Drop off

Our documents did, indeed, get dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China on Monday the 29th!  I’m looking for our Article 5 to happen on January 13th.  Man, it’s hard to wait for these last steps!

I sent our travel visa applications to our courier.  She will take them to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for us.  That should take about a week and a half.

In the meantime, Kai has turned 21 months old... <3<3<3

DS-260 done

I ended up having to wait until the next morning (12/23) to get into the system to fill out Kai’s Visa application on his behalf.  This is the DS-260.  Some of the questions were a bit comical for a 20-month-old, but you do what you have to do!  I was able to finish, print out the confirmation, and email a copy of that confirmation to our adoption agency.

I was hoping to receive our email copy (PDF) of the NVC Letter on the 23rd, but it didn’t come.  I emailed them again that night and received it the next day (nice Christmas Eve bonus!).  This letter states that our I-800 petition for Kai has been forwarded to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, where our interview will take place.  I have forwarded a copy of this letter to our adoption agency, so all should be set for our necessary documents to be dropped at the US Consulate by their China team.

Documents can only be dropped off at the Consulate on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Due to the holiday on Thursday, they were closed.  I am hoping our documents will be dropped off on the next available drop-off day of Monday (12/29).  Our adoption agency will email to let us know when this has happened.

And then we get to wait again! :)  The Consulate will review our documents to make sure all is in order and then issue our Article 5.  I have been told this takes a pretty standard 10 business days, so subtract the New Year’s Day holiday and you get maybe 1/12 or 1/13, depending on whether they actually start working on it the day it is dropped off or the next day.  Yes, we are down to counting each individual days! ;)  When our Article 5 is ready for pickup, our adoption agency will be notified.

We are getting down to the nitty gritty, folks!  I am headed to the basement to sort through baby clothes!  I am guessing Kai will wear somewhere around a 12 month size, based on our most recent measurements.  Tonight, I will probably work on our travel visa applications!

Email from NVC

And it’s good news this time!  They sent us our GUZ # and our Invoice #.  This means we can fill out Kai’s visa application online (the DS-260).  It is not letting me into the system yet, but I have heard it can take a day from the time you get your numbers before it is accessible.  I guess there is not as much of a hurry since we missed the last drop off date before Christmas (Tuesday).  The next drop off opportunity is Monday, 12/29.  So that’s my next goal!  I want to have our DS-260 Confirmation as well as a copy of our NVC Letter (which they will email to me soon) sent to our adoption agency in time for that Monday drop off!  Once these documents are dropped off at the US Consulate in China, we will be waiting for them to issue our Article 5, which takes about 2 weeks.

Come on NVC Letter!

We received an update, today!

No GUZ # from the NVC, yet.  :/  I was really hoping to get it before the weekend so we could fill out Kai’s visa application and have our documents dropped off at the US Consulate next week before Christmas.  We could still get it Monday and do the visa app then, but I kinda doubt our agency would have everything in time for the last drop-off day before Christmas (Tuesday).  Bummer.  I need to figure out when the first drop-off after Christmas will be.

And now something to cheer us up...we received an update on Kai!  This will probably be the last update we receive before we go pick him up.  He is 20 months old and his new measurements show him at 22 lbs and 30.5 inches tall.  Now I can start guessing on his clothing size for travel!  His feet are 12.5 cm long.  I think we will take a pair of Robeez (need to figure out size) and then just buy regular shoes in China if he doesn’t have any that fit right.

They did answer a few of our questions we’d sent with very general info.  He is extroverted and active.  He eats congee (rice porridge), noodles and formula.  And best of all....they sent us 2 new pictures!  <3<3

I-800 approval

I called the NBC on Monday and found out our I-800 had been approved that morning.  Now to wait a few days before emailing the NVC!

I’ve started doing some shopping for things we want to take to China and things we need at home for Kai.  It’s been a while since we had a toddler in the house!  I feel like I am forgetting very obvious items.  I know we still need to get his carseat.  I couldn’t remember if we still had a crib mattress or not, so I finally went to the basement and checked.  Um...nope!  Add that to the list!

I still can’t believe this is really happening!

Little Guy’s name

Here is how we announced our LOA to our adoption friends...

My, my...look what has appeared on our Christmas tree!

Don’t see anything??  How about a closer look!

And to go with our Christmas tree, we finally have EVERYONE’S stockings up!

Yes, we finally chose a name for Little Guy- Kai Andrew Cheng!  Yes, he has 2 middle names.  What a lucky kid!  ;)  We wanted to give him a family middle name as we have done with all of our children, but we also recognized the fact that he will lose everything he has or has known when he comes home with us.  By keeping his Chinese name, he will always have a piece of his culture with him.

We have always kept our children’s names a surprise until after they are born, so this feels a little strange and even uneasy to share already.  But we felt our family needed to be able to start calling him by name to help with the bonding process.  We have given our adoption agency his new name as well.

LOA, I-800 and more!

First...we received our LOA on December 1st!  Pretty amazing that this exact date was my “best case scenario” guess as to when we could possibly receive our LOA way back when I made my first time line estimate.

We were able to share our adoption news with the rest of our family on Thanksgiving.  Even better to be able to share our “soft loa” news with them at the same time!  Yeah, you can guess what came to mind when we thought about the many things we were thankful for!

When our adoption agency received the actual LOA paper on Dec. 1, they emailed it to us.  I printed it out, drove it to Kevin’s work so he could come out into the parking lot to sign it, scanned it in, and emailed it back to our agency the same day.  Excited much??  ;)  The next day, they overnighted our I-800 application to the USCIS.  Not to be confused with the I-800A that we already did, this approval will let us bring Little Guy back to the US, where he will become a citizen as soon as his feet hit US soil. :)  We are told to expect about a 2 week wait for this one.

In the meantime, my email box has exploded with information and instructions from our adoption agency!  We had a few more forms to sign, notarize, and send back to them.  We also had a few checks to write.  One large chunk of money goes to Little Guy’s orphanage to help cover the cost of his care.  Luckily, his province accepts a wire transfer from our adoption agency, so we won’t have to carry this bit of cash with us to China.  Not all provinces accept this.

On Dec. 4, the actual LOA arrived at our house.  We had to sign it and send it back to our adoption agency to be sent back to China.  It felt amazing to hold that piece of paper in our hands!  I wanted to take like a MILLION pictures of it from every angle possible!

Our agency has requested an update on Little Guy.  We were able to submit 5 questions with this request.  It was hard to narrow down our questions to just 5!  We decided we wanted to ask things we thought would help us care for Little Guy in those first few days.  There is no guarantee that we will get this update, but we remain hopeful.

