Too Good To Be True

So I guess this is what happens when you tempt the adoption fates, our trip has been bumped back a week.  The weird thing is I 'm not really even too phased by it.  It seems to be right in keeping with all the other bumps and bruises suffered along the way. 

You don't have to say it, she's worth it! I already know that much. All the time, the energy, the tears, the wait, the money, the risk, the emotional exhaustion....a thousand times over, my Macy is worth it.

Here is our new schedule:

05/27 - Depart Cleveland (via Newark)

05/28 - Arrive in Beijing (if you are going here first)

05/29 - Beijing Tour

05/30- Fly to your province

05/31 – Gotcha Day!

06/4 - Fly to Guangzhou

06/05 – Medical exam/TB Test

06/08 - AC appointment

06/09- Oath-taking ceremony

06/10 - Family goes to AC to pick up passport with visa at ~ 3:30 pm/Train to Hong Kong

06/11 - Disneyland Hong Kong

6/13- Depart for Home (Cleveland via Newark)

Here is the likely reason for the delay, (posted on China Adopt Talk today);
"Many of the families who received TA at the end of March/early April aren't traveling until May because of the trade fair, so many of the May CA's were booked weeks ago for those families."

Read more...

Tentative Travel Dates

tentative
adj tentative [ˈtentətiv]... not final or complete; not definite We have made a tentative arrangement.

Our agency sent us an email today with our tentative travel dates; May 20-June 2. The dates will not be final until after we get confirmation of our consulate appointment. Our agency was very clear that we should not book flights or make travel arrangements.
 
Well so much for that...

I came home tonight to find that Dart had already booked our flights to China. (Woo hoo! Way go daddy, lets' go get your little girl!) So against all agency directives, here's the plan;

May 19- Departure Cleveland
May 20- Arrive Beijing
May 22 -Celebrate my 44th Birthday at the Great Wall!
fly to Guiyang...where Macy is
May 24- Gotcha Day (Mommy's real birthday present)
at some point we fly to Guangzhou
June 2&3-High speed train to Honk Kong & Disneyland
June 4-Honk Kong to Home!!!!!
(As you can see we are arriving a day early and staying a couple extra day in Hong Kong)

Hopefully we won't have to change our flights. We took a chance booking them because Dart found some decent business class fares with just one stop (Newark) both ways. The flight times are great and since it is Continental we get to use and rack up more of those fabulous frequent flyer miles. If we end up having to change we will just have to pay a penalty. Worth the risk I think to avoid being shut out and flying coach...(yes I am a big spoiled baby but seriously have you seen the flat bed seats?). This last minute adoption travel is rough! Of course at this point I would get on a tug boat to China if I had to.

Hopefully by early next week everything will be solidified and more travel details will be flushed out. We have lots of advice from other families who have traveled recently so we have good ideas about where we want to stay as well as some of the things we would like to do while there (assuming Macy is up for it of course) but this is enough for one day. Booking the flights is pushing it far enough, we'll make the rest of our plans after we get our CA confirmed. 

Can you tell we are excited?

Read more...

TA!

It is official, just got the call, we have our travel approval! We will get tentative travel dates tomorrow and should be able to confirm once we get a consulate appointment in 3 or 4 days.


Right now the best guess is we will depart for Beijing on either May 27th or June 3rd.

Read more...

This Just In....

From Jenny the Travel Advisor at Great Wall China Adoption;

Good morning! A little birdie told me that your Travel Approval is very close! I hope to be calling you this week! It isn't in my hands yet, but, when it is, I will be calling!!!!!

Read more...

Sniff, sniff

 I just put Nina to bed and got a little weepy...my baby is in a big girl bed. She is such a peanut she really looks too small to be in there but don't tell her! 

 Sweet dreams my love, please don't grow up too fast.

Read more...

