Still...waiting.

Seems to be the nature of Chinese adoptions:) But I know it will be worth it:) In the mean time, we are keeping busy enjoy the summer with friends, and finishing up some last little details in decorating our home. I find myself wandering into what will be Madelines room and daydreaming about actually SEEING her in there:)
I've already got her room all planned out, we just need to know who and how old she will be:) We originally were going to have her in the larger bonus room, but decided instead that the room at the front of the house is much cuter...even though half the size, and alot girly'er. Well, and ALOT less work for the Dad to be to prep. No installing closets or closing off "windows".

For those of you who have asked where we are at in the process...:)
Our Homestudy is back in the hands of our social worker for edits and additions. Once that's done, and our agency approves it, We fill out a I800A form...and wait another 2 plus months for approval on that. I'll post a timeline on my next blog entry :) But...almost there:)!

In the mean time, we are enjoying Quality time with our Canine Kids :) Who were SCARED TO DEATH that they were about to get a bath in that river on our hike. Aren't dog's supposed to love water?

One more step :-)

Our homestudy! We just completed it and it's at our agency for review! YAY:)! We still have documents to mail for certification and then again for authentication...and a few more forms to fill out, but this is one step closer to bringing home our little one:)

We gathered our pictures for our dossier that goes to China. They want to see what we look like, our lifestyle...(etc) to better match us with a child. I put a few of them below that my Dad took for us yesturday. These will go in the batch we are sending of other misc. pictures ( I.E us with friends, us doing activites, and various other "snapshots" of our lives:)


Here is us in front of our house!

And here is a picture of us in front of one of our Fireplaces

and one for fun because we were DIE HARD HOT...and heat makes us goofy. Safe to say, this picture isn't going to China:)

Again..Too China:

and..Not to China ( I'm telling you...for Washingtonians...IT WAS HOT :)

This was the only usable one as it's been 10 years and 70 pounds ago since I've rollerbladed. All the others I have a look on my face of PURE FEAR, and I think a few tears too :) I"m determined to get comfortable on Rollerblades again:)

And the one of our faces Close up :) There are a few more we are sending, but these are the ones of mostly just us( Don't want to post other peoples pix without their permission:)

What's in a Name?

Call off the adoption! We have reached a point of contention... Lee won't give, I won't give. It's all over! We can't agree on the most serious issue of all!


Her Name.

Well....

The SPELLING of her name :)

I know...really serious issue right? Well, if you had access to our Work Email inbox's today, you would think so, we just can't agree:)!

A special little girl named Cara Madeline told Lee and I years ago that we should name our daughter Madeline ( we were telling her how once Sarah turns 30 we were adopting a little girl). We had already had it on our list of narrowed down names and when Cara made the suggestion, we just had to do it:) It was so cute:)

Well, here comes the hard part... How do we spell it?!?!? :-) Lee likes the traditional Madeline, I was thinking Madelyn. Neither of us are backing down...and I have a feeling until we board that plane to China...one of us is going to hope the other gives in:)

Can't Adopt? You still can help!

Did you know that there are over 140 million orphans? I didn't until I started our journey of adoption. Can you imagine, 140 million babies and children?!? Heartbreaking! It seems like so many, where do you start in helping them?

If you see the link on the right of my web page, there is a WONDERFUL organization called an Orphans wish. They are having a "Summer Wish" drive until the 30th of this month, trying to raise enough monthly sponsors to cover expenses. You also get a pretty cool teeshirt :)

I encourage everyone to click on over. I know times are tough, and sponsoring a child right now isn't financially practical for some, but even if you can't sponsor a child there are so many other ways you can help.
Check out their Igive link. It's pretty neat! Or maybe check out their supply needs, or a one time donation( even a few dollars add's up).

I have a few other links on my blog as well. Check them all out:) Even if you can't offer money or supplies, prayers can move mountains as well! :)
God bless you all!!

Much A'Do about nothing

Nothing really new to post about our adoption. Just drudging through all the paperwork. There was a particular little toddler we had hoped to adopt, however, the moment her file was listed, a family quickly locked it. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement ( as we have watched her grow over the last year...sent money for her to go on field trips ETC...) But, in the end, the peace is that God placed her in the family HE intended for her.

