Immigration Approval..woot, woot

Well hello, we have received Jade's immigration status approval. The approval is forwarded to the consulate in Guangzhou, China. After they review the information, they will invite us to China. I'm hoping and praying we travel the end of April, beginning of May. Our daughter dances in her spring performance on May 16 and our son graduates on May 17. So, if they don't invite us ( we'll be 2 weeks in China) by the end of April, we will have to wait until after the middle of May. We certainly can't miss our children's important events. I think it would cause some resentment if we missed graduation for sure.  Our son and his wife are flying in from Montana to share in the graduation and to have a Michigan wedding reception. So, having Jade home for them to meet would be wonderful.

I really want to be a realist about this time frame. I just can't seem to be anything but happy about having all my kids home. My main concern is Jade feeling safe and happy. Attachment is a tricky thing. I remember our AJ not sleeping well for a year. I think he was having nightmares, so we set up his little bed in our bedroom for that year. We would wake up and comfort him. He would go back to sleep. AJ also threw some really good fits. I mean throw himself on the floor crying for half an hour fits. Our inability to understand each other was so hard for him. He would get so frustrated. It will be even more difficult to communicate with Jade. She is 5 years old and speaks exclusively her Mandarin dialect. Our family speaks only English. There is one language that we all speak though. It's called love. And, I remember AJ sitting on my lap and staring at me for hours. I wonder if God was speaking through my eyes and my heart how much we wanted him. How much we already loved him. You see, we had chosen him 10 months earlier. We had researched his background, prayed for him, named him, fallen in love with him. He on the other hand, had no idea who we were. So, it was not surprising that he whacked Aron in the face upon meeting him. Aron is a persistent, patient dad. He really worked at loving AJ, spending lots of time with him, playing, coloring, buying him candy. Aron soon became AJ's favorite. I was only a little jealous. I was happy. You should spend some time with our China boy now. I'm not sure how our genes got into that kid's DNA, but man is he ever a Palmer. We are hoping and praying that Jade will grow to love us too. It takes time and trust. She will miss her surroundings. She will miss her care givers. She will miss her friends. Our social worker was talking with me about my feelings of hurt for Jade. She said that the best place for any child to be is in a loving family. So, hang on Sweet Jade, Ninja Mama is coming to get her girl!

The day we met our AJ

Fall 2014, what a ham