Feeling Disheartened

Let me just preface this post by saying I KNOW that this journey we are undertaking is in God's hands and that His timing is divine. That being said, I pray for patience!! When we first submitted our dossier we were told that we may travel as early as February ... and as late as May. February sounded unrealistic to me and I secretly set my heart on April. Well, it now looks like the earliest that we will be able to travel is May.

i'm so sad

We had a conference call with our agency this afternoon regarding the new process for families that are adopting Waiting Children. The CCAA is now sending a Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adoption prior to sending TAs. Based on the past few months, it seems that these letters are being sent to our agency once a month, along with the referrals for families adopting through the traditional route. The average wait from DTC to receiving the Letter Seeking Confirmation (aka Acceptance Letter) is 120 days. That's just an average, and by no means a guarantee. We were DTC on 12/1/06 and IF we were to hit the average, we can expect to receive our Acceptance Letter at the end of March. The agency is giving families seven days to sign and return the letter and then they will be submitted as a group to the CCAA with a request for TAs. Once the letters are sent, TAs are generally being received about 21 days later, which would put us well into April and we can expect to travel two to three weeks after TA.

Even if we were to receive our letter in early March, which is unlikely given Chinese New Year, we still wouldn't be able to travel until May. That's because there is a huge trade fair held in China from April 15-30 and prices for airfare and travel are so inflated that agencies do not send families at this time. And then Spring Festival, a national holiday, takes place May 1-7, and families can't travel then.

The most disheartening thing about this is that Oakley continues to wait in an orphanage during her most formative months. We attended a seminar at our agency this past weekend and the information received was very enlightening, but very difficult to hear. It focused on the impact of orphanage life on child development and attachment. The facilitator indicated that during the second year of life, brain activity is most heightened and can be negatively affected when basic needs are not being met. I know most orphanages provide for these children as well as they can, given their limited resources. But the fact is ... Oakley is suffering from neglect and poor nutrition and her physical, cognitive, emotional and social needs are not being met. And the longer she is there, the harder it will be for her to overcome these obstacles.

We will do everything in our power to help Oakley realize her full potential, but it breaks my heart that we cannot reach her sooner. I think our expectations are pretty realistic and I know that as much as we want to believe it, love will not be enough. We are ready to give ourselves over to Oakley and with great effort, love, and determination, we are committed to helping her grow and heal.

Please continue to pray for our little girl.

Have You Heard Anything Yet?

This seems to be the question of the day, so here's the latest scoop. We received an email from our agency on Friday regarding the changes that the CCAA has instituted for Waiting Children. Instead of waiting for TA (Travel Approval) we are now expecting to receive a LOA (Letter of Acceptance) document that we have to sign and return, confirming our desire to continue the adoption of Oakley. Initial rumors were that it could delay the process anywhere from two to eight weeks -- which seems like a lifetime at this point.

But we've been really encouraged by the number of LOAs received to date by families. One family had a LID of 11/14/06 and just received their LOA last week, which is great news! Also, most families are receiving TA within a few weeks of returning the LOA. It seems like the CCAA is trying to streamline the process and it will soon be a mirror image of the traditional adoption process in China. The good news is that once we receive our LOA we'll have a better idea of when we might expect to travel and we can get our affairs in order.

Our agency is hosting a conference call on February 12 to communicate all of the changes and procedures, so I should know more then.

The other GREAT NEWS we received last week is that Oakley's friend, Caeleigh, will be coming home soon!! Her parents just received their LOA last week so they are expecting TA anytime. They are 51 days ahead of us in terms of DTC, so while nothing is definite, that at least gives us a time frame to consider.

Please pray that God is preparing these little girls' hearts for their new families. May they be immediately comforted by our love and devotion and may God keep them safe and watch over them. Pray for a speedy LOA for us and a speedy TA for Caeleigh's parents. And while you're at it, we'd love for you to offer prayers for us in consideration of a Shaohannah's Hope grant for which we recently applied. This could go a long way in helping us meet our funding requirements!