On Dec. 5th, we received word that our I-800 application had been received.  This gives us a receipt number, so now I can call to check on the status of our application.  I’ve only called 3 times, so far.  I got a little anxious about it on Friday, when I found out a couple other people on our timeline had received their approvals.  Well, our application is on the officer’s desk, so hopefully it will soon be approved soon.  I’m trying to decide what time I should call on Monday...

Once our I-800 is approved, it will be forwarded from the NBC (National Benefits Center) to the NVC (National Visa Center), where it will be entered into their system (which gives us a GUZ number) to start Little Guy’s US Visa process.  I will email the NVC to get our GUZ number, Invoice number and an email copy of the NVC Letter, because these things are needed for our next step- to fill out Little Guy’s Visa application on his behalf.

If I understand this correctly...  Once our adoption agency has proof that we sent Little Guy’s Visa app (DS-260), an email copy of the NVC Letter, and perhaps another document or two, they will be able to send our file to their team in China, who will deliver our file to the US Consulate.  They are only allowed to drop this off on certain days of the week.  The US Consulate will review everything and produce our Article 5.  This Article 5 will then be picked up by our adoption agency’s in-China staff and sent to the CCCWA (Chinese government).  THEN, the CCCWA will issue us a Travel Approval, which is our invitation to come pick up our son!  Whew!!

As you can see, we still have several more steps, but they are happening much more quickly than, say, the LOA.  Our adoption agency is starting to prepare us for traveling.  We have consulted with a travel clinic at the Adoption Center in Chicago.  I am starting to have all kinds of lists running through my brain at all hours of the day- packing lists, paperwork lists, to-do lists, you name it!  Add that to the usual fast pace of the holiday season and you can understand why my head feels like it might explode some days!!

Travel is typically 9-12 weeks after receiving LOA, but it can be delayed by things such as holidays and CCCWA computer upgrades, both of which we are dealing with.  Still...it will be here before we know it!!  <3 <3

54 days and Christmas decorating

We are getting close to that 60 day LOA wait mark.  That is the point at which I will allow myself to start obsessing and counting every single day.  Not a day before then!  Maybe.

We are staying busy with the kids’ activities and the holidays approaching.  The kids and I decided to start putting up Christmas decorations, last weekend.  I guess  Kevin figured there was no use fighting it, so he put up the tree for us.  The kids had a blast looking through ornaments from years past.  Each year, they get to choose a new ornament that signifies something about them for that year.  This makes it extra fun to look through the ornaments as they hang them on the tree each year.  I didn’t want Little Guy left out, so I bought his first ornament.  I would like to also find a 2013 ornament for him. <3

And you’ll notice a distinct open space in the line of stockings.  Yep, we need to do something about that!  Our 14 y/o said we definitely need to get Little Guy’s stocking up and I agree.  Thankfully, we have decided on a name for him, so we can have that embroidered on his stocking like everyone else’s.

We have also been working on Little Guy’s next care package.  We had 2 more sleepers left from the last group we bought, and we added a pack of washcloths, some bibs, another bag of candy for the nannies, a picture drawn by our 5 y/o (he really felt strongly about adding something personal to the package) and Daddy, two more pictures of the kids (including one of them holding Little Guy’s picture), and another disposable camera for the nannies to, hopefully, use and give to us on Gotcha day.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this shipped because I have been under the weather since Tuesday evening.  I plan to send it early next week!

Last, but certain not least, we received a surprise email from our adoption agency, this morning.  They wanted to let us know that our dossier is listed in the system as having been reviewed.  We were not expecting this information because our agency doesn’t typically check for these small steps unless asked, and we haven’t asked.  But...WOW!!  The next step is “match reviewed” and that will mean we have been approved.  This gives me some new numbers to obsess over research and count!  :)  Our adoption agency told us we could hope for LOA news within the next few weeks.  My research tells me it may be sooner than that.  SQUEE!!!!! <3

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to refrain from checking my email every 10 minutes, starting Monday morning...

LOA wait day 38

I really am not counting every single day, but every few days to a week I like to look and see how many days it’s been.  I am hoping we are over half way thru our LOA wait but only time will tell.  Thanksgiving Day will be day 60 and the day we get to share our news with more family members.  I didn’t think I could wait until Thanksgiving to share our news but I also wanted to do it in person.  Looks like I’m going to make it. ;)

Kevin and I have been working on Little Guy’s name.  I spent quite a few hours reading a baby names list and writing down names I was open to considering.  I then handed the 150 names to Kevin and told him to cross off any names he really didn’t like.  You can probably tell where this is going.  He handed me back 9 names.  NINE.  I looked over the short list and crossed off 3-4 more names.  I think we are close to a decision!  This is only for the first name but we already had some ideas/feelings about the middle name(s).  I’m not sure if we will share his name on here ahead of time or not.

Tonight I bought a toy for Little Guy.  It is one of those multi-sensory toys we typically give babies, but I think it may be good for our man.  Most likely, he has not had a lot of experience with different toys, and we expect him to be behind in his development.  We’ll just meet him where he’s at developmentally.  This makes it kind of hard to plan ahead on things like toys, but we’ll do the best we can. :)

Last weekend, we took the kids to the town square and got some pictures of them.  In retrospect, I should have removed the glass from the frame with Little Guy’s pic.  Next time...

And now for a couple of out-takes...

Yeah, the “jump on the count of 3” thing didn’t quite work out for us.  Their heights and jumping abilities are so varied.  I gave up on that one. ;)

As the kids left the house to trick-or-treat on Halloween, I couldn’t help but think about next year and having Little Guy join in the fun!

A little shopping

Well, I finally bought Little Guy’s first outfit.  I had to guess on the sizing but I could not pass this up.  The shirt is just perfect!  I love that I was able to buy the matching blanket and hat, very similar to the early outfits I bought each of my other 3 children. :)

I also thought I’d share a pic of the toddler sized backpack I bought on clearance a month or so ago.  I thought we could maybe use the lunch bag for snacks when we are out and about in China.  And the water bottle I’m not too sure about.  I’ve done a lot of reading about children with cleft palate and they can’t create suction for drinking out of sippy cups, etc.  This straw cup is the type you bite on to open up the valve.  We will likely take several different bottles/cups with us, since we don’t know what he is able to drink out of.

I finished reading the info packets from our adoption agency and decided it was high time we sent our little guy his first care package!  I mainly wanted to send photos labeled in English and Chinese, so he could get a glimpse of us and also a disposable camera for the nannies to use up and (HOPEFULLY) give us when we come to pick him up.  I didn’t want to send a toy he wouldn’t be able to keep (everything must be shared in an orphanage) but decided to send something that would be useful to the orphanage- a couple sleepers, some baby hats and diaper rash cream.  I have been told that they are always in need of these things.  Last, I included some candy for the nannies.

I think I will try to send at least a couple more care packages while we are waiting to go to China.

