Happy Birthday, Nathan!!

Sunday, Oct 22nd we celebrated our nephew's birthday. The big number 2!! Here are a few pics from the party...

(click on each picture to enlarge)

Make a wish, little man! Hope you had a blast on your big day!!

LID Anniversary - 1 Month Down

We have been logged in with the CCAA for 1 month today! It's actually been a pretty quick month... let's hope the rest are just the same.

Speaking of the rest, just how many more are the rest? That's the magic question..... One year ago at this time, referrals were arriving only six months after you were logged in. Since then the wait has continued to creep up and is currently at about 13 1/2 months. Wowsers! We hope and pray this stablizes and/or lessens. Why the longer wait time, you ask? There are many factors that have contributed to this, but it is primarily due to an increase in families from around the world who submitted their dossiers last fall (when the wait time was so short). There was such a dramatic increase in applicants that we are now apparently up against a bit of a backlog. This is not to say there is a shortage of children needing homes... that is certainly not the case. It all comes down to China's ability to handle the paperwork efficiently.

All too often we find ourselves focusing so much on getting "somewhere" or "something" and we forget to appreciate all that goes on while we're getting there... we forget to savor the journey. While this news of increasing timelines is kind of a bummer, we are really going to try to stay positive and enjoy every step along the way... HOWEVER long it takes.

P.S. For those of you who were curious, moon cakes must be an acquired taste. Maybe moon pies next year... mmm... marshmallowy goodness!

The Name Game

It seems the question, "Have you thought of a name yet?" is happening more and more these days, so we thought we would let you all in on a little secret.......... We're working on it!

You didn't think we were actually going to tell you right then, did you? Suckers!! :-)

We've spent the last few months tossing around names and have pretty much narrowed down the first name to one we really like. The hard part has been the middle name, which we want to be a Chinese name... as one way to preserve her heritage. This obviously becomes a little more tricky. Not only do we want a name that "fits" with her first and last name, but it's also important that it be a proper Chinese name and have a good meaning.

The meaning of a name seems to be of extra significance in Chinese tradition. It is common to combine two shorter names into one. And the names, when put together, take on a somewhat varying meaning than the two separate. Also, depending on how it's arranged, the name could have a completely different meaning.

Some of you might be wondering, "Won't she already have a name when you get her?" The answer is yes, she will. However, it is likely that this will be a name given to her by the orphanage director, and might only mean something about the location of the orphanage itself. It is our feeling that this won't carry the "specialness" or distinctive quality that she deserves. Of course, we will always hold close to our hearts the name she has when we first meet her. But our wish is for our daughter to have a name that was chosen with love, and especially for her.

We've been doing a bit of research on Chinese names and have a few ideas that we are talking about. Currently, we're in the process of consulting some Chinese sources to make sure the name(s) we like are acceptable and have a meaning that we are happy with.

We feel like we're pretty close to a final decision, so we'll try not to leave everyone in suspense for much longer. On the other hand, what's the rush?... It's not like we're running low on time. :-)

Cheers,
Greg, Laura and ????

Got Moon Cakes?

In China there are many festivals that are celebrated throughout the year. The second most recognized, after the Chinese New Year, is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Also known as the Moon Festival, it is held every year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This usually falls somewhere between the middle of September and the middle of October... This year it takes place on October 6th.

The Moon Festival is a time when family and friends get together to give thanks for the summer harvest and admire the mid-autumn harvest moon, which is supposed to be brighter and fuller than any other time of the year. The traditional food enjoyed during this festival is the moon cake, which is a sweet round cake stuffed with a variety of things such as lotus-seed paste, fruit, nuts, ham, or egg yolk.

This will be the first Chinese festival we've celebrated, so we're planning a small get-together with our moms to enjoy some Chinese food and moon cakes. We ordered our cakes from a great Chinese cultural "store" called China Sprout... who has them shipped from a bakery in New York's Chinatown.

Happy Moon Festival Everyone!

Put a LID on it!

Good news first..... we found out our LID today!! For the lingo-challenged people, this is the date our paperwork was officially logged in over in China.

