Paper chase day

Today was a paper chase day.  I spent about eight hours either filling in papers, researching answers to fill in said papers, or on the phone to make the appointments to fill in the papers.  Our biggest accomplishment of the day was coming up with the street addresses of every place that Ethan and I have lived since we turned eighteen years of age.  These were for criminal background checks for every state that we've lived in.  Whew.  One step closer...

A refreshing day

I spent most of Saturday attempting to reorganize the basement.  It is a great space, but we don't make very good use it.  I made a LOT of progress and hope to finish up tonight . 

Sunday evening was spent at the picnic for our homeschool co-op.  These ladies were totally my lifeline when we moved here a year ago.  I honestly don't know how our lives would have been had we not connected with this group.  For sure the adjustment would have been longer and harder.  It was delightful to be with these friends again, and to meet the new families who are coming into the co-op this fall.  Patt and Mark did a terrific job with mixers to help us get acquainted.  Oh, and Sarah's family is in the co-op this year, so it'll be a first for me to have my grandchildren and Tikvah together in this setting.  Its going to be fun!

My friend Maren came (at last!) for a coffee date this morning.  She brought along some AMAZING books she created from the blogs about her family's two international adoptions.  It was fascinating to see the photos and hear of her experiences, both in India and also in China. One of these adoptions was from the same province in China where we will need to go for Abigail.  I enjoyed hearing about specific places we'll likely visit while there, and what to expect.  That seems to make it a little easier to get through.

This afternoon I went to Ann's house, and how fun to bump into Amanda there too!  God must have known I needed to take a breather today, cause the day was full of socializing. I'm truly grateful for the encouragement and refreshment.  Have I told you yet how much I love my friends???

 I shared this quote on Facebook last week, but it is still speaking to me.  I read this on someone else's blog, so I claim no credit to it.  "We are very goal oriented.  We think that the goal is the purpose, when actually it is sometimes the JOURNEY that is the purpose.  The things we learn on the journey are the things He wants to teach us."  I have very, very little control over this journey.  Two different adoption agencies, the state of Ohio, and the officials of China are seemingly calling the shots.  They say, "jump" and we just do it. Thankfully I know the One who is REALLY in charge of this journey.  I allowed myself a brief time to be overwhelmed, but I really don't have time to dwell on that.  This is NOT about me.  Our goal is VERY important, and we are working hard towards it - getting Abigail home.  But I am also reminding myself to take a deep breath, take one step at a time, and learn what I'm supposed to on this unfamiliar and sometimes strange journey. 

So, did we make any progress on our list today?  Yes.  It seems even our CATS need health papers, so I bought them collars and made an appointment with a veternarian.  Ethan came home armed with several smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher as just a couple of elements needed for our inspection by the fire department.  He is currently watching "Wild China" on Netflix to count towards our 40 educational credits that we are each required to have.  I watched it last week, and it was really good!  


Tomorrow, I begin writing and chasing documents again. 

Feeling a little overwhelmed...

We just got our packet from Adoption Star that outlines 40 credits of educational requirements, basically the writing of ANOTHER book (remember that Monster Document with the other agency?) and all the safety checkpoints that have to be done before the social worker visits our home. Then there are the physicals and documents that involve asking OTHER people to do stuff.  It seems that one of the bad sides of needing to work with two agencies is that they both have requirements, and we end up having to jump through even more hoops!  I'm hoping that I can maybe print out the Monster Document and use it as part of our credits with Adoption Star.  There was a LOT of research that went into that thing.

 At this point all I can think about is Abigail sitting in the orphanage WAITING for us to get our act together and get this stuff done.  Wow.  Any prayer warriors out there?  We are going to need much wisdom and stamina to get this accomplished - and somehow accomplished quickly. The documents with WACAP that take the longest cannot be started until the homestudy is done.  Nothing like a little pressure, right?  Anyway, this momma is a little overwhelmed today and would appreciate your prayers!

