VAN CLAN

The Van Kirk's Are Home!

2009-11-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone! We are home. Sorry, there have been not blog updates, it seems China outlawed some blog sites and facebook shortly before we traveled. Now that we are back I will start posting a few things each day from out trip.

Jonathon is doing great! We couldn't have asked for things to go any better. We are so grateful to God and our friends and family, who we know have bee praying for us! It makes all the difference.

2009-11-05T21:01:00.000-08:00

It's almost time!

2009-11-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it is 10:54pm on Thursday evening. We might be working all night to be ready as we try to finalize things and repack for the 3rd or 4th time. But soon we will be on our way to China. Our shuttle service will pick us up at 4am, ugh!

Tonight was tough. We got to celebrate Kyiah's birthday, but then we kind of faked leaving to say goodbye to the girls tonight. We didn't want to have to wake them at 4am. It was tough both cried. Becca said, "Please don't go." We cried. My mom cried. Thankfully, Kyiah calmed down quickly after we left. Becca had a more difficult time since she has more of an understanding of how long we will be gone. Jim and I both agreed that if we do another adoption it will have to be domestic because we couldn't do this again.

I will miss my baby girls. I am posting some cute pics. of them from Halloween and Kyiah's birthday.

Please be praying for all of us! We definitely need to keep those prayers coming.

UPDATE ON THE VAN KIRKS

2009-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been meaning to get this accomplished for a while, however, I was sick, the girls were sick, Jim was traveling, etc... Every time I tried I would get close to finishing and someone would melt down.

Anyway, there is a lot going on, so let me begin.

First, we are finally going to China, seriously! We have our tickets and everything. We leave early on November 6th. Our gotcha day is suppose to be November 8th. That will be the day they place Jonathon is our arms.

We plan to update our blog while in China.

We will be returning on November 20th at DFW airport. We will be on Continental flight CO1139 and will come in @ 10:17pm from Newark, NJ. So any of you who live in the DFW area please feel free to welcome us home. We would love it!

Now the second major news in the Van Kirk household is that we are moving, yes, that's right moving, once again. It is kind of funny actually. Centex Homes brought us to Texas. Now Pulte Homes owns Centex and their headquarters are in Michigan. You guessed it, we are going full circle and moving back to Troy, Michigan, outside Detroit.

We have mixed feelings. We are thrilled to have a job! We are thrilled to be moving back near family and dear friends. However, I find it slightly cruel that we are having to move back in January.

We are also sad because we are leaving wonderful friends here in Texas and a fabulous support for us as adoptive parents and for our children, Tapestry at Irving Bible Church.

We know God is control and He has his reasons and we are simply trusting in that. Already we have seen his hands on things. The schools in the area we are moving to have a Chinese language and culture immersion beginning in elementary. This will be wonderful for Becca Yi and Jonathon.

Also we just found out today that the home we are renting for the next year is actually owned by a friend of Jim's from GM. That takes a lot of worry out of what it will be like for us from far away.

The girls are thrilled that there will be no fire ants in Michigan and right now they seem to think that all the snow will be great!

It looks like they will be packing us up after Christmas!

Please keep us in your prayers because we are certainly going to need them the next few months.

Video with Joanie singing!

2009-09-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

2009-09-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

The girls had a grea time listening to the music and it was a nice night to be outside. I th second video you can catch our friend Joanie singing!

Yeah God! We are moving on toward Jonathon!

2009-09-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we got good news on Wednesday that the U.S. Consulate found our paperwork and is processing it now.

It looks like due to holidays in China we will be traveling either October 22 or 29th. We had hoped to travel sooner, but it is nice to have a date to work toward finally!

It won't be long now and Jonathon Peng will be home!!

2009-08-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Becca's 5th Birthday Party!

2009-08-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

We had Becca's 5th birthday party on Saturday! We had it a little early because we thought we might be traveling.

Becca had a fairy birthday party and she had a great time!

Now I know why God spoke to me yesterday about suffering!

2009-08-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we got bad news today from Great Wall. It seems the American Consulate in China never received one of our forms, and so they have never sent a form to China, and that means that we are not even close to getting our travel notice.

Great Wall has already emailed the consulate with the information to show that they should have received our form and now we are waiting to hear back from them. We are told they generally get back to them in 24-48 hours.

At this point we don't know what will happen if they don't find the form. We also don't know what will happen if they do. Hopefully, we will have some idea soon of how much of a set back this will be.

More Pictures from the Wiggles!

2009-08-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

The Wiggle Concert

2009-08-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago we went to the Wiggle Concert with the girls. We learned something very important, Becca is afraid of heights. We had seating up higher and she was scared to death. She never left our laps. Normally she would have been up dancing the whole time.

Kyiah enjoyed the little boy in front of us, the cotton candy, and hanging with our friends Lisa, Gus, and Marie!

Next time we will sit closer to the stage!

The Wait Is Worth It!

2009-08-26T10:57:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, the waiting has been getting to me. It's is part of the reason I haven't touched my blog. I started this blog with the hope that we would be traveling soon and I would keep everyone filled in on our trip. Since we've be waiting I haven't been very motivated to keep people updated.

