Gotcha Day and Beyond

Gotcha Day was Monday, September 18, 2017.  It went well and we wish we could post some photos but we are still having technical difficulties.  We will post pictures once we get home.

  

Catching Up On Our Trip

Catching up on this adventure.  We left on Wednesday, September 13, 2017.  Heading to Beijing for a few days and we will meet a few other families who are also EAC / IAN families.  We are having trouble with getting photos to upload onto the blog.  So, we will try to update the photos she. We can and hopefully we can figure this out before we get home.

First leg of this trip complete.  Elliot made it!  He got a little nervous when we took off.  Once we were in the air he settled down.  He says he is an expert now and he is ready to go to China.  First full day in Beijing we climbed a section of the Great Wall and did some shopping.  Still very tired.  Joel was lucky enough to catch a cold the day we left for China.  He's been taking some cold medicine he can't read anything on the box.  He's still alive.  Second day we visited Tienimen Square and the Forbidden City.  Lots of walking!  Elliot is struggling with the food.

It's now Sunday and we flew to a Nanjing this morning.  This is the where we get the babies, tomorrow!  Arrived mid-afternoon and the hotel is in a great area with lots of things to do all around the hotel.  This town is "home" of Confusious.  It also has a large wall around the city that is hundreds of years old.  We climbed the wall and it was really cool and had some great views of the city.  We also took a boat ride through the city and this was also nice to see.  Tonight we went to grocery store and bought some cheerios and snacks for this kids along with some zippy cups and other needed supplies.  Getting excited to finally see the kids and hold them.  It's getting real that we are actually adopting two kids which makes it a total of six.  Never would have thought I would have six kids!  We are traveling with some other families and they are all great.

Our guide is "Joe" and he is awesome.  Doing a great job coordinating, planning, and entertaining all of us.  Tomorrow is Gotcha Day and we will try to update as soon as we can.

To Winnie and Rhett, we love you more than you know.  Can't wait until tomorrow when we can hold and love you.  Your lives are about to change and you will be home forever.

Chambers Family Update - Its Been A While

Yes, it has been a while since we last posted on our blog.  In fact its been a few years!  Where do we start?

We started the adoption process a few years ago with the idea of going to Africa.  Melissa tried to warn me it would be a disaster (and she still reminds me) and it was.  Soon after starting the paper work the country we selected stopped issuing exit visas so we decided to change countries.  At the time our agency said Haiti is much improved and might be a good fit.  So we switched to Haiti (and i loved the idea of a flight that was only a few hours).  Three years later we stopped the process with Haiti.  More on the adoption later......

Melissa has changed hospitals after 14 years of driving 25 miles each way and now she only drives about one mile to work.  She only works two days each week and never on weekends.  She loves her job, the people she works with, and the people she helps.  Happy wife, happy life!

Ansley is now 15 yo and starting driving to school this year.  We bought her a car and she thinks shes pretty cool.

Ansley's First Car

Ansley had a great summer with the car and also getting the opportunity to spend five weeks at Ballet Met in Columbus, Ohio.  She loved it and Mom and Dad worried she might want to stay there.

Drop-Off Day At Ballet Met

Melissa and Ansley

Ansley Stretching Her Legs After 10 Hour Drive

She also just found out she will be Clara in her dance school's performance of Nutcracker this year.  She does ballet six days each week and its great to see her hard work pay off.  She is a great kid!

Elliot on the other hand is also a great kid (actually all my kids are great).  Elliot is in the 6th grade and is home schooled.  He plays basketball several night each week and almost every weekend at a local basketball academy (I wish it was closer to our house).  The improvement in his game is fantastic over the last two years and its fun for Dad to be able to help coach his team.

Elliot Hanging With Frank Mason

Elliot In His "Office" On The 1st Day of School 

Iris is already in the 4th grade!  Seems like such a short time ago we travel 7,000+ miles to get her. Iris is a rockstar!  Nothings stops her and she wants to please everyone.  Iris is a swimmer and loves the water (she even loves swimming in cold water).  Iris is so happy she just got her braces off a few weeks ago (and Elliot got his about the same time so she is loving it).

