Let it Snow?

Well I finally fell asleep at 11pm. I think David was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Lauren woke at 12:45 and did not fall asleep until now so I am thinking 1.5 hrs of sleep might actually help me on the SFO to Beijing leg! It's all good. Not only that, but we are looking at a little snow storm of about 2 inches (of our supposed 1-3" for the day) on the ground already. This morning really makes me happy that we chose the 6am flight with the longer layover at SFO than the 10 am with a tight connection!

So off to get ready and go. Everyone in Colorado. Enjoy this blustery winter day. I suppose we are in December... "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

Get Ready, Get Set... GO!

Well it is almost 10 pm and I my goal was to be in bed by 9pm tonight... so much for that!! Who could sleep anyways with all this excitement and anticipation lingering. I know that 6am flight is going to hit me like a ton of bricks but I had to write one last time before China!

Since I have never flown Internationally before I am so nervous about so many things. I hope the flights run smoothly not only on times but in the air - hate that bumpy, choppy, sometime roller coaster like environment. I also hope that my children surprise me tomorrow. Lastly, I hope that our bags find us well and that we are as prepared as I think we are for our China experience. Then my hope is that I can settle my nerves and my anticipation enough to enjoy all that there will be to enjoy in Beijing.

In the mean time, we would like to thank you for all of your little prayers that you all have been saying for us. With so much love and blessings bestowed on us, we should be carried over there on angels wings. Was that too mushy because I am pretty emotional today! :)

Until my next posting from China..... Good night!

Much to be Thankful for...

Well here we are getting ready for not only our trip but a modest Thanksgiving Dinner. I was going to forgo Thanksgiving Dinner this year but my son, the ever present Alex, has his heart set on a turkey dinner with stuffing and the works. I am not sure that he will even eat the meal but he is so cute about it. He has made a paper Thanksgiving turkey, coloring it very festively, for the table and everything. The kids Uncle Bill (our friend Bill Tosch) is making it in for Thanksgiving, which is in plenty of time for China, thanks to our wonderful friend Mickey. We could not be more appreciative of her help with such short notice to fly Bill in!

The more we thought about this da, which is fast approaching, the more we thought that this is truly a day that we should be celebrating. We have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for all the friends and family that have been supporting us and for those friends who have not commented on how ditzy I have been lately (and you know who you are!). We are also thankful for being in a position to make this trip such a wonderful and enjoyable event. We lastly are so very thankful for being able to get Jordan soon and have him home before Christmas and the end of the year. We are so fortunate to be able to arrive home at a time when both David and Alex are off so that we can figure out what are family is going to be like without the distractions of jumping into our everyday routine.

We want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving full of good blessings and lots of laughter. December 2nd here we come!

Travel Notice

Our Travel Notice has been officially issued and has been faxed to the US Consulate so that we can get appointments for Jordan's visa the last week we are in China... but yes, we are still waiting to hear from the Consulate to verify that we can get appointments the week of December 13th. What a process. At least we have our travel notice. We are almost there! Hopefully we will be able to finalize our travel on Monday (9 days before we leave!) YIKES! We are hanging on top our hats right now finalizing all of our preparations. What a wonderful Christmas this will be!!! Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with us on this wild roller coaster ride :)

Jordan Today

What a big day! We just got an email from our contact in Yuoyang. Jordan received our album and package today. We got some new pictures and a video. We wanted to share it with you. The good news is though that he has informally met us now! Wow what a big day. It is hard to think that in 3 weeks we will be meeting him and taking him home.

Wow.... the time is FINALLY here

Well... we got the call from CCAI today!!  They are expecting our travel notices to be issued and should have them in hand Friday or Monday!  They are working on us to leave December 2nd and coming home December 19th.  Yes, Alex will be missing the entire month of December from school as we will be arriving home the first weekend of Winter Break... but holy moly we are leaving for China to get our son!

