We are home!!!

Words cannot express how thankful I am to be home! Our flights were on time and Zoe did great on all four flights. She only cried twice on our 13 hour flight which was amazing. She is bonding with Robert every day and loves the boys and the dogs. My mom was such a huge help to me in China and I could never thank her enough for enduring the trip with me. Zoe and I are starting to adjust to the time zone here but she doesn't want to be left alone in her room at night so that is a adjustment for her. Robert ended up sleeping in the room with her last night while she slept in her crib. Making sure that we won't leave her. She is doing great with potty training and loves to eat. She had her first spaghetti tonight and loved it. Brushing her teeth has been a challenge as she has had no dental care at all. Soon we will schedule her physical and have her heart looked at. I can't thank all the people enough that have covered us in prayer through this whole process and all the way home. Please continue to pray for all of us as we bond with Zoe.

Well it's the last day for us in Guangzhou! We walked to McDonalds and they had a menu we could point to what we wanted. We got Zoe her first happy meal and she ate every bite! This girl can eat! We also found a 5 story market called Jusco and they had umbrella strollers so we bought a red snoopy one for the travel home. Grandma also bought Zoe her first purse! It's hello kitty and she loves it! She been snooping through our purses all week so now she has her own with a princess cell phone inside! We are so excited to fly to Beijing tonight so we can start our journey home. Please pray for smooth flights!

Today was a day to celebrate! We finalized Zoe's adoption today at the consulate! Tomorrow our guide Lily will bring her paperwork and her Chinese visa and passport to enter the United States. We leave Guangzhou at 4:30pm and head to the airport to fly to Beijing. We stay in Beijing for one night and fly out of there to JFK and then on our way to Dulles! So excited tomorrow starts our journey home! Zoe had her first grieving session today and cried for 2 hours straight. She's very happy tonight though! She's such a little lady. Crosses her legs when she sits and jabbers in Chinese all day long. She blows kisses now and waves hi and bye to everybody. I look forward to having her home and on a real schedule and have the boys and her daddy get to know her. Please pray for our 3 plane rides and the long trek home for safety and sleep.

Today we had a day to shop! We went to the pearl factory and a walking mall and shamian island. Mom bought Zoe her first pair of pearl earrings for when she gets her ears pierced! We also got hand painted porcelain beaded bracelets made for all the girls in our family that were made in the Jiangxi province which is where Zoe is from. We got squeaky shoes for Zoe and 3 Chinese outfits too. This is a photo of the pearls we saw. We had a good day but busy. Tomorrow we get Zoe's TB test checked and have a relaxing day planned! Missing my boys a lot but each day that goes by means I'm one day closer to coming home!

Today we had our medical check up appointment. It was very crowded and lots of tears were shed but Zoe did really well. She cried but calmed downed quickly. When they gave her the TB test they wouldn't let parents go back with the children so that was very hard. We were there for 2 hours and then went to a market near by the hotel to pick up bottled water. Then our guide Lily brought us back to the Garden hotel for paperwork. We miss home but are really enjoying Zoe and her fun personality!

Today we had a great time of touring in Nanchang. With our guide and our group of five families we went to a porcelain factory and a Chinese pavilion. It was six floors high and very pretty. As Mom and I were coming out of the pavilion we had a crowd begin surrounding us and people asked to take pictures with Zoe and I. One man who spoke broken English asked if he could hold Zoe. I wasn't too sure about this but he was very sweet so I said yes and she let him hold her for the picture and then she wanted her mommy! We are bonding more and more each day that goes bye. After we visited the pavilion we were then treated to a traditional Chinese feast which was delicious! That was the best meal of our trip so far and Zoe did great all day! She is really coming out of her shell and showing us all of her personality. I got my first kiss from her today and she is calling me mama and giving hugs to mom and I. She doesn't know what it is to be quiet yet so we have to teach her that. Today I taught her "shhhhhhh" and she did it back to me in the lobby of the hotel so that's a start. She is lots of fun and stubborn too! We have our first flight tomorrow to Guangzhou with the rest of the four other families and we will pick up all the kids passports in the morning before our guide takes us all to the airport. Then we will check into the Garden Hotel! We are halfway done with this trip and I can't wait to get home to my family!

