Our Adoption Journal
Our Daughter in China has Arrived!
Click Here to See Her
Hi, welcome to Kim and Dan's new home. We are very busy preparing for the arrival of our new daughter who will come to us from China. We would like to dedicate this page to the newest member of our family, Sianna Lee Serio. As soon as we have a picture of her, we will post her precious little face on our website so all of our family and friends can share in our excitement!We are so thankful for having this opportunity to have the family we always dreamed of.
Our adopton journey began on November 7, 2000. Then the paperchase began, and we completed that on December 8, 2000. We were told it would take 90 days to finish all the paperwork, but we were determined to have ours finished by Christmas and we did. It only took 31 days! Our dossier arrived in China on December 26, 2000. What a wonderful Christmas gift! Now the hard part begins...waiting! We have been told it would be 6 to 9 months before we would have our referral.
Well, it is February 5, 2001. We just completed our first month of waiting. We have received our brown envelope from China. That was exciting! It has our assignment number and confirms that China has our visa information. We are in the final stages of finishing our basement, so we will soon start on Sianna's nursery. Hopefully, that will get us through the end of February.
It is the end of March 2001. We now have made it through 3 full months of waiting. We started on the nursery. After 15 years of waiting for this, putting the crib together was very emotional for us. Now we look into the nursery every day knowing that soon our daughter will be there. My friend Carmen and Robert just finished their paperchase for their daughter. We are looking forward to their adoption as well. As we go into our 4th month our anxiety level is rising. The wait is very hard. We will be attending several adoption meetings with FCC and several events with our travel group. Hopefully April will fly by.
We are heading for Memorial Day weekend. April just flew by for us. We were so busy getting the nursery ready. I painted the nursery - I painted a sky blue with clouds. It has been so exciting for us. We attended a few FCC waiting parents meetings and have met a wonderful new group of friends. This experience has open so many new doors for us. May has also been very busy. I have found my new hobby- Yard Saling. It is great. My friend Carmen, who is also adopting from China, and I have found some great deals on baby items. Now I am hooked. We go every Saturday morning. Thanks to all the wonderful people I clean for they all keep me posted on the community yard sales. One wonderful thing has happened this month - our friend Yvonne, is leaving for China this Sunday to pick up her daughter. She waited a long year for this and we are all so happy for her. We look at her and you can just feel the excitement and anxiety she is going through just waiting to leave. I cannot wait for that feeling. I know how special it will be. As we go into June, it will be our 6 month of adoption pregnancy. A long six months for us. So it can be anywhere from the next few months and at the longest around the holidays. Just waiting for that all important phone call. As I read the posts on the APC web site(it is a site where people post ?'s and news about their adoption process from China) and I see the "Referrels" coming in, the anticaption grows so strong. As I read the emails expressing their excitement about the phone calls; it makes me wonder what that will be like for us. I just wish it was now!! Everyday is just a day closer to our turn.
We are heading into our eight month of waiting, it is August 1. June was a very long and exciting month. Our friend Yvonne came home with her daughter. It was such a joy to see her walk into our monthly meeting with her daughter in her arms. Two other couples in our group received their referrels. And I had my long awaited baby shower. I was very surprised! I was surrounded by my family and my friends. I think I cried through most of the day. I received so many wonderful gifts. Now the nursery is ready, just waiting for Sianna! June seemed to creep by. We had alot of activities but somehow it took forever to end. July was very busy. We were able to spend time with our friends. We all spent a great night at Oregon Ridge. One of the most wonderful things that have come from this, is our new found friends. We have a very special bond. When you are in the process of adopting, it is great to have friends who are going through the same thing. There are so many ups and downs while you are waiting for the phone call. This past 7 months have been the longest and hardest of my life. We know the end result but not knowing when it so very hard. As we go into the 8 month, I am starting to have a hard time handling the wait. I have found myself feeling very down. As the wait could go on for another 4 months, right into the holidays. Our agency just received group 59, we are 73. So we are closer. Hopefully this month, a large group of referrels will come in.
It is now October, our 10th month of waiting. September was without saying, a very sad month. Nothing much was happening on the adoption end until late September and early October. Our agency received 62 through 64 groups! We were very hopeful to see the referrels from China. We are now 9 groups away. If the war does not stop any further referrels, we are still hopeful for December. It is hard to write about us, knowing of all the families who are mourning. We try not to focus on ourselves while so many are suffering, but this has affected the adoption world too. We are holding our breath, waiting for the fighting to start. When this happens, it will affect the referrels also. But for now, we wait. Thank goodness for my friends, Carmen and Robert, Yvonne, and Debbie and Robert, my cousin - Pam. These people have help my keep it together. I have been having a very hard time with all of this. They call me and give me the pep talks that I need. Thank you to all of you for helping me through these last couple months. We knew waiting was going to be difficult but add all of this to it and it makes it unbearable! Adding new fears to our wait. This has been the hardest labor pains that I could imagine. We refuse to give up. At this point, we know our daughter has been born and is awaiting her turn for our group to come up. In my head, I picture this little girl - black hair, black eyes, chuppy cheeks, my daughter, Sianna. We are now within months of receiving her picture.