As you can imagine, now once again we are in crunch time to get our flights arranged, Alex's school homework coordinated and our bags packed.  And we are also working on getting Bill out here too for the trip.  We are crossing our fingers that all of our paperwork runs smoothly and this is not a false alarm but it feels like the real deal.  This time next month we will be a family of 5 in Colorado getting to know each other and enjoying the company of our new family member.  It is exciting, scary and absolutely amazing all at the same time.  We are in the home stretch and ready (or getting ready) for the challenges that are ahead of us in the next short month!  Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for indeed!  If we do not get a chance to talk to you all I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Enjoy your family time :)

One More Week Down

One more week down.  We are still waiting to get some information on his reaction to our Family Album.  It was mentioned that we might get a video too so we are anxiously awaiting that.  We did get a new update and picture of Jordan!  Here is his latest picture.  He looks happy as usual.  The time seems to be going by so fast and so slow all at the same time.  We have been trying to get the house better organized and ready for his homecoming.  It is strange to think that we are usually well into Holiday planning by now and this year it is hard to figure out what it is going to look like.  It has been a bit difficult to get into the spirit, though we are still very Thankful in so many ways.  Everything will fall into place.  Just looking at that sweet face, it helps!

2nd Acceptance Letter Approved!!! FINALLY

We just got word this morning that our 2nd Acceptance letter was finally processed, after 5 weeks of waiting, and our information has been sent to Beijing to be walked to CCAA to receive our Travel Notice. This process can take 2 - 4 weeks... yes possibly another month.  We will then have 10 - 14 days notice to travel, so we will not be leaving for China for another 4 - 6 weeks.  So it is now looking like we will be leaving as early as Nov. 25th (the day before Thanksgiving) to as late as December 16th.  If we leave on December 16th we will unfortunately be gone for Christmas.  The only positive to that date is that Alex will only miss 3 days of school since we will be traveling during Winter Recess.  It would be great if we did leave earlier though because then we could have Winter Recess to hang out and get to know our new family member without having Alex in school all day :)  But what will be will be and we will make due.

So the other good news that we have received is that our Contact in Yuoyang did receive Jordan's family album and he should be getting that any day.  Our Contact, Mike, mentioned that he will take pictures and a short video of him when he gets it.  I have been anxiously watching for this in my email since Thursday!  So much waiting.  We are moving forward though now... At least we are moving forward!

Another Week Goes By...

Well here we are the last week of October.  We were expecting our Travel Notice to be coming in sometime this week so that we could leave on November 11th.  The unfortunate part is that we still have not received our 2nd Acceptance letter which we are on week #5 waiting on.  The average time is 2-4 weeks and unfortunately we have 2-3 weeks to wait for the Travel Notice to be processed.  I am finding myself constantly looking at my email for news on the 2nd Acceptance Letter but no such luck.  CCAI  did notify us that the CCAI representatives in Guangzhou have been requested by the US Consulate in Guangzhou to no longer ask the status of our precious documents.  Yes, the US Consulate has requested that adoption agencies nor Adoptive US Parents contact them.  Can you hear frustration in my voice?  There is no committed time for turn around on documents nor a channel to track them, we are just now at the mercy of the US Consulate... and after that at the Mercy of the Chinese Adoption Agency (CCAA) for our travel notice.

What does that mean for traveling to China... well our chances of leaving on November 11th are nil, there is a slim chance of leaving on November 18th, a strong chance of leaving the day before Thanksgiving- the worst day to travel in the US- especially with 7 days notice!!!  There is even a chance that we will not be able to leave until December 2nd.  I am praying for patience and understanding daily.  I know Jordan is being very well taken care of right now which helps, but we are not getting very anxious to get him home and move forward on our life with our new family.  The more delays means less time with David home and less time that Jordan will be home before we admit him into school.  Early November was just perfect timing for David's work and for Alex's school, the holidays, etc.

There is still hope that we hear about our 2nd Acceptance Letter this week and that we have a speedy processing through CCAA for travel notice... little miracles happen every day :)  We are ready!!!

