Who were they?

"Li Jia, a resident of Guanjianao, found her and picked her up. When she was found, she was wearing a light-colored and flowered cotton-padded outfit. She had a round face and thick dark hair. There was a bottle left with her, as well as a bag of milk and a small cloth bag containing several sets of clothing."

I have been reading all of BoBo's information again, and I have been wondering who the people are who touched her life in those early days. Who was the woman (or man?) who desperately wanted her to be found and taken care of, despite their own inability to do so? Who dressed her one last time, packed her milk and her clothes , and what were her thoughts while she was doing it? Was she crying? Was she scared? She obviously thought this was her only or last option she had, to leave her beautiful little baby girl, barely a week old, in a place where she would be found. Did she wait in hiding until she knew her daughter was safe? Does she still wonder today what happened to her little girl?
And who is Li Jia? Is it a woman or a man? What were her/his thoughts when he found the little baby, all bundled up? I imagine him or her talking to her sweetly, stroking her soft, dark hair. Did Li Jia ever wonder if she/he should keep her? Was it hard for him/her to turn her over to the authorities? How did this encounter change Li Jia's life?
I have so many questions, and no answers. All I know is that someday BoBo will want those questions answered, because they are part of her story. I hope that we will have the wisdom to talk to her about all of this, to ease the pain of her abandonment, and to make her feel loved and secure.
Hang in there, little girl! Summer will be here soon!

Uebersetzung:www.chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/04/wer.html

Love without Boundaries trip to China

A team from "Love without Boundaries" (see link to the left) is currently in BoBo's hometown, checking on the Orphanage and the Foster care program and supporting them, as well as bringing them supplies. This is a comforting thought, as we know that BoBo is taken care of by dedicated people. Here is their report:
http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-team-in-china.html

Just for fun

Do you think this is what it will look like to be a mother of 5???

Oh my :-))

Logged in!

I just received an email from our agency, that the CCAA has logged our dossier into their system on March 12th! That's the SAME DAY it was delivered to them! Hallelujah! This process can take up to a month, and ours was logged in right away!
So, what's next?
We need to decide on a name for our precious girl. Alright, we're ALMOST there, and you will hear more about that soon.
And we will wait - some more. Our official wait for Travel approval has started with our Log in Date (March 12th). This can take anywhere from 2 - 4 months, and recently it has been more on the far side of this spectrum. We are still hoping to travel either end of July or August.

Care package

Hopefully by now, our care package for BoBo has arrived in China. Three year old girls are a lot of fun to shop for, so it wasn't hard to find some things that she might enjoy! We also included some candy for her foster family, and a camera for them to take pictures of our little girl.

This is becoming very very real!

We also know that our dossier has been hand-delivered to the CCAA on March 12th.

My daughter's wish...

Anya loves to "Blog-surf" with me. She especially likes it when a Blog has music, and has been beggin me to do that to ours. How can I say no to a small wish of a very special seven-year old?? So - here you go... I found a beautiful song by Steven Curtis Chapman.
Here are the Lyrics:

His Strength Is Perfect

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength,
But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me;
No great success to show, No glory on my own,
Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know . . .

CHORUS
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.

We can only know
The power that He holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes;
His strength in us begins
Where ours comes to an end.
He hears our humble cry and proves again . . .

(chorus)

Not only do I know that BoBo's adoption is a huge leap of faith (that sometimes just scares me to death), and that without God's strength we will fail miserably, but I also know that I have several people in my life who need an extra portion of this strength right now. I would like to dedicate this song to them. I love you all!

(If the music slows down your computer too much, you can stop in the lower left corner of the Blog)

A Photo Album for BoBo

I'm putting together a care package for BoBo. This is something that we can try to send her - there is no guarantee that the package ever makes it to her, but if it does, I think it's a wonderful opportunity to start connecting with her. At this point, her foster family doesn't even know yet that BoBo has a family waiting for her. I'm hoping that they will prepare her for this huge transition as well, and having pictures of all of us will hopefully help them and her. I'm sure it won't be easy for them to let her go, and I'm sooo grateful for what they are doing, and for the important part that they are playing in her life.

I took pictures of the photo pages I put together. Tomorrow I will get them laminated, and I will have to figure out how to put them together into a small book. Any ideas, anyone?

DTC!!!

