Today, as I was working in Eliana's room and saw the mailman deliver our mail I had a good feeling. So, I went outside and got the mail and sure enough there was mail from the DHS. It was our I-800/I-800A approvals, a major step towards bringing Eliana home!
These approvals essentailly give us permission to bring Eliana into the U.S. and are the first steps towards obtaining her citizenship. Next we have to submit these approvals and some other paperwork to China to get our official travel invitation. Once we get that we can finally make our travel plans to bring her home. Now we just have to wait for one more document (a formality now that we have the I-800 approvals) before we can send this next paperwork submission!
We're getting closer! Good thing we bought the paint for her room today, she'll be home soon!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
How it all went down
Today we received news of our "official" match with our daughter! Read on to find out how it all went down!
Beth had a feeling for the past few months that September was going to be our month. Given her track record on being right with her feelings, Howard was pretty optimistic as well. But she was getting nervous so about a week ago she contacted our social worker to "see where things stood". Our social worker, "D", inquired with our agency China Team as to where we were. They had a few follow-up questions for us on the scope of the special needs we were open to and gave us a general idea of where we stood. Based on what they told us, it was starting to look less likely that we would be matched in September but still likely to happen within next few months. Regardless, we still held out some hope for September.
The morning of September 20 arrived and since Beth religously checks all the discussion boards concerning China adoption we knew that a new special needs list was coming out on this day. It was also our understanding that if matched families are usually called between 8 and 10am. So, we were cautiously optimistic and maybe a bit anxious that morning. So, we begin our days as normal going to work. 9am - no phone call, 10am-no phone call, 11am - no phone call. By this point we figured it just wasn't going to be our month and the dejection sets in. At noon no longer expecting a phone call, Howard leaves the office to run a few errands. At approximately 12:04pm EDT, Beth's cell phone rings. She looks at the number displayed on the caller ID. It's our social worker's number.
The call went something like this:
Beth : "Helllllo?"
SW: "Hi Beth! It's D"
Beth: "Hi!."
SW: "Are you sitting down"
Beth:"Yes, and I am crying already!"
SW: "J just called and you have been matched with a beautiful daughter from China"
We have a daughter. She's about 26 months old and is from Shanghai, China. Aside from a minor heart condition that's already healed and being a little small, she's very healthy.
After composing herself, Beth tries to call Howard. She tries his cell, no answer. She tries his work number, no answer. She sends a frantic text message saying Debby called, call her ASAP! Howard finally looks at his phone as he's leaving the BB&T Bank on I and 16th streets in DC. As he's walking down I street towards 15th he calls her back and receives the good news.
The craziness has begun.
Beth had a feeling for the past few months that September was going to be our month. Given her track record on being right with her feelings, Howard was pretty optimistic as well. But she was getting nervous so about a week ago she contacted our social worker to "see where things stood". Our social worker, "D", inquired with our agency China Team as to where we were. They had a few follow-up questions for us on the scope of the special needs we were open to and gave us a general idea of where we stood. Based on what they told us, it was starting to look less likely that we would be matched in September but still likely to happen within next few months. Regardless, we still held out some hope for September.
The morning of September 20 arrived and since Beth religously checks all the discussion boards concerning China adoption we knew that a new special needs list was coming out on this day. It was also our understanding that if matched families are usually called between 8 and 10am. So, we were cautiously optimistic and maybe a bit anxious that morning. So, we begin our days as normal going to work. 9am - no phone call, 10am-no phone call, 11am - no phone call. By this point we figured it just wasn't going to be our month and the dejection sets in. At noon no longer expecting a phone call, Howard leaves the office to run a few errands. At approximately 12:04pm EDT, Beth's cell phone rings. She looks at the number displayed on the caller ID. It's our social worker's number.
The call went something like this:
Beth : "Helllllo?"
SW: "Hi Beth! It's D"
Beth: "Hi!."
SW: "Are you sitting down"
Beth:"Yes, and I am crying already!"
SW: "J just called and you have been matched with a beautiful daughter from China"
We have a daughter. She's about 26 months old and is from Shanghai, China. Aside from a minor heart condition that's already healed and being a little small, she's very healthy.
After composing herself, Beth tries to call Howard. She tries his cell, no answer. She tries his work number, no answer. She sends a frantic text message saying Debby called, call her ASAP! Howard finally looks at his phone as he's leaving the BB&T Bank on I and 16th streets in DC. As he's walking down I street towards 15th he calls her back and receives the good news.
The craziness has begun.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Our Wait is Over!
We can't go into much detail but today we got a call from our adoption agency informing us that we got matched today with a beautiful little girl! More details coming in the near future as things become more official but guess what we're doing next?
We're going to Disney World!
Seriously!
Stay tuned!
We're going to Disney World!
Seriously!
Stay tuned!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sonogram Picture?
We got our first songram picture:
OK, so obviously we're joking about the picture. Another month has gone by and no special needs referral so we need to pass the time. However, from what we can gather we're not that far away from a special needs referral so there is a good chance that our daughter has been born and is out there somewhere. It's just a matter of where and when we'll be connected.