If You Don't Succeed...

Try again and then again!!!   We just sent out our Adoption Photo Album again.  This time I sent it Global Express, by itself with a translated letter to Jordan.  I also used the new address so I am hoping beyond all hope that Jordan will get our information by October 27th, as the USPS promises.  It is trackable so maybe that will help too :)  I was thinking how fortunate we are to live in a country that ensures things like mail delivery.  I was talking to Mickey, our kids MiMi who lives across the street, about how amazing it is that I can drop a letter in a box up here at 3 or 4 pm and it can be an hour South the very next morning.  It has to be picked up out of the big blue box, sorted, sent down to that post office, sorted again and then delivered.  Really the USPS does not get enough credit for this service.  Now we have China where I have been told that packages or letters put in the mail Monday or Tuesday could be delivered at the same time as something just submitted on Friday.  There is not predictability nor commitments.  You are not assured that the package will find its way to the correct owner, you are just to be thankful that the service is provided.  How would Americans take these less than structured services?  I do have to say that standing 14th in a 40 minute line with my daughter, while the 5 postal service stations were only occupied by 2 Postal Personnel was a bit challenging.  As I have said before my patience has been tried so much these days... but I do appreciate the States every day I am dealing with P.R. China.

As the week is quickly diminishing I am still keeping the faith that the "National Holiday Buzz" wears off and business starts to flow again.  We really need our 2nd Acceptance Letter to come through this week so our Travel Notice can be processed.  Hey, if we get it in the Chinese mail by Friday we should have it at CCAA on Monday :)  See there are perks to a quirky system!

A little More Information

I just got an email from China telling me that Jordan does know about us !!!  They provided another address for the package too!  I have been so worried about him lately and I feel so bad that he has not received anything from us.  I did send digital pictures but I don't know if he would have been able to see those.

I now have to get a new album and package out tomorrow.  I have things to send him still because I was planning on sending him a package a week.  We were also told today that Jordan does know about us and that they are starting to prepare him for the adoption.  I have been so worried about him.  From the email, they mentioned that the National Holiday has slowed the country down quite a bit.  I just pray that this does not mean that it is slowing down our paperwork.  We can not really afford any delays with the American holidays coming up!  I just pray that the holiday has refreshed the country and now they are buzzing with new found energy and spirit!  We really need some news soon about our 2nd Acceptance Letter and then our Travel Notice.  We are in the homestretch now.  We need some lightning fast results soon.

Another Day

We put up the final pictures in the Boy's room today.  Aunt Lori gave us a shelf yesterday that worked great for some of Alex's Magic Tree House books and now I feel like we are ready for him to come and hopefully feel at home.  I took some pictures of the boy's room to put in Jordan's album should we get a different address to send another package.  I am glad I documented the album so I could re-create it.  I can only hope that I will get one more chance to send him something from us before he is moved back to the Orphanage.

I was folding some pajamas tonight for Jordan and I was looking at them.  I imagined what it would be like to have them filled with this little boy I only know through photos and stories.  I wondered if he would like us and feel comfortable with us.  I know that he is out there and we are here, just waiting!!

I am anxiously awaiting word that out 2nd Acceptance Letter is received so we can get our Travel Notice.  As each day and week goes by it just pushs our day to leave out even further.  The days go floating by and though I have a huge laundry list of tasks to do it is so hard to focus on anything except did we get an email about our status or did we get an email about the packages in China.  I know that we will be getting the call to leave and it will be a blink of an eye before Christmas is here, then it will be 2010 and I will breath finally to think... Wow 2009 was a wild year !

The Waiting Game continues...