More news on Ella

I just got word that two families who both have their dossiers IN and are ready to travel are interested in Ella, and the agency is hoping for a very quick adoption on her.  I am absolutely THRILLED to hear this!  They are also being nice about keeping me in the loop now, which I really appreciate.  As she comes to mind, please say a little prayer for Ella and for her new family..

Official update on Ella, plus another milestone

From the "other" agency.  If our bugging them has found her a home, I'll be content.

"Thank you for your email. I am sorry that you did not hear back from her.  (the supervisor we spoke with in person at their agency)  Unfortunately we are not able to transfer her file to another agency. We actually have a few families considering her file right now, so I am hopeful that they would be able to move forward with her placement in the next few weeks.
I am so excited for your family and you have officially started the process! I wish you all the very best!
If you ever have questions in the future, please let us know!"

We got good news from our own agency today as well.  Our documents are being translated today and will be sent electronically to China yet today or tomorrow.  Yay!!!!

Just a small paper chase today

After my total mad dash to get the pre-approval papers in for China, I took a well-deserved day off Wednesday, and Chrissy came for a nice, long visit.  She and two of her adorable girls were able to stay for lunch.  I'd lost touch with most people over the past month, and its good to be back in social mode again.  God has blessed me wish such wonderful friends in Cincinnati! 

While I fielded a few phone calls, there wasn't much typing. My arms were thankful for the rest. The phone calls were all aimed at finding our initial paper packet for the homestudy.  These left via certified mail on Thursday, and as of the following Wednesday had not been received.  The homestudy office manager was able to find the packet taking a vacation in the local post office.  Whew.  We are on track again there.  She has ordered our criminal background checks with the state of Ohio and sent out yet another list of documents to acquire and things to accomplish.  While I don't have that list in hand yet, I know some of the requirements, and will be working on two of them today - a certified copy of our marriage license and my birth certificate.  Remember, China requires these documents to have been issued in the last six months?  Since both of these events  happened in the good ole USA they shouldn't be too complicated, or take long to receive, right?

The only typing of the day was to the "other" agency asking them again to consider transferring Ella's file if their recent newsletter feature of her did not have the desired results of finding her a family.  Yes, I ABSOLUTELY plan to keep bugging them until she is placed with someone - whether it is us or another family.

The big deal of the day is to start making big progress on the house.  While the main level looks really pretty good, disaster lurks in the upstairs and the basement!  We took on a major reorganization project just before we found out how FAST those papers had to be sent in. The piles had to just stay where they fell at that point. I figure I have until the mail comes on Saturday before the next round of paperwork really hits us.  Here's hoping the stuff can go back IN the shelves (or better yet, out the door!) nearly as quickly as it came out of the shelves.

Waiting...

I just RE-sent the final document, via e-mail, for our pre-approval.  The agency is having mail server issues again tonight.  But the very excellent news is that the monster document should be in the caseworker's inbox when she arrives in the morning.  I stayed up way late into the night, worked on it all day and evening, and am so, so glad to be done with that one!

Also sent this evening was the "Rehabilitation and Nurturing" document to China, that indeed was allowed to be only one paragraph and a maximum of 1/2 page long.  I can't usually even manage to say, "Bless you" in that little amount of space! 

Everything that had to be notarized or otherwise signed, and all of the photos went out via express mail today and are to arrive in Washington by noon tomorrow.  Now we wait for word from China as to whether they like us or not.  The caseworker tells us that China is quite predictable and has only surprised them one time in all of the years they have worked with them.  If you get the pre-approval you can pretty much celebrate.

We had a little setback on Ethan's birth certificate.  Something was omitted when it was mailed, so the State Department sent it all back to us.  We corrected the error, and sent it express back to them - the OTHER Washington - D.C.  The certificate isn't needed until a later step, but it takes a really long time to arrive.