Today's Nesting Project

Nina moved up to a big girl bed today and Macy's bed is ready for her too.  This is a very small room, right off our master bedroon, originally built as the nursery for Nolan.  But even though it is small I think it will fit my petite princesses just fine. Maybe when they are teenagers they will move down the hall into bigger, separate rooms but for now I think I'll keep things cozy.   Do you think it is girly girl enough?  Maybe a little more pink tulle???

BTW.. If anyone knows how to remove a wall decal please let me know.  I need to take down the one over Nina's bed and I am going to put up another between the two beds.  I am really hoping I don't have to paint again!

Read more...

Nina's First Hair Cut

Read more...

I know her shoe size!

Exactly six months ago we received the referral for Fu Li Ping our beautiful little girl from Guizhou China.  Never would I have imagined that so many months later she would still be so far away. I fully expected this day to be difficult.  It started that way too.  As I shared with some dear friends I was ready to spend the day rolling around in a big pile of self pity.  And then I received the most wonderful gifts to lift my spirits.  Short of travel approval I could not have asked for anything better!

Photos of Macy taken just hours ago!

I love that she is wearing the dress we sent her... a physical connection to my baby! (BTW a size 2T) We also got this update;

Weight: 33 pounds; Head circumference: 19.7 inches Chest circumference: 20.49 inches

Foot length: 6.30 inches Height: 38.61 inches Teeth: 9 upper; 10 lower

(Best of all) Her speech ability is normal. She can speak words freely. She can sing several children’s songs and some poems.

She can communicate with others well. She can understands what said to her. Her words can be understood easily. She has no communication problem.

Has she been told she is being adopted? Yes.

Will her foster mother be there on Gotcha Day? If not, would it be possible for the family to meet her while they are there? Yes. Her foster mother is Ye Jia Mei.

Then another blessing, Macy's first foster mother shared this in an email;

"Macy's fos. mom has cared for 3 children, so she has had a bit of experience with the goodbye part. She is a single mom but due to be married soon so Macy is the last child she plans to care for."

Read more...

Foster Mother

I had a really tough day on Friday. The wait for Macy has reached a near unbearable state. It seems that we are falling into every possible crack in the system. The latest was a series of events that led to a delay in the delivery of our Article 5. Normally that should be two weeks and instead ours took four weeks. Thank goodness the only thing left is to get our TA (travel approval). This is like the LOI in KZ adoption. Once we have that we will book flights and arrive in China within 3 weeks. Theoretically I could get my TA any day now and based on my prior calculations I should get it tomorrow. I think tomorrow is going to be tough day.


So on Friday I pretty much cried and vented to Stephanie at my agency. There isn’t much anyone can really do but she was very sweet and sympathetic. Apparently the Printy’s are at the top of the discussion list as we have waited (to the tune of months) longer than any other family in their China program. Apparently our name is on a sticky note affixed to the travel coordinators computer! (sigh)

One thing I did ask for is an update on Macy. The last info we have aside from three photos in December, is dated May 2009. I can’t even imagine how much might have changed in nearly a year. Anyway this morning I got confirmation that the orphanage Director is going to contact the foster mother for an update. Hopefully I will have that soon. But, I did find out that I will definitely be meeting the foster mother when we meet Macy. The “handoff” will be direct from Foster Mom to Forever Mom.

Wow can you imagine? This woman has had Macy since she was six months old-more than 3 years! I started thinking that is about the age most of us KAP’s met our kz kiddos. (Six months is the generally the youngest age right?) Then I think about the bond we have today with our children. I mean can you even get your head around having to give your child to another woman? I surely cannot. There is something truly special about people willing to foster a child.

I am a little worried since I have no idea what this particular foster mother’s expectations were. Remember Macy is among the first kids from her region to be adopted. Perhaps this FM never expected this day to come? Perhaps under the one child policy this was her only opportunity to parent a daughter. OR, perhaps she is an absolute pro and has worked to emotionally prepare Macy for the transition. There is no way to know until I walk into the room a few weeks from now.

