Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at the home of one of our daughters in the Indianapolis area.  Most of our "kids" were able to come, and all of the grandchildren.  Add in Ethan's mom and a nephew with his wife, and it was a house full!  It was great to be together, if even for just a few hours.

I will admit to holidays being just a little "off" for me right now.  Don't get me wrong, I am engaged and enjoying the here and now with my family, but my thoughts are never far from our two little girls who live a half a world away.  As we celebrate our traditions, and as we go about our normal, every day lives I wonder what they are doing and experiencing. How strange will our life here seem to them?   Next Thanksgiving we will make room for a couple more little princesses at the kids' table.  I can't wait to share our fun times with them!

Princess Dormitory!

We are working on transforming the big bedroom into a dormitory for three princesses!

 Of course, a princess must have a canopy bed.  Let me tell you that three canopies in one room, and all in a row is a LOT of bed AND a LOT of curtain! It is pretty adorable though!

 I cannot wait until the other two little princesses are home!

DTC is just around the corner!

I got an update from our agency today.  All of our documents went to the Chinese embassy in DC last Friday  (November 9) for the last authentication step. They say it typically it takes 6-7 business days for them to turn around documents, plus shipping time on each end.

Our case manager said that theoretically our documents should be back at the agency by Wednesday, and they'll be able to mail them to China before they close for Thanksgiving.  That all sounds good,  but she also added that the Department of State has been a little more variable on processing time recently, so it might not get there in time. They are closed both Thursday and Friday for the holiday.

Hopefully the "usual" will happen and our documents will be back at the agency on Wednesday.  I'm told they are typically able to send the dossier the same day it arrives back from authentication, so whether it is Wednesday or the following Monday, we are really close.  Once the dossier goes out we are looking at anywhere from 4-8 months until we travel.  In looking at the timelines of others online, China seems to be moving fairly quickly right now.  Here's hoping for the shorter side of waiting!

Blankets for Plane Travel

I've been carefully evaluating what we actually need (and want) for the China trip.  While we don't want to take lots of baggage (I'm thinking backpacks would be ideal!) we do want to have some amount of comfort.  Tikvah it seems is always cold.  Let's face it, there isn't a lot of meat on her body to keep her warm!  One thing she requested was a blanket to take on the plane.  So, she and I have been looking at blankets for weeks.  Some have been too big, some too flimsy, some not pretty enough....  It has to give a decent amount of warmth, but it must be small enough to stuff into her carry-on.

At the same time we have been contemplating what to send in our "care packages" to the girls at the orphanage.  While many agencies allow sending packages on their birthday, or really any time after pre-approval, ours forbids any contact until we receive LOA. (Letter of Approval - shortly before travel)  One thing that has consistently been suggested (from various sources) to include in a care package is a soft blanket.

So, you can believe I was pretty excited last night to find fleece princess blankets from the Disney Store on sale for half price.  Want to make a sweet deal even better?  They also offered FREE personalization and FREE shipping!  Wow!  Yes.  I ordered three.

 The purple one will say "Tikvah" on it.

The blue one "Abigail Dawn"

AND.... Jennifer Lin will complete the set with the pink one!

Jennifer is "MeiMei's" name in her English speaking preschool, and Lin is Chinese for beautiful jade.  She will also have her Chinese name from the orphanage on her birth certificate as a second middle name.  I like that name pretty well, so you may hear it as often as you hear Jennifer!

We Have It In Writing!

Sometimes I don't appreciate government notices that arrive in my mailbox.  The recent demand by the county health department to update our septic system was one such notice I could have done without.  However, we received an official document from the government today that has me smiling from ear to ear.  The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) sent us a beautiful thing today!  We have received our written APPROVAL NOTICE.  It states, "You have been approved to adopt two children from the following Convention country: People's Republic of China"

I faxed a copy of this to our agency.  They say that it will be heading to the Secretary of State tomorrow. Once this document has been certified/authenticated our dossier will be DONE.  I'm loving National Adoption Month so far!

