Monday, May 29, 2006

Michael is home from Iraq!!

I know I never mentioned it in this blog (for security reasons) but Michael has been in Baghdad for the last 4 1/2 months. He came home safe and sound this past Thursday.

Our neighbors made this slide to project on our garage door to celebrate his homecoming!


We have been very lucky to communicate daily by email and many phone calls but nothing is as good as being able to see his face again and know that he is safe.

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. It has meant a lot to both of us. Andrew and I are so proud of our hero and of all the good work he was able to accomplish while there. We are celebrating and grateful that he was able to come home on time but we have not forgotten, especially on this Memorial Day, that many families have not been so lucky.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the remaining soldiers and their families that still have a long and worrisome wait to endure.




Wednesday, May 17, 2006

I won a contest!

Woohoo! I'm royalty!

Ok, not real royalty but stamping royalty. I entered a handmade card into Paper Crafts magazine's Stamping Royalty contest and I won in the the category of color washes and distressing with ink. An editor called me on Monday to tell me the good news. I've won over $200 worth of stamping products that will be arriving in about 2 weeks, my card will be published in the November issue of the magazine, and I get to be a part of the design team for the magazine for the next year! I'm so excited!

The card I made is red, black, and tan and has the Chinese symbol for love as the focal image. Here's a link to the stamp set I used:

http://carolynh.myctmh.com/WebSites/Templates/MyCTMH/Template1.aspx?PageID=39411&Search=Yes

And here's a link to the magazine's website:

http://www.papercraftsmag.com/

I'm not sure when they'll post the list of winners on the website though. (I believe there are 20 winners total.)

I never did take a picture of the card before I mailed it in but I can't post it anyway until after it's published so we'll have to wait until the November issue comes out to see it.

Hmmm, I wonder if I'll get a tiara in my prize box?

(just kidding ;-)

Monday, May 08, 2006

Kittens

We have known for awhile that there is a stray cat hanging out under our front steps. Bailey brilliantly decided to shove her head in the opening to this cavern of sorts under the steps and got a nice scratch on the nose for it. That was a few weeks ago. I thought it had left, but Bailey knew better. She has been hanging out at the front door and scratching at the little rug trying to "find" the cat. Last week I finally saw the real reason for the cat's stay. Five kittens! I've now been feeding them for almost a week while I formulate a plan for their future. One now has a permanent home with a neighbor but the 4 remaining will have to go to the Humane Society later this week. They are getting big and playful and eating some solid kitten food. They are at their most adoptable so I need to get them out of here. Andrew and I are quite attached though!


"I know there's something out there! Let me at it!"


Aren't they cute!?

Saturday, April 22, 2006

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by fellow blogger Carrie. I'm supposed to post 6 weird things about myself, so here goes....

1. I don't like state fairs. Too many people, too many smells.

2. I don't like butterflies. They are just pretty moths and moths are creepy. My dislike of butterflies borders on phobia.

3. I can do a thumbs-up with my big toes. I used to think everyone could but it turns out it's a genetic trait like tongue curling (which by the way I can NOT do.)

4. I cannot sleep with any glowing light in a room ie digital clock, green dot on the cable TV box, etc. I swear I can still see it with my eyes closed. (Michael thinks that's crazy)

5. This probably isn't too weird, but I'm addicted to reality TV. Mostly American Idol, Amazing Race, and Survivor.

6. I'm allergic to coconut.

I'm sure my friends and family would have no problem making a list for me a mile long but these are the best 6 I could come up with. Now I'm off to go tag some other bloggers :-)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Letters to Congress

With the increased wait for referral it has become evident that one of our most important adoption documents will potentially expire before we travel to get our daughter. Remember the cool "approval to bring an orhan into the US" letter that we were so excited to get in the mail back in January? Well it's only good for 18 months. That didn't used to be a problem. Now it might be, so it's been suggested by many that we all write letters to our senators and representatives to get them to extend the expiration so we don't all have to get re-fingerprinted and pay another huge chunk of money to reapply for a new approval letter.

Here's the letter that I wrote to send to my Ohio representative and senators:

April 18, 2006

The Honorable Mike DeWine
37 W. Broad St., Ste. 300

Columbus, OH 43215

Subject: Foreign adoption
Request: Please help extend expiration date of USCIS form I-171H

Dear Senator DeWine,

This letter is to voice my concern over the expiration timing of form I-171H (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition) and the fingerprints associated with this approval process.