Both of these things were pretty urgent to get into the mail today, and Ethan was a bit late getting home.  As we were zoom, zoom, zooming towards the post office we noticed that all the stoplights were out, and none of the businesses seemed to have any lights.  A thunderstorm came through earlier and knocked out power to some of the areas.  Things didn't look good for getting the copies we needed and doing express mail, and there was no time to find another post office branch.  BUT when we arrived at the post office, their building was the first thing on that entire stretch of road (probably 3 miles) that had electricity.  We thanked God, and got our mailings done just in time for the employee to lock the doors behind us!

While we are waiting on China we can hopefully be making progress with our homestudy.  I haven't heard anything from that agency in several days, so its time to make some phone calls.

Oh, and if you have been trying to comment here and haven't been able to, I believe I found the setting that allows comments now.  Sorry about that!

I took a break this afternoon for lunch and a nice, long visit with my good friend, Cindy.  She was gone much of the summer, and it was so good to have her in our home again.  I'm always encouraged after spending time with her.  Thanks, friend!

One thing she did was to help us work on those family photos.  Just in time too!  My oldest daughter, Sarah, described the "walk in the woods" photo from yesterday like this. "That walking in the yard picture is hilarious and kind of terrible. It looks like, "We go for walks in the woods. And a random supermodel comes with us."  I totally laughed out loud, REALLY loud when I read that!  So, here are a couple more tries that I think are going in our packet:

We were bumped to another level and assigned our own caseworker today, so I guess that is progress.  We did more signing and more notarizing today with the goal being a nice, big package of documents to go into the mail tomorrow.  I hope the US Mail is functioning better than our agency's e-mail server.  It has been bouncing back to me most of the day.  

After this package is mailed, there are only two things remaining to send for the Pre-Approval from China.  

1. The "Rehabilitation and Nurture Plan" aka "The Letter of Intent."  This consists of eight specific and rather detailed questions we must answer to convince the Chinese authorities that we would be a good placement.  Um...then it states "Your plan should be one typed paragraph and no longer than half a page."  Whaaaaaaat?  Looks like I need to CALL (since the e-mail isn't working!) and make sure that is accurate.

2.  The Parenting Resource Plan.  Yes, still working on THE dreaded document.  It is thirty-six pages so far.  I have only a couple more sections, so hopefully we'll top out at forty pages and be done.  This has seriously been grueling brain work. 

We registered for our first of several required classes today.  This first one is called, "Coming Home: Adopting the Older Child." 

 

I'll close with a link that I've gone back to many times.  I love what this guy has to say.  He sums it up well for us, but much better than I could have said it.  A little investigating, and what do I find?  This guy is an orthopedist right here in Cincinnati!  Amazing!  He and his wife are in China RIGHT NOW and have just gotten the two children he talks about here.  I have followed their journey through their blog.  Amazing.

 

The Question Everyone is Afraid to Ask: Are you crazy?

The end of the week is coming quickly

It is the beginning of a new week.  I am seriously scrambling now to get paperwork finished.  We have until the end of this week to mail anything that needs to be paper instead of electronic based.  Last week was very productive, but we aren't there yet.  I'd appreciate prayers this week that things would run smoothly, we'd find the answers we need, be able to focus, and ultimately for favor with the agency, social worker and the powers that be in the Chinese government.

Today we got some more required photos for China.   

This one cracks me up.  It looks like we were photoshopped in.  We were walking out of the woods in our back yard.  Too funny!  We may need to keep trying...

Ella is featured in newsletter

Sometimes I don't get it.  We THOUGHT we were waiting to hear if the other agency would release Ella's file so we could adopt her.  We talked to someone face to face and asked them.  They know we are serious.

I just now got an e-mailed newsletter from said agency, and guess who they are featuring in a big "Help Ella find a family" article?  As if no one has shown any interest in her at all!  I'm guessing that is our answer as to whether they will release her file.  I am very sad for us, but praying that Ella finds a good home soon.  That is what really matters.

Dr. Staat is wonderful!

