Tuesday morning, August 21st we found out we got logged in....
Tuesday afternoon agency calls and conversation goes like this, "Stay by your phone on Monday night as we will need you right away and it will probably be late.... Oh - and you are still open to a boy right?" Me, "Of course, boy or girl." Agency, "Well, good because it could take much longer to match with a girl."
Tuesday night - tell my husband the conversation... His response, "Great! So now she isn't even going to look at girls for us." My thoughts, "OH NO!!! He is still concerned about a boy!"" So a sleepless night it was for me... is he still worried he would struggle with bonding with a boy (in previous post explained this original concern)...
I finally talked to him about his statement and of course, that wasn't what he meant at all! He was still happy for either and he bonded well with our friend's precious son that was with us for two weeks while they were in China.:) After 14 years I should know to talk before assuming I understand his thoughts and analyze his words beyond what is said... :)
Wednesday afternoon, August 22nd, got a call from the agency - they have a file for us.....
WHAT?? This isn't Monday??? So I stand in the line at Party City as she gives me the info on the file - a little Girl's file. Wow! Wasn't expecting that! Caveat - if we take the file and don't make decision by Monday - we cannot go through file release night. We got the file and started trying to make decision by Monday.
I called Brian, we prayed before opening the file. Does God still answer prayers - ABSOLUTELY!!! I wanted peace, certainty for both of us. I was at home, Brian was at work. We prayed over the file then we opened the file. I called him to hear his response... He said what I was feeling, "I don't know how anyone could say no to this little girl. She is precious. I think she is OUR little girl."
We showed Aili her picture (our kids have seen many pictures as we pray over children). Aili said, "Is she our baby?" I said, "We are praying over her just like we pray over the other children." She immediately prayed, "God pleeaassse let this be our baby."
We were anxious to show Ian because all the girls we have shown him so far as we look through lists he says, "She is cute, but I want a brother." :( Brian asked him what he thought of her. His response, "She's good enough." Me, "LOL, good enough for what?" Ian, "I like her." :) :) The next night he told us she was really going to like his brightly colored musical drum set when she comes home. :) Her file states she likes brightly colored toys and musical toys. :)
We sent her file off to the doctors (cardiologist and pediatrician). We continued to pray for her and our family before confirming what we felt from the moment we saw her. August 24th (Aili's birthday) we emailed agency to say- We are in LOVE and we ACCEPT the referral!!! August 26th (Brian's birthday) we finished paperwork to send to China for pre approval (PA)! We cannot post pictures until after we get approval from China, but I know you will be in love too!! She is SO SO precious!!!
Thank you for your prayers!!! God answered (He always does). :) Please continue to pray for us during the process (may be 6+ months before we get to bring her home). We are praying for a quick process, but more than anything please pray for her to be well cared for and her heart prepared to meet her new family. :) I don't think I can put enough smiley faces in this post!!! :) :) :)
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
First day of school and LID!!!
Summer went by so fast! Today I took my precious children back to school. How does time go by so quickly?? Aili is already in third grade and Ian is in kindergarten! I feel like I have just blinked and here we are!! :(
Kimberly at Great Wall cheered me up though!! We got our Log in Date (LID)!! The file release is Monday the 27th eve. If they can lock a file for us we will have 72 hours to review. If not then maybe on Thursday eve! Praying for wisdom for Kimberly and us and for God's hand to guide us through this!! :) We are soooo excited!!!!
I will leave you with pics of my sweeties and their first day! :)
Kimberly at Great Wall cheered me up though!! We got our Log in Date (LID)!! The file release is Monday the 27th eve. If they can lock a file for us we will have 72 hours to review. If not then maybe on Thursday eve! Praying for wisdom for Kimberly and us and for God's hand to guide us through this!! :) We are soooo excited!!!!
I will leave you with pics of my sweeties and their first day! :)
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| My cuties :) |
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| My little ham :) |
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| 3rd grade and Kindergarten - Already?? |
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| Just walked right in and sat in his seat, all smiles... :..(
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Sunday, August 12, 2012
DTC!!!
YAY!!!! Our agency let us know that Friday all our paperwork (our dossier) that we've been working on since March was sent to China (DTC- Dossier to China)!! :) Woohoo!!!
So...what now??
We were told it is taking 2-3 weeks to get a LID (log in date). Once we have the LID we can be matched with children who are LID only (these are special needs children new to the list or who have less severe special needs).
