Only 16,000 miles to go!

What a Merry Christmas it was!

"Party of 7 for China please!" 

Soon we will embark on a journey to bring our beloved baby Drew home. I added it up today and it's about a 16K mile round trip! Along with us, both sets of grandparents.  It's really starting to hit me...soon we will have another little girl running around the house, wow! 

During our travels we are taking the opportunity to stop in S Korea for a few days.  We fell in love with Seoul on our previous 2 trips and are excited to visit again. We also can't wait to share it with Nana, Papa, Grammie and Grand-daddy. We want Olivia to always remember her heritage, and to never forget Korea or her foster mom.  

Growing up so fast!

Since we are in the region, this is a great time to lay down ground work to return to Korea later in her life. (Plan the same from Drew and China) It also may happen to be that we won't get the chance to go back to Asia again in the near (or far) future, as we plan.  You never know what the future will bring.  I believe that life is short and you shouldn't miss any opportunity that comes your way.  So we area taking advantage of this opportunity while we can. Hey, we have to fly over Korea any-way! We just found out today we will get to visit foster mommy!  We feel that Olivia is ready for what is sure to be an emotional experience for all of us.  

Olivia and Nana in the kitchen.
Such a great little cook!

This might not be the thing for every kid but she is so strong and mature for her young age of only three. (going on 13)  Seeing foster mommy is something we talk about a lot; she has bonded very well to both of us (and the rest of the family) and we are so grateful (and blessed) for that. 

We also get to stay the the Eastern Family Welfare Guest House.  This will be a different experience than we have ever had in staying at hotels. Can't wait!

After that, its off to China to get Drew.  It's going to be a crazy start to the New Year for all of us.  Adding a sister is sure to be a challenge for mommy, daddy and big sister, but the joy that Olivia has brought into our lives makes me so excited to get to know little Drew and see what she has in store for us.   

Happy New Year everyone! - Dave 

FYI - Its not too late to buy an Adoption Rocks t-shirt and help us raise a few bucks, or Chrisa has some wonderful jewelry on her Chrisa West Jewelry Design Facebook page, proceeds go to help in bringing home "baby sister".

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!