I800 Approval Received - Getting Closer to Travel

We received our I800 approval on November 20, and got the official letter in the mail November 24.  Now we await the National Visa Center (NVC) to do something, then cable that to China.  Once we have a letter saying they have done that, our agency will email the letter to China for our Article 5 to be dropped off with the US Consulate in China.  It takes 2 weeks for that to be completed, then our paperwork is delivered to the China side and we await travel approval.  It's getting so close!

As we wait, we're trying to raise some money to help offset our costs for travel and unpaid time off (for me) once we get home.  Since Olivia is going with us, and Drew will likely be 2 when we bring her home, that will be 3 tickets over and 4 home.  Plus hotel for 2 weeks in China, and we want to leave a few days early to stop in South Korea to show our families where Olivia is from.  I've tried to estimate costs, but um...

If anyone can, we have a fundraising site on Adoption Bug - they have some awesome t-shirts and we get a percentage of the sales from our site.  I'm also selling jewelry that I've designed (and some donated by my friend Teresa - those items are posted on Facebook at Chrisa West Jewelry.  It all goes to help us travel and/or stay home.  Thanks!

Waiting on I800 Approval

Our I800 was received last week at USCIS, now we just wait for approval.  Hopefully this week we will hear that it's approved and on our way to the National Visa Center.

I've emailed with our contact in in China so that we can start planning our trip.  Getting excited!

What! More Pictures

I checked my email and much to my surprise I got 7 new pictures of Drew!  Our agency was in China last week and delivered a package we sent and Christie got to meet Drew - we are so excited about this!  And we're going to get a video - yay, video!

We've learned that Drew is shy and very attached to her foster mom.  That sounds like Olivia when we met her - so pray for us when we go to China - it could be a rough transition for her.

Here is what we sent to Drew - all in a gallon-sized ziploc:

And here is Drew receiving our care package - she is just so beautiful!

LOA

LOA, LOA, LOA!!!

Our LOA arrived Thursday, November 1 and we signed on Friday, November 2 - Happy National Adoption Day to us!

Olivia and Drew Updates

Olivia turned 3 on September 24.  It seems like just the other day she turned 2...how time does fly!  Olivia had a pizza party with friends and we all had a great time.  Our theme this year was Minnie Mouse - lots and lots of fun!  But my camera never made it out of the bag and no one has given me pictures yet :)

At the beginning of September, Olivia started her 2nd year of preschool.  She's going 2 mornings a week and loves it.  Here is her picture from the first day of school running in the front yard.  I'm not sure where this grown up little girl came from, but she continues to be the most amazing, sweet girl - ever!

And today we got an update on Drew that included 2 pictures and information.  Drew is now 32.2 inches tall and 23.1 pounds.  She has 16 teeth, and, I quote, "can go the toilet alone."  So it seems that we might have 1 potty-trained child...

And here is Drew's picture - she is so grown up from the last pictures we have.  And, seriously, isn't she just adorable!!!  We've also found out she lives with a foster family and has for 19 months - that is absolutely wonderful.

Now we just need LOA from China and then all the required stuff and travel approval.  We are praying that it comes soon - we really want to bring Drew home soon!

Introducing....Drew Anna LinYuan West

Here is Drew's story :)

In January, we decided that we wanted another daughter a sister for Olivia.  On January 9, since we are too old for South Korea, we requested the China adoption packet.

After a month of hard work, filling out forms and collecting papers (lots of papers!), we sent in our application packet.  Then the homestudy and the background checks - oh the background checks...Dave got his back quickly - approved.  My fingerprints were "bad" and got returned twice - resulting in and extra month and half wait.  We went to Disneyland at the beginning of June, and while eating lunch, got a call from the Chinese Consulate....our Colorado Springs background checks had the wrong notary date - got that fixed from vacation!  Next the USCIS approval - fingerprints in Denver - quick and easy - but something in our homestudy was off - so that had to be fixed.  Luckily our agency found out about the issue before I ever got the letter from USCIS and was able to get it fixed right away.

Finally all we were waiting on was our USCIS I800a approval to be certified by the consulate so that our dossier could be sent to China - and we got the call.  Thursday, June, 28 - now a special day - my phone rang and it was Regina from our adoption agency.  They had received some new referral files and there were some that we might want to review.  Um, yes, I'm surprised, of course!  We talked about 4 referrals - one of which was not a medical condition we had marked.  But our agency thought we might be interested.  (For those who haven't adopted internationally - in your paperwork there is a medical conditions checklist.  This paper lists all sorts of medical conditions a child could have, and we had to say yes/maybe to conditions we thought we were prepared for.  Hard thing to do.)

Based on what Dave and I had talked about through the process, I made some decisions on reviewing, then I called Dave right away - and he answered!  We decided we better have lunch.  We reviewed the information (without looking at pics first) and talked about the little girl whose referral our agency thought we might be in, but wasn't on our list.  We did some googling from our phones, read some stuff, and talked.  On the way back to work, we called and got an appointment with Olivia's pediatrician for that afternoon.  Not long after dropping me off, Dave called and asked "Can you get that other referral file?"  I had been thinking the same thing!  We got the file, and I had to read it without him and go ahead and look at the pictures - after all we needed prints of everything for the doctor!

After we met with the doctor, we thought and talked more and did some research.  That weekend started the Air Force Academy Band 4th of July Tour - so Olivia and I traveled with Dave Saturday through Monday.  That gave us lots of time in the car to talk.  By Sunday, I had bought Olivia and Drew matching dresses at the OshKosh sidewalk sale.  Monday, we got a return call on some questions we had and then we were ready to call our agency and say yes!  

Drew Anna LinYuan West

Monday, July 2, we officially said the words - and then surprise family with a picture text and the words "Meet Drew".  Of course, during this we were driving up Berthoud Pass and reception was spotty - so no one could call us back.

Since this, our dossier was logged in to China and we've received our initial approval to move forward.  We are waiting on official Letter of Acceptance from China (I'm hoping for next month).

And that's how we found each other!

Home Almost 1-1/2 Years and Doing It Again...

Olivia has been home almost a year and a half. I can't believe it, yet I can't believe we were ever without her. She is pretty amazing and we are very blessed.

Olivia is now about 37 inches tall and weighs about 31 pounds. That an increase of 5 inches and 7 pounds since February 2011. She is mostly wearing her 3T clothing...wow!

We are having so much fun, that we are adopting again!  We were officially logged in to China on July 13 and today our agency locked in our match!

Yes, I said our match!  We've been waiting for a month to say this!  We have been matched with a beautiful 18 month old girl.  Her birthday is January 5, 2011, and she is beautiful, adorable, so many good things.

Our agency called us on Thursday, June 28, and said they had a referral for us to review - that was quite a surprise because we were still waiting for our USCIS pre-approval to be certified and our dossier to be sent off.  Dave and I got together and had lunch and talked, made an appointment for pediatrician to review (that day!) then went back to work, talked more, met with the doctor, thought and talked, thought and talked...luckily we had a trip planned for the weekend so we were stuck in the car and talked more...Tuesday, July 3, we made our decision and called our agency to accept.  We hadn't told anyone, so we texted a picture to the family members - they were all very surprised!

Then we sat and waited...our dossier was sent to China on July 9 and we were logged in July 13 - of course, we just found out today.  So celebration begins!