My brother was able to pull Little Guy’s picture out of the sponsorship update we received, so now I can share it with you.  He is 15 months old in this picture.  Doesn’t he look adorable?! <3

More documents and another update

OK, I thought we were done with paperwork for a while but I was wrong! ;)  Our adoption agency sent us a packet requesting that we go ahead and complete the I-800 (not to be confused with the I-800A that we already did) and send it to them so they can send it to USCIS the minute our LOA arrives!  OK, maybe not “minute” but it will be a fast turnaround.

Along with the I-800 was the I-800 Supplement 1, G-1145 and I-864W.  I was able to complete these over the weekend and mail them off, today.  Having paperwork to do at least makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.

I still need to finish reading a previous packet of info our agency sent.  I have been so impressed with them!  They are very responsive and communicate with us a lot.  I love their packets of info that they send at just the right times!

This afternoon, we received our first sponsorship update on our little guy.  It included a short report with measurements and 1 photo.  I started to think he was shrinking until I read the date on the report.  It’s from July.  Whew!

This is the 3rd time our little guy has been described as “very mischievous.”  Hm...  The photo is adorable!!  <3  I need to figure out how to copy just the photo so I can share it on here.

And I may or may not have just purchased my first outfit for Little Guy.  Sizing is quite a guess at this point, but I couldn’t let this outfit pass me by!

An update already

What a surprise to receive an update with some of the info we asked for, already! :)

We got new measurements, which I am happy to say are a slight improvement.  I will know more on this after I hear back from the adoption specialist in the next few days.  He is reported to be about 20 lbs and just under 30 inches at 18 mos. old.

We also received 2 new pictures and 2 short videos showing us that he is now walking by himself.  I think they took the pictures from the videos.  They aren’t as clear as I’d like but I will have to be grateful for this update!  Anytime we receive updated info and/or pictures, we are thrilled!  He definitely looks older.  :(

Again, we are told he is rather extroverted and likes to “run wildly all over the place.”  I think we are IN for it with this little guy!  We have never had a child we had to chase all over the place (but I’ve watched friends do it, haha), so this could be interesting!

Something I didn’t mention, yesterday, is that because of the specific orphanage our boy is living in, we have the opportunity to take over his monthly sponsorship from now until we go get him.  This is a small way for us to begin caring for him and, as a bonus, we will receive quarterly updates.  Yeah, there was no hesitation on THAT decision!

I was able to send off the questionnaire, forms, and fees needed by our agency, this morning.  I do think we are now done with paperwork until we receive our LOA.

Referral!!

Last week was quite an exciting week!  It went something like this:

Monday- We received “THE CALL" from our adoption agency.  They have a referral for us!  After hearing a little about him, I said, "YES, send me the file!”  It took me about 5 seconds to text Kevin, find the email, download the file and pull up the first picture.  SO CUTE!!  I know some people wait to look at the file with their spouse, but there was no way I was waiting!  (OK, I may have texted my mom in there, too!)  I showed Kevin the file as soon as he got home from work, but we had to wait until after the kids went to bed to have any real discussion.

Tuesday- I called an adoption clinic and emailed the whole file to them for review.  Lots of staring at pictures and re-reading every word in his file!  Some searching for different growth charts and looking up various things online.

Wednesday- The adoption specialist (a pediatrician who specializes in international adoption) and the clinic coordinator called to review the file with me.  We talked for about an hour.  I was ready to move forward and wasn’t sure I could wait for Kevin to get home from work to discuss this!  I will also admit that I jumped WAY ahead and started counting days and looking at the calendar.  Yes, you other adoptive parents will know exactly what I’m talking about.  Don’t try to deny it!  We made the decision to move forward and accepted the referral!!  I contacted our agency to let them know and find out our next steps.  They emailed our instructions with a “congrats" and I was off to write our Letter of Intent (LOI).

Thursday- I reviewed our LOI one last time and emailed it to our agency.  I shared with a few close friends.

Friday- Our agency let us know they would have our LOI translated and then sent to the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare & Adoption- the people in charge on the China end).  We told the kids.  I was trying to decide whether I should video or take pictures of the occasion and ended up going with pictures.  I couldn’t even get the words out before Caetlyn guessed what was going on!  The kids huddled around the pictures excitedly, while I tried to snap a few pictures of them.  Yeah, they were less than cooperative with that part.   

Now, here we are at the start of a new week.  I had just explained to Caetlyn that “nothing happens in the adoption world” on the weekends.  Well, guess what!  An hour later I had an email in my inbox, telling me that our LOI was submitted into the CCCWA system and the file was now officially locked in China!  Because it is already Monday in China, the CCCWA had reviewed our LOI and agreed to "move our application into the procedure for special-need adoption.”  This is basically our Pre-Approval (PA).  Because we are already LID, we will not get a PA. 

We are now allowed to share our news and even send our little guy care packages as we wait for the CCCWA to review our dossier and send our Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  This step typically takes 60-90 days, so it’s going to be a looooong wait!

Now, for the info you REALLY want!

Our little guy has just turned 18 months old.  He is described as very mischievous and extremely active.  His medical need is a mixed bilateral cleft lip (right complete, left incomplete) that has already been repaired, and a cleft palate that still needs to be repaired.

We are quite taken with this little guy and hope to receive an update soon!

We have a questionnaire and a couple of forms to fill out and sign for our agency (1 needs to be notarized), and will send those back with our next fees on Tuesday. :)

Still waiting

We have not received any news from our adoption agency as of yet.  I have finally settled down a bit so that I am not jumping anytime the phone rings.  I emailed our agency to see if I could get an idea of how much time we will likely wait for a referral, and they responded that many other families who have some of the same special needs checked on the MCC have been matched within a few months of LID.  I am telling myself that perhaps we will have a referral before Christmas. :)  And the longer our dossier is in China before we get matched, the higher chance it has of already being translated and cutting some time off our next paperwork wait--the LOA (letter of acceptance).

God’s timing is perfect...

No news

We have not received any referrals as of yet.  I will be sure to let you know when we do!  I am pretty jumpy anytime the phone rings.  I keep telling myself that it could be months before we hear anything, but my heart is not listening to my brain! :P

For those who are curious, our “spot in line” with our adoption agency is based on the date we submitted our medical needs checklist, which was 1/26/14.  This checklist, much like it sounds, is a list of medical needs they tend to see in the children’s files.  I researched the needs on this list for several months before we filled out our application to adopt.  Many say the checklist feels “brutal” and I would have to agree.  It doesn’t feel right to check some needs and not others, but it is important that we be honest with what we feel our family can manage.  Our adoption agency will use this list to help guide them in their search for a child for us.  Of course, our number one guide in all of this is God. :)

The kids started back to school this week.  Caetlyn is in 8th grade, Rebecca is in 3rd grade and Nathan started kindergarten!