Currently, adoptive parents are required to resubmit to fingerprinting after 15 months, and resubmit the entire application after 18 months from date of initial approval. There is significant cost and burden time associated with both of these steps.

In recent months it has become clear that processing time for international adoption, from China specifically, will possibly exceed the 18 month expiration window. In the near future there will likely be an extraordinary number of families needing to reprocess paperwork if there are no changes to the current expiration dates.

Increasing the period of validity of this document to at least 24 months (preferably 36 months) would benefit both the adoptive families and the USCIS offices that are required to process numerous applications per year.

We realize your time is limited so we appreciate any attention you can give to this issue and any results you may be able to prompt on our behalf.

Sincerely,


my name

Any of our family or friends are more than welcome to copy this letter or write your own to your representatives to help all the adoptive parents plead their case :-)

You can find contact info for your state's people by going to www.congress.org

Thanks!!




Thursday, April 13, 2006

Secret Pal swap


We are in a secret pal gift exchange with other families from our agency that turned in their paperwork aobut the same time. We got our first gift this week. The theme was children's books. We were totally spoiled by our secret pal!
They gave us 7 books, a bib, a soft ladybug basket and a bunny that says "My First Easter."

Our social worker is moving

We got an email last week and a hard copy letter yesterday from our homestudy agency that our social worker is moving and leaving her job :-(

We liked her. Even though our homestudy is complete we will still need post placement visits through this agency. I had a ton of questions that I was saving for her for when we get closer to referral but now we have to establish a relationship with someone new. They have not filled her position yet so I have no idea when we will be assigned a new person. I just liked knowing she was there if/when we needed her. ...sigh...

Monday, April 10, 2006

Funny bunnies



I don't have anything adoption related to report so I'm posting this for everyone's amusement.
My dearest friend who truly knows my sense of humor emailed me this so I had to share :-)

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

We have a LID!

We got the email today from our agency saying that our log in date (LID) was 3/14/06. That means our dossier has been officially acknowledged as being in existence by the China Center for Adoption Affairs.

This is good news :-)

It's a new day

The news on the adoption front isn't any better today but I've decided that my outlook has to be.

This is a bit long but I wrote it out to respond to something on someone else's blog and I found it very cathartic to have put it down on paper (so to speak) so I felt it worthy of sharing here:

I think what this roller coaster is trying to do is to make me evaluate what we are trying to accomplish and why. I think Michael and I have come to the conclusion that we will wait for our daughter from China even if it takes 2 years.

I started to panic last week and wondered if we should switch countries or pursue other avenues to parenthood. I thought our ultimate goal was to have another child, any child, added to our family as soon as possible before our 7 year old son gets any older. Well it turns out, after some reflection, it's not about that. Michael and I actually really just want a little girl from China. And if she doesn't join our family until Andrew is 9 years old, so be it.

I've read where people have said they were "always drawn to China", or "I just know my daughter is in China", or "my HEART says China has the perfect little girl waiting for us", or the whole red thread thing. In the past I've thought I don't feel any of those things, I'm just selfish, I just want another kid and I want Andrew to have a sibling, I don't care how it happens.

The thoughts I had this week of bailing out of this process were so heartbreaking that I'm beginning to think maybe I'm as sappy as all the others and my heart really is in China. I've become quite attached to this almost mythical little person that may or may not be out there yet, and I want her to come home. If that means not getting her until November of 2007 then that's how it will be.

I'm not claiming that I'm not going to have any more "need a padded room" moments but at least today I feel a lot more peaceful about it all.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Disturbing but not suprising

The Chinese adoption community is buzzing with rumors right now. The news of only 5 days worth of LID's being matched in the March batch has started a slew of new speculations. No one has the answers but China, and right now they're not talking. If they are sharing their projections with the agencies then the agencies aren't sharing them with their clients because the agencies appear to be making it up as they go along. My least favorite piece of info posted this week is:

"My Canadian agency said June will take 3 months to match and then they expect each month after to take two months to match."

