| Our China Adoption Journal |
| May 28th, 2000 - Bruno and I decided to adopt! The next week was spent calling every adoption agency in the surrounding area for information! |
| Sunday, June 11th - We attended our first information session with Adoptions From the Heart. Although we also would visit three other agencies, we decided stay with AFTH and adopt a baby girl from China! |
| June 16th- After making the above decision, Bruno showed his excitement by using his day off to remove most of the furniture from "the nursery". Although we would have over a year to wait, he wanted to "get ready" (to paint, decorate, etc.). What a good daddy he'll be! |
| June 28th - We went to AFTH to meet with Debbie. We got all of the information about our home study, the INS, and our docier for China. Phew! Tons of paperwork! I got started on it all immediately when we got home! She showed us some referral pictures, some of the girls were so bundled up that they could hardly move their little arms! |
| July 7th - Bruno and I went downtown to hand in our I600A to the INS. After rereading our instructions 100 times or more, I messed us up. When we got there, we needed two $25.00 money orders for fingerprinting. I only had one with us. We ran out of the building to the nearest bank to get the money order. We ended up paying about $33 for the $25 money order in bank fees since it wasn't our bank. Oh well! I'm sure it won't be the only mistake we make! Fingerprinting was fun! The people were very nice and it was all done on computers! I got to see my thumbprint enlarged to the size of a 17" moniter - in 3D! We also got our passport pictures taken and turned in the passport applications at the post office. It was a busy day! |
| July 7- Part 1 of our homestudy. We met our SW, Denise, at her house. She made us feel very comfortable and asked a ton of questions. Bruno, Mr. Quiet Guy, answered a lot! :-) |
| July 18- Physicals, blood tests and Hep B shots. We'll go downtown to the Health Dept. for the rest of the shots! Much easier, and tons less expensive! I think it's crazy that insurance won't pay for this! |
| July 27th- Home visit! We passed our home study, like we were worried! Denise hardly looked at anything, even though everything was SPOTLESS! It was just like having an old friend come to see the house for the first time (except friends don't ask to see your smoke detectors :-) |
| August 4th - Passports arrived. Denise called yesterday to say that she's finishing writing up our homestudy and that we should get it next week. (We got it 8/8.) We have now begun buying stuff for "Leslie"! We've gotten 1 bib, a denim cap, a diaper bag, and now the border for her room. If only we didn't have to wait soooo long! |
| August 11- Bruno and I went downtown again to the INS to turn in our homestudy. I also had forgotten to include the signed statement about photocopies. (See, I knew I would forget something else!). Debbie said it wasn't a problem, just to include it with our homestudy! I like seeing all the different people down at the INS office. There was a family from Japan, a man with a French accent, and a couple from India. Neat! |
| August 31st- I called today to check on the status of our INS approval. The woman said "You were approved this morning!" I must've said "You're joking!" out loud because she chuckled and said "No, I'm not joking, you WERE approved this morning!" I thanked her profusely. She said to expect it with the next 2 weeks. I was (and still am) thrilled with this news for several reasons. When Mom and I went to the Families with Children from China picnic, a lady there told me that this approval could take months! I was so disappointed. I'm glad we'll prove her wrong! Also, this means that we'll receive it early/mid September. This gives us at least 2+ weeks to show everything to Debbie, get things notarized, send stuff to Harrisburg (only said to take a week) and send it all to N.Y. for translation. We should be able to get it to N.Y. by Sept. 30 which means our dossier will be in China in October! Whoopie! Stay tuned to see if we meet this deadline... |
| September 12th - We received our INS approval!!!!! (Really we got it on Friday, but we were in NC on vacation!) I'm going tomorrow (13th) to get papers notarized and I'm going to send the package to Harrisburg. Wow! I didn't think we'd be doing this for another week or two! WooHoo! Ahead of schedule!! The courier we're using should get the papers back "Aposilled" (with the correct stamps from the gov't) within 4 days. I'll then get it to NY to be translated by our agency's office - then on to China. WE WILL MEET THE SEPT. 30th DEADLINE!!!! |
| September 19th - We received our paperwork from Harrisburg. I spent 2 hours photocopying everything. I can't believe that we are in our final steps! |
| September 20th, 2000 - I photocopied our passports (page with pictures) and headed off with the whole dossier to Mailboxes Etc. I sent the package to our agency's NY office. ( They received it on Sept 21st at 10:01 a.m.) That's it! We're done paperchasing! We are now officially a "waiting family". Now, we wait and wait and wait for our little princess! |
| November 1st , 2000- We received a letter from our adoption agency telling us that our dossier was sent to China on Oct. 21st and was received in Beijing on Oct. 26th, 2000. Whoopie! It's official....now there is REALLY nothing to do but wait! |
 |
| back to home |
 |
| waiting page |
|
| October 30, 2001 - Our agency called today to tell us that we are "up next". The September 2000 group from AFTH received their referrals today and so we should receive ours in November. With our current political instability...I sure hope that nothing goes wrong or delays our plans more!!! Keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers!!! |
| November 2, 2001 - Another exciting phone call from our agency. They needed to confirm our phone numbers, address, fax number and also asked about our nearest airport ("Where will you be flying out of ?") So exciting! Last evening, I got together with several other "Oct2000 dtc" waiting moms and a family that just returned from China in October! What a wonderful evening! Not only did I get to "eat some baby toes" but I got a whole list of traveling and packing ideas! |
| November 16th?, 2001- We received an update from our agency. Grace was checking to find out about the Oct 2000 referrals. She notified us that we( the 10/00 folks) were in the "matching room" and were "being processed". She said that she'd update us again next week! |
| November 21tst, 2001- Another email - ALL 10/00 FAMILIES HAVE BEEN MATCHED! Our referrals are expected to arrive in NY this coming week. If there is no delay with the postal service, we should receive a call and our referral this coming week! Yippee! WooHoo! Even if there is a mailing delay, we should hear during the first week of Dec. at the latest! This is a lot better than being put off until the end of December as I was fearing! I/We can't wait to see Leslie's sweet face. |
| November 29/30th, 2001- Thurs. 11/29 we receive "the call" from Grace! Friday 11/30 we recieved her picture and medical reports. She is adorable! Black whispy hair (standing straight up, of course) and big chubby cheeks. Check out the pictures and info. on our referral page! We are in heaven and can't wait to go and get her! ANY MORE INFO WILL BE ON TRAVEL PAGE OR REFERRAL PAGE!!! |