Surprise!

Yes, that’s our LID!  We are completely surprised to have it just 2 days after the CCCWA received our dossier! :)  The picture was Kevin’s idea.  I told him we needed to take a picture that would “say” LID and the date.  He is so literal! You’ve got to love his sense of humor!

What does this mean for us?  Most importantly, it means we are now eligible to review and/or lock files of LID-only children.  These tend to be the younger kiddos (the age range we have requested) with more minor and/or correctable special needs.  It also means it’s time to download the next packet from our adoption agency.  Guess I will get busy...

DTC, baby!!

We are DTC- dossier to China- as of yesterday!!  We are waiting to hear that our dossier has arrived in China, and then we will look forward to hearing that it has been logged in by the CCCWA.

It feels surreal to be at this point!

Critical review is done

We were notified that our dossier arrived at our adoption agency on 8/4 (yesterday).  Much to my surprise and delight, we received an email this evening to let us know that they are done reviewing our dossier, already, and it is in perfect order!!  They let us know that the summary translation will be done and it will be bound for China in a few days!  Can you believe it?!  I seriously cannot believe it!  We are almost DTC!!  I saw a few people mention that our adoption agency sends dossiers to China each Friday, so I guess I will be obsessively checking my email all day on Friday!

Did I mention I bought another item for Little Brother?  Yeah, I don’t even know how old he is going to be but I went ahead and bought him a little backpack.  I’d been eyeballing a certain backpack and it went on sale.  I’m thinking it would come in handy during our travels to bring him home.

Good thing VBS is keeping me busy this week!  Three hours in the preschool craft room everyday keeps my mind distracted to say the least!!

It’s complete

If you’ve been through or are currently going through an international adoption, you understand my excitement at seeing this in front of my house!

I made copies of that glorious, certified, authenticated I-800A approval copy (and took a few pics) before loading everything into the FedEx box and dropping it off.

In case you’re curious what went into our complete dossier:
~adoption petition (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~certified copy of Kevin’s birth certificate (certified, authenticated)
~certified copy of my birth certificate (certified, authenticated)
~certified copy of our marriage certificate (certified, authenticated)
~Kevin’s employment verification (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~my non-employment verification (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~financial statement (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~Kevin’s physical exam (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~my physical exam (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~Kevin’s police clearance (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~my police clearance (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~home study (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~photocopy of I-800A approval (notarized, certified, authenticated)
~complete set of photocopies of everything listed above
~3 couples photos
~8 family life photos
~3 extra passport photos of Kevin
~3 extra passport photos of me
~2 copies of Kevin’s passport photo/signature pages
~2 copies of my passport photo/signature pages

Included with all of this, was our second adoption agency fee and the CCCWA (China) fee.

*Before you ask why we had to certify our certified birth and marriage certificates (say that fast 3 times), “certified copy” is more of a notarization.  It still has to be state certified before the Chinese Consulate will authenticate it.

Our adoption agency should receive our dossier on Monday.  It will be checked in to ensure all necessary items are present.  Then it will undergo a critical review, being examined with a fine tooth comb 3 full times to look for any mistakes or errors.  Once they have ensured all is in perfect order, our dossier will be carefully bound with photos mounted, a summary translation will be completed (this is not a full translation as that is done in China), and it will be sent to China.  This critical review process will take 9-11 business days.

Counting the days out, I hope to hear good news from our agency between August 15th and August 19th.

Heard from our courier

Our courier in Chicago submitted our document to the Chinese Consulate for authentication, today.  We are on course to have it back in our hands a week from tomorrow.  I hope to turn it around and FedEx our dossier to our adoption agency that same day, depending on what time it gets here.

I feel so desperate to be done with this part of our journey!  I know there is a lot more to come and I’m looking forward to certain parts of it (not necessarily the heart-wrenching parts).  Again, I find myself soaking up any information I can find about adopting from China, special needs, attachment, etc.

I am thrilled God is taking us on this journey!!

It’s here! It’s here!

I can’t believe I forgot to watch for the mailman, today!  Wouldn’t you know, the day I forget to run out and check the mailbox is the day our I-800A approval comes?!  I didn’t think to check it until 4pm and was thrilled to see our approval!  I ended up having time to copy it and get the copy notarized and FedEx'd to our courier in Chicago.  She will get it state certified and then authenticated at the Chinese Consulate.  I’m hoping to have it back sometime next week.

While we wait for that, I will send Kevin to get his extra passport style pics and double check my stack that I have ready to send to our adoption agency.  Once we get our authenticated I-800A approval (otherwise known as the I-797) back, I will do a few quick copies and slide it into my already prepared FedEx envelope, headed to our adoption agency!

Along with our dossier, we will be sending our second agency fee and the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) fee.  I can’t believe we are almost done with our dossier!! :)

This past weekend, I finished painting our new guest bedroom.

I put our extra twin bed and nightstand in there.  Now I just need some bedding that won't clash with the walls (the only twin size bedding I have is kid colors/themes) and it will be useable.  We would still like to get a daybed with trundle, but I’m super happy to be this far!

The girls have all-day dance camp this week.  I think Nathan is enjoying full reign of the TV.

I think I’ve achieved stalking status

Yeah, I’ve started running out to the mailbox as soon as I see the mail truck go by!  Nothing from USCIS as of yet.  I am REALLY hoping our I-800A approval comes this week!  If it doesn’t, I won’t panic too much (easy to say now).  I am now wishing I had sent the form that asks them to text you when they finish reviewing your file. :/

My church is having a rummage sale to raise money for various missions projects throughout the year.  I am using this as a wonderful opportunity to sort through some things in our basement.  Last night, I sorted through the baby gear and baby toys.  I didn’t have nearly as much as I thought I did.  I guess I got rid of a lot last summer.  I just have a few basics for each age level and that is it.  I have still found plenty to donate, however!

I am keeping myself busy between the basement and now painting another bedroom!  I decided to go ahead and paint what will become our “guest” bedroom.  Today, I did a second coat of white on the ceiling.  I will probably need to do 1 more coat.  I haven’t chosen the wall color just yet.  I’m thinking something in the brown family but not sure.  Once I get the room painted, we will go ahead and set it up as a guest bedroom with the various pieces of furniture we have.  At some point I would like to buy a day bed with a trundle, but I guess that will have to wait!

I can’t believe we have less than 5 weeks until school starts!  These last few weeks are going to speed right by with the activities and camps we have planned!  I will have an 8th grader, a 3rd grader and a kindergartener!  My baby boy will be riding the bus for the first time and going off to school!

Room done for now

I finished painting the ceiling and walls in the boys’ room, last weekend!  We even moved Nathan’s furniture into the room.  He is excited but wishes Little Brother were here to share it with him RIGHT NOW.  In the meantime, he continues to sneak into Rebecca’s bed during the night, each night.