If this is accurate, which it certainly seems possible, then we can hope for our referral to come in November or December of 2007. Yes, 2007.

This is my least favorite piece of info because it is likely the most true.

The hopeful news is that it is in everyone's best interest to not let wait times get that long. Who's going to do something about it or how is beyond me but I hope someone does.

There are agencies (not ours) that are actually sending out emails to their clients addressing the concerns and giving predictions about the future wait times. These have ranged from 10-18 months. One agency is actually still saying that for people logged in this month their wait should be 10-11 months. That's impossible at this point. Another agency has told a client with a November LID to expect an 18 month wait. That's possible.

There's no actual point in my posting this information, just venting I guess.

Friday, March 24, 2006

visited states map

I've seen this on several blogs so I jumped on the bandwagon too. You can go to this website to plot all the states you've visited http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

Here are my results:



To be truthful a handful of these were only a drive through and Kentucky was just an accident. (No offense Kentucky, we just missed our exit south of Cincinnati and before we knew it we saw the "Welcome to Kentucky" sign.)

The states I've actually lived in are: New Mexico, Missouri, Arizona, California, Colorado, and Ohio.
(Sort of long list thanks to the USAF :-)

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I'd like to put my head in a box too



Bailey has the right idea. Hide in a diet coke box until there is better news about referrals. The current rumor is that the next batch of referrals will only cover LIDs through the end of May 05. It's just a rumor so there is no proof until the referral batch actually arrives. That may be next week or the first week of April.

If it's true, it's distressing beyond words. I don't even want to speculate about what this pace could mean for our timing, anything could still change. I just can't imagine what the people with early June LIDs are going through right now. I hope it's all a bad dream and all of June gets referrals so we can get back on track with a slightly predictable pattern.

Monday, March 13, 2006

I've been bit by the shopping bug!







Up to this point all I have purchased for our daughter was the gymboree blanket and socks but today I was in Once Upon A Child (a resale shop) to get Andrew a green shirt for Friday. I was just going to glance at the little girl clothes but something overcame me and before I knew it I was at the register with 5 items (plus 2 shirts for Andrew). My older sister says it's a genetic problem that our Mom has too. We buy things that aren't even practical. (So Mom if you are reading this, Kathy said it's your fault :-)

I don't even know when we'll get our daughter, what size she'll be in what season or if I can even make her wear a dress but I bought stuff anyway! I bought size 18 months thinking that might be her size next summer but who knows! But they're so cute, right?

Yes, it's an illness and I think a monster has been unleased. Look out Target and Babies R Us, you might be next!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Our Soccer Superstar

Yesterday Andrew scored the first goal for his indoor soccer team! The team has had a rough start and had yet to score in 5 games until yesterday. They had been taking it well and showing good sportsmanship but you just know they want to win at least once. Yesterday's game ended 1-1. It was a win in their eyes. The kids all shouted at the end, "We didn't LOSE!"
When Andrew scored, all the parents went crazy clapping, cheering and jumping up and down. The other team's parents looked at us like we were nuts over just one goal. They obviously had no idea it was the first goal ever for these poor kiddos.
We didn't overdo the spotlight on Andrew and praised all the kids on their teamwork. Andrew even wrote this in his journal last night: "My friend Eric helped me score a goal at soccer today."
Aww. That was with no prompting from me! I'm so proud of him!!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Won't get a log in date for awhile

Nothing really going on, just realized it's been 10 days since I put anything on the blog so here's an update.

I emailed our agency to to find out if they had heard anything about when our LID (log in date) might have been/will be and the response was that they don't expect to find out what it was for a few weeks to a couple more months.

It's not a big deal really as I have every reason to believe our dossier has been logged in in China or is about to be but it's mainly a curiosity factor as to what that date may be.

I had originally hoped the LID would be late February so our DTC and LID would both be in February but it doesn't matter. Come time for referral, the cut off for the batch of referrals in a given month could just as easily be the 20th of one month or the 10th of the next or any date for that matter. So there's little logic to hoping that having a Feb 28th LID will bring us a referral any sooner than a March 10th LID but the earlier the better with the way things are going these days.

