YouTube and Gotcha Day Videos

Hello All,

I see many have stopped over to take a look from China Adopt Talk and I'm so glad that you have. If you would like to see our Timeline, glance at our Referral Pictures or the Pictures from Effie's 2nd Birthday Party, we've got it all here. Today, I'll be posting on what I referred to HERE as my newest addition, YouTube videos of Gotcha Day! Now, obviously as we all do, when watching these videos (and crying our eyes out) I have been making a mental note of all the elements that make up a great Gotcha video. Now, don't get me wrong, every single Gotcha moment is in and of itself priceless. It's just that there are wonderful lead ups and follow ups that can make expectant parents or anyone who has gone thru the process go from whimper to BAWLING! I'm trying to find out what those are.

This is my goal. I want crying Grandmas.

 I have also been working hard to begin making our video so that all I have to do is add the Gotcha footage and post that baby up on YouTube immediately for everyone to see. But, you'll find when you start this process, that it's not that easy. You've got to have some kind of plan and so just like everything else in my life that's worth doing I'll be trying to do it well. This will mean that I need to do an analysis. My addiction has now become a homework assignment. Now I am watching for sequence, timing and most importantly music choice. Here is a list of just a couple of the videos that I have loved watching on You Tube.

This one is by ashleyfairley39 about their precious Mia

This one is by ourlilypad1103 about their sweet little Lily

This one is by bradtuckman about their lovely Maya

Based on these and others I've seen, I've compiled the following list of elements that seem to be common in most Gotcha videos:

• Paper chase photos
• Referral info and photos
• Proof of long awaited documents- Photos of I-800A approval /Fed Ex guy bringing the  LSC
• Birthday pictures of child at the orphanage and/or your family celebrating without her/him  at home
• Update photos
• Baby’s bedroom photo
• Packing up all the STUFF photo
• Spinning Globe with the red thread from home to China (standard issue on iMovie)
• Traveling/ Waiting (bus, plane, airport, hotel)
• China’s Great Wall
• Pictures of locals and shopping venues 
• Pictures of the Welfare Institute
• Finding ad/ Place of abandonment picture
• Video of “Anxiety building, T minus one hour” usually directed at child. What we wanted to tell you video.
• Other waiting families and chaos of the room where you will meet her/him
• The GOTCHA moment, tears from Mom, Dad and Baby
• The classic passed out exhausted from crying and just overall excitement of the day picture
• The classic Red Couch photo at the White Swan picture (I've heard that even though the White Swan is closed for renovations, you are still able to go in to get the couch picture)
• The family waiting at home to welcome you picture or video
• Home

This list is what I will most likely base my gathering strategies upon. Although, once we set foot on the ground in China this list will most likely be out the window. Life will be a whirlwind of emotions and whatever we can manage to capture for her of this precious time will have to do. After all, I'd much rather be living it, than watching it. And also, that's why we're bringing my Mom. ;) Camera person.

As I mentioned initially, one of the last key elements of your video will be the music choice. I've seen some really great video that was lost by music that didn't fit and vice versa. I've seen video that was just video until the music started and then it was a floodgate of tears bursting open. Here is a list of my favorites right now, but I know there are hundreds of great songs appropriate for these montages. Please leave me a comment on those you've heard that fit just perfectly. Also, I'd love links to other videos that you simply LOVE to watch.

One Less Broken Heart- Matthew West

The Healing Has Begun- Matthew West 

Children of God- Third Day 

This is Home- Switchfoot 

When Love Takes You In – Steven Curtis Chapmen 

The Boat Song- JJ Heller 

Haven’t Met You Yet- Michael Buble’ 

Beautiful Day- U2 

At the Beginning- Donna Lewis

Don't let me be the one to start your addiction to YouTube, but if you are curious just type in Gotcha Day in the search. There's plenty of them and you know where you can get more if you need it. ;)

My Best Guess

I've been given the opportunity to demonstrate patience and I have failed. Miserably!  I've been given that time just before sleep when a million thoughts are racing and those moments during the day when I feel like I'll fall over with the overwhelming lists in my brain of what's left to do. I've been given the opportunity to place my faith and trust in God's plan. Whoah! Wait a minute. Total lack of control?!?!? Ughhh. Big breath.

So today, as I think about the return of my husband from what will be his last long trip before we leave for China I can't help but get a twinge of anxiety. Selfish anxiety, like, "14 hour plane trip, yikes, will I live thru it?" like, "what in the world am I going to eat in China?" like, "how can I feel calm about leaving our child at home when we are literally half way across the world for 2 weeks." like, "I've never spent longer that 2 days and maybe 50 miles away from him" 'Nother big breath.

But here's the deal; WE'RE GOING.