We Have A LID

Our LID is 12/30/06. Now we just wait for TA .... and wait .... and wait .... and wait ....

November Accomplishments

The paperchase is winding down and this month we waited impatiently for the much-coveted I-171H form from our government. This form is Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (what a mouthful) and we have to submit it along with all the other documents we've collected for the dossier.

1. 11/3/06 -- Took notarized documents to Fayette County Clerk for county certification
   
   
2. 11/15/06 -- Had Criminal Checks county-certified in Frankfort; Secured live signatures on Mike's birth certificate and our marriage license; Had all documents state-authenticated at the Capital; mounted our family photos for the dossier
   
   
3. 11/16/06 -- Submitted dossier documents to Grace at AHH
   
   
4. 11/17/06 - RECEIVED I-171H
   
   
5. 11/20/06 -- Had I-171 notarized, certified and authenticated. Delivered to AHH for overnight delivery to the courier
   
   
6. 11/24/06 -- Received updated photos of Oakley compliments of the Strand Family:)
   
   
7. 11/30/06 -- Pre-Approval (PA) Received!!

all in all .... a VERY productive month!

We Have PA!!

Grace called today and we have PA!!! That means that China has approved us to be Oakley's parents and she's really going to be ours! AND, it means I can finally send her care package -- I'm anxious for her to have the photo album I've prepared in hopes that one of the nannies will help prepare her for our arrival.

I drove to the agency this afternoon to pick up our PA and the original photos they sent in her file, along with all of her original medical forms. I'm SO happy to have the photos and I'll use them in her Life Book as we begin to share with her the incredible story of how she joined our family. These pictures were taken when she was just four months old .... just look at that hair!

October Accomplishments

1. 10/09/06 -- Submitted application form to AHH in consideration of Xin Xiang, aka Mya
   
   
2. 10/12/06 -- AHH MATCHED US WITH MYA
   
   
3. 10/13/06 -- Mike and I met with Stacie at Adoption Assistance regarding Home Study amendment
   
   
4. 10/19/06 -- Submitted LOI and PAPL
   
   
5. 10/22/06 -- Cancelled our contract with CCAI; sent letter to inform them that we've found our baby girl on another agency's waiting list

Paperchase

We've amended our Home Study to reflect Xin Xiang's age and today we submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) and Prospective Adoptive Parents Letter (PAPL) to AHH. The CCAA (in China) will review these documents and will hopefully issue a Parents Approval (PA), meaning we've received approval to adopt her, pending acceptance of our dossier. We are REALLY anxious to receive PA because then we can send her a care package!!

She's Ours!

The committee was scheduled to meet this evening and Grace promised to call me as soon as the meeting was over to let me know the findings. My phone rang late this afternoon and I was surprised to see AHH's telephone number. I thought they must need clarification on one of the forms or some additional information. I was shocked when she said the committee had decided to meet early. WE'VE BEEN MATCHED WITH MYA!!

Here's what we know about her as reported at 18 months of age:

• Her Chinese name is Dang Xin Xiang. The given surname, Dang, is usually somewhat arbitrary, after the orphanage or its director.
  
  
• Her birth date is August 20, 2004 (Our Wedding Anniversary!), so she will be about 2 1/2 years old when we bring her home.
  
  
• She resides at the Social Welfare Institute of Zhangzhou City, an orphanage in the Fujian Province.
  
  
• She is 84 cm (33 in) tall and weighs 12 kg (26 lbs). She is in the 98th percentile on the Chinese growth chart and in the 92nd percentile on the American growth chart. Not being a family of significant height (TRULY), Sawyer noted how ironic it would be if she ends of being taller than any of us:)!
  
  
• She can stand steadily and walk freely by herself. She can take building blocks out of a cup and use two pieces of blocks to knock at each other. She is cooperative when "being put on clothes and take off unlined clothes and socks." (I love the translations!)
  