I just received an email from our agency notifying us that our dossier was sent to China today! Wow, that was some fast translating they did!! We are about a week ahead of what I thought was the best-case scenario! So so so cool!

That's why a big family is FUN

Last week, Elia wanted to play Legos. Wow, a Lego morning it was, and we had a lot of fun working together. That boy has a lot of good and very clear ideas about construction!

After the big kids came home from school, they were proudly introduced to Lego-world, and they ALL PLAYED TOGETHER for quite some time (with only minimal arguing!). Moments like this warm my heart to the very core. Mike and I want them to know what a treasure it is to have a family, to have brothers and sisters, and that we will always have each other. Just 2 days ago, on the way home from the grocery store, Nico said: "I don't think I would like being an only child". That's my boy! And he is doing a wonderful job being our firstborn, the oldest, the frontrunner. I could not have asked for a more special son!

Here are some pictures from "Operation Lego". Enjoy!

The Farmhouse

The forest

United in Legoland

Lego City
Elia explaining how the recycling needs to be done
The Firestation
Recycling under way

Pre-Approval!

We received Pre-approval!! Which means we have permission to submit our dossier to adopt BoBo.
Happy Happy Day!
Also, our dossier has arrived at CCAI today and is being translated. Wow, things are really moving fast right now.
What is next? Our dossier will be sent to China after translation and logged into the CCAA. We will be receiving our Log in Date (LID), and then the wait starts for travel approval.
Anya wanted to say something too! So here she is:
Since I am the only girl I'm glad that we finally get to adopt her! Each day I asked my mom "did they say yes?" Each day it was no. Until today after school my mom said"they said yes". I was so happy! I will never forget this day.



God is good. Little Miss BoBo, we pray that time will fly until we can take you in our arms.
Forever.

On its way

The rest of our dossier is on its way to our agency! Wow, what a relief. I feel like I just graduated from some demanding program.

Lost

Will we ever even begin to understand the tragedy of abandonment? The desperation of little boys and girls losing everything they have, several times, within the first few years of their lives? Neither my heart nor my mind can wrap itself around it, that's for sure.

However, there are times in our lives when we get a glimpse of the sheer terror of losing someone very dear to us.

We lost Elia at the mall yesterday. It was packed with people, so there was no glancing up and down the halls to see if we could spot him somewhere. My heart just sank... we searched inside the store, in the neighboring stores, mobilized the sales force and the mall security. Mike went one way, I went the other. It was easy for the security guy to reassure me... "Oh, we'll find him".
Mike did. Not right away - it took us probably 15 minutes or so (It seemed like FOREVER).

He had wandered quite a ways already, but had actually turned around and was heading our direction again. He appeared very somber and quiet, but as soon as Mike scooped him up in his arms, he started sobbing. He said: "I was looking for you, Daddy"... what a frightening moment for a normally quite fearless four year old.

A fellow shopper approached Mike as soon as he found Elia. He had noticed that he seemed lost, but when he tried to talk to Elia, the little Mister would have nothing to do with him (good boy!). So he just followed him and watched out for him from a distance. What a reassuring thought!
Little BoBo is a lot like that. I hope and pray that she is well taken care of (and I have reason to believe that she is) - but it has taken her over three years to find her family to come home to. This makes me so sad. At the same time, her father in heaven has been watching over her. Not from a distance, like Elia's "guardian angel", but wrapped in his arms, day in and day out. Her birthparents didn't feel like they could take care of her, for reasons we will never know or understand, but her creator never abandoned her for one second. What an awsome God we have!

Elia is safe (we call him the runaway bunny), and we all continue to pray that BoBo will soon be too!

Encouragment

This is a letter that my friend Andrea (whose birthday I forget EVERY year!) received from her Mom, Zigrid (who "adopted" us when we were living in the same town, far away from our own families. We shared two or three very special Thanksgiving dinners with them - THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts, Mark and Zigrid - we love you!), after sending her our referral information of BoBo.

"It was emotional to read this! Feelings of joy and gratitude flooded my heart that Bo was rescued and cared for vs. becoming another abortion statistic in China . Next I felt a great sense of elated expectancy knowing that she'll be recieved and loved by Mike and Barb . They've been prepered by God to attend to special needs of a child and have the love of God in their hearts to share. There are 90 million people that are the only child in China currently. We cannot even imagine how great the slaughter has been to achieve that number! Praise God for rescuing this little doll! I will pray for them!"