Iris 1st Day of 4th Grade

Look Mom, No Braces!

                             

Owen is now in the 1st grade and has become his own little person.  Owen LOVES ballet!  Its all he does, if he's awake he is dancing (if he's not in school.  He might still be doing it there but we just don't know).  It's fun to see Owen developing his personality and doing his thing.  Iris and Owen are lucky to have triplets that live across the street from us.  Their age is right between Owen and Iris so they play all the time.

Owen's First Day of 1st Grade

The Crew

Iris & Owen

This is Moe.  He is pretty laid back and hangs out in the fireplace.

Moe's Office

As for me, well I still work at the same place and time keeps rolling on.  It's hard to believe I have four kids.  It also amazing how each of the four kids are so different and we are able to watch them become the people they are.  God has blessed me beyond what I can describe!

Now back to the adoption story.  Melissa, Elliot and I are leaving in 10 days for China!  We are adopting two more beautiful kids:  Winnie & Rhett.  

Winnie Must Be Happy

Baby Winnie

1st Winnie Photo

Rhett Standing With Cup

Rhett Sitting With Cup,

Obviously we don't have many photos of Rhett.  We will hopefully be updating the blog over the next several weeks.  Melissa and I are trying to remember how to work this blog thing!  Its been a while since we were last in China and hopefully we can post from there.

Ansley's Big Day

After years of hard work and very intense evaluations Ansley finally earned her pointe shoes.  Friday instead of regular ballet class Ansley and her teacher went pointe shoes fitting.  Ansley was so excited.  I can not express how proud I am of my daughter.  She told me when she was 3 years old that she wanted to dance on pointe shoes.  Today she achieved that goal.  Way to go Ansley!

I am so thankful that her teacher came with us. ( Stefani  Schrimpf from Kansas School of Classical Ballet, you rock).   It was much more involved then I would ever have thought.   I should have guessed that Ansley would be a difficult one to fit.  She has very small and strong feet.  After 2 hours of trying and trying to find the perfect shoe....She finally did it! I now know how the "Grand Duke" in Cinderella felt.   She literally tried on every shoe in the shop.   You should have seen the look of terror come over Ansley's face when thought she would not get her shoes today, but would have to special order them.  The fitter was getting so frustrated with it.  But perseverance pays off.  So here they are...

 let the trying on begin

 Oh good, they like this pair

  

very very happy

Ansley and her friend Madi both earned their shoes!

Ansley, Mom and Dad are so very proud of your determination and hard work.

Documents In Haiti

On Thursday, September 18 we were informed our dossier was sent to Haiti which means it will arrive in Haiti this week.  The documents will be authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which takes about three days.  Once this happens we hopefully get registered with IBESR (Haitian Social Services).

I have no idea what all of this means other than the waiting will continue!  Adoption does require patience.

A month or so ago our agency said our dossier would not be sent to Haiti until October due to some delays with Haiti and their process.  So this is a positive step to have it sent ahead of schedule!

Lets hope this continues in the coming months........

A Big Thank You

We just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone who helped us with our first fundraiser for this adoption.  We were awarded a matching grant from Hand in Hand and were able to reach our goal of $7000.00   We are well on our way to bringing our children home.

Our dossier is in a holding point.  We are just waiting for our agency to send it to Haiti and they anticipate sending it in October.  The hold up is due to changes in Haiti's adoption policy.  After our dossier is sent we are hoping to receive a match early next year.  We will keep you updated as soon as we here anything.

For those of you who are new to our adoption blog we encourage you to start at the beginning.  We started the blog about five years ago when we started the process with our first adoption of Iris.  We then decided to adopt another child from China, Owen.

We will start posting more as we hit milestones and recieve more information.  As we get closer and hopefully get matched there will be much more activity on the blog.

Also, the blog name does not seem as good now since we are adopting from Haiti.  Too late to change it now!

Below are a few of our favorite photos of the kids from years past.

Elliot at about 2 years old and his drink of choice.

Ansley at about 18 months.  The addiction started early for her as well.

Iris at 2 years old.  This photo was taken the first week in Wuhan, China with her.