  
• She can imitate speaking and can speak three to five words. She responds to other's asking for her belongings.
  
  
• She has breakfast at 6:30, lunch at 11:30 and supper at 5:30. Her staple food is congee and her snacks consist of egg, fruit, milk powder blended with rice cereal, and biscuits.
  
  
• She is active and has a ready smile (I can't wait to see it -- I have a feeling it's going to light up our world)!
  
  
• Her favorite toys are a doll and a rattle.

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled and humbled we are to be entrusted with this precious girl. I thank God for His hand and love and for His ability to make all things possible. We will do everything in our power to ensure we reach her as quickly as possible.

On a side note .... Hagan and I did the happy dance:)!

She's Captured Our Hearts

We shared her photo with the boys, along with some of the limited information we have about her. We all adore her! I contacted CCAI just to see if we could all work together to bring Mya home. It seems that files cannot be shared between agencies and if we want to pursue this, we need to submit our dossier through AHH. So .... we're charging full steam ahead in hopes that we'll be matched with her. On October 9 we submitted our application form and all preliminary paperwork to AHH in consideration of Dang Xin Xiang, aka, Mya.

September Accomplishments

The paperchase is STILL on! The social worker came for our Home Study visit this month and she interviewed us all as a family, the boys as a group, and Mike and I individually. The boys were so nervous -- Sullivan COULD NOT sit still and he couldn't quit smiling:). Sawyer volunteered to take the lead, which eased some of the pressure for Hagan and Sullivan. They were all wonderful and were very open to talking with Stacie. Stacie thinks they're great boys (and they are) -- I couldn't be more proud!

1. 9/5/06 -- Mike applied for passport


2. 9/7/06 -- Jana applied for passport


3. 9/13/06 -- Home Study Visit with the Family (a lot of nervous energy leading up to this -- you never know what Sullivan might say:)!


4. 9/15/06 -- Home Study sent by Adoption Assistance for Review


5. 9/19/06 -- Home Study by me and changes forwarded for final copy


6. 9/25/06 -- CCAI approved our Home Study! It will be in the mail tomorrow!!
   

August Accomplishments

1. 8/2/06 -- Received notice from CCAI that our application has been approved! Received our orientation packet. Requested Mike's birth certificate and our marriage certificate from Vitalchek
   
   
2. 8/4/06 -- Received Mike's birth certificate and our marriage certificate
   
   
3. 8/7/06 -- Sent notarized Fee Policy Agreement and Service Agreements to CCAI via certified mail
   
   
4. 8/9/06 -- Received Dossier Packet to download from CCAI
   
   
5. 8/10/06 -- Michael's Physical
   
   
6. 8/14/06 -- Received signed Service Agreement from CCAI
   
   
7. 8/15/06 -- Mailed Request for my Certified Report of Birth to the Passport Services (because I was born in Germany)
   
   
8. 8/18/06 -- Jana's Physical
   
   
9. 8/30/06 -- First meeting with Stacie Musgrave (social worker) at Adoption Assistance.
   Received my certified birth certificate (yeah!!)
   
   
10. 8/31/06 -- Submitted I600A Form and Fingerprinted
    

July Accomplishments

The paperchase is on!! We're off to gather all the documents and information we need to complete our Home Study and our Dossier. Here's a summary of our July accomplishments:

1. 7/4/06 -- Mailed application to Adoption Assistance, Inc. for Home Study
   
   
2. 7/12/06 -- Mailed application to CCAI
   
   
3. 7/19/06 -- Mailed State Police criminal check forms
   
   
4. 7/20/06 -- Mailed Child/Spouse Abuse registry checks for Jana, Mike, Sawyer
   
   
5. 7/24/06 -- Received notice from CCAI that our application was received
   
   
6. 7/31/06 -- Sent Record Check to CCAI in lieu of local Police Clearance Report

... and that's just the beginning:)!