The buzz of interest at the moment is that it appears all the June, July and August dossiers are out of the "review room" in China. This means the only thing left for those people is for their dossier to sit in a pile in the "matching room" and to wait to be matched with their baby. Just because those month's dossiers are in the matching room does not mean that the next batch of referrals will include all those dates but it's a good sign of potential speeding up at the China Center for Adoption Affairs.

Time will tell.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Some folks got referrals this week

So the people with LIDs from May 14, 2005 through May 25, 2005 got their referrals yesterday. Well I should say several of those people got theirs. Apparently referrals for at least two agencies are lost in the mail. Supposedly the CCAA uses DHL to send referrals to the agencies then most agencies use fedex to send the packets to the parents. It sounds like DHL has "misplaced" the packets. I haven't read anything more about it today but hopefully the families that are still waiting will hear something soon.

The referral, by the way, contains the baby's picture and varying amounts of medical and other info about the baby/child. People who have recived their baby information this week will hopefully travel to China in 6-10 weeks to be united with their child.

It's pretty discouraging for only 10 days worth of LIDs to be matched this month but there's no way of predicting what will happen next month. For the most part it appears that the CCAA sends referrals only once a month but it has done two batches in a month previously so anything can happen. All I know is that if they continue to match only 10-15 days worth of LIDs per month then we have a loooooong way to go.

Here's a quote I wish I could embrace but I don't think I have the patience of Maya Angelou. I'll try though.

Since time is the one immaterial object which we cannot influence--neither speed up nor slow down, add to nor diminish-- it is an imponderably valuable gift.
--Maya Angelou

Thursday, February 23, 2006

The price of parenting

I think this has been around before but a friend just emailed it to me again so I wanted to share it.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.
It translates into:
a.. $8,896.66 a year,
b.. $741.38 a month, or
c.. $171.08 a week.
d.. That's a mere $24.24 a day!
e.. Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
a.. Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
b.. Glimpses of God every day.
c.. Giggles under the covers every night.
d.. More love than your heart can hold.
e.. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
f.. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
g.. A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
h.. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
i.. Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter> what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to:
a..finger-paint,
b..carve pumpkins,
c.. play hide-and-seek,
d.. catch lightning bugs, and
e.. never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
a.. keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
b.. watching Saturday morning cartoons,
c.. going to Disney movies, and
d.. wishing on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
a.. retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
b.. taking the training wheels off a bike,
c.. removing a splinter,> d.. filling a wading pool
e.. coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits,

So . . one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!! (Even with the added $20,000+ for adopting parents!)

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Nothing to report

It seems that time is standing still now that we are officially waiting and no longer have any control in the process. There is talk of a batch of referrals coming next week for families that were logged in May 13, 2005 through maybe early June. The next batch may come late March and have matches for families that were logged in the rest of June. And so the process goes. You can see how this process can become exponentially longer with each passing month if the CCAA can't catch up and make more matches each month. I think most parents that are waiting like us have faith that the CCAA is doing the best they can but it is a little disheartening to wait longer and longer. We don't even have our log in date (LID) yet but I'm sure we will soon. We may already be logged in but won't receive notice of the actual date for awhile longer.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

I caved-I made a purchase


I don't know when I thought I would start shopping but it definately wasn't going to be until "later." Well I guess "later" is here because I made my first purchase. I had to do something to celebrate being DTC so this weekend I bought my daughter a blanket and socks from Gymboree's popular ladybug line. I can't believe I'm shopping for girl stuff!!

I don't know if I've mentioned it in previous entries or not, but ladybugs seem to be a symbol of Chinese adoption among Americans. There's a superstition that ladybug sightings are linked to referrals being on the way. We have had some ladybug moments along the way like on October 31st 2005 we encountered a swarm of them outside Andrew's pediatrician's office. We were taking him for a physical for our home study and we thought it was interesting to be doing something adoption related and to encounter literally hundreds of ladybugs!

I'm pretty superstitious so I think maybe our daughter was born on that day. It's possible. I think it would be fun to have a birthday on Halloween! We'll see. When we get closer to referral maybe I'll start a pool for guessing her birthday. I'm sticking with Oct 31st or maybe Feb 8th (no ladybug sighting, just a feeling).

Thursday, February 09, 2006

The news we have been waiting for!


Our dossier specialist from Holt called this afternoon to say our dossier looks great and it's going to China tomorrow!!! So our DTC date is 2/10/06. WooHoo-we're getting in line now!!!

