School, A Care Package, and We're Almost There......

Well, we have certainly been busy. The school year has begun and we are slowly getting back into the routine. Colby is now in Second grade! Amazing! I am still at the same school this year and it is as crazy as ever. We have begun a new assessment system so I was back early for training on our new iPads. Then I had to give the professional development. Change certainly is tricky but I think this new system will be much more helpful than the old DRA reading assessment we gave previously.

Anyway, as for our little peanut. She still waits for us in Beijing. I did order her a care package through Ann at Red Thread. It was easier to order a few things through her than send them through customs. I was able to order a stuffed panda bear, some cookies, a thumb drive so the orphanage can give us a few photos of her, and a little photo album. Hopefully she will get them soon and she can see who her mama, baba (daddy) and big brother are.

As for paperwork, all of our paperwork is at the US Embassy in China. It is waiting for an Article 5 which really gives us permission to take custody of her. The I800 that we got at the end of August gave her permission to enter the US as a legal immigrant now the Art5 lets us take custody of her. It is the last piece of paper we need to get our travel approval. All the paperwork was dropped off on Tues 9/2. It takes 10 business days to get an Art5, not counting holidays. There was a Chinese holiday on the 8th so we won't have our Art5 until this Thurs 9/18. We are praying for a quick travel approval before the Chinese government shuts down for the first week in October for another holiday. We should have it before then but it will be close. Hopefully we will get it and we can then ask for the first available Consulate Appointment (CA). Just a few more steps and we will be in Beijing holding our little peanut. We are so close but yet still waiting. It is getting harder and harder, especially knowing we can't hurry anything along and that a holiday is what is keeping us from her.

So, please continue to pray that we get our Travel Approval quickly and we get a CA in October. I don't think I can wait much longer to hold sweet Madeline Mae!

Another Hold Up

I must start by saying that it has been a crazy week or so around here. Finding out that our I800 paperwork was misplaced was devastating. Thankfully I am such a control freak and found the error. Our agency worked quickly to recopy the paperwork, making sure a copy of our signed application was ok, and sent it all overnight. USCIS has had it since 8/13. The agency also has worked with USCIS to get our paperwork through the"lockbox" quickly and it was already on an officer's desk by this Monday 8/18. It can take up to 2 weeks to get through to an officer. So.... great news right!!!

Well...... our paperwork was given to one officer who was away for the week. Ugh! Then it was sent to another officer right away. At first I was a little upset because that officer doesn't answer her phone. But I was able to get her email and she responded right away. She told me on Monday that she would try to get it done on Tuesday. She looked at it Tuesday and.... issued an RFE, or request for evidence. She sent me an email saying she requested the evidence but not what it was. I tried to get her back but she had already left for the day. This morning she replied very early to tell me the evidence is a letter from our agency that hadn't been signed. Ugh! Another mix up. However, she emailed the agency and they are sending the new letter to her today, overnight. Great! However, the system is being shut down for an update on Friday and she probably won't be able to work on our approval until Monday. Monday will be 4 weeks since our LOA, approval from China.

4 WEEKS!!! Others with our LOA date have their I800 approval and are well on their way through the next couple steps. They are lined up for October travel. Us? Please pray it will be October. Hopefully these 2 setbacks will be it and we can move this along. We still have a bit of a wait after this approval as we wait for our little one's Visa to be issued and a Chinese Consulate appointment to be issued. That is my worry, that the appointments will all be given and we'll have to wait for a later one. I'm still praying to travel around Mike's birthday (10/11) but it will probably be later. Just pray it isn't in November. I just can't wait any longer. Our sweet pea needs to get home. Oh, and we just might have a name for her.......

LOA....Still MIA

Well, we have had our dossier in China since May. We know we have a DTC of 5/9 and a LID of 5/21. We also know that our dossier has been OOT since the week of 6/9. And now what? We are still waiting. UGH!

We have been LID for 60 days now. 60 days of waiting. 60 days closer but still 60 days. Most LOAs have been coming around 60-70 days so hopefully we will be coming soon.