Empty room

Closet- Little Brother’s bedding & stuffed robot on the top shelf.  Wow, I think this qualifies as the first thing(s) I’ve bought for LB!

I am going to hold off on any wall hangings for the time being.  Without knowing the age of our new little one, I can’t really go any further in my room preparations. I think we could add a crib/toddler bed if we move a couple of things around.  If he needs a twin size bed, I’m not too sure what we’ll do.  I would like to hold off at least 1 more year before allowing Nathan to sleep on a top bunk bed.  And it goes without saying that Little Brother will be welcome in Mommy & Daddy’s bed as needed during his transition into our family.

I have started “eagerly” checking the mailbox each day.  I’m not quite to stalking status just yet- trying to hold off til next week. ;)  Our courier in Chicago is on vacation, anyway, so we wouldn’t be able to send her our I-800A approval copy for state certification and Chinese authentication until next week. 

I-800A fingerprints done

We left at about 9am for the 2.5-hr drive to the USCIS Application Support Center.  Everything went smoothly.  We were in and out of there in about 10 minutes, stopping for lunch on the way home!  Now we wait for our I-800A approval.  I think I might start stalking the mailman watching for the daily mail in a week or so.  I know that is too soon but I can't help myself. :)  This is the last document we need for our dossier!

I started painting in what will become the boys' room, last weekend.  I put two coats of white on the ceiling and see that it needs a third, so I need to do that.  I also chose and bought the robot quilts from Target and the grey paint for the walls.  I am so ready to get this project finished so we can move Nathan's furniture in and the extra furniture out of the hallway, etc!

In other news, the kids had swimming lessons last week.  That kept us pretty busy, along with a couple of softball games.  This week we are finishing up the softball season, resuming piano lessons, and attending a 4th of July party.

Fingerprint appointment

I did, indeed, hear from our courier on June 12 to let us know she had FedEx'd our 12 state certified and Chinese authenticated documents back to us.  I was on "high alert status" for the FedEx man the next day.  I held back from approaching a FedEx truck that stopped at the neighbor's house that morning.  Luckily, another one (or the same one? how cruel would that be?) came that afternoon and delivered our wonderful documents!  I immediately inspected each document, taking time to appreciate the beautiful Chinese seal of authentication on each one.  I gasped as I noticed what appeared to be an extra set of staple holes in our home study and immediately emailed our adoption agency to ask if it would be a problem.  You see, removal of a state certification page voids it, even if you re-staple it to the document.  As it turns out, I believe the extra staple holes were from the home study being stapled together before the state certification page was added (it is rather thick and looks like it was difficult to staple).  The Chinese Consulate did authenticate it, so they were fine with it.  Whew!

Having received those documents gave me a task to complete- copying!  We have to send a full set of copies (including state certification and Chinese authentication pages) with our original documents to our adoption agency, so I got that done.  I also readied my next two FedEx envelopes with the exception of one air bill.  I need to pick up some more of those.

Today, we received our I-800A fingerprinting appointment!  It is on June 30th at noon.  We will have to drive about 2.5 hours to the USCIS office, so Kevin has scheduled himself to use a vacation day on the 30th.  We talked about the possibility of not waiting for our appointment and just walking in (most USCIS offices will allow this if they aren't too busy that day and you have the document that shows your scheduled appointment) but decided against it with our 2.5-hr drive and all.  Schedule wise, the 30th will be easier to manage than any day next week, and I'm not convinced walking in early saves that much time in the long run.  I guess this means I have two weeks to make sure my fingertips are adequately moisturized to produce "good" fingerprints.

Back to our timeline... as long as we don't get an RFE (request for evidence- meaning, they need more information on something), perhaps we could receive our I-800A approval 3 weeks after our fingerprint appointment, which would be July 21.  Then we would need to copy our approval, have it notarized, and send it off to our courier for state certification and Chinese authentication.  I'm going to hope to start stalking the FedEx man either August 1st or 4th for it's return.  And the moment I have that document back in my hands, I will make another copy and stick it in the FedEx envelope to our adoption agency.  I don't know if I can turn it around that same day or the next business day.  Either way, we could potentially be sending ALL dossier documents to our agency early August!  IF we don't run into any snags during this last step...

Thank goodness the kids are keeping me busy!  This week is kind of an off week- just tumbling for Nathan (which he is enjoying!), a couple softball games for Rebecca and me, and some miscellaneous appointments.  Perhaps we can squeeze in some swim time and a movie.  The girls are begging to go see the new How to Train Your Dragons 2 movie.

I-800A application received

Based off of another adoptive family's time line, I was going to start stalking the mailman for this notification, tomorrow!  What a surprise to receive it before then! :)  So, it's official- our I-800A application was received at the USCIS Lockbox in Texas on June 4.  It has been forwarded to the Hague Adoption Unit at the National Benefits Center in Lee's Summit, Missouri.  The notification suggests it will take 10-14 business days, for shipping and processing, to reach the Hague Adoption Unit.  Let's see...that would be June 18-24.  At that point they will schedule an appointment for us to have our biometrics done and send us a letter to let us know when/where this appointment will take place.  This last notification took 8 days from the time they received our application (2 days to input and print it) until it reached us, so I guess I should allow for an additional 8 days before I start stalking the mailman again.  Hm... June 26 - July 2.

This still leaves the FedEx man for me to *ahem* patiently wait for.  I expect to hear from our courier tonight regarding our (hopefully) authenticated documents.  Perhaps they will arrive tomorrow or Monday.

I am going to start preparing for our next steps.  I've already written myself some notes covering what we have left to do.  I can go ahead and fill out another Chinese authentication application form (for the I-800A approval, once it comes) and FedEx package.  I can also copy and organize our authenticated documents when they arrive, copy our passports, and fill out a FedEx package for everything to be sent to our adoption agency.  Oh yes, and it's time to *remind* Kevin to go get his extra passport style photos done.

Yep...coming into the home stretch of the dossier...

Moving along, yet waiting

I received an email from our courier to let us know that she submitted our documents to the Consulate on June 5th.  She will let us know after she has FedEx'd our documents back to us on June 12th.  I guess this means she already had them state certified with no issues?  This would make me very happy!  I won't get too excited until the documents are back in my hands and I see those nifty certifications and authentications for myself!  I may be a little jumpy come Friday!

Meanwhile, we have not heard anything on our I-800A, which is to be expected.  I have noticed, however, that the USCIS has cashed our check!  I monitor our bank accounts online on a regular basis, and the USCIS check transaction showed up on June 9th.  Not that I'm obsessing...

