And they are off.....

The taxi came and picked up Bob and Tillie at 5:30 this morning to get them to the airport. Yesterday we were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. However, when they left this morning I think that they had everything they needed.....or at least they had the important stuff. I think they both were very excited and apprehensive about the trip but I know they will both do great!!!

Almost 12 hours later according to their flight status, they are about an hour outside of Tokyo, Japan. They have a three hour layover (praying for no earthquakes) and then about a three hour flight to Beijing. They will arrive in Beijing 8:50 Saturday night or about 7:50 Saturday morning for us - there is a 13 hour difference (if I calculated it correctly). As much as I wish I was on this trip with them - I am thankful that I didn't have to be in an airplane for that long:-)

Keep checking back over the next couple of days. Bob & Tillie will be visiting The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City while they are trying to get used to China and the new time. Wed. will be Gotcha Day for Caden. We are praying that Caden will receive Bob's love with an open heart. It is such a difficult time for the kiddos - everything they have known is being ripped away from them. We just hope that Caden will know that his father is a safe place for him.

Mongo Posting

Mom arrived today, and it's been "Packapalooza" trying to get everything together. I'm sure we'll miss something. I've closed out everything at work, have tomorrow off to run around like chickens with our heads cut off, scrambling to make sure we don't miss that thing that we most assuredly will miss.

Then it's an oh-dark-thirty step to the taxi on Friday to catch the flight. I can't believe that in just a few days, I'm going to be holding my new son. And before that, I'm going to be walking on one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Surreal does not begin to adequately describe it.


I pray Nathan continues to grow healthier while I'm gone...


Addie's soooo looking forward to her little brother getting here.

This is mostly just to make sure I'm able to get in here and post. I'll make sure to provide more meaningful/creative information in a few days...I hope.

TA!

I can't believe it is finally happening. We received notification today that China has issued our Travel Approval and we are welcome to come and get Caden. We now have to wait for the US Consulate to make an appt and we will have our dates. Right now it looks like it can happen as soon as April 15th. Crazy!!! We have so much to do before Bob travels and before Caden gets here!! This adoption journey has been so much different than our journey was for Addison. With Addison there was a sense of urgency about the adoption, this time around has been much more laid back. It is probably because we know that eventually we would be holding Caden in our arms.

As much as I am excited for both Bob and Tillie to be able to experience the China portion of this journey, I am sad that I won't be there too. I know they will have an amazing time and the trip will change their lives in so many ways. Bob plans on keeping up on the blog - so we hope you follow along!!

Introducing Cade

Since we accepted Lui Jun Jie's referral, Bob and I couldn't agree on a name. Two weeks ago our agency needed his new name so that we could complete some of the necessary papers in order to get a visa. After much discussion we finally agreed upon a name - Caden Dean Junjie Tarwater.

Caden was born 12/10/09 and is currently 14 months old. We received these updated pics of him at the beginning of Jan.





He had his palate repaired in December. It will be nice not to have to rush around trying to get that fixed when he gets home. He is a big boy - 25lbs and 29in (as of 12/30/2010). We aren't sure what size he is now but we are estimating around 24month or 2T size.

We have decided for this trip that Bob will travel with his mom. I am disappointed that I am not able to go, but Nathan has been so sick the past couple of months and we can't risk both of us being gone for two weeks. We are estimating travel between the middle of April and the beginning of May. We hope you follow along on our journey. We can't wait to bring Caden home.

Our return to China

Ever since we had brought Addie home, we had wanted to travel back to China to bring home another child. Last spring we started seriously talking about adoption again. In July we submitted our paperwork to begin the process. We had decided we wanted another son and since boys are matched very quickly with families we told our agency to hold off on our referral until our paperwork was done and logged into China. However, I couldn't stop looking at the waiting child lists.....I knew our son had to be on it.

In Sept. I looked online and there was a post for a 9 month old boy who had a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate. I immediately called the agency who forwarded the info they had on this little boy. After discussing it for a day we let the agency know that we wanted to adopt him. His name is Lui Jun Jie and he is in the Henan province.

Here are his referral pics -




The following are some descriptions mady by his caregivers. It looks like he is very robust and healthy and developmentally on target.

When Jun Jie had just arrived, he looked like he had big hands and feet and his stature was very tall. Everyone said that someday he would become the second Yao Ming.

Currently, Jun Jie is taller and bigger than other children his age. It’s just that his head is not considered very big, but it is round, like the big belly of the Mile Buddha

Jun Jie is a good-looking, handsome little guy. He is very cute, we all love him, and we whole-heartedly hope that he can have a happy home.


The Chinese government approved our request to adopted Lui Jun Jie while we were still in the process of getting all of our paperwork done. Finally in December we were officially logged into China.

I am finally sitting down to write an update. We are finally getting settled in San Antonio. Nathan has had countless Dr. appts but I think we are finally hooked up with all the Drs. he sees and we have been pretty impressed with most of them. We didn't do much this summer - San Antonio has had 50+ days of 100+ degree weather - I think the average is 12 days a year. So we just stayed indoors instead of melting inside. Hopefully next year our blood will have thinned and the heat won't bother us so much.

Nathan started back to school on Monday. He is going to the elementary school in another subdivision (about 4 miles away). He will be going Mon./Wed./Thurs. and will get some extra hours at home on Tues/Thur. So far everyone has been great, I just hope it stays that way. He will have a nurse go with him to school to help out with his medical issues. Knock on wood he has had a pretty healthy summer.

Addison is speaking up a storm. When she speaks slowly it is a easy to understand her, but when she starts talking fast it is hard to make out all she says. Bob and I have had to start watching what we say around her - she picks up everything. She will be starting a preschool program in two weeks. She will be going for three days a week. I think she is ready to get out of the house and play with some kiddos.

Bob likes his job, he just is busy all the time. Everytime I call he is in some sort of meeting. I think being the DO (or second in command) requires him to do different sort of tasks then he did before. Overall I think he likes it.

I have just been busy with the kids and trying to get the house settled. I am looking forward for a day or two to myself once Addie starts back to school. The other good news is that Nathan will qualify for more nursing hours and that will give me some much needed extra help.