Epcot

I wish I was posting news about Penelope Mei, but nothing new on that front. So in the mean time, I'm going to try to finish our Disney trip before we go on the next one! 

The next day was Epcot. 

We didn't do photopass this time since this was a "bonus" trip after our Christmas blow out so not a lot of family pictures.

Again, we LOVED being on the monorail. We walked from the Poly over to the TTC-ticket and transportation center and got on the Epcot monorail. The other option was to get on at the Poly, ride the resort monorail around to the TTC, then change to the Epcot monorail. Walking over to the TTC is faster.

We love you Space Ship Earth. In my effort to not be an anal touring commando, we rose Space Ship Earth first. This is generally not wise-this isn't a ride that gets much of a line but it was completely fine.

You ride through the history of communication. There's an interactive part where it takes your picture and you choose your future.This is Q and I in our space ship vacation.

On to Test Track. Test Track got a major overhaul. Now you create your own car and race against each other. Quinn immediately remembered that Monty won at Christmas.

Gabe and Dex worked together and made an awesome car, but the system didn't recognize it so it didn't race. Gabe took it hard.

Quinn saying check out my pimped out minivan... 

And we're off... 

The kid in the yellow is from the single rider line. If Penelope ever makes it to 40 inches we'll be able to fill up a whole car! 

Mission Space was next. Gabe and Dex did the scarier side and Jason Q and I did the wimpy side. Both very fun. This ride simulate a space flight. The scary side creates the G Force by spinning you, though you don't know you're spinning. I can ride anything, but the scary side of Mission Space is the only thing that has ever made me feel a little sick. Cooper was GREAT -hilarious- on this at Christmas.

Q rocking an astronaut hat. 

I know we rode Soarin' in there somewhere. Then on to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. 

Figment! It was really busy, we probably waited 10 minutes for Figment. That's a long time, its almost always a walk on ride. 

Lunch at England, fish and chips.We love this, but it was so hot that we couldn't eat as much as usual.

My kids were the ones feeding the birds illegally.

Then we headed out. The only downside of the monorail-really long ramps.

This stroller has made soooo many trips to Disney World. I've lost track of how many times we've taken it and some of our friends have taken it as well. Papa got it for us when Quinn was born. Very wise investment. 

I will admit, we're pushing the limits of our Baby Jogger City Mini. Not sure what's gonna happen when Penelope comes? Hoping someone's ready to walk.

I'm try to convince Jason we need the pink Bugaboo...

We got lucky-we just missed the rain.

Monorail orange! 

Back home again to the Poly. The Polynesian is just finishing a major refurbishment, the rooms are much brighter. I know I keep saying it, but we LOVE this resort!

More Officialness

Ok, so officialness is probably not really a word, but seems close to me.

The big stack of paperwork we have been collecting is for our Dossier. The dossier is the compilation of all the documents that our agency will eventually put together. Once complete, the dossier will be sent to China, Also known as DTC, dossier to china.

We've been working on this part since May. Some were things we had to get from government agencies-birth and marriage certificates. Some we had to create-adoption petition, financial statement. Some we had to do-physicals, and some we had to ask for-police clearances and employment verification letters. Plus the home study, back ground checks, and child abuse clearances.

Each document had to be notarized (shout out to Linda GH and the fab ladies at the JC Clerk's office). Once notarized, the stack went to the Secretary of State's office to be certified and then to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to be authenticated.

Luckily our agency gives us a detailed guide of how to complete each step. We were able to send everything to a courrier in Chicago to take them to the Secretary of State's office and the Chinese Consulate.

We got everything back this week. It passed inspection.

The Jesse White seal of approval!

The official seal of the Chinese Consulate. 

Now that we our documents were approved, we needed 3 passport pictures each, 3 couple pictures, and 8 family life pictures along with 2 more checks. 

This seems like Deja Vu, I have seen these stacks before....

The last almost 4 months of work come down to this. 

I mailed it all to Colorado on Wednesday and got an email from them on Thursday that it was received. The agency will review everything again. Unfortunately we have to wait for one more document (the immigration approval) before it can all be sent to Ch*na, but it is a huge relief to have this part complete. I think I'll sleep better at night knowing all these irreplaceable documents are out of the house!