The not-so-good news..... it was just last week. 9/12 to be exact..... 26 days after our dossier was shipped off to China. All summer the time from DTC to LID was taking 3 to 10 days on average. So this is a little longer than we expected. BUT... at least we're in, and for that we rejoice. That's all, just wanted to let everyone know that we're officially in there, baby! Now the countdown to referral begins...

Cheers,
Greg & Laura
LID 9/12/06

Lucky Bugs

We thought this might be a good time to explain the significance of ladybugs in Chinese adoption. Ladybugs are considered to be a symbol of good luck in the adoption community. The story goes something like this: Many years ago in China, as the international adoption program was beginning to take off, there was a fall season where the ladybug population grew unusually large. This was thought to be a lucky charm for those who were adopting, so now whenever ladybugs are seen, it is said that more beautiful children are being referred to waiting parents and families.

As we were gathering our paperwork this spring, we started noticing a curious number of ladybugs everytime we were outside (not just our imagination). I'm sure scientists have a perfectly "scientific" explanation for it, but we choose to think of it as a sign of good things to come. So, when we were out looking at some baby stuff recently and came across this little bear with a ladybug on its chest, we had no other choice but to buy it.

P.S. For those of you wondering... still no LID, unfortunately. :-(

We broke down...

After 4 years of wanting, waiting, dreaming, and praying we couldn't wait any longer to buy something! The day we were DTC we just happened to find ourselves wandering around Toys R' Us and stumbled upon the cutest dress... we couldn't pass it up.

In other news, still no word on our LID. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, we've heard that there is one man in charge of logging in dossiers and apparently he was on vacation the last week of August. This probably means we are just now getting logged in - hopefully we'll hear soon. Also, unfortunately, the wait time for referrals continues to creep up and is now at about 13 1/2 months. Rumor is this should begin to level off soon and stay closer to 12 months... We pray this is the case.

Oh, and the photo gallery is finally ready... be sure to check out the link on the right side of the page. We'll try to add to it from time to time, so have a look every now and then and see what's new.

We're SOMEBODY now!

That's right... we're Group 142! We received a big travel orientation packet from our agency last week. It's always exciting to get something from them in the mail (it's the little things that keep us going). Anyway, included was a letter with our group number and a list of our travel mates w/ e-mail addresses and phone numbers... so now we can start getting to know one another. We haven't had time to go through everything else in our folder, but it sure looks like a lot of good information.

We are still waiting to hear what our LID (Log In Date) is. We're pretty sure we've already been logged in, it just seems to take a while for them to inform us of when it was.

A photo gallery is still in the works for the blog... so y'all come back now, ya hear!

Thank You

We just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big, heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone for your comments, e-mails, asking how thing are going, and so on. Knowing we have your support means a lot!

This is such a long process with many ups and downs... and even though we aren't too far into it, the support we've had has really helped. One piece of advice we were given when we began our homestudy was to celebrate all the "little" milestones along the way, and we've tried to do that so far as we completed certain phases of our paperchase (yeah, yeah... any excuse for ice cream is a good one). These mini celebrations have helped to keep our spirits lifted as the time passes, but what has helped the most is all of you and the support you've shown.

We still have quite a journey before us, but we just wanted to get this "thank you" out now to let you all know how grateful we are to have you and how much your being there means to us.



xie xie (Thank you)

It's official... we are DTC!!

We found out yesterday that we're finally DTC (Dossier to China)!!! This is an important milestone as it signifies the end of the long "paper chase", and the beginning of the next phase of our journey. We are so happy knowing that our dossier is now on its way to China! And what better way to celebrate than to go out for some Chinese food (we're getting pretty good w/ the chopsticks) and Andy's Frozen Custard.

We should be getting a packet with more information soon, but our consultant was able to tell us yesterday that there were 6 families in our group. Now we'll wait for our LID, which stands for Log In Date. As soon as we're logged in we can begin the countdown to when we receive the referral of our daughter and see a picture of her for the first time. Currently the time from LID to referral is about 12 months, but this could increase or decrease at any time.

So everyone knows... just because we're entering this time of waiting doesn't mean we'll stop posting messages for you guys. Please keep checking in on us as we plan to continue adding to the blog, including a "photo gallery" that should be coming soon.