China releases a new list of children whose files have just been prepared for adoption on the China side once each month. That list comes out the last or second to last Monday eve our time - Tuesday morning China time. So, if our agency sees a child come onto the list that sounds like a match for us they "lock that child's file." We only have 72 hours to review the file, consult with doctors and fill out paperwork if we decide to move forward with that child. We can say no as well. All agencies are looking at the list at the same time. So, we'd only get a call on Monday eve if they found a match and successfully locked the file. The process happens again in 72 hours (Thursday) for all the children whose files got locked on Monday but the families decided not to move forward.
Exciting to be at this stage. :) Praying for wisdom for both our special needs consultant (Kimberly) and ourselves. Praying that God's hand continues to direct our path. Praying that He will give us His peace that transcends all understanding as to proceed or not with the file we are given. It is so heart breaking to say no. :( We have reviewed two files of special focus children (children who have been listed for a couple months or more severe special needs). We did feel clearly these were not our children due to the severity of their needs after review from our physicians. I think God allowed me to experience that as I couldn't understand how one can say no until we were handed these precious children's files. So thankful for the amazing pediatrician and cardiologists God has placed in our life who truly care and are thoroughly reviewing files to help us through this process without asking anything in return. God provides all our needs. :) He keeps showing me this over and over in our adoption journey.
I will let you know when we find out about our LID and whether it will be this month or next that we are able to participate in the file release night so that you can pray alongside us. :)
So...what now??
We were told it is taking 2-3 weeks to get a LID (log in date). Once we have the LID we can be matched with children who are LID only (these are special needs children new to the list or who have less severe special needs).
China releases a new list of children whose files have just been prepared for adoption on the China side once each month. That list comes out the last or second to last Monday eve our time - Tuesday morning China time. So, if our agency sees a child come onto the list that sounds like a match for us they "lock that child's file." We only have 72 hours to review the file, consult with doctors and fill out paperwork if we decide to move forward with that child. We can say no as well. All agencies are looking at the list at the same time. So, we'd only get a call on Monday eve if they found a match and successfully locked the file. The process happens again in 72 hours (Thursday) for all the children whose files got locked on Monday but the families decided not to move forward.
Exciting to be at this stage. :) Praying for wisdom for both our special needs consultant (Kimberly) and ourselves. Praying that God's hand continues to direct our path. Praying that He will give us His peace that transcends all understanding as to proceed or not with the file we are given. It is so heart breaking to say no. :( We have reviewed two files of special focus children (children who have been listed for a couple months or more severe special needs). We did feel clearly these were not our children due to the severity of their needs after review from our physicians. I think God allowed me to experience that as I couldn't understand how one can say no until we were handed these precious children's files. So thankful for the amazing pediatrician and cardiologists God has placed in our life who truly care and are thoroughly reviewing files to help us through this process without asking anything in return. God provides all our needs. :) He keeps showing me this over and over in our adoption journey.
I will let you know when we find out about our LID and whether it will be this month or next that we are able to participate in the file release night so that you can pray alongside us. :)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
797 - ARRIVED!!!!
IT IS HERE!!!! IT IS HERE!!! IT IS HERE!!! - :)
That was me today dancing around the mailbox - just 32 days and we got our 797!!!! Woohoo!!!
We will get it sent off to DC tomorrow!! Hopng for Great Wall to get it there in time to be DTC next Friday (they send out on Fridays)!! :) Of course, depends on how things move along in DC.
Woohoo!!!!
Will share more next time about our awesomly refreshing vacation visiting and reconnecting with some special friends we have been blessed with throughout our life. :)
For now....excited to reach another step in our journey! :)
That was me today dancing around the mailbox - just 32 days and we got our 797!!!! Woohoo!!!
We will get it sent off to DC tomorrow!! Hopng for Great Wall to get it there in time to be DTC next Friday (they send out on Fridays)!! :) Of course, depends on how things move along in DC.
Woohoo!!!!
Will share more next time about our awesomly refreshing vacation visiting and reconnecting with some special friends we have been blessed with throughout our life. :)
For now....excited to reach another step in our journey! :)
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Somewhere in the 2nd Trimester
That is what it feels like to me right now... about the middle of the second trimester.
The roller coaster continues - just like pregnancy. :) For me, the first part of the adoption (the Dossier phase) has been much akin to the first trimester of pregnancy. Full of emotion - anxiety, questions, excitement... Unlike my pregnancies I THANKFULLY have not experience the continual sickness. I also did not lose weight like I did in my pregnancies - lol...nope...gaining just like a normal pregnancy. :)
I say "somewhere in the second trimester" because now we are just waiting. I don't know if you had this feeling, but I couldn't wait for the first trimester to be over. I wanted to be through the sickness, through the worries of those critical first 12 weeks. Wanted to rush through it (just as I have worked very hard to get all paperwork done as quickly as possible for the dossier). Rush rush to get to this part...the waiting.... For me the second trimester of pregnancy was the time of feeling a little better, resting and looking forward to being in the third trimester. :)
We are here....waiting for the 797 to come in the mail. Waiting to send our dossier to China. Waiting to be matched with our child. So that we can get to what I anticipate to be like the third trimsester - the LOA and travel phase of adoption. During my third trimester, the weeks couldn't go by quick enough. I just wanted to hold my chlidren, to see them, to sing to them, to love them. The same emotions I've seen some of my friends go through as they prepare to travel to bring home their children.