Fingerprinted. Again.

While it seems like nothing is happening, we are actually having some behind the scenes action. We are currently waiting on our I800-a. Basically, it's immigration approval of our eligibility to adopt internationally, on the US side.
After getting our official I800-a receipt date of 8/29/13 (receipt of our application), next we waited for an invitation to be fingerprinted. We have been fingerprinted before. I'm not sure that your fingerprints change, but whatever. Give us a hoop, we'll jump through it. Apparently these are special fingerprints. We would be invited to come to Indy or St Louis.
Turns out it was St. Louis. Our fingerprint date was 9/25/13, but I had read online that a lot of people walk in early so we went over to St Louis on Sunday night to try to get fingerprinted on Monday. We stayed at the Sheraton next door. I think we may have been on a concierge floor because we had to use our keys on the elevator (still hoping for the ultimate Disney concierge upgrade) but no one offered us concierge lounge access?

The paper was very official looking and said no cameras or cell phone. Jason and I are both the rule following sort so we believed them.

We went next door to the Robert A Young Federal building. I Google image searched for this picture-no camera.



It was actually kind of cool. The office we went to had a huge Department of Homeland Security seal on the door. Would have been a good picture. I'm a little bitter because the employees said it would have been fine to take pictures.

We were able to be fingerprinted early without a problem. The other people there were working on becoming US citizens or permanent residents. It seems like that's a pretty complicated process?? The people behind us were Nigerian. Jason would not let me tell them we were part Nigerian.

We were both fingerprinted without incident. The guy that fingerprinted Jason was married to a girl from Olney that Jason had in school. Small world.

We got official stamps on our forms and we were off.

Breakfast at Denny's and home by noon. Quick trip.

Now we wait some more. Unfortunately this step has been taking about 2 months recently so it could easily be the end of October before we have this approval we need to move on.

We would very much appreciate prayers that the process speeds back up to it's usual pace of about a month. Every day is one more day Penelope is without us. 

Update!!!

September 5th was a good day. I had been hoping to get an update. I was watching my email like a hawk when it finally came across. We got a little bit of updated information and 2 more pictures. 

Updates.....

~She is still very tiny, less than 16 pounds

~She can say "mama" and calls "A Yi" (Ch*nese for nanny) when she cries. This is a rough one. It kills me to think of her crying and not knowing whether anyone goes to her or not.

~She did receive the care package with the photo album :)

~She takes a bottle and she can feed herself

~She shares her crib with another baby

~She has a favorite nanny, Zhao Xia. 

Now the best part! Pictures!

I'm not sure words can describe what it felt like to see these pictures. It literally took my breath away. 

I have zoomed in on every little detail. She reminds us of Dexter.

We are so happy they let her hair grow back! It looks so soft. Her cheeks look so kissable. 

Now if only I could speed up the clock....

Famous Adoptees...

American Adoptions, the agency that helped Quincy become a Fulton, shared this recently on their blog. I love it! Maybe one day they'll be adding Dexter, Quincy, or Penelope Mei to this list....

Gabe's Birthday Continues....

After another afternoon at the pool, we headed over to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey's. This is an uber popular character buffet. 

Before we ate Quinn and Dex did some slipper modeling for us.

Dig in! 

The Chef himself, Mickey Mouse!! 

Oh Minnie, you are just the sweetest! 

Napkin twirling! A fun tradition at Chef Mickey's, though probably rather gross if you think about diners twirling their dirty napkins through the air.

Oh well...Celebrate, Celebrate Together. Celebrate with Mickey Mouse!!! Sing it with me....

Cupcake for the Birthday Boy! 

Pluto!! 

Goofy is HUGE!! 

After we stuffed ourselves the boys had some more fun checking out the shops. While Gabe and Dex explored, Q did some hat modeling... 

Back to the Poly for Wishes on the beach. 

It doesn't get much better than this!! 

Gabe, Dex and I watched a little of the movie on the beach before we headed to bed.

Another great day. I hope I never forget these awesome moments with these 4 boys I love so much!