Now for the update.
As of 5/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 5/15/2006
Current wait: 51 months
Projected referral date: 7/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
 |
| She's gotta be in there somewhere, right? |
OK, so obviously we're joking about the picture. Another month has gone by and no special needs referral so we need to pass the time. However, from what we can gather we're not that far away from a special needs referral so there is a good chance that our daughter has been born and is out there somewhere. It's just a matter of where and when we'll be connected.
Now for the update.
As of 5/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 5/15/2006
Current wait: 51 months
Projected referral date: 7/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Happy Anniversary to Us!
As we celebrate one decade of marriage today we got some good news from China! Rumor has it that the review room status has been changed to July 31, 2009. Of course with our LID being 5/13/09 that means our dossier is through review!! That means our dossier has essentially been approved by the CCAA without any questions.
This approval brings us one step closer to Baby China Girl and means faster time to travel once we receive a special needs referral.
Obviously since we posted a status update yesterday (2 posts in a row, crazy!) there is nothing new on that end.
This approval brings us one step closer to Baby China Girl and means faster time to travel once we receive a special needs referral.
Obviously since we posted a status update yesterday (2 posts in a row, crazy!) there is nothing new on that end.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
How it'll work
As we move closer to receiving a (special needs) referral we'd thought it would be helpful to let everyone know how the process will generally work and when and how we'll tell everyone.
When we finally do receive a referral we will get a call from our agency followed by an email with a picture and some basic information about the child. At that point we'll have less than 48 hours to make a preliminary decision. After looking over the information we will immediately send the information to our pediatrician for review. We will then discuss everything we know about the child's medical history and what it all means with the pediatrician, our social worker and between ourselves. At that point and only at that point, if we decide to accept (on a preliminary basis) the referral we will begin to inform family and friends of the referral. We will not be sharing any details (or pictures) of the referral on this blog due to privacy concerns. We will only announce that we have accepted a referral. Our intention is to share the details (and pictures!) with family and friends via email and possibly via Facebook (to a lesser extent). So, if you want the details make sure we know that and that we have your email address. We'll probably create a special email distribution list.
After we accept the referral there is more that needs to happen. We won't bore you with all the details but essentially we next have to make a formal request to the CCAA to be matched with the child and then they have to accept that request (part of the reason we cannot post any details online). We also have to make travel arrangements, apply for travel visas and her U.S. Citizenship, complete various other paperwork not to mention getting her room ready as well as a preliminary wardrobe (Beth can't wait for this part). It could take up to 6 months from when we receive the referral to when we travel to China but at least we'll know who she is!
Now for the update.
As of 6/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 4/26/2006
Current wait: 50 months
Projected referral date: 6/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
When we finally do receive a referral we will get a call from our agency followed by an email with a picture and some basic information about the child. At that point we'll have less than 48 hours to make a preliminary decision. After looking over the information we will immediately send the information to our pediatrician for review. We will then discuss everything we know about the child's medical history and what it all means with the pediatrician, our social worker and between ourselves. At that point and only at that point, if we decide to accept (on a preliminary basis) the referral we will begin to inform family and friends of the referral. We will not be sharing any details (or pictures) of the referral on this blog due to privacy concerns. We will only announce that we have accepted a referral. Our intention is to share the details (and pictures!) with family and friends via email and possibly via Facebook (to a lesser extent). So, if you want the details make sure we know that and that we have your email address. We'll probably create a special email distribution list.
After we accept the referral there is more that needs to happen. We won't bore you with all the details but essentially we next have to make a formal request to the CCAA to be matched with the child and then they have to accept that request (part of the reason we cannot post any details online). We also have to make travel arrangements, apply for travel visas and her U.S. Citizenship, complete various other paperwork not to mention getting her room ready as well as a preliminary wardrobe (Beth can't wait for this part). It could take up to 6 months from when we receive the referral to when we travel to China but at least we'll know who she is!
Now for the update.
As of 6/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 4/26/2006
Current wait: 50 months
Projected referral date: 6/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 37
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Chinese for dinner and some encouraging news!
In "celebration" of the one year anniversay of our login date we will be having Chinese for dinner tonight. This will become a yearly tradition, but hopefully next year will include one more member of our family. Speaking of which, we are currently in the process of updating our I-800a which is the approval form by INS to bring a foreign adopted child into the country. This approval only lasts 18 months so it has to be renewed every 18 months. Part of this process is to update our homestudy which is done by our social worker. So, in meeting with her just recently she said she would be very surprised if we had to do this again. Translation: we should get a special needs referral within the next 18 months! It might even happen sooner (maybe within the next 12 months) as our agency has matched many families with special needs children over the past few months. This is encouraging as the non special needs wait gets longer and longer. We'll just have to wait and see.
Now for the update.
As of 5/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 4/21/2006
Current wait: 49 months
Projected referral date: 5/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 36
Now for the update.
As of 5/13/2010 here's our "non special needs" wait statistics:
Referred through: 4/21/2006
Current wait: 49 months
Projected referral date: 5/13/2013
Projected months remaining to referral: 36
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