We have Zoe! She is doing well over all but has a cold. She said "hi" today while face timing with Robert and the boys and she waved to them. We miss home a lot as we are having a hard time with the air here. They heat with coal here and it's making us sick so we had to shut off the heat in our room and that helped. Zoe smiles a lot! She is fun and we are learning what her cries mean. She likes to go potty on the toilet and mostly keeps her diaper dry. The Lord is keeping us in his arms until we get home. Please keep us in your prayers.

2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Zoe! Two days till I leave! Zoe turned two today and we had quiet a busy day with Taylor not feeling well and multiple tests at the doctor:( Hopefully all will be fine while I am gone! Almost all packed and so excited to see China and most of all my baby girl! Please pray everyone stays healthy while we are gone and that my mom and I stay healthy while in China. Gotcha Day is on the 7th!

Yeah We Leave Jan 4th!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! At 7:20pm tonight, Christmas day we got our confirmation email from the Chinese Consulate that we can leave for China on Friday, January 4th! We will fly into Zoe's province and stay there till Gotcha Day which will be on January 7th. Then we will stay in her province for 4-5 days and then fly to Guangzhou and stay there for the remainder of our stay in China and we will come back January 17th! A week from this Friday I will be leaving to get my baby girl! Please pray for our trip for safety and a smooth stay in China! SO EXCITED TO GO GET ZOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travel Approval is HERE!!!!

On December 21st, my dad's birthday, we got the phone call at 12:30pm from AAC. Erin told us she had a great Christmas present for us! We have travel approval! Because of the Christmas holiday on Tuesday we have to wait till Wednesday or Thursday until we know the exact dates we will leave but they are trying to get us out on January 4th or January 11th! We are so excited! I will post more when we find out the exact dates! Please be in prayer with us that the Lord will be with us the entire journey and go before us and prepare a wonderful, smooth flights, car rides, bonding experience and just overall great trip!

Article 5 pickup!

Our article 5 was picked up from the Chinese consulate on December 5th! It was sent to CCCWA and we now await the Travel Approval phone call. It's supposed to come 2 weeks after the pickup of our travel approval. Then after we get the call we have to make our appointment with the Chinese consulate and once that is confirmed we can make our flight arrangements! The Lord has guided us daily through this journey and I know he will be faithful to guide us throughout travel. Zoe was moved out of the orphanage and put into a foster home to give her more one on one attention until we can get to her. My mom will be going with me to China! Will update when we get the travel approval phone call!

Video!

We received a video in the mail of Zoe opening her care package. She is such a cutie pie! She just observes all the commotion going on around her. In the video they said she is a happy baby but afraid of strangers, is walking and can climb stairs, is almost potty trained and so on. She's not even two yet and she's almost potty trained. But I think we will take some pull-ups just in case. We wait for our article 5 to be processed now and then we wait for travel approval. Waiting is hard but I know that The Lord will have us travel at the perfect time.

Surprises!

Today was such an exciting day! We got our I-800 approval today in the mail.  This was the last document needed for our Article 5 to be sent to china and it will be hand delivered to the Chinese Consulate.  Then we await travel approval! But we got some awesome news too! Christie from AAC took our package to Zoe's orphanage and got to go in and watch her open it and take pictures of Zoe opening it and we will also get a video soon! She is such a little peanut with very little hair.  We can't post pics of her in the orphanage but she's adorable! Please pray for our travel approval to come when The Lord wants us to travel.

GOD PROVIDES!!!!!!!

