Freezing Rain and Sleet

Mother Nature was kind enough to throw us a winter storm yesterday and today. Thank goodness our area was nothing like the infamous ice storm of December 2007, although it looks like other areas got hit pretty hard. It started yesterday as freezing rain, which quickly made the roads a mess. It’s easier to drive in 6 inches of snow than a tenth of an inch of freezing rain…..you can get traction on snow and even sleet. However, overnight it turned to sleet, so the roads are a bit better. Hard to believe that 1 inch of this can bring things to a standstill. Angie stayed at her sister’s house last night, and also will tonight, as it’s only 3 miles from her work as opposed to 18 to get home. A friend drove her the 3 miles, and it took 45 minutes!

I stayed home and camped out on the living room floor with a warm fire and my 2 favorite furry friends. I was able to exercise them before the storm began, so they are content to snooze the day away.

We are currently looking into ways to get more information about our little guy while we complete the adoption process. Any information we can get will help us prepare. What are his interests and hobbies? What is his personality like? What size clothing and shoes does he wear? What are his food preferences? What school subjects does he like the most? Is he introverted and shy, or does he make friends easily? We are also hoping to get an updated picture or two.

Still no word on the new I-797C. It’s only been a week and a half, though, and we’ve been told to expect it in the 2-4 week timeframe. Due to the Chinese New Year, our LID is probably at least a couple weeks away, if not longer.

Care for a Package?

We put a care package in the mail to our little guy today. According to the USPS, it should arrive there in 6-10 business days. When I put the package on the counter at the post office, the lady asked me to fill out a Customs form. No problem, at least at first. In the space for the foreign address I didn’t know what to put, as I’d been emailed the address to send it to, but other than “Beijing, the People’s Republic of China”, it was all in Chinese! The clerk had never encountered that before. After talking to her manager and making a couple calls she decided it was okay to simply photocopy the address and stick that on all 6 (yes 6!) copies of the Customs form. It cost about as much to send the package as it did for the package contents.

In addition to what’s in the picture above, our package also included a map of the United States and a map of Oklahoma, with our location circled. Needless to say, we are not exactly next door to Disneyland, so I hope he’s not disappointed about that! The package also includes a one page letter which our China Case Manager was gracious enough to translate into Chinese, in which we gave him a little information about ourselves, where we live, hobbies and interests, etc.

Tulsa is under a winter storm warning (freezing rain and sleet), so we’re hunkered down with plenty of firewood and a few food essentials. The last time we got an ice storm here, December 2007, we lost power for 5 days, as did much of Tulsa. Supposedly that was a once in a lifetime event, so hopefully this one won’t be too bad. I just wish it would snow instead, as some of the best times I’ve had with the girls (Gentry and Madison, see picture above in my profile) were when we got 5 or 6 inches of snow. They get so giddy and playful…..and tired! One of the pictures we sent our little guy shows them along with me and our 2 nieces (on my wife’s side) playing in the snow. Great fun!

Chinese New Year

Today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Ox. The ox is the second of twelve animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. People born in the Year of the Ox are said to be hardworking, tolerant, and persistent. The Year of the Ox ends on February 13, 2010. In China, fireworks are set off, as it is believed they scare away ghosts and spirits. The occasion is also often marked by special events such as parades and parties.

The Northeast Oklahoma chapter of Families with Children from China got together for dinner in Tulsa at Beijing Gourmet. Some friends we have made in Owasso who have two adorable adopted daughters (as well as two adorable daughters by birth), were kind enough to remind us of the dinner, so Angie and I enjoyed a wonderful evening with a number of kindred families. It’s simply amazing to me how well-adapted the majority of these children are, although I’m sure the parents can readily recount a number of early challenges. We look forward to attending these and many other Chinese events when our little guy arrives home.

DTC!!!

Okay, most of you have no idea what that means.  DTC is an acronym for dossier to China, and is a huge day/event for those folks involved in an international adoption from China.  After taking a year to put our dossier together, it is finally on it’s way to China, the next big step in our adoption.  I got an email late this afternoon from our China Case Manager informing me that UPS had picked up our dossier.  The next step is for the CCAA (the China Center for Adoption Affairs) to log it in, thus giving us our next important step, our LID (log in date).  We are hopeful this step does not take too long.  However, the Chinese New Year is about to begin, so everything will be shut down in China for about a week.  How’s that for timing?

Angie drafted a letter to our little guy last weekend for inclusion in a care package we’ll be sending him next week.  Our case manager translated it and sent it back to me by email.  I sure hope he can read it, because it’s gibberish to me!!!  Of course, that’s what English will be to him, I’m sure, at least to start with.  Boy, will we likely have our work cut out for us in teaching him a whole new language, alphabet, etc.  Needless to say, we’re lining up all sorts of resources before his arrival.

We’re still waiting on our new I-797C from the Immigration Service.  It’s only been a week, but that’s long enough for us to open the mailbox with hope each day!

In the meantime, we continue to prepare…….Since we don’t know his hobbies or interests yet, we’re setting up his room in a Georgia Tech motif.  No particular reason other than we have loads of little GT knick-knacks, dolls, flags, fleece throws, paintings, etc.  At least it will give his room a starting theme, although we will likely change this upon his arrival or soon before/after based on his personality and/or interests.

A Week of Progress

Our adoption process is actually starting to gather some steam.  On Monday, our local adoption agency handed over our dossier to us, for us to then send to the adoption agency in South Carolina which is handling our son’s case.  It was a bit surreal to know that this folder contained all that we had worked a year to put together.  We overnight mailed it to South Carolina.  It should be on its way to China in the next few days.  Also, along with our dossier, our local agency handled our updated home study since our son is older than what we had originally requested.  With all updates comes the need to get it approved by CIS (the US Immigration Service) through a form I-800A.  We overnight mailed our updated home study and new forms to them on Monday.  Our original I-800A took 11 weeks!  We are hopeful this will be quicker and, in fact, have been told by our case manager that it should take only 2-4 weeks.  What CIS mails to us is called an I-797C, a preapproval.  There are still many steps to complete in our adoption journey but, in a nutshell, we should be on track to travel to China in the May-July timeframe.

Angie put together a letter for our son, which we emailed to our China case manager earlier today.  She will translate it for us and send it back, and we will include it in a care package we are preparing to send him at his orphanage in Beijing.  I’d love to be able to know what he thinks when he sees the pictures of his new house and family.

An Easier Way to Communicate!

Welcome to our new blog!  Why, you ask?  Well, it's not because the life of the Oklahoma Hamel's is very exciting, as it's not.  However, we are involved in the intricate process called international adoption, and thus get many queries from family and friends for updates.  There you have it.  Our primary goal will be to document the process and post updates as we prepare for this momentous change in our lives.  Hopefully you will find this at least a wee bit entertaining.  Over the next few days I/we will try to add posts to give a background as to what got us to this point, as well as where things stand now.  Feel free to post a response or email us with your thoughts.