I am sitting here on this beautiful, warm, sunny fall day thinking wow what has happened to the time.  Time has moved so slow through this process and now that we are in the home stretch I am finding myself saying... "wait I just need more time too...".  We have finally finished the boys room. We modified the closet to accommodate both boys clothes and we added a twin bed with matching quilt and headboard.  We did this while Alex was at school.  When he came home we showed him his new room and he started to tear up and said "Mom... is this my brother's bed?"  Then he said "Mom, I will not be alone anymore.".  We are so ready to have Jordan join our family.

Here is another picture that was sent to us recently of Jordan.

He looks so sweet.  We are focusing right now on our trip to China.  Items we need, how are we going to do things (mostly around Lauren) and how are we going to pack light.  We are going to try to pack a total of 2 bags (with a 44 pound limit) for all 5 of us.  The hotels will have laundry services and we are planning on shipping snacks and essentials to our hotel ahead of time so we do no have to deal with those on the plane. It will be cold in Beijing and a bit warmer in Guangzhou so we have to be prepared for anything.

This is how our trip is going to look like this:

We are going to leave on a Wednesday flying from Denver to SFO (San Francisco, CA) then from SFO to Beijing, where we will be until Sunday.  In Beijing we will be doing some sight seeing while we get adjusted to the time zone.  On Sunday we will be flying to the Henan Providence where we will be for a week.  Gotcha Day (the day we are matched and united with Jordan) will be on Monday so we will all be together from that day on!  We will stay in Henan until Friday when we fly to Guangzhou (Guangdong Providence).  We will be spending the remainder of our time there until we get Jordan's Visa from the US Consulate there.  We will be leaving Guangzhou on Saturday.  We will fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to SFO to Denver.  Sounds like a fun trip home huh?  We are going to be so emotionally drained and excited to be home that the trip will be a welcomed event I am sure.  Here is a map to help you see the locations in China.

In the mean time we are waiting to see if Jordan's packages turn up.  Neither of them have gotten to Jordan yet.  I am nervous sending Jordan another package but I am anxious to get him something before he goes back to the Orphanage.  The return to the orphanage about 2 weeks prior to us getting there is a requirement of China.  I really want him to have a photo of us and know that we are coming from him.  I pray every day that he will receive it and will start to get to know us.  It is so hard being so far from him and having absolutely no control over anything.  It is a true exercise in patience and trust in what is meant to be.  I hope I am not failing too miserably:)

Does He Know Yet?

Today we received an updated picture of Jordan.  He looks so happy.  I can't help but think... can you believe that he is our son?  Then the next question that comes to mind is... does he know yet, that he is adopted and that we are his family.  I am not sure if he has received our package yet.  With the National Holiday I am not sure what is going through and if packages are being delayed.  I know that we are approaching several days off.  The package is not the only thing that could be held up but every day that the government has off, that is one day longer until our Travel Notice !  Grrrr.

But here is our son... our beautiful son.

Hurry Up and Wait!!

Well I have made it through another round of mayhem and madness while we get our Visa's for China and work on Jordan's Immigration paperwork.. the infamous I-800, and get our Travel documentation for CCAI.  We have received confirmation that USCIS received our paperwork (I-800) but are still awaiting their approval.  At the same time we are still waiting for China's Notice to travel.  Our Visa applications should be submitted to the Chicago's Chinese Consulate tomorrow, however we will have to wait an additional week due to a Chinese National Holiday.  I was curious as to what was the holiday and it turns out that October 1st is National Day of the Peoples Republic of China.  I read that there is a lot of travel domestically and internationally during the time around this holiday and it is not advisable to travel to China at this time.  I still have a feeling like October is our month but since they are insistent that November and even December is more likely we have been making plans for October like business as usual.

I am getting more anxious about getting ready for our China trip and for Jordan's arrival.  We have sent our first care package to the Yuoyang Orphanage which includes our Letter of Acceptance and a photo album for Jordan to see his new family!  It also included toys, candy, and other fun things for him.  It is very exciting to think that he will know of us soon.  We have no idea when he will receive it from Customs.  Hopefully it will be soon so he will know that his "Forever Family" is waiting from him.  We are so lucky to have to wonderful opportunity bestowed on us.  I am going to try to send a package a week to him so he knows we are thinking of him.  I have had so much fun thinking of things for him.  I hope he enjoys them.