Speaking of which, have you noticed the really GOOD videos that have been coming out in response to the special focus on orphans this month?  One of them is by Third Day.  It is relevant to all believers.  There is a message for us here.I hope you'll take five minutes to watch it.

I800A Approval Granted Today!

Today was a great way to kick off National Adoption Month!  I received notice that our I800A form (immigrations) had been approved by USCIS.  The full name of this form is Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, the convention country being China in this case.

This was the final document needed for our dossier.  Once the hard copy arrives in the mail next week, we must notarize, state certify, and authenticate it for our dossier.  For those who are trying to keep track of these things,  the dossier is the all important file of documents that will be sent to China. It contains the application and letter requesting permission to adopt a Chinese orphan, home study, police reports, immigration approval, reference letters, medical reports, marriage certificate, birth certificates, letters of employment, and photos of our family and house.

It may take a month before the I800A has all of its certifications, then we will be DTC which is Dossier to China.  It is approximately five to eight months from dossier log in until travel.

I can breath a HUGE sigh of relief that most of our paperwork this side of travel arrangements is done.  Or not.  Next week I start applying for grants.  International adoption is quite expensive, and most people need help to complete it.  We'd appreciate your prayers as we enter this phase that we would find favor with the organizations that are able to assist.

We received a huge blessing of new photos of our girls at their orphanage, this time photos of them together!  An online friend "happened" to be there and got permission to take photos.  We didn't have many pictures of Mei Mei, so we were REALLY especially extra happy to get those! Our agency does not allow us to post photos of the girls online, but I would be happy to show them to you next time we meet.  Just ask -that is, if I don't immediately pull them out to show you!

Lastly, as we enter the final two months of the year, some of you may be thinking about donations, especially tax deductible donations.  Our girls were accepted for fundraising by Reece's Rainbow (advocates for special needs orphans) this past week.  We'd be ever so thankful if you considered them worthy of some of these end of the year donations.  There is a donation button in the right margin on this blog, or you may find our family's page on Reece's Rainbow by clicking here!  Donations through Reece's Rainbow are tax deductible.  Thank you!

Save on your household expenses, help bring our girls home!

-- DUE TO LACK OF ORDERS, THIS FUNDRAISER HAS BEEN CANCELLED --

New Fundraiser that helps us all!

This is a fundraiser for our adoptions from China.  We are selling Tide & Gain Formula Laundry Detergent,  and also Downy Formulated Fabric Softener in 5 gallon Pails. All detergent and softener is available in regular or HE for high efficient washers.  All Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener buckets are $40.00 each and come with a dispensing pump.         

  

Five gallon pails contain 672 oz. I did a price comparison at Walmart on line.  The largest containers of Gain are 150 oz for $14.97.  You’d need more than four of them to equal the bucket.  Comparing Tide at Walmart, again the largest size of 150 oz  with a cost $17.97 each.  You’d need more than four bottles with a total cost of $72.00 plus.  Largest Downey was 103 oz for $9.00.  You’d need more than six bottles!  Save money in your household budget while helping to bring our daughters home!

We purchased a Tide and a Downy.  I’ve found that keeping the buckets in the garage and refilling a smaller jug as needed works very well, and has saved us a lot on our laundry expenses.  If you’d like to purchase from our fundraiser, please print and fill out this order form.  We must pay for the order when we place it, so prepaying would be greatly appreciated.  If you prefer to use Paypal, that is fine, but we will still need your order form emailed to us.  You can pick up your product at our house, or we can arrange to meet you in the Cincinnati, Ohio or Lafayette, Indiana area when the product arrives.

Buyers Name:

Address:

Home Phone:

Cell Phone:

 

	Regular Quantity	HE Quantity	$40.00 each
Original Tide Formula
Tide Formula w/ Downy
Tide Formula w/ Bleach
Gain Formula Original
Gain Formula w/ Bleach
Downy Formula Blue
Downy  Formula Lavender
Downy Formula Green