Caroline and her Mommy!

Today was GOTCHA DAY for Caroline Hope Kelley! We immediately recognized her among the other children meeting their new families at the civil affairs office. Her head had been shaved, so she looked just like she did in the first photo we received from our agency back in April. She has sharp, observant eyes, a good sense of humor, and she's just beautiful. The orphanage director quickly handed her over to us and we were on our way back to the hotel. It was so quick that it hardly seemed real.

Since we didn't know her schedule and were preoccupied with paperwork back at the hotel, we missed her lunch and were late with her nap. By the time we realized why she was screaming her head off, she was so worked up that nothing would please her. In desperation, we laid her in her crib, where she immediately popped her thumb in her mouth and drifted quickly off to sleep...for three hours! Let's hope the sleep pattern continues! :)

When she awoke, her daddy fed her some rice cereal, nutri-grain bar, and cheerios. (Cheerios are clearly her new favorite food!) Then Annie donned a swimsuit and lured Caroline into the bathtub for some playtime. Caroline was very stinky-smelling when we met her, so we were thrilled to get her in the tub! She sat in Annie's lap and played with water toys for about an hour.

Excited big sister Annie and Caroline!

Apparently, Caroline had corrective surgery on her colostomy very recently...probably around the time Ben had surgery about a month ago. Her scar is pretty nasty, but Ben massaged it with vitamin E - the same treatment he is using on his own arm. Hopefully her surgery did the trick and she will have no further problems.

As I type, she is talking on her play cell phone and "typing" on the computer. She's all smiles and loves showing off for everyone. She has let everyone hold her and loves attention. It's been a while since we've had a "busy bee" at our house, but I think we have one now!

The bee is buzzing for some mommy time, so I'll sign off. Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers!

PS - Temps hit 110 degrees today in Changsha!

Happy girl!

First Post from China!

Hello from Changsha, Hunan, China. It's great to be back on this side of the world!! After 20 hours in the air, 10 hours of layovers, and a short ride to the hotel, we are now in our room preparing for a good night's sleep. (It's 8:45pm on Sunday evening - that makes us 13 hours ahead of you guys at home, for those of you trying to do the math). The plane rides were very smooth, uneventful, and dark. We flew through darkness for over 15 straight hours, except for about 10 minutes when we saw a quick sunset and went back to sleep.

Gongy's suitcase is still in Guangzhou. After long periods of trying to communicate with airport personnel, Michael finally got everything squared away and the bag should catch up with us tomorrow. Gongy's such a trooper - it didn't even phase her!

After arriving at our hotel, we escaped the 97-degree heat by entering the 78-degree hotel, but since the sun has set now, it's much cooler inside. We made a hilarious and very conspicuous attempt at eating at the hotel restaurant, but couldn't identify anything on the menu. We were directed to a beautiful "Western" buffet on the first floor that the servers thought might suit us better. I believe it must have been a western CHINA buffet, for in addition to delicious seared salmon, fried potato cakes, fried rice and fried noodles, the fare was complete with delicacies such as duck's tongue, braised snake and dog, and pig knuckles (Emily's personal favorite). The meal was topped off with ice cream and sprinkles. Ben and Emily had green tea ice cream and were shocked that it actually tasted like cold green tea.

We are now back in our room on the 30th floor and can hear "Happy Birthday" being played over and over in the street. No idea why. Clearly it's SOMEONE'S birthday! Everyone is sacked, except for Michael who is in the bathroom feeling queezy. Hopefully we can wake rested, since tomorrow is a HUGE day. It's hard to believe that in only 14 hours, we will be meeting our daughter face to face for the first time. Poor sweet Caroline has no idea that Kelleys await! And worse than that, she's going to BE one! I hear some of you screaming now! LOL WE CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HER at the Civil Affairs office tomorrow at 10:30am. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers for Caroline, for our health to remain good, and that things will go smoothly tomorrow at the CA office. Also, please pray for our food situation...it appears to be a challenge to find food that is familiar and economical. I lugged all my msg-free food in the suitcase, so thankfully that's not an issue. We'll try to find a grocery store tomorrow for some peanut butter and bread. :) Goodnight!

Update from Lindsey

Hello everyone!

I hacked into the blog to type out a quick update for all ya'll praying! I received and email this morning from dad! They are safely in Changsha and exhausted. Gongy's luggage didn't make it past Guangzhou but it has been located and should be rejoining the group on Monday. If my itinerary and my time zone conversions are correct the whole party should be meeting Caroline at about 8-9 tonight our time! Please pray for an easy "Gotcha" and a great first day of blessings for them before you go to bed tonight.

For everyone praying for all of us holding down the fort, we truly appreciate it. We still have all of the children we were left in charge of give or take and are having a great time together!

Thank you for your continued prayers! Hopefully the next post will be from China!
~Lindsey

Travel Itinerary

Kittye here. Since we are leaving for China in three days, I thought it might be a good idea to post our travel itinerary. :)

7/30 – 5:45pm - Leave Nashville for LA

7/30 – 11:50pm - Leave LA for Guangzhou, Guong Dong,

China

8/01 – 6:20am China time - Arrive in Guangzhou China time

(that’s pronounced “guang-joe”)

Notice we skipped 7/31 all together - weird!

8/1 – 9:55am - Fly to Changsha (the capital city of Caroline's

province, where we will meet her!

8/2 - 9:30am - WE MEET CAROLINE AT THE CIVIL

AFFAIRS OFFICE!!!!!!!

For the next 10 days or so, we will be busy with lots of appointments, which you can read about on this blog.

8/13 - Fly out of Guangzhou late for LA; arrive in LA 6:50pm

(it’s like going back in time)

8/14 – 4:50pm - Arrive Nashville, and we’re HOME!!!