Not there yet, but looking forward to it nonetheless. :) Meanwhile...just resting as we can do nothing more while waiting for the 797. Yep....somewhere in the 2nd Trimester. :)
The roller coaster continues - just like pregnancy. :) For me, the first part of the adoption (the Dossier phase) has been much akin to the first trimester of pregnancy. Full of emotion - anxiety, questions, excitement... Unlike my pregnancies I THANKFULLY have not experience the continual sickness. I also did not lose weight like I did in my pregnancies - lol...nope...gaining just like a normal pregnancy. :)
I say "somewhere in the second trimester" because now we are just waiting. I don't know if you had this feeling, but I couldn't wait for the first trimester to be over. I wanted to be through the sickness, through the worries of those critical first 12 weeks. Wanted to rush through it (just as I have worked very hard to get all paperwork done as quickly as possible for the dossier). Rush rush to get to this part...the waiting.... For me the second trimester of pregnancy was the time of feeling a little better, resting and looking forward to being in the third trimester. :)
We are here....waiting for the 797 to come in the mail. Waiting to send our dossier to China. Waiting to be matched with our child. So that we can get to what I anticipate to be like the third trimsester - the LOA and travel phase of adoption. During my third trimester, the weeks couldn't go by quick enough. I just wanted to hold my chlidren, to see them, to sing to them, to love them. The same emotions I've seen some of my friends go through as they prepare to travel to bring home their children.
Not there yet, but looking forward to it nonetheless. :) Meanwhile...just resting as we can do nothing more while waiting for the 797. Yep....somewhere in the 2nd Trimester. :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Home Study Completed!!
So many have asked how the adoption is going. Well, we are still in the early stages but have finally completed our home study (birth, marriage certificate, background checks, visits with social worker, lots of notarized papers...)! I have added a timeline on the sidebar so that you can follow along. :)
We are now waiting for authorization to be fingerprinted and then receive a 797 which is part of the immigration process on the US side. Meanwhile all of our other paperwork is getting certified and authenticated (that means they check the notary and check the notaries check). After this we will be able to send our dossier to China (DTC) and get a log in date (LID)! Woohoo!
When will we be matched? Great question!! We could be matched before we get a LID or after. We just keep praying for God to protect our child. We know God is in control and has power over everything! He is A-M-A-Z-ing. :)
Will keep you updated as our adoptoin journey continues!
We are now waiting for authorization to be fingerprinted and then receive a 797 which is part of the immigration process on the US side. Meanwhile all of our other paperwork is getting certified and authenticated (that means they check the notary and check the notaries check). After this we will be able to send our dossier to China (DTC) and get a log in date (LID)! Woohoo!
When will we be matched? Great question!! We could be matched before we get a LID or after. We just keep praying for God to protect our child. We know God is in control and has power over everything! He is A-M-A-Z-ing. :)
Will keep you updated as our adoptoin journey continues!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
He is HOME!!
So, in case you were wondering where I was....I've been enjoying my dear hubby as he is now HOME!!
Our kids are so so happy :)
Ian wouldn't even let go of Brian while fast asleep - making sure he didn't get away again...
We have enjoyed his two weeks off with trips to Disney, pool and movie time. It has been great!
They have Highland Games right now at Epcot (preparing for new movie - Brave)- we had so much fun! How cool that when I turned the wheel to find out what family I would represent I got Macintosh (my maiden name is McIntosh)! :) Proud of our Scottish heritage! :)
We are sad this week he returned to work, but his arrival home each night brings bright smiles to us all. :)
More on adoption news next time. :)
Our kids are so so happy :)
Ian wouldn't even let go of Brian while fast asleep - making sure he didn't get away again...
We have enjoyed his two weeks off with trips to Disney, pool and movie time. It has been great!
They have Highland Games right now at Epcot (preparing for new movie - Brave)- we had so much fun! How cool that when I turned the wheel to find out what family I would represent I got Macintosh (my maiden name is McIntosh)! :) Proud of our Scottish heritage! :)
We are sad this week he returned to work, but his arrival home each night brings bright smiles to us all. :)
More on adoption news next time. :)
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