This is a picture of Andrea's oldest - Jonah is about 2 1/2 months older than Anya.

Happy faces

This is a recent picture of our kids taken by our very own extremly talented family-photographer Kami

(you can check out her work at : www.shoberphotography.blogspot.com)

Don't they look so happy?

From the left: Alex, Anya, Nico, Elia

Uebersetzung: www.chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/03/glueckliche-gesichter.html

Made it to the East Coast

Fedex tracking ROCKS! Our package arrived at the courier! One babystep closer!

Almost done...

Today, I was able to send our last 2 documents to Washington D.C. for the required Certification and Authentication. Hopefully we will have them back by next week, and our Dossier will go to the agency and then TO CHINA!!! Wohoo!

Deutsch:www.chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/02/heute-habe-ich-die-beiden-letzten.html

Another "Chinglish" sign

Just for the fun of it. Reports say that Bejing is working on correcting a lot of their signs before the Olympics in 2008, so the english translation will be more accurate. Bummer - kind of!

Deutsch:www.chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/02/chinenglisch.html

Name

Several people have asked us whether or not we were going to keep BoBo's chinese name. When reading this Blog you may have wondered the same thing ;-)
BoBo will receive a new name when she becomes a part of our family, but she will keep a chinese middle name as a way of preserving her heritage. Since she is three years old, this transition will most likely be a gradual one, as she is used to her chinese nickname by now (which we love, by the way!).
Once we receive our pre-approval from China, we will share more information about her new name and more details we know about BoBo.
But for now, BoBo it is.
Deutsch:http://chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/03/name.html

Love without Boundaries

I have been wanting to write about this organization for a while now, especially since we are personally affected by it - in a very special way.
The direct Link to the LWB website is in the list to the left, but this is what they are all about:
Love Without Boundaries is a worldwide group of volunteers who have realized that people with a pure love for helping children can truly make a difference. We all donate our time and resources in an attempt to brighten the lives of orphaned children in China. .
LWB has medical programs for China's orphans (surgeries for Special needs children), nutrition programs for orphanages, and foster programs in several chinese cities.

Here is a Link to a LWB video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ipa-X9p31Ag

I always thought that I would love to be able to adopt a child who had received support from an organization like Love without Boundaries, but to be honest, I never even prayed for it. I just assumed (Strike 1) that this was next to impossible (Strike 2), so why bother....
The Lord however, in his neverending love for his children, planned a special surprise for us: Soon after BoBo's referral, I found a Yahoo group of parents who adopted from the same City as BoBo is from. It was there I found out that LWB has a Foster program in that same city. I already knew that BoBo was in Foster care, so I contacted Julie, who is coordinating that foster program, just to see if she knew BoBo.

I received a reply within just a couple of hours. Here is what Julie said:
I am beyond, waaay beyond excited that Bo is finally getting a Mom!! Yippeee. I love Bo Bo and yes she is sponsored! Did I say I was pleased!!! great news. I have tears in my eyes! She has the cutest grin!. I unfortunately cannot share any of her reports until after she is home with you but know I am very happy to do so then!

I was overwhelmed with gratefulness - not only to the people of LWB, but mostly to the Lord, who has truly given me the desire of my heart.

Deutsch:http://chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/02/lwb.html

More birthday pictures

Elia helped me bake BoBo's cake yesterday. We thought (I should rephrase that... "I thought" ;-)) ) we could run some errands while the cake was in the oven. Well, that plan backfired, as we came home to a horrible stench in the kitchen...

Lesson 1: Don't put cupcakes in the oven at the same time, thinking that they will take as long as the cake!

Lesson 2: Come home EARLIER than planned, not LATER than calculated! The cake WILL burn!

(not like I didn't know that, either :-))

But anyway, the cake was salvaged, and with the decorations it looked so pretty!

BoBo - Mama LOVES to make special birthday cakes for her kiddos, and next year, we will celebrate WITH you!

I will be sending some of these pictures to Julie, who will be visiting BoBo's hometown and foster family next month. Hopefully we will have PA by then, too!

Nico, Anya, Alex and Elia were excited to celebrate BoBo's birthday!

Mike wasn't home from work until after the party, he was so bummed to have missed it!

Deutsch:http://chinagirlswitzerland.blogspot.com/2007/02/geburstag-2teil.html