmed with two kids and hired a woman to finish the 1/2 made quilt for Sam. 


Today Audrey mentioned that I better get started on Jay's quilt.. So I played around with the idea of just buying an entire quilt and calling it a day. But, I gotta at least try! So, I'm calling on all my friends to help me out with two things... 1. Does anyone know someone who I can hire to sew the quilt for me? AND, 2. I'd love to find 100 people interested in contributing to the quilt...


If you are interested in helping out, here’s what I need:
1. Choose any fabric you like – it can be from a fabric store or can be something that you have at home
2. Cut one 8-inch x 8-inch square of the fabric - This will become one of the squares in Jay's quilt!
3. Then, cut a separate little square of the same fabric
3. Write a wish to Jay on a piece of paper or an index card and glue your little square of the same fabric to the card. We will put these cards in a scrapbook so that when Jay is older he can match up the fabrics and see who gave him each piece of fabric in his quilt and what they wished for him.
4. Then either drop the fabric and card off to us or mail it to us at: 7807 Asbury Hills Drive, Cincinnati OH 45255

I always thought the scrap book would be amazing to pull out when my kids go through the "why wasn't I wanted" stage and I could show them the 100 people who WANTED them and all the wishes they had for them. This conversation has never happened - Audrey and Sam have no question about how much they are wanted and loved from our friends and family. I know you'll all welcome Jay into your lives too - But lord knows this kid will need a quilt too, so any help would be amazing!! 
Thank you!!!