We have decided to start preparing the boys' bedroom this summer.  It should keep me busy and provide a good distraction while we wait for our I-800A.  Right now, the room has Rebecca's old furniture in it.  (You may remember we moved her in with Caetlyn several months ago.)  We need to remove a few things from the walls and patch any holes.  I have not quite decided whether we will just retouch the original khaki paint or choose a new color.  I would at least like to paint the ceiling white.  (Yes, the walls and ceilings were all painted khaki before we bought the house.)  Nathan has chosen robots for the theme, and I think that will work well for a number of years.

Who is this child we have been praying for?  How old is he?  What are his likes/dislikes?

Sent off I-800A

I sent off our I-800A, otherwise known as the Application for Determination of Suitability of a Child from a Convention Country, yesterday!  This is a 9-page application (plus two separate 1-page Supplement 2 forms, in our case) asking the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services to determine our qualifications as adopters (approval to adopt internationally).  Now, we will wait impatiently patiently for our fingerprint appointment to be mailed to us.  This may take 30 days or  more.  We will be told when and where to show up for our fingerprints (biometrics).  Once that is done, we wait for them to process our application.  They will read our Home Study, review our application, and check state child abuse registries, which can take another 30 days or more but has been running a little less, lately.  This is the last document we need for our dossier!

In the meantime, I sent our first 12 documents to a courier to be taken to the IL Secretary of State for certification and then to the Chinese Consulate for authentication- all in Chicago.  So, basically, all documents have to take the following steps:
     1) notarized to verify our signatures (except for our certified birth and marriage certificates)
     2) certified by the Secretary of State in which they were notarized to verify that the Notary whose name is on the document is a true and current Notary
     3) authenticated by the Chinese Consulate to verify the authenticity of the Secretary of State's signature and seal

Some states and regions also have other steps to this process.  And all of this, of course, requires fees.  Once we get our I-800A approval, that will also have to be sent for certification and authentication.  The reason I have decided to do it in 2 batches is so I have time to fix any little issues that come up in this process.  Sometimes a notary doesn't word things quite right or whatever.  I might as well deal with these issues while we are awaiting our I-800A approval.  Plus, the Chinese Consulate will not authenticate any document that was notarized more than 6 months ago, so we are working on a time table here.

Our pictures are here, and the only other thing we need is for Kevin to go get 6 copies of a passport style picture of himself.

That's it!  We are coming into the home stretch of having our dossier finished!

IL approves

Lookie what came in the mail, today!  This caught me completely off guard as we were not expecting it for 3 more weeks!  Our social worker emailed us to let us know it was approved, so I ran out to the mailbox and there it was- the official IL home study approval, dated May 27.  Only 1 week from submission, too!

Now it's time to shift money into checking and pick up our officially approved home study!!  I-800A application... here we come!!

It's also time to start getting documents state certified and authenticated by the Chinese Consultate.

Home study approved

We received our home study approval certificate from our adoption agency on Tuesday!  Our social worker also let us know that she would be submitting our home study to the state of IL (DCFS) by the end of the day.  We have been told by several people to expect about a 4 week wait for this approval, which would be June 17.  Not that I'm counting or anything...

I ordered all of the photos we need for our dossier.  They should be here in a week.  Kevin still needs to get his extra passport style photos.  There is really nothing else for us to do while we wait for our last home study approval.

I have been reading lots and lots of blogs and books!

First review of home study

This evening, our social worker let us know that our adoption agency has done their first review of our home study and they had 2 questions for clarification.  I was able to provide a couple of answers for our social worker and she has submitted our home study for its second review.  At first, the extra questions were making me nervous, but our social worker reminded me that it's better to answer any potential questions before they become questions- in other words, better now than later.

I am now hoping our adoption agency is able to finish the 2nd review by the end of this week.  We shall see!  I'm assuming they just need to review any changes/clarifications our social worker has made.  Then, we will submit our home study to the state of IL (DCFS) for their approval.

Still waiting

Our social worker contacted me with a couple of questions to clarify a small detail in our home study at the end of last week.  That's the last we've heard from her.  She said it was her supervisor who wanted the clarification, so I'm not sure if she will notify our adoption agency of the slight change/addition to the home study or what.  I am *hoping* we hear back from them by the end of this week, but it could be more like the beginning of next week.  ::twiddling thumbs::  I am soooo eager to move on to the next phase of waiting- the I-800A application!  I have it all filled out, printed, in a FedEx envelope, and the Airbill filled out.  Can we say eager?!  The only things we will need to add to that FedEx package are the home study itself, signatures to everything, and a big ol' check!  Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself!  We need approval from the state of IL before we can submit our I-800A!

I took some time working on our dossier pictures, today.  I was going to go ahead and order them printed into 4x6's but then had so many options on the website I am using.  They can remove glare from glasses and various other things.  There are also 3 different printing options.  If these were just everyday pictures, I wouldn't worry about any of that.  But these are the only pictures the Chinese government is going to have of us.  First impressions and all...  So I ordered a couple pics done a couple different ways to see if there is a noticeable difference (worth the price?).  I am always eager to compare the quality of photo printing between different companies anyway.

I'll post as soon as we hear something from our social worker and/or adoption agency!

Waiting for approval of home study

Earlier this week, we received word that our home study is in the hands of the dossier specialists at our adoption agency.  We probably have another week or so before we'll hear anything from them.  I'm keeping myself busy with various de-cluttering/organization projects around the house.  It feels good to get rid of clutter!

Today's weather is a reminder that summer is on its way!  I have windows open and ceiling fans on!

Home study to adoption agency

I have emailed back and forth a few times with our social worker, today.  She  needed to clarify a couple of small details in our home study report and told me she would be sending it to our adoption agency this very day!  :)  Our agency will review it and let our social worker know if any changes and/or additions need to be made.  We are told this process will take 1-2 weeks.

The next step will be to submit our home study to the state of IL for their approval.  More waiting!

We celebrated Easter and Nathan's birthday with Kevin's family this past weekend.  We took the opportunity to take a few photos with various family members.  I haven't had a chance to upload them to my computer, yet, but hopefully they are "suitable" for our dossier so we can be finished with that step.

Nothing new

Just a quick note to let you know where we're at.  We are eagerly awaiting news of our home study being sent to our adoption agency.  I will be thrilled if I hear something by the end of this week!  Nothing else is going on, adoption wise.  I am so thankful our kids keep me busy.  Otherwise, I would have gone nuts by now!  And to think the waiting gets much harder once you have a referral...

Hope everyone had a good Easter!  I know we did!  Christ has risen!

IL background checks are here

Our social worker emailed me, today, to let me know our IL background checks are in!  I am so relieved!!  She is finishing up our home study and expects to have it on her supervisor's desk by the end of the week!  I don't know how long it will take her supervisor to sign off on it.  Is it possible that our home study will be sent to our adoption agency by the end of next week?!