Owen at 2 years old.  Lots of hair, still!

Big Week for Owen

It was a big week for Big O.  He was baptized on Sunday, August 31, 2014 and also started pre-school this week.  He was so excited (and handsome) for his baptism and being the center of attention.

The Baptism Went Well

"He Is So Cute"

Family Photo

Owen with His Godmother (Aunt Jennifer) and Pastor Nick

Owen also started pre-school this week and did a great job.  Dad dropped him off on the first day and was very proud that Owen had no problems.  Mom picked him up after school and the teachers said he did great.  They also continued with the "he is so cute" motto that seems to follow him where ever he goes!

Owen's 1st Day of PreSchool

Change is hard

First Day of School 2014

Today was the first day of school for A, E, & I.  All three started at new schools and it was a tough day for mom and dad.  The kids have all gone to a wonderful classical Christian school and it was a very tough decision for them not to go back this year.  It was truly like leaving a family.   But life happens and we move on and make the best of it.

Elliot, Ansley, Big O, Iris

Ansley started 7th grade and it was a tearful departure dropping her off at that giant school.  Ansley has had 10-12 people in her class for seven years (250 students from K-12) and now she attends a school of 7th and 8th grades with 800 students, culture shock!  Mom and dad drove home with tears and lumps in our throats.  We worried all day long hoping no one was being mean to her.  Finally school was out and she had a great first day.  She loves it!  Hopefully this will continue and she will have a great year.

Elliot and Iris are going to school together and both had good first days.

As you can tell they all love not having to wear a uniform.  Mom is not so sure, time will tell.  Elliot is excited that he doesn't need to get a hair cut.  He says he is going to let it grow long.  We will see about that.  I may sneak in while he sleeps and trim it.  All in all it was a good first day.  We would love your prayers for continued success and protection.

Please Help!

We are in fund raising mode and want to ask everyone to help.  We have been awarded a matching grant from Hand in Hand Christian Adoption.  Basically we need to raise $3,500.00 and they will match that amount and pay expenses directly to the adoption agency.  Hand in Hand has been awesome with our first two adoptions and they are helping out again.  So, we going to be sending out letters asking all of our friends, family, and anyone else we can think of to generously donate to the next Chambers child(s).

If anyone has other fund raising ideas we are open to all suggestions.  This adoption will be more of a challenge for us than the first two.  Basically life happens and we will need to raise most of the money for this adoption(s).  And to add to the challenge, we are approved for a sibling group of two which will add about $15,000.00 for the second child bringing the total to approximately $45,000.00.   We have paid a little over $6,000.00 so far but this leaves us with a long way to go.......  Melissa continues to be very confident that "God will provide for us".

Now to the fun stuff.  Here are some photos from our summer so far.  We took a road trip to Traverse City, Michigan to celebrate Uncle Jake's 50th birthday.  Had a great and very relaxing week.  Long drive in car but we had a lot of fun with the family. We rented a few cabins on Lake Leelanau.  

Iris enjoying the COLD water of Lake Michigan.

Elliot - Standing in the clear water of Lake Leelanau

Ansley teaching Iris how to row.

Brothers just being boys!

Awesome Sunset

Aunt Sue, Ansley, Melissa, Aunt Jennifer, Grandma Lucille

Ansley with a sweater on the beach?

Owen loved the sand!

Gotcha Day for Iris - 4 years Later

This week, June 11, 2014 we celebrated Iris's Gotcha Day.  It is four years later and she still continues to surprise us, bless us, and love us.  She has brought unimaginable joy and love to our family.  Tonight at our celebration dinner at Schlotzsky's we played family trivia (Melissa and I ask questions about the family and the kids love guessing who we are talking about) and Iris and Owen started asking questions about when they were born.  Melissa explained how God blessed our family by taking us all the way to China to pick up two special kids to join our family.  The kids also love watching their videos and asking lots of questions about the pictures.  So as I type the family is watching the videos and asking Mom questions about each picture.  Brings back memories and reminds me how awesome adoption is!