I heard from Dr. Staat, the director of the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  She was so caring and encouraging.  We learned quite a few things about what is going to be available to help with whatever situation we find ourselves facing once Abigail comes home.

The bottom line with the diagnosis?  Yes, the CT shows an area of brain damage.  It seems to be caused from a trauma of some sort, she thought likely in utero.  It seems to be in the area of the brain where the communication center is located.  This could mean a couple of things.

1. Abigail doesn't talk because she can't.  She simply cannot perform the physical act of speech.  It could mean that learning sign language will be more important than learning some Chinese!

OR

2.  Her intelligence is affected, and thus speech is delayed.  If this is the case, we really have no way of knowing at this time how much it will affect her learning or IQ. 

Otherwise she looks healthy, like she is receiving adequate nutrition, and has a good growth rate -even though she is a little on the small side.  All of our kids have been!

Dr. Staat was impressed in the video with how sweet Abigail is and what a good disposition she has.  We likewise think  she is a doll!  If God will grant us favor with the caseworkers and with China, we will happily and joyfully bring her home.

On a totally different vein of thought... Dr. Staat's office sent five pages of precautionary information and a vaccine list for tourists of China.  There were stories of diseases we don't have here (just from eating the food???) and rabid monkeys on the streets.  (insert the image of me shrieking and running!)  In the course of the conversation, I told Dr. Staat that I was quite surprised at the travel information they sent me because it sounded as if we would die the minute we stepped off the plane.  "How bad is it REALLY in China??"  She said that we need to be sure our routine vaccinations are up to date, then it was the Hepatitis A and Typhoid that we really needed to get vaccinated against.  She added that we should not be "too adventurous" with what we ate.  I replied, "Oh and we shouldn't play with the monkeys."  Her reply?  "Its never a good idea to play with monkeys, no matter where they are."

Maybe its the endless typing of this "Parenting Resource Plan" that has gotten to me, but I've been giggling about this advice off and on for hours!

Check, check, check, check, and check!

Yesterday was one in which I got to check off a few things on my "to do" for the China pre-approval.  We are down to 7 business days to accomplish this rather large list of things.

I drove to downtown Cincinnati to drop off a video to the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Check.
 
The IAC is one of only twelve such centers in the country.  Wow!  And I questioned the move to Cincinnati...The IAC will use the video, along with medical records, photos, and images from a CT scan that I sent prior, to give us a better picture of Abigail's health needs.  I am totally sitting here waiting for the doctor to call me with the details this morning. Those of you who know me well, know that I often leave my cell phone in some random place around the house, and often can't get to it in time to answer when it rings.  This morning the cell phone, a pen, and a notebook are accompanying me EVERYWHERE.   Besides giving us valuable information that we can use to prepare for Abigail's homecoming, this call will give us the information needed to proceed with some required information on these forms for China AND the "Parenting Resource Plan".  I really, really, REALLY want to be done with that particular document.  My brain is tired!

The initial paperwork for the homestudy was sent via certified mail.  Check. 

We got our passport photos taken AGAIN.  Turns out that we need additional ones for visas and also for various files with the agency and with China.  We wish we had known to get the extras the first time we had them taken!  In any case, its done.  Check.

We went to Sarah's house so she could take a photo of everyone who lives here.  Check.

Ethan got the form notarized and sent overnight express to Washington, D.C. in order to get a certified copy of his birth certificate.  Check.

Now if the phone would just ring...

They were right!

One thing we've been told over and over is to not worry about the money - it will be there when we have to have it.  This was proven today.  We had two things that HAD to be done since we're working with a very tight deadline to get our pre-approval from China.  Both of these things were VERY important and both cost several hundred dollars each.  We were $80 short.

As I was talking with the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital about a mandatory consultation (to the tune of $805) they told me that they are going to waive one of the fees (it was $230!)  So, instead of being short the $80, we actually have something left in our account!!  We are thankful.

