Article 5

We have our Article 5, and now--- we are finished!!  We should get our travel approval in 2-4 weeks, and we'll travel about a week later!!  We're going to get our girl!! I'm so excited.  I can't believe it! We're a whole month ahead of schedule.  My to do list at home is enormous, and now that we've decided not to take the girls to China, I have to arrange for their care, my to do list is 3 girls longer!!! and my time line completely awesomely a month or so shorter! Oh well, I don't need to sleep, or eat, or clean.  August will be a marathon for sure, and hopefully shortly into September, we'll go get our baby girl, and she will be an orphan no more.

Almost There!

So much has happened!  So much paperwork that is.  I know it is cliche, but I truly can't believe how much paperwork is involved in this adoption!!  The past two weeks were very busy with family reunions, and I kept putting off the mountain of paperwork that was in my in-box. I finally got to it, and 4 hours later!!! I was ready to have everything notarized and sent off.  Oh my!  We received a couple of days ago our last (I think) document in the mail. I think I've said that a dozen times already, but I really think this is it.  I have everything on my list now as far as paperwork that we'll need to take to China, and I have everything we'll need to apply for Visas, which I will do today. It's not even August yet, could we travel sooner than October? I can't find any time lines.  I know my agency sent me one, but I can't find it!!!  I know we have to wait for our Article 5 to arrive in China, then wait for travel approval.  I think that's it.  Will those things really take longer than 8 weeks?

I have been feeling my little so much lately.  Oh how I want her home!!!! I'm going to paint her room this week, her bed is up and adorable.  It's finally feeling close, and not forever away.  2 more months is long, but totally doable.  Oh, my girl, we're coming!!

New Book

I am reading the most amazing book! It has come highly recommended on a few adoption websites, and was rated amazingly well on Amazon.  I've only just started it, but I'm aching inside for my poor little baby and the loss that she has suffered in such a short period of time.  I had no idea all that happened in a developing infant's brain.  The book is incredible.  I'm very encouraged, and I am loving all that I'm learning.  There is this little bit about what your child may feel like when they are handed over to us and ultimately adopted. I cried and cried when I read it.  Here it is:

You look around you. You are in a remote place in the middle of what seems like nowhere in particular. You have no maps or signs to tell you where you are. Suddenly you are surrounded by strangers, all of whom are overjoyed to see you. these people smile, laugh, and talk loud and fast, and they act as if you can understand them. The touch your hair, your face, and your shoulders, and they hug you repeatedly. You notice they have a peculiar odor. They dress differently from anyone you have ever met. Their language is unintelligible and sounds like gibberish. You have no clue how or why you are here. You have no idea if you will find your way back to your former life. 


You feel hands beginning to remove your clothing, and there, in public, these strangers dress you in new garments. Some people appear to be assessing you, sizing you up, looking at your hair and teeth closely and noting any moles or scars on your body. You are given strange food and invited to play unfamiliar games. You are handed a container of strange liquid and encouraged to drink. Everyone continues to laugh and smile and act as though this were a perfectly ordinary and normal situation.


It's going to be such an incredible journey.  Our little institutionalized, orphaned baby, needs her family!!! It's getting closer every day! There is much to do to prepare, and we are anxiously doing all we can.  I can't wait to get my girl home!

LOA

Our LOA arrived at our agency today and is being overnighted to us as we speak!  We now will travel to pick up our cute little baby in 10 to 14 weeks. Emphasis on the 10!  We also received an update on our cute chicken, but she forgot to attach it to the email letting me know!!  Shoot!  I asked for her to resend it, but it was after closing hours. Tomorrow then! So, tomorrow, I will get our LOA, sign it, and send it back overnight with our filled out I-800 immigration paper. There are then 2 more things we wait for, we need to get our Visas, and then we will be there!!

I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm super nervous!  Starting over with a baby is scary! It's been so far in the future, it's been romantic.  It's reality now, and no longer romantic. I'm so excited, I have a hard time sleeping at night, but I'm also way super duper nervous!! I hope she likes us.

LOCC

Our girl just got moved to a new orphanage, LOCC, and we are so excited!!  I knew she got moved a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't know what LOCC was, or why she was moved anyway. Then, last week, I got an email from a lady that runs a charity though my agency. She stated that she is going to pick up her son from China next week, and he also was in LOCC.  I emailed her and asked her what that is.  LOCC is a charity run by my amazing agency that helps children with special needs. Our daughter will get so much good attention there. The nanny to baby ratio is really really small, they get held, and played with, and they receive individual care for their various special needs. Usually, they aren't in LOCC for extended periods of time, but I found out that I can sponsor my baby, and she can stay there until we pick her up.  I am so thrilled that she is there, and that I found out about this incredible charity.  I'm going to get her sponsored tomorrow.

That also means that we can send her a care package!!  We've been gathering some things to send her, but I've gotten so much random information about care packages, that I've been hesitant to send it.  If she's in this awesome orphanage, she'll most likely receive it!!  We are so very very thankful!

We haven't heard anything about our LOA, but I expect it at any moment now. When we get that, we can apply to US immigration to bring home our baby.  We've already been approved, now we just need to let them know that we have a specific child that we want to immigrate.  I hope so much that we can get our girl by October.  Oh, I hope so much!!

she's a thumb sucker!

I am elated that we received this video this morning!  Isn't she so stinking cute?? Oh my goodness I love her so much!

Faith over Fear

Last night I learned a really important lesson in our adoption. This whole process has been interesting on so many levels.  I have learned so much!  The most important lesson that I've learned though, and I've said it before is how much Heavenly Father is involved in my life, and most certainly in this adoption. It's so weird filling out paper work on your child. I knew there were specific children that we were meant to adopt.  That said, it sort of felt like mail order; we want this age, this special need, this gender, etc. A lot of people have asked "So, do you get to look at a whole bunch of kids and just pick?" It seems that way sometimes, and it probably appears that way sometimes. I've looked at a lot of children, with different special needs on various websites, and I've said to myself "Oh, I couldn't handle that!" and moved on. Truth is, our daughter is our daughter, and that's it.  I didn't get to mail order my other girls, and I didn't get to mail order this one either. She's ours. We get her with all that she was born with, and we already love her so much! No matter what!

 We got new pictures and new information tonight. She's rocking a newly shorn head. So cute!  She's got a ton of hair already, if they keep shaving it, her pony tail is going to be 3 inches thick! Oh well. We also got a new development update that contradicts almost word for word the update that we got last month.  That's not very good, and I was all sorts of stressed out about it. I called a good friend, another adoptive mom, and she reminded me, that baby girl is mine. She is mine; not her special needs, not her age or gender. Her spirit. Her soul was meant for our family, and I truly believe it was always in the grand plan for her and for us. Heavenly Father lead us to her. He confirmed to us without question that she is our daughter, and so we continue. Faith over Fear. When I hung up the phone with my friend, my boy also reminded me. "It doesn't matter. We'll handle it." It's true. I feel like we just got an unpleasant ultrasound, with unanswered questions, and in a few months we'll meet our girl and hopefully find out the truth about our baby. I've never wished summer away in my life, but I so am this year. I want my girl here, with us, right now!!! Waiting is so so hard!