We are making good progress on our paperwork, but our homestudy is still ( in sorts) frozen. Our social worker wants to hold off on proceeding until he receives the FBI finger print clearance. But, even if we are DTC ( Dossier to China) September, we for sure won't be able to travel until Jan-March of next year. That's only 6-9 months away, but it feels like a lifetime!

We are still toying with ideas for her room. I found this ADORABLE bed, and had this grand idea about a castle theme room with chandelier's, silk curtains, ETC. I found the perfect bed...until I saw the price
$23,000.00 FOR A BED??? ARE THEY NUTS? I guess it's safe to say this room
idea is OUT :)

And so it begins:)

We had our first Home study visit on Monday the 2nd. My nerves were shattered and I sat there in the formal living room just contemplating all the things that could go wrong. What if he didn't like us? What if he thought I would be a bad Mom..what if what if....:) In the end it was just fine :) Well, with the exception that I broke one of our formal dining room chairs as I tried to scoot it up to the table with too much pressure. The loud crack as the nail broke the wood made it fall embarrassingly silent, as both Lee and the social worker stared at me. I could feel my cheeks turn cherry red! Not exactly what one would want to follow a conversation on China's BMI requirements and how my weight was pushing them ( Note to self: Increase running from 2 times a week, to 7:-) My lovable husband quickly quipped in and directed the attention back to the current topic ( taking the attention off what just happened) But other than probably.the.most.embarrising.moment.in.my.life everything else was a cake walk:)
We haven't started Madeline's room yet, given we won't know her age. We decided to use our bonus room that is at the top of our stairs since it's the larger of the 3 rooms we had been contemplating on. But we have to wall it off as it has decorative cutouts. Here is the before pictures, I'll post the after when they are done:)

The long, but oh so worth it, process:)

*** Disclaimer: Incredibly long read, if you aren't interested in our next steps, back out now LOL :) ******

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful Friends and Family curious about where we are in our adoption process. I thought I might take a quick moment and post the next steps and a general outline of what happens next:)

We are currently starting our "paper chase" phase for our adoption. This is called our "Dossier". I won't go into the long list of documents that are needed, but most of the documents, after we request and receive them, will need to be notarized, certified and authenticated. The most difficult part is that some documents expire. Once we receive each document (if not already notarized, get it notarized) we send it to a government agency for Certification. Then once they certify it, they send it back. Then we have to send it to another government agency for Authentication. Then they authenticate it and send it back. Seems easy enough except certain documents have certain expiration dates, and trying to make all these get done in their correct time frame takes some effort:). We will have to have a notary travel with us to some things. Such as our doctors appointments for our health checks. A notary has to be there with us and notarize our doctors statements. Uncomfortable:) LOL :)

There are also forms that we have to fill out and send to various government agencies etc... I don't know all the details on this one yet since we are just getting started:). Our agency has a guide to help walk us through this difficult process. From all the wonderful mothers I have met that have adopted Children from China, this was their least favorite part. It's time consuming:)

While this is being assembled, we will be doing our Homestudy ( Homestudy goes in the Dossier to China). This generally takes about 2 months to complete. An agent comes to our home and they conduct personal interviews, interview our families and friends, review our finances and our home etc...

We are expecting to be done assembling our dossier and home study by September 1st. Then we submit our paperwork to our agency. They review it, and if everything is good to go, it will be translated and sent to the CCAA. Once the Chinese government reviews our documents and approves us, we will receive a LID ( log in Date). We are expecting our LID date to be sometime in September/October. This LID is what determines when the CCAA will match you with your child. Right now, if you are wanting to adopt a child with no needs, the wait is pushing 5 years. It's essentially "take your number and take a seat". The wait time for China's "Waiting Children" is signifcantly less. That isn't why we are adopting a waiting child, but it is a nice benefit!

Our agency will work on matching us with a child based on the needs we stated we would be able to handle, and we were approved for in our Home Study report. However, we do have access to the Waiting Child list. So, while our agency is looking for us, we can look ourselves as well:) If we find a little one that we want to adopt, we can request her file. Once we receive her file, we take it to a doctor for review...then decide if we want to move forward. If we do move forward, there are a few additional steps ( I'll go into that too when it comes) but generally it's 2-4 months until we fly to China to pickup our little one!


So, we could be matched and on our way to China in November/December. It all depends on how quickly we are matched or find our little girl:)

Wherever, Whoever, and how long we wait is all in God's hands, and we know since HE has control, it will go exactly as it's meant too :)