Doing the happy dance!!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Update

Hi everyone! I emailed our dossier specialist at our agency yesterday to check on our status and she said she was hoping to review it by Friday. She didn't specify if she hopes she can review it time to be sent to China this Friday or if she just thought she would get to it on Friday. I didn't want to email her back to have her clarify so I'll just have to see. She said she would call and let me know how the review went. I'm still crossing my fingers that there are no errors or other problems.
Wish us luck!

Friday, February 03, 2006

Poem

Here's a beautiful poem for waiting parents...

I HAVE A PICTURE FRAME (author unknown)

I have a picture frame
on my dresser to hold
your little face
awaiting there for you.

I have a picture frame
on my table top
reminding me you are waiting too
just how long I know not.

I have a picture frame
by my kitchen sink
my daily chores I faithfully work
and often of you think.

Daddy has a picture frame
in his heart you see
daughters have daddy's love
their blessing they will be.

Grandma has a picture frame
beside her other ones
reserved for you amonst them all
a granddaughter she'll have won.

I have a picture frame
on a chain of gold
to remind me that you are there
waiting for my arms to hold.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Dossier is on it's way to Holt!



Woohoo! We are done for now with our portion of the paperwork! Our dossier is on it's way right this moment to Holt, our adoption agency. Now it will wait in line to get reviewed before going to China. Here's a picture of the certified and authenticated documents and required pictures that are included. The pages from the Chinese consulate, with the red seals, are actually very pretty in person. We've worked on getting this stack of papers since the end of September so it's a little weird to be sending it off and know we'll never see it again.

Our agency sends dossiers to China every Friday so if all goes well and there are no errors or revisions needed, then our dossier could be on it's way to China on February 10th. That's the earliest it could go. It's much more likely that it will be the 17th, or even the 24th. We'll have to wait and see. The day it goes to China (or DTC date) is significant because that's when the wait for referral officially begins in the eyes of our agency. In China's eyes the wait begins with the log in date (or LID), which occurs anywhere from 4 days to 6 weeks after DTC. It doesn't matter really as long as you know what date you are looking at in reference to what. For example The China Center for Adoption Affairs posts information about referrals based on LID. On Jan 25th all the people with a LID of April 26, 05-May 13, 05 received their referrals.

It's very exciting each month to see where the CCAA is at as far as processing but how many LIDs they match at a time totally varies. The people who received their referrals on the 25th should be traveling to pick up their daughters in 6-8 weeks (hopefully.) It's very exciting and we can't wait until it's our turn!
Thanks for continuing to follow this journey with us!!

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Happy New Year!










Chinese New Year begins tomorrow.
I "borrowed" the following information from this website:
www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

Tomorrow the Year of the Dog begins.

This is what I found out about the year of the dog:

1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006
People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.


We are pretty sure our daughter was born in the year of the rooster since we have requested a 12-18 month old child and we hope to have her join our family in about 10-12 months.
This is what I found out about the year of the rooster:

1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005
People born in the Year of the Rooster are deep thinkers, capable, and talented. They like to be busy and are devoted beyond their capabilities and are deeply disappointed if they fail. People born in the Rooster Year are often a bit eccentric, and often have rather difficult relationship with others. They always think they are right and usually are! They frequently are loners and though they give the outward impression of being adventurous, they are timid. Rooster people¡¦s emotions like their fortunes, swing very high to very low. They can be selfish and too outspoken, but are always interesting and can be extremely brave. They are most compatible with Ox, Snake, and Dragon.

Be sure to check out the New Year's superstitions on the website linked above. It is very interesting and I plan to abide by the no housecleaning or sweeping one!

I hope you all find this interesting and informative. I am thoroughly enjoying gathering all kinds of information about our future daughter's homeland, traditions and customs to share with her as she grows.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A Quote

"They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken." ~Author Unknown

This has nothing to do with adoption but I came across it and thought it was funny. No wonder the author is "unknown." What man is going to own up to saying that! :-)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

An interesting link

I don't have a progress report today, just waiting for documents to return from the New York Chinese Consulate.
I just wanted to point people to a website that has a great timeline on the history of adoption in the United States. Be sure to check out the link in the 1955 block about Bertha and Harry Holt. They are the original founders of the adoption agency we are using. They were pioneers in Korean adoptions and continue to be highly respected in international adoption.
Some interesting stuff!
Here's the link:
http://www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/timeline.html

Monday, January 23, 2006

A step closer



Ok, it's a baby step (no pun intended) but it's a step.
I got our I-171H county and state certified today and sent 11 documents via fedex to the courier in New York. They will take them to the Chinese Consulate tomorrow for authentication. They should be able to pick them up on Friday and fedex them back.

