Every day now, waiting is hard since we've seen your little face. Today, you don't know it, but I'm thinking of you. Happy birthday.
We'll come to bring you home soon, and I'm so happy about that. It's hard to realize that while we're waiting for you, you are not waiting for us! I believe you're being well-loved right now, and while I'm anxious to bring you home, I'm also sad about how we're about to disrupt your little life.
I promise we will make everything all right again.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Here She Is!
Small World says that, having signed LOI, I can post the pictures! The mischief in that smile makes her look like she'll fit in just fine.
On The Suddenness Of This Referral
Anyone following our journey knows that the wait times for "healthy" or "non special needs" children from China is increasing . . . and increasing. On our home study, we were approved to adopt a child with no known special needs, or to adopt a child with special needs if we chose to do so. We have some expertise and knowledge of resources that we feel makes us a suitable family for a child who has special needs.
Parenthetically: This was a horrible decision-making process. Working with children who have special needs, on the one hand, I know very well that there is a CHILD behind every special need. I also know first hand, however, a lot of the difficulties that come with special needs. For every diagnosis I could think, "That would be too much for our (extremely active) family," I could also think of a child whom I care about who has that condition.
Being open to a child with special needs made our wait more unpredictable. We were in the long line at the CCAA, but we could potentially be matched by our agency with a child from their waiting child list at a completely unknown time.
I hoped - and knew it might not happen - that there would be a miracle and we would find our child in summer or fall 2008.
The call from our social worker to see if we wanted to review "Sophie's" file was unexpected, out of the blue, overwhelming. . .Wow. Of course, there was excitement, elation, amazement (and e-mails and multiple rapid-fire calls to all of Michael's numbers--pick up, pick up, pick up, you have a daughter!)
In the whirlwind of all these emotions, there were also the anxieties (some so laughably petty): We don't have room for another car seat! Gabrian is not ready to share his mommy! I don't have any vacation time. We can't afford COBRA benefits to take time off work. I have two CFY's to supervise; this is a very bad time to take off work. I thought we'd have more time to knock back some debt. Michael doesn't have his hepatitis shots done. And so on.
Then, I saw her name & its translation (Sophie is just the alias to keep her anonymity on the waiting child list). Si Jing. Si= think, consider. Jing= calm, still.
Psalms 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God.
So we will. Be still. And at peace. And wait. And be thankful.
Parenthetically: This was a horrible decision-making process. Working with children who have special needs, on the one hand, I know very well that there is a CHILD behind every special need. I also know first hand, however, a lot of the difficulties that come with special needs. For every diagnosis I could think, "That would be too much for our (extremely active) family," I could also think of a child whom I care about who has that condition.
Being open to a child with special needs made our wait more unpredictable. We were in the long line at the CCAA, but we could potentially be matched by our agency with a child from their waiting child list at a completely unknown time.
I hoped - and knew it might not happen - that there would be a miracle and we would find our child in summer or fall 2008.
The call from our social worker to see if we wanted to review "Sophie's" file was unexpected, out of the blue, overwhelming. . .Wow. Of course, there was excitement, elation, amazement (and e-mails and multiple rapid-fire calls to all of Michael's numbers--pick up, pick up, pick up, you have a daughter!)
In the whirlwind of all these emotions, there were also the anxieties (some so laughably petty): We don't have room for another car seat! Gabrian is not ready to share his mommy! I don't have any vacation time. We can't afford COBRA benefits to take time off work. I have two CFY's to supervise; this is a very bad time to take off work. I thought we'd have more time to knock back some debt. Michael doesn't have his hepatitis shots done. And so on.
Then, I saw her name & its translation (Sophie is just the alias to keep her anonymity on the waiting child list). Si Jing. Si= think, consider. Jing= calm, still.
Psalms 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God.
So we will. Be still. And at peace. And wait. And be thankful.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Letter Of Intent
We signed our LOI at Small World yesterday afternoon! A copy gets faxed to China so that it can be translated. Then, when the original signed documents arrive, the translation is ready to go. Now we wait for the Letter of Acceptance.
Technically, China could review our care plan and decide that we're not a suitable family still. Thankfully, Kathy (at Small World) assures us that this never happens. All of our paperwork is in order, our care plan is good, and she (Kathy) personally knows (just spent 10 days in China with, in fact) the woman who will be reviewing our file. In the unlikely event that there were any questions about our dossier, "Jenny" at the CCAA will contact Small World and help us to clarify.
She's really ours!
We got our Travel Packet from Small World as well. (We won't travel until we have Travel Approval from China, but this is to start learning about how this works.) It's terrifying! There's a lot of paperwork on the way there, and on the way back. Even getting travel visas before we can go looks like it could be a big project. It's recommended that you take an accordian file to keep everything organized while you're in China, and the instructions are very thorough. I'm confident that Small World has all the bases covered. I'm NOT confident I'll remember it all. Perhaps I need to take the whole packet of instructions with me for daily reading!
We will spend 5 days (with Si Jing) in Nanning, the provencial capital of Guangxi. (Si Jing is from Hepu, in Guangxi province). Then we'll spend another 5 days in Guangzhou. Then home again to be a family of 7. . . Can't wait!
Oh -- Kathy and Janell at Small World estimate that we will travel in March.
Technically, China could review our care plan and decide that we're not a suitable family still. Thankfully, Kathy (at Small World) assures us that this never happens. All of our paperwork is in order, our care plan is good, and she (Kathy) personally knows (just spent 10 days in China with, in fact) the woman who will be reviewing our file. In the unlikely event that there were any questions about our dossier, "Jenny" at the CCAA will contact Small World and help us to clarify.
She's really ours!
We got our Travel Packet from Small World as well. (We won't travel until we have Travel Approval from China, but this is to start learning about how this works.) It's terrifying! There's a lot of paperwork on the way there, and on the way back. Even getting travel visas before we can go looks like it could be a big project. It's recommended that you take an accordian file to keep everything organized while you're in China, and the instructions are very thorough. I'm confident that Small World has all the bases covered. I'm NOT confident I'll remember it all. Perhaps I need to take the whole packet of instructions with me for daily reading!
We will spend 5 days (with Si Jing) in Nanning, the provencial capital of Guangxi. (Si Jing is from Hepu, in Guangxi province). Then we'll spend another 5 days in Guangzhou. Then home again to be a family of 7. . . Can't wait!
Oh -- Kathy and Janell at Small World estimate that we will travel in March.
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