I would like to say "Thank You" to a very special family - The Stickels; Debbie, Steve, Casey and Paige. These very nice people made a donation to our adoption. What makes it so special is the geneousity from this family. Debbie goes to work and Steve stays home with the girls. They are on a very tight budget. But they offered to help me and Dan. All of our donations are special, please do not take this wrong. But this came directly from their hearts. We have known each other for several years through cleaning and have become nice friends. They have watched me go through several miscarriages and now the adoption. I was so touched by their heart filled generousity. It was something that they really wanted to do for us. Thank you!
It is now December, our month! On the 26th, it will be a full year since our paperwork arrived in China. I have to say, it has been the longest year of our lives! What a rollercoaster! Well, our agency received groups 64 to 67, 29 referrels in all last month. Bringing us closer, only 5 groups away from the big day. We do not expect our referrel this month, we have been told probably January. It would be nice to have her picture by Christmas. But I still have high hopes, you never know. But at least we are so close now. I spent alot of time nesting. I have put together her stroller, toys, etc. I have started gathering packing items, making packing list. Anything to keep busy. I just keep thinking how special next Christmas will be. I have dreamed for so many years of my child waking up on Christmas day and seeing the excitement in her face. Next year will bring so many first for us and our family. We will soon start the paperwork for our son soon after the adoption is finalized for our daughter. We want 2 children, a girl and boy. We will soon have the family we have tried for so many years. Thank you to so many of you for all the support this year. I could not have gotten through this without the support of our family and friends. Hopefully my next post will include our referrel.
It is now January 2, 2002! No referrel as of yet. We have offically passed our one year wait. Now heading toward our 13th month of waiting. Christmas was very hard. With so much hope at the begining of the year, she would be home with us for Christmas. Now, I know this is our year. We are within weeks of receiving her picture. The only thing that makes it easy is knowing, we have the worst behind us. Our friends, Carmen and Robert, are in their 8th month of waiting. We hope that we all receive our referrels at the same time. It would be a wonderful trip if the 6 of us all traveled together, it would make the wait worth it - Debbie and Robert, Carmen and Robert and Dan and I. I am going to keep very busy this month.
January 31, 2002, 56 weeks, THE PHONE CALL!!! I wish I could put into words exactly what it was like. I cried for hours with happiness. Calling my parents and sister, I could hardly speak. They knew I had a daughter. Finally, after 15 years of being heart broken, this was my day, the birth of my daughter, Sianna Lee. I am finally able to let go of so much hurt. This was the first time I could put the day I lost my son behind me and go on. I have never been able to let that day go. A day has never past for the last 15 years, that I did not feel sad about that day. I never had a child to fill that void, until now, my beautiful daughter. That saturday, the package was coming with pictures and information about Sianna. When the Federal Express man arrived, it was my stork arriving with my daughters picture. I asked the man to pose for a picture with the package, he was very happy to do this. Now I had pictures of this little angel. Wow - we are in love with this little girl. My cousin, Pam, was just as excited as we are. My mom, the proud grandmother, already showing off her pictures. Jackie and Joey now the godparents. Many of our friends received their referrels this month. Carmen is still waiting. She has been so excited for me and Debbie. I just wish she had received her referrel too. Now we are getting ready for the travel part, so many things to do. I just wishing I was already leaving. I am putting together a care package for Sianna with pictures of her new family, a blanket, stuff animal, etc. I will update when we receive more details on travel. It will be a long time before I come off this cloud!
"FOR US TO HAVE EACH OTHER IS A MIRACLE! NO, I DID NOT GIVE YOU THE GIFT OF LIFE, LIFE GAVE US THE GIFT OF YOU"
We thought
everyone would enjoy this picture of our friend
Yvonne's daughter, and her new friends."
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We would like to give a very special thank you to the following companies who generously helped sponsor our adoption.
Swift Flooring
Barry Andrew Homes
Kleins Supermarket
Bel Air Athletic Club
Knights of Columbus #4714
Music Land
Knights of Columbus #5263 - Ladies Auxilliary
Donna and Frank Young
Tritronics
Bruce Kane
Enterquest
Joe Mechlanski
Video Tech Center
Bob & Kelly Lacy
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