Today I ordered a locket for this dear woman. Not much of a trade huh, a scrap of metal for a beautiful child, but of course it is not meant to be transactional. I just wanted to try to capture the bond we have together, we two mother’s to Macy. The locket is engraved on the front with Macy’s English name, “Macy Lisabel Liping”. On the inside is an engraved photo of Macy with her FM and a message that reads, “Blessed by the love of two mothers”.

Ok now enough of the melancholy…we are getting closer. Perhaps tomorrow will bring TA and if not it surely will be soon. We went out for Chinese last night and my fortune cookie said I would soon have good news to share with loved ones. So there you have it. As we all know the fortune cookie doesn’t lie!

Read more...

My new favorite song...

For all the waiting children and the parents who are missing them...and especially for Macy and Rupa please know I'll find a way to get you here.
 

Lightyears away I hope you know

There is somebody searching

For the way to get you here

I will get you here

Read more...

Welcome to Crazy Town

Yesterday I had a sure sign that we have crossed the border to crazy town. It started with a text message from Dart that read, “Are you expecting something from China?” Really are you kidding me Dart? Umm well let me think…only my DAUGHTER!!!!! I immediately wrote back asking what he had and he responded saying someone called from the post office saying they had a package from China that required a signature for pick up. My heart started racing, could this be my travel approval? I thought my agency would call me with this but maybe I was wrong. Maybe when families have waited almost 6 months CCAA sends a direct package with the travel approval documents.  It could happen. Oh my goodness this is it, we are going to China!

Once again I text Dart and instruct him to run to the car and open the package. By this point I was consumed by the anticipation of our travel approval but since Dart was in the middle of a class I had to wait until he had a break. An eternity later (ok maybe it was 20 minutes) he emailed this photo of the package contents…

Not exactly what I was hoping for. For the uninitiated (count your blessings) these are World of War Craft action figures apparently ordered by Aidan from a collector in China. (Hmmm, guess I forgot they made things other than beautiful babies in China.)

Honestly Dart and I both had a good laugh about it. I mean what were we thinking? Was China just going to UPS our kid to us? We must be losing it. Surely thinking you might get a baby in a box has to be a sign of some sort of adoption stress disorder.

In an attempt to retain whatever shred of sanity and dignity I have left, I have now requested that no member of our family order anything from China until after Macy is home.

Read more...

Limbo

Russian adoption to the US was suspended today after a US mother put their adopted child on a plane back to Russia. That is the tragic story that is getting the headlines but to me the worst part of this tragedy is that countless GOOD parents and innocent children are now stuck in limbo.

I know first hand what it is like to meet a child, fall in love, imagine a future and then leave with a promise that I could return one day to bring her home. I am acutely aware of what it is like to stare at a photo, month after month imagining the moment you finally become a family. Take it from me limbo sucks!

My heart breaks thinking about these fledgling families stuck on the edge of hell. Most especially for those families who have already bonded with their children, (and make no mistake they are now and forever more their children). So, while it would be easy to fill the page with my thoughts about what this one woman in TN did, I choose rather to use this space to say to the good and loving adoptive parents and their beautiful waiting children... you are in my thoughts and prayers tonight and every night until your forever comes.

A fellow AP who knows of our long wait for Macy sent this quote to me last night. I pass it on now to my Russian adoptive friends, especially Lynette...

"You never know how strong you are until strong becomes your only choice."

Read more...

Don't Even Know What More to Say...

AGENCY:
Hello families!
I received an update from our staff. Your Article 5's were delivered to the CCAA on Friday, April 9th. I will take between 2-3 weeks for your Travel Approval to arrive here from that date. You're getting closer to travel!

I will keep you informed of any news that I receive.