Looks like I'd better get my FedEx envelopes ready to go- one to send our I-800A application to USCIS and one to send our completed documents to a courier to be certified and authenticated in Chicago!

I am jazzed!

Still waiting

We're in a waiting phase.  Our social worker is finishing up our home study.  We have not received word that our IL background checks are back so I'm assuming they have not arrived as of yet.  I just emailed our social worker so we'll see what she has to say about it.  I'm concerned that IL is ignoring us or losing our requests.  The fact that they will not respond to our social worker is not comforting to say the least!  We may end up having to wait an extra MONTH for the completion of our home study because of this.  I am trying to remind myself that God is in control and there may be a reason for this that we cannot see right now.

We also ran into another possible delay, last week.  It had to do with our financial info.  After talking with our social worker and our adoption agency, I think we have it straightened out and simplified.  Whew!  I was not liking the idea of having to re-do a couple documents.

I have a little more work to do on our pictures, so perhaps I should work on those to help the time pass.  We have our 3 "couples" pictures on disc- just need to have them printed.  We also have 6 "family life" pictures ready to be printed and need 2 more.  These must have Kevin and me in them, plus at least 1 other person (family, friends, neighbors).  I now have my 6 extra passport style photos but Kevin needs to get his done.

I really don't have much else to work on.  Besides the home study and I-800A, all of our documents are done and notarized.  We have our passports.  I've copied everything, filled out virtually all of the I-800A application, and filled out the application to have our documents authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  I started a FedEx account for when we're ready to send documents.  I guess I could pick up the FedEx envelopes and labels I'll need.  I'm just not very good at waiting on other people...

In the meantime, our summer calendar is taking shape with various camps and activities.  I try to maintain a careful balance between activities and down time- not always easy to do!  For starters, I am coaching Rebecca's softball team, again.  Should be fun!

Last home study visit done

Kevin finished his China-specific parent training last weekend, so we are both fully "educated" now. ;)  We have 2 official certificates of completion- one from our home study agency and one from our adoption agency.

Yesterday, we had our last home study visit!  It was the first time our social worker came to our home and the first time she met the children.  I will admit that I was a wee bit nervous.  I wasn't concerned about the house (although I did take the opportunity to do some spring cleaning beforehand), but I was concerned about the children's behavior- namely Nathan.  He can be a wild card at times.  As it turned out, the kids mostly did fine.  After the initial excitement of having a visitor, they settled down and pretty much left us alone until the very end, when Nathan thought he should receive some attention from the social worker.  We filled out a few more forms and did some talking.  Our social worker had a few questions to clarify some things and then we took her on a tour of the house.  Caetlyn was doing her homework throughout the visit, but she did chime in quite a bit.  She even asked some questions.  I think this visit made the adoption process more real for the children.

Our social worker expects to have our home study document completed in about 2 weeks.  We have one slight wrinkle (get used to it, right?)- our IL background checks have not come back.  They typically take up to 6 weeks, which would be April 11, so they are still within the expected time range.  Still, our social worker contacted them to make sure the requests had been received and she was unable to get a response.  She went ahead and re-submitted the requests by a different route just to be sure.  She cannot complete our home study without those background checks!

Once the home study is finished, she will send us a draft to look over.  Then, it will go to our adoption agency, followed by her supervisor and the state of IL.  I pray that this approval process goes smoothly!  We will be celebrating when this big step is complete!

In family news, our son turned 5 this week.  He is now a whole hand!  I will close with a picture of him opening one of his gifts.

China-specific parent training half done

I finished all of my China-specific parent training videos, so now Kevin just needs to do it.  I will probably "encourage" him to do it this coming weekend. ;)  I did learn some new things and had other things reaffirmed.

I don't have much else to report.  We are waiting for our next (hopefully, last) home study visit, which is a week from tomorrow.  It can't get here soon enough as far as I'm concerned!

Oh!  I almost forgot to share.  Kevin and I both thought his employer had no adoption benefits but we were wrong.  After our social worker encouraged us to check on it (she's had other clients who were employed by the same company), Kevin found something!  They will reimburse up to a specific amount of certain adoption-related expenses after the adoption is final in the eyes of IL.  I am still reading the info packet, but it looks pretty straight forward.  We will file a claim with attached receipts, bills, etc., and they will take 2-4 weeks to review it.  I need to read up on what the state of IL requires for our adoption to be finalized.

A couple people have begun to ask us for updates on our adoption process and that feels really good.  To me, it means they are thinking about us.

It's wild to think there may be a little person on the other side of the world right now, who will eventually become our child.

Added some pictures

I got our picture disc, yesterday!  I have added a few pics to the blog, now.  I may share a few more when I have time.  I think we just need 1-2 more "family life" photos and we'll be set for our dossier.  It feels really good to get that done!

We now have access to the online parent training classes we need to finish up our pre-adoption education.  I think I will start on that, today.  I am actually looking forward to this.

I got antsy eager again, yesterday, so I filled out the authentication request.  After getting some advice from other BTDT adoptive families, I have decided to send all of our documents for state certification and Chinese authentication once we have our completed/approved Home Study.  It will give me something to obsess about do while awaiting our I-800A approval.  Plus, if we have any issues with that part, we can hopefully take care of it without causing a delay.  I think I will be able to relax a wee bit once I have the largest chunk of documents fully ready for our dossier.  After our I-800A gets approved, we will send it for state certification and Chinese authentication by itself.

Fourth home study visit

Well...we survived our family pictures on Saturday!  Our 4 y/o was less than cooperative but I'm holding out hope that our photographer was able to get some decent shots.  I will share a pic or two on here when I have them!

Kevin had his individual session with our social worker, this morning.  He didn't say much about it so I'm assuming it went well.  Our social worker will now start writing up our home study!  When she comes for the home visit on April 3, she will ask any remaining questions she has and check a few things in our home (I'm assuming).  This will be the first time she gets to meet the kids.  Let's hope it goes well!

After the April 3rd visit, our social worker will take a couple more weeks to finish writing our home study.  If I have this straight in my mind, the next step will be for her to send it to our adoption agency.  They will spend about a week looking it over and making sure it meets all Hague and China requirements.  If they see a need for any additions and/or changes, they will let her know.  Once our adoption agency approves it, we must get approval from the state of IL.  I am not sure how long this typically takes so I am going to ask our social worker.  I believe the home study then goes back to our adoption agency before coming to us.  I feel like it will be a small miracle when we finally get the finished document in our hands!

We are still waiting to hear back from our adoption agency regarding the specifics of the China pre-adoption education we still need.  I expected to hear back Monday or Tuesday, so I just sent another email to ask about it.  Hopefully, they won't think I'm too impatient!  Haha!

