Adoption Update

I broke down and emailed our agency last night to see if there was any chance that our Lia was on this list. Since we first turned in the checklist, I really planned that we would hear something by Christmas. We have now been waiting for over 8 months, it will be 9 months at Christmas. Her response was "You are getting near the top of our active file, but unfortunately, it will not happen on this list." I am OK with this answer. Happy to hear that we are getting closer to the "top." Truthfully, relieved to know something. I was jumping when the phone rang and scouring the Yahoo groups for the latest information. I have a lot of faith in our agency and know that they will match us with the child who is meant to be ours:) Now I can breathe easier, knowing that I have a couple more months of waiting before I can start jumping for the phone again. We just can't wait to see our precious girl!

So what happens after we accept a referral?

I have gotten quite a few questions about what happens once we get a referral. Basically, we will get a call from our agency and they will give us some basic information about a child. We will decide whether to review her file. We then have about a week to review the information. We will use this time to have our pediatrician review the medical information, and if we feel it is necessary, an international adoption specialist pediatrician will also review the file. When we accept the referral, we:

1. Write a "Letter of Intent" aka LOI to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), stating that we wish to adopt her and explaining how we will address any medical issues that she has.

2. The CCAA reviews this letter, along with a preliminary look at our information and issues Pre-Approval (PA). This basically states that they accept our letter and will review our dossier, and barring any problems we will be able to adopt Lia. PA is generally issued a month or so after the letter is mailed.

3. We will then wait for our "Letter of Acceptance" (LOA) which is the CCAA's approval of the adoption. This step usually takes 2-4 months from the time that they receive our LOI.

4. More waiting. The CCAA will issue "Travel Approval" which means we can begin making our travel arrangements to travel to China.

5. Our trip to China will last 14-16 days.

So in all likelyhood we will have Lia in our arms 3-5 months after we first see her picture. :)

6 Years. 7 Years. 8 Months.

We have a few important milestones coming up within the next week:
Saturday the 24th is Caelan's 6th birthday.
Sunday the 25th is our wedding anniversary, 7 years!
Tuesday the 27th will be 8 months since our checklist was logged in at CCAI.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy Week at our Agency

Well, we haven't heard anything from our agency. I am still holding out a shred of hope that Lia is on this list- we have heard that it is a large list. But if she isn't, I feel pretty confident that we will get a call from the next list. Yesterday was a very exciting day for some families of my Yahoo group, that I just have to share.

Here are recent referrals from this list:
Donna's referral: Ling Qing Qin, soon to be Lainey
Patricia's referral: Liu Xiao Hua, soon to be Paisley
Jenn's referral: Ling Cha Min
Heather's son, soon to be William

These are the blogs that I easily found this morning. I know there are more and I will post them as I find them.

Blanket

I had some leftover material from the quilt and decided to make a baby blanket to send to Lia when we get her referral. I have been collecting a few things to send in a care package. I didn't take a picture of the back, but I cut two of Caelan's baby blankets and sewed them together to make the back. I am on a roll- I started and completed the blanket on Saturday.

Quilt with Border

Here is the quilt with the border. I handed it over to Bob's mom, who will bring it to her neighbor to have quilted and then she will do the binding.

Chinese Proverb: "There is only one pretty child in the world... and every mother has it."

Those of you who know me and my children must know that I do indeed know that I have the two prettiest children in the world. Not only that, but they are the smartest, funniest, and most entertaining. Garrett has been very busy the last few days, building an elaborate "pipe system" throughout our home. The pipes have been constructed using various materials that he has found, including shoes, blankets, and matchbox cars. So smart and innovative, don't you think? Well, imagine my surprise this morning when we were riding in the car and he posed the following question: "Mom, is Lia going to be a REAL baby?" Hmm. As much as I thought he understood, I am guessing that he may be in for a bit of a surprise when his treasured "baby" spot in our family is taken over by in fact, a real baby:)

New List

Our agency just received a new list of waiting children. I am so excited. I am starting to think that I am dreaming to think that Lia is on this list, but it certainly is possible. I waited all day yesterday to check, knowing that CCAI generally posts updates on Wednesday night, and I did make it until 5pm or so. I called Bob to tell him and his response was "Wow! We are on the list?" Well then I explained that there was a chance, but I wouldn't bet on it. I feel such a sense of relief just knowing that the list is here, I was getting pretty anxious just waiting.

Well, last night I finished training for my online tutoring job. I have my first official student tonight. I am not sure how ready I am, there was a lot of information, but I am looking forward to it. I think that I was the only trainee that did not have any computer issues. I can work between 10 and 29 hours, so I think I will try to get as many hours as I can. SO far it has been working our wonderfully. I worked six hours training this week, all of which were after Garrett went to bed. I don't do much in the evenings anyway, watch some TV, check my email, so it will be great to make some money.

Thursday mornings are great. Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Garrett is at school from 9 to 12. On Tuesday I help out in Caelan's classroom and then go to the grocery store before I pick up Garrett. Thursday morning I just come home:) It is my big cleaning day usually- but I got everything done yesterday so in a minute I am going to put the border on the 100 Wishes QUilt. I also had some leftover fabric that I am going to make a small baby quilt with. I am planning to mail it to Lia in a care package. In fact, I already have a care package started with a little photo album with pictures of us, some disposible cameras, a small stuffed bear and then I will put the blanket. Then also some goodies for whoever is taking care of her.

Ergo

I just ordered a new baby carrier. I used a sling-type carrier with both Caelan and Garrett, but sort of gave up as they got older and I just lugged them around. Yes, I still carry Garrett quite a bit. I do believe strongly that babies should be carried as often as possible, and knowing that Lia will be a bit older and in need of a good carrier, I did some research and decided on the Ergo. I had to go to physical therapy after Garrett's birth due to some hip issues and carrying him aggravated it, I still have trouble every once in a while, so I need a good carrier that can support older babies.

One of my online friends is selling Ergo carriers through her blog, so if anybody else would like to purchase one, please consider ordering through Hayley. Just click on the side bar.