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Ni hao...wo shi ni de Baba
Contributed by: Jared Keller on 5/22/2008

The Wife and I have been fortunate enough to begin taking some Mandarin lessons (thanks, Xiao Ling!), so as to ease The Boy's transition to life in our crazy house. Our tongues may never recover.

As it turns out, we'll need to accelerate our retention. We're working as hard as we can, but it's tough. In particular, I've been practicing the phrase that forms the title of this column, since I'll need to speak it more quickly than we might have assumed.

It means "Hello...I am your daddy".

We're leaving in six weeks.

Monday morning, I received a call from CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International - our agency), indicating that our final Letter of Acceptance (LOA) had arrived at their offices for our signature. This letter signifies (again) that we truly want to adopt Shan An Fei (our Will) as our son. Needless to say, we got there as quickly as we could, signed the thing, and were thrilled to find out that our travel invitation would be arriving within about 10 days from the date when we submitted our LOA. Early July. In southern China. With our boy. It's possible that our Independence Day may well be his "Gotcha Day".

We're flushed with so many emotions right now. Overwhelming joy mixes with the stress of having to get a new mountain of paperwork finished up, having to figure out how the new Chinese visa application works, having to find airline tickets, and figuring our how on earth to get all the stuff we'll need for a nearly three-week trip crammed into less than 8,000 pounds' worth of luggage.

The overall effect is somewhat akin to being kicked in the stomach by a mule - and being happy about the whole affair. The wait - already interminable - becomes excruciating at this point. We're so close now...it's almost like we can begin to feel his weight in our arms; like we can smell the top of his head, and feel his breath on our faces.

The Girl has begun to make final preparations for the demands of big-sisterhood. Her mom has neatly segregated her toys, and The Girl has made generous allowances for their potential use by this new kid. If he asks nicely. And doesn't play with too many of her My Little Ponies. His closet is ready. His bed is ready. His walls? Not so much. That's my gig - the painting - and I'm way behind. I've got a whole surfing motif to whip up, and very little time in which to do it. Gotta get cracking.

So, generally speaking, the house is ready for him, his sister is ready for him, the cat can't even begin to comprehend how completely unready for this kid he is, and Will's mommy and daddy were ready yesterday. Our impatience runs rampant for now, but we can see the end of our longing ahead, and the destination looks indescribably sweet.


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Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
Submitted By: Dianne Backhus
posted on 7/3/2008 @ 9:08:42 AM
(Not Rated)
Can't wait to hear how your gotcha trip goes. We've gone that way, too, 30 years ago to Korea, and your recent articles have brought back many memories. I hope INS is easier to work with now than they were in the 70's!! There was a point where I seriously considered climbing over the counter and looking for his file MYSELF!! Looking forward to your next posting! Dianne Backhus, Littleton
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Submitted By: Jared Keller
posted on 5/26/2008 @ 9:19:26 PM
(Not Rated)
Nikki, I may need that one myself, soon...
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Submitted By: Nikki Britain
posted on 5/26/2008 @ 8:18:42 AM
Rated Story
Jared, I can say "Give me a glass of beer, please." in Mandarin but I think I'll wait to teach you that one until Will graduates from high school. I am so happy for you and your family! You are all in my thoughts! xoxo
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Submitted By: Gladys Mercier
posted on 5/24/2008 @ 7:18:26 PM
Rated Story
Oh Jared. I am so happy for you. I was reminded of the same emotions we went through waiting for our boys from Korea. Your life will never be the same, it will be wonderful. Thank you and your wife for giving this child a loving home.
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Submitted By: Michael Rule
posted on 5/24/2008 @ 6:41:33 AM
Rated Story
Awesome. I can't wait to read about your trip to pick him up!
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Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jared Keller

Littleton

Jared Keller has posted 455 stories and 62 comments since joining on 12/1/2005. Jared Keller 's average story rating is 4.85.
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