Celebrating the milestones

I can't believe that I forgot to post these pictures from back on August 2.  It was our 32nd anniversary, and we had just found out that China had given us Pre Approval for Abigail Dawn.  Of course that morning we had already taken a CPR class and been fingerprinted (this first time for FBI clearance.)  Perhaps all the paper chasing distracted me.  Whatever the case, we celebrated!

We went to a favorite place of ours in Montgomery.  Tikvah likes to go here and listen to the people around us speak Chinese.  We are attempting to learn a bit of it, but so far she is the only one who has absorbed enough to catch a word here and there when she hears it spoken.

There have been many, many paper chasing days since that day in August.  We've jumped through more hoops than a circus animal, but here we are, pretty much finished with the paper work, and now we wait.

At last we have Pre Approval for MeiMei, and keeping to the pattern, we went out for a Chinese dinner to celebrate.  We are a little wiser, a little more tired, and much better with the chopsticks! This time we tried a place very close to our home.  The dining wasn't as pretty, for sure, but the food was REALLY good.

Ethan downloaded an app for his phone, so now it does panorama photos - sort of.  We look like we are in a time warp in it!

But you know, it sums up how we feel today, having finally arrived at this point.  We are tired, we are happy, we are giddy.  We are officially approved for both Abigail Dawn and MeiMei.  Whew!

Introducing MeiMei, Our Second Treasure from China!

 You've been asking, and now we are telling.  YES!  We are bringing home two girls!  Our agency gave approval on October 4th for these two specific girls to be placed together in our home. There has been some scurrying around behind the scenes, papers sent, her file lost somewhere in the computer system between our agency and China, (VERY scary) but we have just received our PA (pre approval) from China for another adorable six year old, also from Southeast China.  We are so blessed to introduce her!

MeiMei is the Chinese name that those closest to her would call her. She is called "Jennifer" or "Jennie" at her school.  At this point all that has been decided name-wise is that "Jennifer" and her Chinese name will appear in some form.

So what is MeiMei like?  She is a lovely child who gets along well with others, though she is a bit shy.  She attends an English speaking preschool a few days a week. She likes playing with toys, building towers, and watching cartoons with other children.  In a video that we have of her, MeiMei puts puzzles together like I do. You know, put the piece down and try to slam it into place, to make it fit?   (Ethan got a big laugh when he saw that!)  And get this statement that I read in her report - she knows the answer to "Why should you wash your hands before meals?"  LOL!  Yes, I know she is MINE!

Like Abigail, MeiMei is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, though hers is a bit more involved physically.  At this time, she uses a walker to assist her, but her mobility is improving rapidly.  Dr. Staat (from the International Adoption Center) who reviewed her medical files on October 9, was very encouraging about MeiMei's expected progress once she begins therapy in the states.

We've been fingerprinted by the USCIS, and they are processing our immigration papers for both girls.  We're currently waiting for an officer to be assigned to our case. He or she will review our homestudy and our fingerprints, and if all are acceptable will then issue approval. Once our Form I-800A approval has been received in the mail, it will be notarized, state certified, and authenticated.  That is the final document needed for our dossier.

We expect to bring both of our daughters home at the same time.  The best guess for travel is still predicted to be sometime towards the beginning of the summer of 2013.  That seems like a VERY long time from now.

We've Been Fingerprinted!

We received our letter today from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  stating the appointment time for our  "biometrics" processing was scheduled for November eighth.  They always schedule the appointments out pretty far, so our agency had advised us to try a "walk in" early once this letter arrived. 

I've been stalking the mailman for several days (not really, but I did have the "Mr. Postman" song going around in my head this morning...) so I was pretty excited to see the letter in the mailbox today.  I had a few things that I had to get done before I left, but was out of here pretty quickly.

Ethan's office is near to the Federal Building, so we were able to meet up during his lunch hour for our attempted walk-in.  I have been hearing horror stories from online friends who have done the walk-in.  Some were turned away, and some were successful after being chewed out, but no one reported it as a pleasant experience.

Fortunately my friend, Maren, reassured me that the staff at our local office are NICE.  And she was so right!  I will admit it was a little intimidating to put my purse in a bucket and walk through a metal detector, but at least I wasn't wearing a belt - poor Ethan!  And Ruth's metal nail file sent the guards at the door rummaging through her purse....  We got through and had our id's checked, then got directions to the correct room.