LORI:
Nancy thanks for the info but can you tell me why this is at least 10 days longer than other families? You told me last week that it “should have been picked up on April 1st”. That would have been consistent with what I saw with others ( I know some with the same NVC letter date who had their article 5 by March29!). I sent my NVC letter to you on March 12, when did it go to China? I paid an extra fee to have my documents expedited was this used? Why would GWCA take longer than other agencies? I have to say I am really disappointed at the loss of another almost 2 weeks with my daughter.

Please give me some feedback along with projected travel dates. Thank you.

LORI AGAIN:
Gosh Nancy I just heard from a friend who had the EXACT SAME NVC date as me and she got her TA today! Please send me all the dates my documents were sent. This makes no sense at all.

AGENCY:
Actually it was picked up on April 1st, according to the spreadsheet. You did not pay any extra fees - everyone pays the same fee for the documents to be express mailed to Beijing. I know that April 5th was a holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day) but that does not explain the other days. The only thing I can do at this point is ask our staff why it took 8 days for delivery to the CCAA. I will have an answer for you tomorrow.

LORI:
I will check my receipts. I do believe I sent 2 checks, one with an extra fee to express our NVC letter if we missed the weekly delivery to China.

I know there is little you can do personally Nancy ( I do make that distinction) but GWCA is definitely the slow boat to China these days!

Read more...

HUMPF!

I emailed Nancy at Great Wall Today and asked about our Article 5. Nope it still isn't here. She said she thinks it should have been picked up on April 1st. Her last update was just through March 30th. She doesn't want to ask her contact for updates too frequently (really don't get that but whatever). She basically said I will call you when I hear something. HUMPF.


So the good news is I really don't need to know when the Article 5 is picked up for our adoption to continue moving forward. If it was April 1st then that means we have been chugging along towards our TA for almost a week now. Given the recent turn around times I have followed on Rumor Queen that means we could possible see our TA anytime now. I will most likely be another two weeks but could be ANY time!

I surely hope it is soon. There is this chart maintained on the Rumor Queen site that tracks how long families have been waiting for a TA and today two families ahead of us got there TA's (great for them!) and we hit the top of the charts, meaning we have been waiting longer than any other family on the list. This I assure you is a dubious distinction I would rather not have.

Read more...

Can't get anything past you...

I have to admit I was a little surprised that so many of you noticed the changes on the blog yesterday. I am getting ready for a blog redesign and have been busy setting up new pages and links but of course that is not what was noticed. Yes we have added a link called “India” and here is the long story on that…


Late last summer I began to search in earnest for Nina’s sister. I was convinced that an adoption in China might not happen for us and I began to look at other programs. Having already made the choice to adopt a “special needs” child I focused on searching waiting child lists. I am not sure how I ended up on the website of this particular agency but I found myself reading a listing for a 14 month old baby girl with a heart condition. I knew nothing about India adoptions or this agency but somehow felt drawn to this child. That day, September 15, 2009, I sent an email inquiring about the baby.

Several days later I heard back from the agency that the baby, “Rupa” was still waiting for a family. I received some basic information and a photo. She was beautiful and immediately Dart and I set the adoption wheels in motion by getting our home study updated and fingerprints completed etc. In the meantime the agency did their part to try to get an unofficial pre approval from the orphanage. I checked in with them every few days but there seemed to be one delay after another. Finally we got the word on October 21, 2009 that we would be permitted to adopt Rupa. For those of you who have followed our story closely you might notice that October 21 is also the day we received a referral for Macy. Quite literally 2 hours after learning we could adopt Rupa we got “the call” (after a 3 year wait I might add) for Macy!

We had a gut wrenching decision to make. We wanted them both but could not imagine how that could be possible. After vesting three years of emotional energy in China we decided this was the right choice for us. Macy was everything we could have hoped for and in my heart I knew she was always intended for us. There was no way we could not adopt Macy. We took comfort in the knowledge that the baby in India had several families wanting to adopt her. I set about consoling myself with the adoption mantra that I was “releasing her to find her forever family”.

