Finding our daughter

I know that you guys must be interested to know how the matching process works, and what our daughter will be like. For most of the kids on the waiting list, your dossier has to be in China already to possibly match with the kid. The chances are small that we will be matched before ours is in China. Our adoption agency has access to two lists of waiting kids. The first list is the shared list. The shared list comes from China, and they send out profiles of kids they are adding to the waiting child list. It happens about once a month, and all agencies can look at the list. The agency representatives lock in the file if they have a matching family. The family has 72 hours to decide. China is actually supposed to release some tonight (which is monday morning in China)- so there will be families getting their match calls tomorrow! The other list is the designated list. This is a list of waiting kids that our agency gets, and our agency has a few months to match the kids, then they will go to another agency or to the shared list. Most of the matches for our agency come from this list. I am not sure how often kids are added to this list- I need to ask!

So the big question is when we will get matched!! It could be any day, but it most likely won't be until after our dossier is in China, which could be 6-7 months from now. Once our dossier is in China I will be anxiously awaiting our match call. I will be shocked if it happens before then.

The other questions is what special need(s) will our daughter have? Honestly we don't really know. We are open to quite a few. Here is the excerpt from our adoption petition:

Child we wish to adopt: We are hoping to adopt a girl, aged 30-60 months old. We would like to adopt a child with special needs. We are open to cleft lip and palate, club foot/feet, missing fingers/toes, missing hands/arms, missing feet/legs, nystagmus, strabismus, and ptosis. We would consider facial malformation, minor congenital heart disease, Hiv+, thalassemia, arthrogryposis/joint disorders, scoliosis, dwarfism, spina bifida, ear malformation, partial/moderate hearing loss, cataracts, glaucoma, partial/moderate vision loss, nevus, birthmark, vitiligo, hemangioma, lymphangioma, scar, burns, anal atresia, gastroschisis, epilepsy, and paralysis of one limb. 

As long as our homestudy supports that we could care for a child with any of the above conditions, that is what will go to China. Our agency already knows this, and is keeping an eye out for our daughter now. It is hard to wait to see her and learn more about her- we are keeping busy with the paperwork in the mean time!!

We have a winner!!!!

Daphne H won and we will contact her shortly for her prize!!! Thank you everyone for donating!!!!!!

Noah drew the winner from a pumpkin. We could not find a hat.

Eleventy million pieces of paperwork!!

On Thursday, Scott and I drove to Atlanta to meet with our agency and go over the dossier process. The dossier is the huge packet of paperwork that will go to China. It basically proves that we are eligible to adopt from China and that our agency believes that we will be great parents! The other part of the paperwork we must complete are immigration papers for our daughter. We have to basically apply to the US government to bring in an immigrant. They also require certain things.
Here is the list of things we have to collect:
1.Adoption Petition (an explanation on why we want to adopt)
2. Birth Certificates for Scott and I (live signature only!)
3. Our marriage certificate (live signature only!)
4. Employment verification
5. Financial statement
6. Physical exams for Scott and I, including specific bloodwork
7. Health statements for the boys
8. Police reports for Scott and I (to prove we are not on America's most wanted list!)
9. Homestudy (we meet with our social worker starting this week, and there are things we must do for it!)
10. The form for immigration

The other fun part is that each thing we collect has to be notarized, then we have to take it to the county clerk to get certified, then sent to the secretary of state to get certified, then it must be sent to the chinese consulate in the US for authentication. Then it will be sent to China.

I think I need a personal secretary. I have to keep repeating- we can do this.  The other thing is to try to get it done quick! It will take 4-6 months. Mainly because once we get the stuff to the Immigration office they have 90 days to get it back to us.

Ok Yay!!! Here we go on the paperwork chase!!!!!!!!

Writing an Autobiography

For the homestudy process, Scott and I have to write an autobiography. I think I am almost done with mine. This is really hard to do! Those who know me well, know that I tend to be a private person, so sharing details with a stranger is hard. The questions include strengths, weaknesses, childhood things, schooling, career, marriage, kids. There is even a special section on adolescence- and "they" have the nerve to ask if it was difficult. Geez- wasn't it difficult in some way for everyone???  "They" do not ask for funny stories, or your favorite color. I am glad they do not ask for a video submission, or a year by year account of my life. I am also not a wordy writer (I know big surprise to those reading my blog), so this might just be the shortest autobiography they have ever gotten. So far it is a page and a half, and the only sections I have left are children, finances and why are we adopting. Hmmm. Maybe I should add the whole ski trip story of how Scott and I met. That would add like 4 lines.

Next thursday we go to atlanta to meet with our agency and they will explain the dossier process in detail. The dossier is the humongous packet of paperwork that goes to the china government, and probably has to be submitted in triplicate. Ok, not really, but everything has to be just right. Then we will meet with the social worker here and she will write up our homestudy!!

So here is our to-do list before april:
1. we must renew our passports (they expire in april)
2. order all the official documents we need for the dossier
3. homestudy complete? That could be wishful thinking
4. look at lots of girly room decorating options
5. I need to renew my NP license.(not adoption related but I don't want to forget)
6. get our tshirts designed and maybe some printed
7. start collecting stuff for the yard sale we want to have the end of april/beginning of may


Don't forget our fundraiser- only 9 days left to enter!! Help us fund some of the stuff listed above!!

A Chinese Proverb

A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.

The paper of my daughter's life so far is probably worn, and could be ripped in a few places. Life in a chinese orphanage can be rough. I hope and pray that there is someone there with her leaving a beautiful mark on her paper.  Every person that donates to help us bring our daughter home is leaving a beautiful mark on her paper. Every person who prays for her and us on this journey is leaving a beautiful mark on her paper. I love her already, and it is very hard to know that she is across the world. It is hard not knowing her living conditions, her health, even the simple things like her favorite color. We have a lot to do on this end before we travel, and my biggest fear is not raising enough money to go get her. Please search your heart and pray. Make a beautiful mark on her paper, and help us bring our daughter home.

FAQ's about our adoption!

1. Why do we want to adopt? Simply- we want to expand our family. We want a daughter. We want to save a child.


2. Why international? Mainly because orphans in other countries are not in foster homes with access to medical care like here in America.

3. Why China? Several reasons. China has a very stable adoption program. China has a lot of orphans. The travel requirements to China are not as long as they are to some other countries. We have ties to people who have Asian heritages- so our daughter will know people with her same heritage. It is such a blessing to live in a multicultural area!

4. Why an older child? We knew that we would have to keep Noah as our oldest, but Aiden will not care about adding an older sibling. There is a greater need for older child adoptions.

5. What will you name her? We have a list going!! We are taking suggestions. We will wait to name her until we know her age and her Chinese name because we may use it somehow.


Let me know any other questions- and I will do my best to answer them!! Name suggestions and adoption advice is welcome!!!

We are adding another Miracle!!!

We are happy to announce that we are adopting a daughter from china!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She will probably be between Noah and Aiden's ages.
We are early in the process- and we will be sharing a lot. It will take about a year.  We will also be doing some fundraising to pay the adoption expenses- so stay tuned. We are trying not to go into debt for this- and feel like everyone who helps will play a part in getting our daughter home. What an amazing blessing- to help an orphan home.
We are planning to adopt off of the waiting child list for china.


We are so excited, and can't wait to find her, meet her, and bring her home!!!!!!!