What has today looked like?  I got up at 5AM, and have worked on our papers for about 9 hours so far.  Much of the day was spent on the "Parenting Resource Plan" document.  This beast  (so far) is 32 pages of research on things such as medical conditions, attachment disorders, behavior issues, etc.etc. A new email/telephone friend put it like this, "It is so hard to find all the local resources you might, hypothetically, could need.  Sometimes I think WACAP makes you fill that out just to test your perseverance."  Yeah, she summed it up perfectly!

I spent an hour and a half on the phone with the International Adoption Center at Children's Hospital.  Wow!  If their review of the records are half as informative as what I was told so far, we will get a LOT from this review.

When Ethan gets home he has to notarize the request for his out of country birth certificate then hope it gets here before the usual several month waiting period.  Did you know that China requires the birth certificate to be issued no more than six months before the dossier is sent?  So much for thinking we were on top of things by having two of the hard-to-get certified documents in hand!  A trip to the post office is scheduled next, then MORE professional passport photos.  We wish we had known to request several photo copies the first time we had them done.  They are needed for numerous other things in addition to the passports.  As I type this, there is a huge thunderstorm raging outside.  I'm thankful for the rain, but thinking there might be a better time to go have photos taken!

 July 17:  Successfully applied for passports for Ethan, Randi and Tikvah.

Faxed our application papers to WACAP and we are official now.  They say things look good and we're on track -- right before they send us an email with a whole list of things that we have ten business days to complete/obtain and send back so they can get pre-approval from China.

July 16: We receive the application from WACAP - primary facilitator of adoption.  We receive the application from Adoption Star - secondary agency who will do the homestudy.  Still typing, answering questions, researching...

July 14:  We spend FIVE HOURS trying to get our documents and photos in order to apply for passports.  Fail.  They closed at noon and we weren't ready until 12:10.

July 13 - 15:  Answering questions, researching, answering questions, researching, answering questions...

July 13:  We tell WACAP that we want to go ahead with "Abigail's" adoption, keeping the way open to add "Ellla" if the other agency will allow.

I receive a phone call from another WACAP client who adopted two unrelated special needs children (about six months ago) at the same time.  Super sweet mom (who is actually one year OLDER than me!) who was very encouraging.  She gave a realistic view of what to expect.  I am so thankful that God has sent so many folks along to encourage us.

July 12:  We receive answers to the additional health questions and an unexpected bonus.  Abigail's caseworker is able to obtain the actual CT images and we have a copy!!   We will be scheduling a pre-adoption consultation with the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  Such a consultation is required by our agency and by China.

We attend an informational seminar at the local agency that told us "No way."  We ask them if they will consider transferring "Ella's" file so the other agency can facilitate both adoptions.  We're told they will check into it.

July 11: One agency says, "No way can you adopt two at the same time."  The other agency says, "Yes, it can be done, but it adds an extra layer of complication to the process."

The second agency sends us a "Parenting Resource Plan".  Wow!  What a lot of questions to answer!

July 8:  We get medical advice concerning Abigail's files. More questions asked.

July 6-7: Said files narrowed down to 50.  I read medical and background files and then read some more. Abigail will not leave my head or my heart.   Ok, scratch that.  There are two, "Abigail" and "Ella"  I simply cannot think of leaving either one of them in China without a family.  Big complication.   Both are "Special Focus" children each assigned to one specific DIFFERENT agency to facilitate their adoption.  Now what?

July 5:  Another agency sends us info on 1797 children.  I cry.

Among others, we receive "Abigail's" file.

July 3: Among others, we receive "Ella's" file.

July 2: Search begins in earnest.  So many needy children.  Can we really have only one?


June 29 and 30: Inform our adult kids who basically say,  "You're going to do WHAT?"

June 26:  Yes!  We've talked about this for literally years.  We are going to do it at last!  Where to start?  The Shepherd's Crook, Rainbowkids, All God's Children, Journeys of the Heart, etc. etc. etc.