Melissa & Iris

So now I will bring you all up to speed on the Chambers family.  School is out and we are getting into the summer routine.  Iris and Elliot are taking summer school a few days a week (Iris loves it, Elliot hates it).  Another two weeks and it will be over.  Iris is doing very well in school (her biggest challenge is just sitting still and being quite).  She will be starting 1st grade in the fall and we are hoping she can handle the work as they start a lot of reading in 1st grade.  Her challenge will be keeping up with the reading as it takes her a little longer to read and it is a lot of work for her to focus.

Owen will start pre-school this fall a few days each week.  He is truly an amazing little boy.  The medical issues seem to be behind us (other than the bills) and you would never know he ever had any issues (unless he takes his shirt off to see the scars).  Owens personality is simply awesome!  His brother and sisters all love playing with him.  Owen started ballet this spring and may be the next great performer.  Ansley takes ballet 3 days each week so Owen has spent a lot of time watching and practicing.  We asked if he wanted to take a class and he loves it!

"Big O"

Elliot is going to be in 3rd grade!  Wow, seems like yesterday he was about 2 years old.  Elliot had a little accident with a window and ended up getting 6 stitches in his hand this week.  He is so proud of his battle scar!  

Elliot

"Wounded Elliot"

Ansley is now less than a year away from being a teenager!  NO!  Ansley is such a joy and is just easy to parent.  Ansley is learning to sew (thanks Aunt Sue) and she loves it.  She has produced a pair of mittens and a shirt so far.  Santa brought Ansley a sewing machine for Christmas and loves having Aunt Sue as a teacher.

Ansley

In other big news we completed our home study a few weeks ago and are trying to come up with the money needed to send our documents to Haiti!  Yes, we are adopting again.  We are approved for a sibling group so we might be adding two more of God's children to the family.  We are going to have to also buy a bigger van!  Please pray for funds!

Owen - Two Years Later!

It was two years ago today that Owen arrived home from China and we can not imagine life without him.  He is such a beautiful, loving, and happy little boy.  He is also a little hairy!

Elliot & Owen

Owen's brothers and sisters absolutely love him and cherish him.  He can play Legos and Dinosaurs with Elliot, Ballet with Ansley, or soldier with General Iris!

We arrive home with Owen on December 21, 2011 and he was a wonderful Christmas present for our entire family.  Owen was still not sure what was happening and who all of these people were but I know he felt a love and spirit that he had never experienced before.

Arriving Home at Kansas City Airport 2 Years Ago Today

It was just a few weeks after arriving home that Owen's medical challenges dominated his life for the next 10 months.  We were eating dinner at a local restaurant when Owen started having trouble swallowing and breathing.  Up to this time we knew he had some issues swallowing his food but the worst that ever happened was he would cough it up and start over.  This time was different.  He was eating chicken noodle soup, which should not have been an issue, and we soon realized something was horribly wrong.

We called Grandma Joy and asked her to meet us at our house and then we would take Owen to the ER.  This soon escalated and we rushed him to ER scared of what might be happening.  Once we arrived at ER they took control and assured us he was getting air and was stabilized.  Owen would have multiple procedures over the next few months with no success. 

Not Comfortable Few Months with this Tube Placement!

 

Laughing Gas at KU Med Just Before the Big Surgery

Dad and Owen In Recovery Room

Let the Healing Begin

Iris, Ansley, Elliot, Cousin Alex Visiting

Cousin Nick Visiting Owen

Its Almost Time to Go Home!

Finally in the fall of 2012 he would have a major surgery and his road to recovery was in place.  A few more months with the feeding tube and then he would be ready for the fork!  From this moment on Owen would start to blossom!

Fast forward 2 years and there is no stopping him.  He has graduated from physical therapy, and occupational therapy.  Soon we expect he will be kicked out of speech.  The only thing Owen still needs to accomplish is potty training!  They assure me he will not go to college in pull ups.  I know he will get it when he is ready, but boy this momma is ready for him to get out of diapers. 

Owen, we love you so much and thank God each day you are part of our family.  You are part of God's big story and He has big plans for you.  Always know God loves you and will never leave you.

Gotcha Day!

Two Years Later.....