Friday, January 20, 2006

It's here!!

The coveted I-171H arrived today! This is a very exciting milestone. The headline on the letter says "NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION" (It actually is in all caps on the letter, I'm not just screaming it.) Then it says "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an oprhan or orphans as defined by section 101bF of the immigration and nationality act." Isn't that sweet? You won't find that sentence on a pregnancy test box!! We now have proof that the US government thinks we can be parents! It does clarify at the bottom that we are approved for ONE ORPHAN (not orphanS). I just think it's so funny how the government writes stuff. I may be joking about it but really it's the best news. We are another step closer to our daughter!
I went and got a photocopy of it notarized this afternoon so now I get to go on Monday to the county clerk and the secretary of state before fedexing it to the Chinese Consulate in NY. If it gets there by 10:30 Tuesday morning our courier should be able to get our documents authenticated before the New York consulate closes for a few days to celebrate the Chinese New Year which, by the way, starts January 29th. I'll keep updating with the steps that come after that.
We're almost done with the paperwork Mei Mei! Hang in there!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Update

The weirdest thing happened. The mail came twice today. I saw him pull up and deliver mail about noon then another guy came and delivered some more mail about 3:00. I'm not sure I've ever gotten mail twice in one day. Not suprisingly, the I-171H was not in either batch. But wait, there's good news! After 4 attempts this afternoon, I actually spoke to a human being at the Cincinnati USCIS office and she said we were approved on January 11th and she thinks the I-171H was mailed out yesterday. Woohoo! So maybe just a day or two more of stalking the mailman...for now.

Bailey will take care of it



I've decided to let our dog Bailey get the mail from now on since it's just junk these days.


(Just kidding-she just really likes cardboard to tear apart so this was a treat for her.)

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Still no 171H

The mail was just as disappointing today. That's all I have to report.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

No I-171H today

The mail just came, no 171H in it. I quickly thumbed through the mail and saw a return address with "Approval Department" above it. I got all excited then saw it was just a credit card offer. Like the USCIS is going to have "Approval Department" in their return address. I'm starting to lose it. When I called on Jan 5th to inquire about the status of our approval the lady said it would be here in "2 weeks, maybe one." Hasn't it been that long? Sigh.

Quote of the day...

"There's a skinny women inside of me screaming to get out, but I can usually shut her up with a cupcake."

Ok, I'm off to the gym.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Mei Mei



Mei Mei? Who's, what's Mei Mei? It's little sister in Chinese.
In September 2005 we began our official journey towards expanding our family. We have chosen to adopt from China and are almost done with the bulk of our paperwork. Once our paperwork is done and officially "logged-in" then we are still looking at a 8-12 month wait for a referral. We have requested a healthy girl aged 12-18 months old, so in all likelihood she has already been born! She is out there somewhere in China waiting for us.

The final piece of the paperwork puzzle (or the long pole in the tent, as Michael calls it) is a document called I-171H. It is approval from the US Government for us bring an orphan into the US. It should be here any day now, then I have to make a copy of it, get the copy notarized, go to Columbus to have the secretary of state of Ohio put an official seal on it, then send it to the Chinese Consulate in NY to have it "authenticated" (basically put their fancy seal on it too :-). Whew! Sound like a lot? Well I've already done it for 12 other documents so it's under control.

Once the whole pile of paper is done it goes to our agency, Holt International in Oregon, for review. They can take up to two weeks to review our dossier before sending it to China where it will be logged in and reviewed by people at the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs. 8-12 months later, our dossier will hit the matching room where a child's file will be matched up with ours. Once we accept our referral we should be traveling to China 6-8 weeks later to be united with our daughter!

Thanks for joining us on this journey!
Check back often for updates.