The last few weeks I've spent scanning timelines on adoption blogs, watching You Tube videos of Gotcha Days (or what my husband warmly refers to as Adoption Porn), asking all kinds of questions on my Yahoo groups about current timelines and I've come to this conclusion. By my calculations, averages based on mean, median and mode, we'll be traveling either the 2nd or 9th of August.

Now please don't jam up my comments with talk about how "Adoption Porn" is a wildly inappropriate term. You all know that you are just as guilty as the next person. All we want to see are those beautiful babies and their Mommy's and Daddy's crazy, snotty, bawling their eyes out face, kids kicking and screaming and the whole chaotic mess of that perfect moment. About 80% of the time I'm crying my eyes out too. All alone in my computer room, Bawling! All the while with a giant smile on my face repeating every little coo and comment Mom or Dad makes. Adoption porn is not a You Tube activity that leads you into watching clips like "Sleep Running Dog wakes up and smacks the wall" No ma'am, there are days and days of this stuff and when you finish watching, well, up pops another. Like, if you liked "Joanna and Bob Crying their eyes out in Guangzhou", you'll love, "Tim and Leesa losing it in Jiangxi" Millions of them!

Yet, I digress. My biggest boost of hope was this discovery today:

We will be holding our little girl in our arms before my milk expires!

I'll post more later, gotta get back to YouTube! ;)

Sucking it up and bedtime chatter

When I went to sleep last night, the clouds were gathering and it looked like rain. Sure enough, at about midnight we had a full on lightning and rain storm. Jack is an amazing sleeper. Despite the fact that he likes to stay up for sometimes hours after we've put him to bed just talking to himself in the dark of his little bedroom. We listen on the monitor to things like, " No matter what, we never talk to strangers, even if they say, 'Hey, wanna ride in my SPORTS car (the example I gave him)' we just say, 'No thanks, I don't wanna do that' and then we run away."
Last night's was great, "... and then he took the lobes of bread and the fish and he fed EV-ree one! And they called him master of the railway".  Hmmmm so I think he is mixing plot lines, but you get the picture.

Anyway, once he's asleep, he's a great sleeper. He sleeps thru ANYTHING and up until just about 6 months ago he literally would not get up out of his bed in the morning until we came up and got him. It was hilarious. At about 16 months  old we transitioned him to a toddler bed and he'd just lie in there until you opened his door in the morning and got him up. He'd be sleeping with his McQueen car and accidentally drop him out of the bed. He wouldn't get up and get it, no. He'd scream for you and say, "Mommy, I dropped Lightning" and then wait for you to come in and pick him up. Weirdo!

So, I feel like I'm going to have my work cut out for me with Effie. There's no way in the world I'll get lucky enough to have another child that is that good of a sleeper. To sleep all night for usually 10+ hours and then go ahead and nap very consistently for 3+ hours every afternoon I know is truly a gift from GOD. That said, I am just crossing my fingers that Effie will grow to become a lazy sleep-in kind of girl like the rest of the family. I pray she loves a good nap!

Back to the rain. So, when I woke this morning it was wet and overcast outside. I told Jack that we would not be going to swimming lessons as yesterday was semi-sunny and we FROZE. I was having flashbacks of my own days in the pool as a child at 10AM bobbing up and down trying to keep my teeth from chattering. I thought I was done with that. Nope. I'm right back there only older, less flexible, maybe less tolerant of cold (if that's a thing) and paying for swimming lessons to teach my child how to swim. It's just so hard to smile and coax my 3 year old into the water with me. I hear myself saying all the crap my parents used to say to me, "If you stay down in the water Honey, you won't be so cold" and yet I'm not sure if that's true.

Well, we dinked and pinked around this morning not expecting to go anywhere and then at about 9:45 the sun came out. Oh man! Now what? I go down and ask Jack, who is watching Sesame Street, "Do you want to go swim today? The sun has come out and I think it will be warm enough." to which he replied, "Yep" and so, off we went. I was proud of myself that I let HIM make that decision, because my choice would have still been NOT. And, it was rather cold. Chatter. With one week of swim lessons down, I'm hoping Daddy will go with Jack next week, at least once or twice.

The rest of the summer looks to be fairly busy with visiting family in Minnesota, Little Dragons (Martial Arts Class) and just today, we finally got Jack signed up for Soccer Camp. I asked him, "Jack would you like me to sign you up for Soccer Camp?" and he promptly replied, "Yeah, and Football Camp too. Because you need to kick the football with your foot. And then if you play soccer, you just need to wear socks when you kick it."

You know, never really thought about it that way. This is why I need my son. He gives me perspective.

Too Cool for the Pool

An AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL Surprise! Um huh, Birthday Pictures.