Today though I was listening to Joyce Meyer. She was talking about the fact that sometimes when we suffer in this world it isn't about us, it is about someone else.

I felt like God was saying to me, "Are you willing to suffer for your children? For your son?" My suffering through this wait is small compared to how many suffer in this world. However, it is still painful. I know by looking at my daughters that any amount of wait or suffering is worth it. It cannot be compared to the blessing they are to our lives.

I know that the wait for Jonathon is worth it. Although, he is in the care of foster parents, I still think about how my wait is nothing compared to his wait for a forever family.

I also know that I will have that blessing at the end of the wait. God will bring good out of the difficulty. It is the promise He has made. Not only will that good be our precious son, Jonathon, but also what we can do for others who face similar difficulties.

So I wait, hopeful that it won't be much longer, but confident that God will bring us through!

Feeling Deflated

2009-07-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

So I have been waiting to hear back from our worker at Great Wall as to whether or not our letter from the U.S. Consulate had made it to China. I guess I was being too optimistic to think it was already there, unfortunately, it is not. This means that once the letter gets there, we don't know when that will be, then we will have another 2-4 weeks to wait.

As disappointed as I am and the cloudy weather is not helping, I felt worse for a woman who emailed the yahoo group today asking about the wait for China. I guess she has always wanted to adopt from China and they are doing their dossier now. She was ok with the 4 year wait, but she got online and heard people are talking 7-10 year wait for a referral. There is also a rumor that China is going to close down except for special need adoptions. I don't have the heart to tell her most likely it's all true.

What saddens me more is knowing there are still so many children in the Chinese orphanage. What will happen to them?

Thankfully, I know my God is more concerned about them then I am. I pray He will help these children.

Update on Our Journey to Jonathon!

2009-07-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

Friday we received approval from the U.S. Consulate! Now we are just waiting on China to send us our travel notice. It can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks. We are praying and believing that it will be two!

More Pictures from Irving Arts Center

2009-07-12T18:09:00.001-07:00

Fun times at Irving Arts Center

2009-07-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Irving Arts Center they had a special exhibit about the Forbidden City in China. Becca watched a group do Tai Chi and began doing it immediately. Looks like I might need to look into Tai Chi classes for her.

Jim is looking forward to having a boy in the house!

2009-07-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Jim loves his girls, but I am sure he can't wait to have a boy in the house.

He is so sweet to indulge them and the girls love it!

Becca's Masterpiece!

2009-07-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

This is one of Becca's latest masterpieces! It is one of my favorites. It is, according to her, a picture of her and Daddy at the beach. They are holding hands, of course, and getting ready to go surfing!

I love it!

2009-07-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Van Kirk Staycation!

2009-07-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to upload our pics. on the new computer so I can share some of our staycation at Mill Creek Resort in Canton, Texas. We had a great time!

The little cottage we stayed in was nice and it is nice and quite since they do not allow the cars to drive back. You either have to rent a golf cart or call them for a ride in one.

They have a couple of pools that are nice and not too far is the Kingdom Splash Park. We drove a little farther and hit a farm to pick blueberries. The girls had a great time.

We hope to go back in the fall because there is a farm that does hayrides and you can get pumpkins.

2009-07-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

Becca wanted to celebrate her Adoption Day at Chuck E. Cheese and really where else would you go. She had a great time and was especially thrilled that Daddy was there with us since normally it's the three of us who going on weekdays.

That night we looked over her pictures and talked about her adoption day. I can still remember it vividly. What an amazing moment!

Adoption Day Celebration at Chuck E. Cheese

2009-07-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

July 5th Becca's Adoption Day

2009-07-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 5th was Becca's Adoption Day! I can't believe it's been 4 years since she was placed in my arms in China. All I could do was cry and hold her close. It had been a long journey to Becca, but in that moment none of it mattered.

Jim had to wait a while to hold her. I just didn't want to let her go.

Sorry for the bad posting!

2009-07-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I know my new posting was a little difficult to read. I am still getting use to our new computer.

Update on Jonathon and other news!

2009-07-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

I thought I would stick in a few pics. of the girls.

This is just a picture of Becca and I on her last day of school. It's one of the best pictures we have ever taken together!

Kyiah always puts Tigger's tail to her nose when she gets sleepy. We are not sure why, but it is very comforting to her. Generally the dirtier it is too, the better. She prefers dirty Tiggers over clean ones. We have four just in case one is lost.

Well, firstIwill update our ya'll on our journey to Jonathon. We had some difficulty with our agency getting information we needed for our last set of paperwork. They finally got back to us and gave us what we needed, but what was interesting was that Jim said, "You know when it you take your time like this it makes us think there is an issue with travel." Then they said, "Well, some provinces were closed to travel, but now they have reopened."

Helpful, right! It's so irritating when they don't keep you in the loop and at this point I don't trust them. I hate that. Why can't they just be truthful. It would be so much better.

Anyway, according to them things are moving again. We are now just waiting for our I-800 approval, which is basically Jonathon's visa approval. When we get that it will be sent to China and they will do what they need on their end to do a visa approval and then they should give us a travel date. We are praying for both of these to happen quickly!