The days are busy getting ready to leave. The girls and I are cooking like crazy, putting food in the freezer for the people who will stay home. We’ve also had great fun sewing clothes for Caroline. This has been a wonderful time of bonding for us and has in a sweet way connected us to Caroline.

Speaking of those staying home, Lindsey will primarily be running the show, with several other wonderful people helping care for them in our absence. Strangely, these two weeks were the only ones we couldn’t cover as we planned who would care for our kids at home. It has really been a test of faith to wait and watch for God to reveal His plan for our babies at home. As always, He is faithful and good, and has provided the perfect team! He has provided caregivers in ways that He alone could do, and we give Him glory and praise. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE ONES AT HOME and for those caring for them. It’s a stressful time for them. Michael left for the grocery store the other day, and John Michael asked if he had gone to get Caroline. hehe The whole thing is more than some of them can grasp.

Michael has been super busy wrapping up things at work, and staying on top of our paperwork. The paperwork at travel time is very time-consuming, but he’s a pro and gets things done well and fast.

Today is our 25^th wedding anniversary. What better way to celebrate than to add another BABY to our family! (I totally did not see THAT coming 25 years ago!) As I type, I can hardly believe it’s been 25 years since we made a covenant with God and each other, to love each other - for better or for worse…and we’ve seen both ends of that. We could have never imagined our life together looking the way it has/does, but our loving Father had such wonderful plans for us. He has been so faithful, though so many times we have not been faithful. He is so good! Thank you, Father, for allowing me to love and live with Michael for 25 years. It’s been wonderful traveling this path with my best friend.

We got our T.A.!!!

(These are some pictures that we took in Washington.)
After months of waiting, we finally got our T.A.(Travel Approval). WE ARE LEAVING IN 15 DAYS!!! SO EXITED!!! I can't wait to have our new baby in my arms. We arrive in Nashville on the 14 of August. Gotcha day is August second, and our oath-taking ceremony in China is the 12. YAAAYYYY!!! The days are flying by, and soon we will have our new addition. Going to China are my Grandmother, Mom, Dad, Ben, Annie, and Yours Truly!!! The only problem is the 17-hour plane ride(without layovers):(... But I'm sure we'll find something to do, like watch movies, play games, sleep(maybe), talk, read... that sort of thing. We purchased a soft and cuddly doll for Caroline, a peanut ball that builds the brain, a colostomy kit, a new bowl, sippy cup, and we have made countless dresses and blankets. In fact, we will probably smother her with all of the dresses and blankets and diapers and skirts and shirts and pants and bottles and formula and Cheerios and granola bars and other small items. Caroline is going to make new friends... I can feel it! Some of our neighbors have just adopted a baby from Ethiopia and I'm just sure that Caroline will love her. We are so exited to get our baby home!

-Emily

July 16 2010

Visa applications, etc.

Kittye here. Emily is worn out from volunteering at camp this week, so I'm updating for us. We have settled back into life after our trip to the beach and D.C., with lots of paperwork. Somehow we didn't receive the email that our visa applications had to be in by June 22, and just figured out TODAY that it needed to be done last week...trying to get it FedEx tomorrow. We received our Article 5 last week and looks like it's 3-5 weeks until we get travel approval, then hope to travel 2-3 weeks after TA. Hang on Caroline! It won't be long now!

We celebrated Gigi's 6th and Will's 10th birthdays in June, and Michael turns another year older on the 4th of July! (He will then be as old as his aged wife. Someone get him a cane! We plan to celebrate with fireworks, Mississippi Mud Cake, and best of all, ALL of my children will be here with us for his birthday for swimming and speed scrabble.

Tonight Ben played fiddle at Amber Falls and did a fantastic job (should be on YouTube soon), while we sat on our blanket and enjoyed music and a picnic put together by helping hands. Annie made bread, David popped popcorn, Annalise made Blondies and carrot sticks, and I filled in the gaps. The breeze was light and cool, and as we looked out over the beautiful landscape, we felt refreshed and reminded of God's goodness and greatness. He is so, so good.

Time at the beach

Hi, everybody! Sorry I haven't been updating the blog. Things are a little busy at our house. The big news is...not the beach; not the "Lost Colony" production...it's that I turned 12!! Here at the beach in Outer Banks, North Carolina, we've been swimming in the beautiful Atlantic, eating, sewing, playing cards and farkle, and just hanging out.

Today was one of our sweet moments with John-John. Miss Martha, our friend and nanny, was holding him and he noticed that her skin was peeling from sunburn. With baby-like curiosity, he asked,

(John) "Miss Marfa, when your skin comes off, would it be orange like Ben's?"

(Miss Martha) "Nope, not orange."

(John) "Will it look like this?" pointing to his own dark skin.

(Miss Martha) "No, it won't be like that either."

(John) "Miss Marfa, who paints us?"

God is really blessing us with lots of color in our family! :-)

Daddy just got back from a walk on the beach with some of the little kids. The beach was full of people, and someone saw Annalise wearing her fluffy blue, tulle skirt and purple sparkly top with big letters saying "Daddy's Girl" while splashing in the shallow water. They remarked that she must be a fashion queen. Who would think that Annalise would wear purple sparkly clothes? haha

Adoption update: Waiting for Article 5, which we should have any day now. Article 5 is the final document before preparing for your travel. After our Article 5, we will be waiting for a visa appointment, then traveling. We still hope to travel within 3-8 weeks. Please pray that we can travel soon! We are ready to get our baby home!

Tonight we see the "Lost Colony" production in an outdoor amphi-theater facing the ocean. Should be great! I'll try to post more often in the upcoming days.