When we got our LOA package in the mail on Saturday, Oct. 13th we had so much excitement!  We got travel information and visa applications and all sorts of fun stuff!  We also knew that the next payment was due for this phase and we only had half of the money left from donations and fundraisers.  So we didn't know where the other half was going to come from.  As Robert and I are looking through the mound of paperwork, the fee schedule said that AAC our agency granted us a $3,000 grant!  We were so thrilled!  God knew that we would be taken care of! 
Yesterday was also a very exciting day as we found out that one of AAC's employees is traveling to China on October 24th.  She said she was willing to deliver care packages to families that have received their LOA or travel approval!  So last night we put together a small care package for Zoe as the rule was it had to fit in a 1 gallon freezer bag.  We put a small photo album, a colorful security blanket and lollipops for all the children on her floor!  It will get delivered to her orphanage by the staff member so we know she will get it!  That was so much fun getting it ready for her.
On top of all that excitement, we got a call last night from someone who wanted to make a large donation to us in installments for the remainder of our adoption process.  So this amount will pretty much cover the rest of our adoption!  GOD IS SO AWESOME AND ALWAYS OUR PROVIDER IF WE PUT OUR FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM THAT HE WILL PROVIDE!  Robert and I are so blessed and thankful!
So now we just wait for travel approval which will take a few months for us to get, but we are a HUGE step closer to bringing our baby girl home!

Zoe Christine Schmeltz Cole

Our agency said we can now post a picture of our little peanut!  Introducing Zoe Christine!

OUR LOA IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our agency called me today on my cell phone as I was sitting in Panera eating lunch.  Erin asked me how my day was going and said that she thought she could make my day even better!  She told me that our LOA had come!  She is overnighting it to us and it will get here tomorrow.  We then have to proof read and sign all documents and then overnight them back to AAC and then they will send them to USCIS.  Our LOA means that China has said Zoe is officially our daughter and that we can come get her as soon as we get travel approval from them!  Erin thinks we will most likely travel in February to get Zoe but I know my God can have us travel before then if he wills it!  God is so awesome as we expected our LOA to take a good 2 to 3 months to be approved and it only took 3 weeks!  A HUGE, GIANT, STEP CLOSER TO OUR ZOE!

Baby Shower

On Sept. 29th my mom put on the most beautiful baby shower for me!  She and I decorated the Holy Grounds Cafe at Cornerstone chapel in hues of pink!!  It was Chinese themed with the best Chinese food I have ever had!  The room was full of love and happiness celebrating the life of Zoe with lots of women who love my family and Zoe.  My dad was the photographer and captured so many awesome memories for me!  It was a time of celebration!  Zoe is so blessed to have so many Godly women praying for her.  I can't thank my mom and dad enough for that beautiful day.  Zoe you received so many beautiful gifts that we can't wait to give you and dress you up with!  Daddy, Mommy, Taylor, Carter, Grandma and Grandpa love you with all our hearts! 

LOA

So we had a hold up in paperwork due to an age discrepancy in our referral age range.  We were approved for a child up to 18 months because that is what we had asked for.  When we got the referral, Zoe was 18 months old, but she will be almost 2 or a little over 2 when we travel to China to get her.  So we had to submit more paperwork to USCIS to approve adopting an older child.  Long story short, we were approved and everything will continue!  We got the supplement 3 approval in the mail last Friday and now our agency just sent out our papers for LOA.  That stands for Letter of Approval for Zoe to officially be matched with us on paper through China and then we wait for travel approval.  Our agency is estimating us traveling somewhere between December and March.  Big gap I know but we have to role with the punches and trust that God will have us travel to get her when it is his will.  I pray every day for Zoe in the meantime that the Lord would protect her and keep her safe and healthy until my mom and I can go get her.  Please join us in that prayer for her also!

LID

God is so awesome.  We have just received word that we have our Log In Date (LID)!!!!  We are all so excited.  Thank you so much for all your prayers.

Dossier is China Bound!

On July 24, 2012 we got word that our Dossier had been sent to China!  This is such good news and so exciting!  One step closer to our ZOE!!