Take care,
Greg & Laura

This picture was taken outside a restaurant in K.C. when we went up for fingerprinting. Thought it was kind of funny.

We've been AUTHENTICATED...

Michelle, our consultant from AAI, called this morning saying she had just received our dossier from the consulate in Chicago! She said this was a pretty quick turnaround time considering the consulate probably didn't begin working on it until July 30. AAI had just sent a group of dossiers to China on August 1... we missed this by only a few days. Looks like our dossier will go out in the next batch, which they plan to send mid-August. So, we're hoping to be DTC (Dossier To China) on or around August 15!

Once AAI sends our dossier they will call to let us know. Shortly after, we will get a letter informing us of our group number and "introducing" us to the others in the group. After we receive this information, we can contact each other and use this waiting time to get acquainted before we travel. Doing so will make it a little less like traveling with "strangers".

The next time you hear from us, it should be to say we're DTC! Stay tuned...

Dossier on its way!!

Today we had our I-171H notarized and took the whole dossier to the Secretary of State's office to get it certified. The good people at Sec. of State's office had it completed within an hour, and then it was off to Mailbox It to overnight our dossier to the consulate in Chicago.

The authenticating process in Chicago is supposed to take 4-6 days. Once they're done they will overnight our dossier to our agency. We're hoping all this is done and AAI has our dossier by August 7th.

Greg gives the dossier a final check before having in sealed.

And here's the sealed dossier! Our last glimpse before sending it to Chicago.

"The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!"

...To borrow a line from Steve Martin's character, "Navin", in The Jerk.

Or in our case, shall we say... "Our I-171H is here! Our I-171H is here!!" That's right, we finally got it, just one day shy of 6 weeks.

This was the last piece of paperwork we had been waiting on to complete our dossier. Now we can get it sealed at the Secretary of State's office and then send the whole dossier to The Chinese Consulate in Chicago for authentication.

As Navin goes on to say... "Things are going to start happening to me now."

For Starters...

Hello everyone. Well... might as well jump right into it. For those of you who don't already know about our news and are visiting this blog having no clue why you are doing so... you're about to find out! We have decided to adopt a baby girl from China! So, there it is! This is a decision that has come over a couple of years. We've spent countless hours talking and praying about it and feel this is what is in our hearts to do. We are very excited, and although it might be a long & winding road, are looking forward to the day we bring our daughter home. We've seen a lot of people who have used blogs to chronicle their journey in this way and thought it would be a great way to keep everyone updated on what's going on. There will be more to come, so please keep checking to see what's new and PLEASE don't be afraid to create your own message (you can add a comment to something we've posted, or send us an e-mail). It would be great to hear from you! Thank you for visiting our blog... come back again.

Greg & Laura

P.S. Please feel free to pass our news along to anyone who might want to know. Thanks!

Our Timeline

3/04 - Began considering adoption as a way to start our family

We spent this time discussing, praying & researching adoption.....

8/05 - Attended adoption info seminar

2/13/06 - Applied for passports

4/29/06 - We recognize this as the day we "officially" decided to adopt from China and begin the process

5/4/06 - 1st homestudy appt.

5/7/06 - Filed AAI formal application

5/8/06 - 2nd homestudy appt.

5/9/06 - Local fingerprints taken

5/23/06 - "In-home" homestudy visit

5/30/06 - 4th and final homestudy appt.

6/14/06 - Picked up final copy of homestudy

6/15/06 - USCIS appt. in Kansas City

7/26/06 - Received I-171H in the mail!

7/27/06 - Had dossier documents sealed at Sec. of State office, sent for authentication

8/16/06 - DTC (Dossier To China)!! Woohoo!!

9/12/06 - LID (Log in Date)

12/31/07 - Updated fingerprints w/ USCIS in KC

6/15/09 - Updated fingerprints w/ USCIS in KC

10/21/09 - Saw our baby girl's face for the first time!

10/22/09 - Submitted our LOI (letter of intent)

11/12/09- Received our PA (pre-approval)

12/2/09- Received our LOA (letter of approval)

12/23/09 - Received our TA (travel approval)

01/07-01/22/10 - traveling

01/11/10 - Forever Family Day

01/19/10 - CA (consulate appt)

01/22/10 - Home