This wait has been the hardest one so far. It is similar to the wait we had inbetween trips to get Colby. I've done all the paperwork, we've met all the requirements and now we wait. We wait for someone in China to say OK, all set. We wait for our dossier to be approved. Then we can get the last paper to the US to approve bringing home our Little Miss and then we get travel approval. After we get that elusive LOA we will have about 2 months before we travel. So if we get it soon, we could possibly travel in September but more likely October. That also means waiting through the week long holiday in China the first week in October and traveling through Guangzhou during the "Trade Fair". It should be an exciting time but a little more costly to stay. UGH!

So, your continued prayers for that elusive LOA to show up. I did see 3 ladybugs on our mini vacation to New Hampshire. So, hoping they brought us good luck.

More Waiting

Well, we have finally made it to summer. I am so happy that school is over. It was such a crazy, hectic school year, I can use the much needed rest and relaxation. The only trouble...too much time to think.

It is now June 27. We have had our paperwork into China for over a month now. It has been logged in (LID of 5/21) and we have been translated (OOT sometime the week of 6/9) so now we just wait. I have seen many with LID dates of mid-April now getting their letters of approval (LOA). I can only see this as a good sign. That means May LIDs would be next. Let's get that LOA!

So we wait, and we wait, and we wait. This is hard. It is so similar to when we had to wait between trips to go back for Colby. We first met him in late June 2008. We had 2 "play dates" and then had to leave him. We had no idea when we would be back. With the judge requesting updated paperwork, and a couple holidays thrown in, it wasn't until the very end of Jan 2009 that we returned. 7 months of waiting with only a few photos and a short video to look at.

And now, I have the same. A few photos and a short video to keep me company. We have a little better idea of when we might go, still praying for late Sept but more likely October travel. We just need that silly LOA paper. With that I know it will be about 8-10 weeks to travel.

So, what can we do? Pray for a quick LOA. Pray that someone in China gets through a big batch of adoption paperwork to approve a bunch of LOAs. Pray that our little girl stays healthy and that the ladies taking care of her love her. Pray that we survive this crazy wait as we get two federal governments to agree that our China Princess can come home. Just pray!

Waiting

Waiting. Something I have never been good at. Although going through 2 adoptions now has taught me to be a little bit more patient.....

Our dossier is now in China. I looked at my FedEx account and it was received and signed for. Big sigh of relief. DTC (dossier to China) was 5/9. They received it on 5/12, just a day before my birthday and the day after Mother's Day. I was so excited to know we were moving forward. Another adopting mom I have "met" on our Facebook groups was also DTC on 5/9. It is exciting to know that we might really meet in China while Mike and I pick up our daughter and she and her family pick up their son.

So, it has been almost 2 weeks and no word yet. The next step would be LID or Log In Date. That is when China has looked at our dossier and actually logged it into the system. This is a huge step because only then will they begin to work on our LOA or Letter of Approval. Most LOAs come anywhere from 45-60 days after LID. Well, we haven't heard yet if we are LID. A few other moms have received LID already even though they were DTC after I was. Not sure why. Made me a little sad to head into this long weekend without word. So, please pray that our LID comes this week and we can move that huge step closer. Our Little Miss is waiting on us. I feel stuck. I just want to go NOW!!!

10 Pieces

Well, our paperwork is in China. Now the waiting begins. We need to wait for them to log our dossier in and then review and translate it. Then we will receive our Letter of Approval (LOA). If timelines stand true, this will take a few months. I am really praying for travel for Mike's birthday, 10/11, if not sooner. I WANT TO GO NOW!!!

In other news, our puzzle sponsorship is up and running but hasn't gone far. Not even much out of the starting gate. However, my wonderful friend and colleague, Cheryl, graciously gave me a wonderful birthday present. Not only a beautiful card, and Dove dark chocolates (YUM!) but also a check to put towards our Little Miss. So, with that check I now have 10 puzzle pieces sponsored. It's a start but we have a long way to go. Please consider helping us bring our beautiful daughter home.

Waiting....Waiting....Waiting

Well, we are still waiting for our homestudy to be updated. I'm not sure what takes so long. All of the background clearances have gone through. So I am happy to report that neither Mike nor myself have any history of bad behavior at the local or state level or anything reported to DCF! Yeah us!