Kevin and I have started having a lot of adoption related dreams.  I guess it makes sense that our brains would be sorting through adoption thoughts and concerns while we sleep.  I can't tell you how many pregnancy/baby dreams I had during each of my 3 pregnancies!

I've told a couple more people about our plans to adopt a Waiting Child from China.  Most people have no idea we've been thinking/dreaming about this for so long, so they are surprised when we tell them.  I'm sure it seems sudden to them.  Because of this, it has felt different from making a pregnancy announcement.  The reactions have been positive- usually a congrats or questions about the process- but lacking in excitement (except for my mom).  However, my closest friends, who have known about my desire to adopt for a long time, are thrilled for us.

Third home study visit

Our Certificate of Completion for our pre-adoption classes has been faxed to our adoption agency, so we are waiting to hear back from them on how to go about taking the remaining (China specific) classes we need.  I would imagine we'll hear back by Monday.  I expect us to be able to complete those (probably 3 classes) in a matter of a few days.

I had my individual session with our social worker, this morning.  It went really well!  My throat was tired from talking so much, but that was my own fault- I just couldn't stop!  Our social worker reported that she is waiting on the following documents: 1) IL background checks for both Kevin and me, 2) two of our reference letters.  I know that 1 of the reference letters is on its way to her, so that should arrive within the next few days.  The background checks typically take 6 weeks, so we are not concerned about those.  Everything else has come back!

Our family photo session is tomorrow morning.  We will be able to use several of those photos for our dossier (and hopefully share some on here!).  I was able to get some clarification on a couple of questions I had regarding the photos, so I am feeling good about that.  We also still need to each get 6 extra passport style photos.  Three of those will be included in the dossier and 3 will be needed for travel.

Kevin's individual home study session will be Wednesday.  After that, our social worker will start writing up our home study.  We have scheduled our home visit for April 3, so that is when she will actually come to our home, which is the last part of the home study.  I asked her how long it typically takes her to finish writing our home study after that and she said approximately 2 weeks.  At that point, we will begin a series of checks/approvals needed before our home study can be sent to the USCIS with our I-800A application for immigration approval.

And THEN....you guessed it- more waiting!

We do need to keep an eye on the calendar as most of our documents not only have an "expiration" date but also won't be accepted by the Chinese Consulate for authentication past 6 months from the date they were printed.  Our earliest document is dated February 4, 2014, which gives us until August 4, 2014 to have them state certified and then authenticated at the Chinese Consulate.  I am planning to send ALL of our documents at one time to be certified and authenticated, but if it doesn't look like everything will be done before August, I will just have to send what I have in the first batch and send a second batch after the arrival of our I-800A approval.  We will be using a courier in Chicago, so it would be more financially efficient to send everything in 1 batch.  That is the only reason I am trying to do it that way.

I seriously love talking about all these details.  Something must be wrong with me...

Kevin's passport arrived

Kevin's passport renewal arrived in Saturday's mail.  I was definitely relieved!  I had started to get concerned over his renewal taking so much longer than my new passport.  Plus, I knew they had cashed the check to pay for his renewal, so I was starting to fear that it had been lost in the mail.  Alas, the passport arrived and calmed my fears!

I have my individual home study meeting with our social worker on Friday.  I am both eager and a little nervous about it.  Kevin's individual home study meeting is a week from Wednesday.  We will need to schedule the home visit, next.  Hopefully, I will know when that is going to be after my meeting on Friday as I like to get things on the calendar ASAP!  I also want to ask our social worker approximately how long she expects to spend writing up our home study after our last meeting.  I just want to make sure I have reasonable expectations.

I spent some time this past weekend obsessing planning outfits for our family pics this coming weekend.  I told myself I would remain relaxed about this photo session.  I mainly wanted to make sure all 5 of us had clean clothes that wouldn't clash come Saturday. Of course, I ended up getting a little more involved than that.  Luckily, I was able to bounce ideas off of a friend.

I don't have much more to say this week.  Perhaps I'll have more to share on Friday.  Back to watching "Gotcha Day" videos on youtube...

Classes almost done

I went to an adoption/foster/orphan care conference this past weekend.  There were some moments when I found myself deeply touched!  I wasn't expecting to experience such strong emotions!  I was able to choose 3 sessions to attend (aside from the 2 main sessions) and I focused on post-adoption concerns.  I definitely came away with some tools in my bag and a list of books to read!

We have our last pre-adoption class, tonight.  This will satisfy IL and USA, but we will still have to take some China specific online classes through our adoption agency.  I am chomping at the bit to get the official list and get started on these!  The classes through our home study agency have been good!  It has been great to make some in-person connections with other couples who are adopting internationally.

All physicals have now been completed!  I will give our social worker Nathan's form at class, tonight.  We have also had all of our documents notarized and are in a holding/waiting pattern.

Here is what we are waiting for / have left to do:
~arrival of Kevin's passport renewal (really surprised my new passport beat his renewal)
~arrival of our 5 reference letters to our social worker (although I know she has at least 1 already)
~my individual home study meeting (scheduled for 3/14)
~Kevin's individual home study meeting (scheduled for 3/19)
~whole family home study visit at our home
~6 passport style pictures of me
~6 passport style pictures of Kevin
~3 photos of Kevin and me together
~8 photos of Kevin and me with someone else

Perhaps Kevin and I can knock out the passport pics this coming weekend.  That would be good!  A large chunk of the remaining photos will be taken care of when we have our family photo session on 3/15.  We will probably still have a few to get after that, so we may be hitting up various friends for help with this!

Kevin told his family

Kevin's dad actually called while we were in our pre-adoption class, Tuesday night!  Doh!  He called him back afterward and shared the news.  I asked Kevin about his dad's reaction but couldn't get much info out of him.  "He was happy," was about it.

The class was nice.  There are 6 couples (all doing international adoption) and I figured out that I had gone to college with 1 of the women.  That was funny.  I'm looking forward to our second class, tomorrow night.

I took the girls for their physicals, today.  Everything went fine!  Nathan's is on Friday and then I can check those off the to-do list.

Guess what arrived in the mail, yesterday?!  My passport!  It only took 16 days from the day I applied until I had my passport in my hot, little hands!  Kevin's renewal hasn't arrived, yet.

One of our personal references told me she mailed her letter to our social worker, this morning.  So excited about that!  I am so grateful for her speedy work on this!

I just want to hurry everything up!  ::deep breath::

Oh!  I spoke on the phone with an International Adoption Clinic that is 2-3 hours from here.  They can review the file on a referral, advise us on travel vaccines and meds to take with, and, of course, do a complete evaluation on our adoptive child once we are home.  I need to share this info with Kevin so we can talk about it and decide whether or not to use any of these services.  They all come at a price but may be worth it.