I had the nicest guy!  After he took my prints (electronically) he showed me a huge bulletin board in his office where he likes to post photos of the children he helps.  I added to his collection, of course! The staff was quite pleasant, and very efficient.  Even with a few people in line ahead of us, we were in and out in probably fifteen minutes.

When I got home I followed up with an email to let the USCIS know that we were fingerprinted early.  I have already heard from them that we have not been assigned  to an officer yet.  It was notated in the system so that when our case is assigned, our officer will know that we went in early.  Its looking online like its taking about a week after printing for the I800A to be approved.  Here's hoping that at the end of next week we are another huge step forward!

Abigail is Six

 Happy 6th Birthday, Abigail!

There isn't a lot of consistency with the rules while one is waiting on an adoption.  Some agencies allow posting photos online and allow care packages to be sent at any time following PA (pre approval) and others interpret the Hague laws VERY literally and allow NO CONTACT until the LOA (letter of acceptance) shortly before travel.  We happen to be with one of the agencies that interpret the law very strictly.  Thus, Agibail's sixth birthday came and went on October 5 with only a small family celebration.

One of our adult daughters, Hannah, made this cake for her "baby" sister.  She took such care in using Abigail's favorite color, and even wrote in Chinese characters at the top of the cake.  It was obvious she put a lot of thought and love into it.

We sang Happy Birthday and ate a piece of cake in honor of our youngest child in China.  We can't wait to get her home!

Celebrating the Mid-Autmn (Moon) Festival

One of the requirements for adoption from China is the promise of teaching your children appreciation of the Chinese culture.  We have been researching and practicing!  One of the really FUN things we did was attend the Peking Opera  last month.

Then, September 30th was the celebration of one of the most important holidays of the year for the Chinese people. We did actually celebrate that day, but its taken me awhile to remember to put it on the blog.  Since we found it interesting, we thought you might also.

Beginning as a harvest festival, Mid-Autumn Festival marked the time when farmers had finished gathering their crops.  The holiday is celebrated now as a time to be with family to give thanks for a good year.  According to our friend Jack  it is the Chinese equivalent of our Thanksgiving.

From the book Thanking the Moon by Grace Lin, "The traditions and myths of the Mid-Autum Festival center around the moon.  On the night of the festival, the moon is bright and full in the sky.  The roundness of the moon symbolizes harmony, and its fullness symbolizes wholeness, so families come together to celebrate those virtues."

"Families pay homage to the moon by eating mooncakes, small, round pastries with sweet fillings.  The cakes are formed in molds, and have elaborate designs on top.  Chinese characters for harmony or longevity, figures from moon legends, or flowers add to the mooncake's role as a symbol of good fortune and blessing."

We purchased our egg yolk mooncakes at a local Asian store.  We also got pineapple and red bean and some red bean and lotus seed mooncakes from the Mam Non Organization online. These cakes are not at all like a typical American cake, and opinions on their tastiness were very mixed with the group at our home that day.

One is really supposed to have an outdoors picnic at night, and observe the moon.  Our guests were here during the day, so we read our children's book about the holiday after lunch, then had mooncakes and tea for dessert.  Our family intended to go out after dark to look at the moon, but alas, it was too cloudy to see it here.

Grace Lin's book concludes like this, "Just as the moon always returns to its fullness, the festival continues to reunite families and inspire peace and gratitude."

We are offically in the China program!

On Monday I received an email from our placement agency which read, "I have received your notarized studies today and have just officially approved your file into our China program. You will now be assigned to a new case manager who will work with you for the remainder of your adoption process."  YAY!

Ethan and I had a telephone appointment with our new caseworker today and got our expected timeline.  It looks like we are still on target for the original "due date" of summer of 2013.  Our I800A (immigrations) form was sent today.  That is a big milestone!  We're on our way!

A couple of news items today

I heard from our home study agency that our certified copies of the home study have AT LAST gone out in the mail.  Hurray! 

Also heard from Agency X that Ella's new parents have their contract and initial paperwork in, and are pursuing their dossier.  It looks really good that things will work out for her this time.  God bless little Ella and her new parents.  May they travel to her quickly.