Over the past five months as we have struggled to bring Macy home I have never faltered in my belief that we made the right choice but at the same time I never stopped thinking about the little girl with the big brown eyes in India. Did she have her family yet? Was she home? So one day last week I once again stumbled my way over to that agency’s website and perused the waiting child listings where I found myself reading about a child that sounded very familiar. Could it be? I emailed the agency and asked. Yes it was the same baby from five months ago still searching for her forever family. I was shocked and sad for her. How could this beautiful child not have found her family? And then it occurred to me that maybe she already had…five months ago.

Of course the “problem” was we were still trying to get Macy home, moreover there was my husband who had recently told me he had an “adoption vasectomy” and he could no longer sign papers! Also due to Rupa’s declining health and urgent need for medical attention the agency was very clear that they would match her with the first paper ready family to commit to her. So many obstacles but somehow I needed to try.

I started with my husband. The two of us went out to dinner and I nervously brought up the topic. “You are not going to like what I have to say” I started. Then I began to tell him about Rupa. Before I could even ask if he would consider adopting her he interrupted with a very determined “Let’s go get her”. I was stunned and started crying right there in the restaurant. Dart talked though my tears, “listen Lori; I’m not looking for more kids but if God puts a baby on my doorstep I am not closing the door”. (Have I mentioned how much I love this man?) So that was it, we agreed there were no sure things and we were ok with the unknown of it all. There are lots of challenges, mountains to move really but we agreed right then and there that we would try to bring Rupa home.

And that is what we are doing right now. I contacted our social worker the next morning and after a minor interrogation she has agreed to update our home study to allow for both Macy and Rupa. We could conceivably file an I800 for India within the week. But that is just one hurdle. The truth is I might get a call today telling me it isn’t possible. There might be another family ready to move more quickly. (We are at peace with this possibility because we know Rupa needs a family and medical attention as soon as possible.) Also it is possible that India may feel we have too many children in our family (I am sure they are not alone). Right now we are approaching it day by day, doing all we can within our power to make her our daughter but at the same time accepting that it is largely out of our control.

I am keeping a separate blog to capture the events surrounding our possible adoption of Rupa. For now it is just for me and I am not sending invites (Dart doesn’t even have on). I just need a place to get it all out. If we are fortunate enough to be permitted to adopt Rupa I will, at the right time, send out the invites. So stay tuned and please pray for both of our daughters who still have not found their way home.

OH yeah and just for the record after this we are done, done, done… minivan full, pocket book empty done. Unless I get that Partridge family bus and somebody in this family gets a record deal, then I might reconsider!

Read more...

The next big thing...

This is the week we are hoping to get our Article 5.  According the new policy issued by the US Consulate in Guangzhou Article 5's will be signed within 2 weeks and caan be picked up on Monday's or Thursday's.  Our Visa application and NVC letter was submitted to our agency on March 12th and was sent to China that same day.  So if all goes as it should we should have gotten our Article 5 last Monday March 29th....that said we still have not heard anything.

SUMMARY OF NOTICE FROM U.S. CONSULATE GUANGZHOU

In an effort to streamline the Article 5 process, the Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) is updating their procedures. The ACIVU will require a copy of the NVC notification that is sent to parents stating that the I-800 has been sent to the Consulate. MAA will need to include a copy of this notification with the documents we submit to the Consulate for Hague Article 5 issuance. Case Documents submitted without this notification will be returned to the agency facilitator.
Article 5 approvals will be available for pick-up two (2) weeks from the day the case documents are submitted. Hague case documents can be dropped off and Article 5 letters can be picked up on Mondays and Thursdays. Expedited Article 5 issuance will only be considered for documented medical emergencies.

Read more...

Nina's 2nd Easter (Dress)

Read more...

Favorite Photo

Nina in front of a display showing the the faces of immigration...Ellis Island NY

Read more...