I have most of the papers done for the dossier. We are meeting with the doctor to complete the medical forms today. I am still waiting on my employer to complete an employee letter. It's been a week. Not sure why that is held up. I also need to take photos of the house and Little Miss's room. The room is currently Colby's Lego room so he spent much of Sunday morning cleaning it, under the watchful eyes of Daddy.

So, not much new to report. More waiting and waiting and waiting. And still no name for Little Miss. Top contenders seem to be

Amelia, Morgan, Ella, Sophia. I'd like the middle name to be Mae (Mei). HELP!! Suggestions!!!

Domestic or China....Social Worker Has Us Thinking

We had areally nice visit with Christine, our social worker. It was nice to see her again. I still can't quite believe we are back on the adoption rollercoaster. Christine was here last Friday. She was scheduled to come on that Saturday but there was a threat of snow so she rescheduled it for Friday night. We talked for almost two hours. She will be coming again at the end of March to actually start the paperwork to get accepted for the China program.

While she was here she asked us which program we were looking at and we said the China Special Needs program. She wants us to think about the domestic program. I guess there is a need for families in that program. But, I am just not sure. I would love to adopt a newborn and the thought of that is very appealing, but we just do not want an open adoption with our child having contact with the birth family. It just wouldn't be fair to Colby who will never have that. I wouldn't mind sending photos through an agency without any identifying info but not a full open adoption. So, that really limits our availability and we would be waiting for a birth mother to like our family portfolio. There wouldn't be a set time frame and there would be a whole lot of unknowns. I just don't think it would fit our family's needs. But I will touch base with Mary who heads up that program and see what she thinks. Maybe I am being too harsh and too quick to dismiss this. I just don't see us as that "lucky" couple who falls into a quick and easy adoption process. More likely, we'd be the family who waits forever and does finally get a match only to have the whole thing fall through and us left standing empty handed in a hospita somewhere. What do you all think? Any experience and words of wisdom?

Thus far, the paperwork has been so easy. I am amazed at the huge difference between this paperwork and what we did for Russia. I'm still waiting for someone to give me a list a mile long of documents that they need tomorrow! But the dossier list of docs looks really small and I could probably get them done within a couple days. So, we wait for the homestudy to be written and we enjoy our days, waiting for Spring to arrive. With Spring...the arrival of new things and new possibilities. Here's to shooting toward dossier being complete for Colby's birthday end of April...

Home Study

Well, not much new to report. Our social worker will be coming this Saturday, 2/23. So one big step forward. I am looking forward to seeing Christine again. She was our social worker when we adopted Colby so it will be nice to be reunited. Hopefully things will move quickly with our home study and I can start working on our dossier paperwork. Everything else is done and just waiting. Mike and I went out for a nice Valentine's dinner this past Saturday and looked briefly at cribs and baby things but we aren't sure what we will need yet. Hopefully we will get a referal in the Spring and I can spend the summer shopping and getting things ready. If we are referred a little girl, I'd love a white crib and dresser. We will need a new crib and dresser, since Colby's crib turned into his full size bed. We'll also need to get a new high chair, car seat, and all the essentials for eating. Colby was 22 months when he came home and didn't use bottles, only sippy cups. In our moving homes, we had purged a lot of the baby stuff. But or now, we just wait and see. Once we get the referal, we will know so much more. So, fingers crossed, prayers sent, that we complete the home study quickly and effortlessly.....

Waiting Already

Well, our first set of papers were on the agency's desk as of 1/31. Yeah! Quickly followed by them sending the next set. I guess just preliminary paperwork for our state. Ok. Only the medical forms need to be done and then that's all set. So, I am good here. We are now waiting for the social worker to call. I am excited that she will be doing our homestudy again. She helped us bring Colby home 4 years ago this month and we had become close. I just wish she would call. I'm hoping this update won't take too long. I'm not really sure how long it will be. Hopefully not like the first one which took about 4 months. Hoping maybe 2? We'll see. So for now, I'll enjoy this snow day and try to relax. I think chocolate chip cookies are in the baking. I bet I'll even get a helper!