In other news, we have a new computer because our hard drive decided it had done enough. So we still don't have everything up and running. Hopefully soon I will be able to get pics. loaded again and add some in.

The journey has been extended!

2009-06-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

The good news is I think we now finally know the process with getting our I-800 so we can travel and bring Jonathon home. Unfortunately, it looks like we won't be traveling until August. We still have a few hoops to jump through with paperwork. It stinks, but it's out of my hands. Thankfully, I know God is in control, and none of this timing has come as a surprise to him. But I do wish He would fill me in a little sooner!

Feeling the Frustration!

2009-06-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we are still waiting to hear news as to when we will travel to China! It's driving me crazy! We don't know if the issue is our paperwork or China! I am hoping it's our paperwork so that when it is in we will be able to go. I hate not knowing!

My girls love to dance!

2009-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

The girls love to dance when they are at home as well and are always putting on a show!

Dance Becca Dance!!

2009-05-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

Becca had her dance recital and it was adorable. The dress rehearsal was a little scary for her and she basically cried until they went on, danced, ran off the stage, and continued to cry. Thankfully, things went much better during the actual performance and she had a great time!

We're Back!

2009-05-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well I have to admit I have been in a bit of a funk. Are timing for bringing Jonathon home has been pushed back to late July due to paperwork. Between that and no knowing what will go on with Jim's job, I was a bit down.

But now I am back. We celebrated Jonathon's 2nd birthday on Saturday. The girls enjoyed picking out presents for him. (Well, Becca did. Kyiah was a bit oblivious.) I have a video and if I can ever figure out how to post it, I will.

They Are Full of Personality!

2009-04-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

EASTER

2009-04-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

Easter came up on us quickly with everything going on, but at least we got a few pictures!

Kyiah is not the easiest to work with right now. Boy, can she move quickly!

Wow! Things are crazy!

2009-04-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

Well, I am finally back and blogging a little. We got great news! We already received our official referral, we have signed the acceptance, and it is heading back to China. So with that we had to get going on all the paperwork. We will be able to send all our paperwork in this week for the I-800 and that should take 3-4 weeks to process. Once that is done we will be fit to travel, so we still hope to go the beginning of June.

Some of you may have also heard our other big news. Pulte Homes is buying out Centex Homes (That's who Jim works for). So, that should officially happen at the end of July. Jim will either get a job with Pulte, in which case we move back to Michigan, or he will lose his job and then we don't know where we will be? Either way will be ok. I am just thankful that we will be able to get Jonathon home first.

Please keep us in your prayers though, there is nothing Jim and I, two planners, hate more than being up in the air!

I guess I will stick with pictures!

2009-03-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Kyiah loves to be close to Becca. She is always rolling around on her.

2009-03-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I said it was an experiment! I will try to post the video again.

Experimenting with Video!

2009-03-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I would give the video a try on my camera. Here is Becca singing "The First Noel". She loves Christmas songs!

Grandparents Day Tea Party!

2009-03-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

At this tea party there was cake, tea (Juice), a craft, and Becca performed!

Zoo

2009-03-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Kyiah does her best impression of an Ibex!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit!

2009-03-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Becca and Kyiah have been having lots of fun with their Grandma and Grandpa who are visiting from Michigan! This weekend we went to the Fort Worth Zoo and had a Grandparents Day Tea Party!

First Step - Check!

2009-03-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well we got great news tonight when I checked my email, finally! We are officially pre-approved for adopting Jonathon!

Now we get to move on to all the fun of updating our homestudy and having are fingerprints redone.

2009-03-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today we went to the Dallas Arboretum for the first time. I think we picked the worse day possible. It was a beautiful day, but it was also toddler day and spring break. We waited in line forever first to park then to get on the shuttle. It seemed really long since every few minutes Becca kept asking me if we were at the Arboretum yet.

Anyway, the flowers were beautiful and Becca had a blast. Kyiah on the other hand was a bit cranky, which we found out tonight was because she was getting sick. So I at least got one picture of them together and a few cute pics. of Becca.

We hope to go again next week with Grandma and Grandpa, so hopefully it will be a better trip. At least I will have extra hands!

Telling Becca

2009-03-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday we told Becca about Jonathon. Of course, to no surprise, there wasn't any major reaction right now. She just said, "Ok." She did say, "He was born in China just like me."

But then when she went to school again on Friday she wanted to tell her teacher, Mrs. Donovan all about it and she took a picture in to show her. Mrs. Donovan said that she showed everyone at chapel the picture of her baby brother as well.

We will see if she is just as enthused when he comes home and she has to share with two 2 year olds!

And Then There Were 3!

2009-03-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

The Van Kirk family is announcing the newest member of the family. We are adopting Wu Li Peng or Jonathon Li Peng. He is 22 months and turns 2 on May 23. We were just matched this week. There are still a few hoops to jump through, but we hope to have him home in 4-5 months.

Jim and I will be traveling to Inner Mongolia and will bring our baby boy home for our 10th anniversary! (June 19)