This morning we got a half dozen beautiful pictures of our sweet daughter celebrating her 2nd birthday with her friends in the orphanage. I'm going to be honest, I bawled like a baby! Jack asked me, "Mommy, why are you crying?" I said, "Because my heart is so happy that it's making tears." His response,"My heart is happy too Mommy, but it isn't making any tears." which is just fine with me.

The closest thing we've seen to a smile yet!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful face?

These pictures were provided to us by GSWI via a service called RED THREAD CHINA. Ann at Red Thread specializes in care packages for the children in the orphanages all over China. Please consider her service if you are thinking about sending a care package. It is economical and she gives great care to detail and there is always wonderful communication. I would highly recommend her and her service!! If you would like to just take a look at the care packages she offers, click on the link below or it is always available on the sidebar here. 

Project! Keeping busy while we wait

My first mobile blog post. This should be exciting. So, Siri is helping me write this post with talk to text. Tonight I made some pillowcases for Effie and couple for brother. Ladybugs, little owls and Minnie Mouse of course ( the Chinese people are crazy about her). I also took Effie on a tour of her bedroom and showed her the birthday decorations that I hung up for her Birthday on Friday all via video cam on my iPhone. Man oh man do I love that thing. I'm fixing to write a post in honor of my dad for Father's Day. That one I'm going to do old-school style sitting in front of the computer, typing on my keyboard and most likely sobbing my eyes out. Should be only semi-depressing. ;)

Happy Birthday!!

In case you missed it, when I first started this blog, I wrote a post about Effie's very first BIRTHDAY here. But today I've chosen a letter I wrote when we first found out about her and knew she was our daughter.

A letter written just days after we got our original file for Effie (January 2012)

Dear Chen JinLing,

My dear daughter. I am sitting here on the floor of your wide open bedroom. Up until just a few short weeks ago it was just Daddy's Office. The door is opened about once every week to put back something into the closet; a suitcase after a trip or the battery charger or cord for one of our many electronic devices. But today, it is your room and it's your space and it's here waiting for you. It is empty right now, but in my mind I can see you here filling the space with joy. Overflowing this room with your spirit and that precious smile I have yet to see. I can't imagine ever feeling so filled with love and emotion yet so absolutely empty inside knowing I have to wait thru this cold winter, spring and summer's heat until I can see your sweet face, pick you up and hold you. I feel like screaming and crying and laughing and running down the street waving my hands. We have finally found you. Our sweet daughter Chen JinLing. I am picking out pictures for a photo book that we will send over to you in a care package. I want you to see what a nice home you'll be coming home to. I want you to see my face and know that I am MAMA and that your DADDY is a sweet, loving, soft hearted guy. I want you to meet your brother JACK and the family doggie, BEAN. I hope that you are happy and loved and cared for. And for now this is all I can wish. I will pray for you daily that you are safe and that the very instant we are able to come and get you, that you will be ready to come home and by your amazing spirit, make us parents of a precious little girl named Chen JinLing.

All my Love,

MOMMY

"Lucky" the kitty cat and Brother Jack

Today Jack and I took a road trip to KC to Build a Bear and he picked out a cute little kitty cat for Effie's 2nd Birthday. We named her "Lucky" like the lucky Chinese cats I see all over (okay, mostly just in Chinese restaurants, but you get the idea) He is going to be such a wonderful big brother. We are all getting so excited for our upcoming travel.

I started a request for a medical update for Effie today via email. We are supposed to have to pay for updates now, unless it's been 9 months since the last one. All of the medical information and reports we have are still from her original referral file that we received in January, so she will be due for another exam and report by the 10th of July. Let's pray we can get some pictures of that lovely face in our email inbox really soon. I would love it!!

I plan on leaving them up til she's home.

As of today, the most up to date news we have is that our A5 or Article 5 will be ready for pickup on June 27th. This means that our travel approval should be just a few weeks away. Most of the families on the 1-800 spreadsheet in our Yahoo group have received TA just 2-3 weeks after their A5 was issued. Lets keep wishes, hopes, prayers and good vibes going for the shortest amount of time possible. I have marked August 2nd in my calendar as "The day I'm leaving for China" so we'll see just how close my prediction is. At the very least I hope I get to meet her by my Birthday. What a gift that would be!!.

I am currently in a soul searching and organizational period for this blog. I'd like to have  format to follow so I don't just put you all to sleep with acronyms and details, but I also want to share what's going on for those of you who are interested. I'll be thinking about it and praying on it to find the "almost perfect" format for the blog posts. Because life's no fun if it actually is perfect. Believe me, there's no threat of perfection in this household. And, we love it!!

Check back for updates and photos.