We are Approved!

Well today is the day!!!   We got our phone call from CCAI that our Letter of Approval from China (LOA) was received and we were asked to come down to sign it.  Here we are signing the very official Chinese/English Letter of Approval for Dang Hao Long.

We forgot a camera but at least we had a phone!  That completes that part for China and officially accepts Dang Hao Long!  So after 20 minutes and a very long I-800 form, not to be mistaken with the first I-800A we previously filled, we are on our way to continue the Immigration process with Dang Hao Long's specific information.  Then we will get another form with his information on it.  We also now need to work on his Visa, yes the Immigration piece is just  a letter allowing us to adopt and now we have to fill out the paperwork to get his Visa to accept him into the States!  Oh what fun it is to fill out paperwork.

In the meantime I am working on a little scrapbook to send to him with a few toys and a couple of t-shirts.  I also have a few gifts for his adoptive parents and family.  It looks like we will be traveling 9-12 weeks from now so that is early November.  The good news is that we will have him here for Christmas.  What a Christmas gift that will be!

The even more exciting part is now that we have the Letter of Acceptance we can do this:

This is Dang Hao Long!  We are now permitted to post a picture of this little guy that has taken our heart.  We will not meet him until we are in China but we love him already. It is getting closer and more exciting.  Soon he will be here in our home.  And by the way... the "Peace Sign" in the picture is a typical "What is going on" or "Hi" sign in Asia... the things you learn!  

Moving Closer... Pre-Approval!

August has been a busy time of enjoying the later part of summer getting in some Camping, which was the first for both kids.  Then we took a trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with my Dad and Nancy.  That was a wonderful adventure where we were able to relax, enjoy nature and its wonder.  The kids thought that the hiking was fun and looking for wild life was even more fun.  There was a LOT of driving, but driving for them was a lot different than in our day.  Where we had windows and the taunting of each other to entertain us as kids in the back seat, our kids had movies (mostly Chinese educational) and Nintento DS/Leapster games to fill some of the expansive times!  As I watched them and debated in my head which way is better, judging by both the parents view and by the child's view, all I could really concluded is that I hope that it will be enough for the 15+ hours to travel to China!!!  Looking out the window for that amount of time to the vast blueness of the sky without a change of scenery for potty breaks and meal detours would result in a VERY bad travel experience I think!

Well while we were in Yellowstone, which has limited (at best) cellular coverage, we received our Homeland Security BioMetric Invitations.  Cathy next door was watching our mail for them.  Although they were not expected for a few weeks I have a gut feeling that they would arrive while we were gone.  Sure enough on Wednesday while driving I hear a distant bleep from my phone.  I picked it up and there was a text.  Trying to catch the opportunity to use my phone of that little window I checked it and Cathy had let us know they were there.  I called her to see if she would open them.  On very official paper there they were.  The Invitations were what we were waiting for to start the China side of the process.  I called CCAI immediately.  By Thursday, China was sent our Letter of Intent to adopt Dang Hao Long.  A flood of excitement hit me.  China knows and now we will be at the mercy of China to find paperwork, review it, find Jordan's paperwork and go from there.  Next step, the Pre-Approval Letter from China, which could take a few days to a few weeks. 

Well Alex started his new school on Monday, August 17th.  First Grade suits him!!  The new school shows so much promise for Alex and although it is difficult for me to watch the stumbling and trial and errors needed to achieve perfection for new processes and procedures, Alex has been coming home happy and chatty.  Chatty is a new state that I am getting use to in Alex and I am enjoying it immensely.  What ever they are doing to evaluate the children and bring out their learning styles it is having a positive affect on Alex!  Amongst all the activity that comes along with getting use to the new routines of a new school year and recovering from a long trip I check my email and sure enough... we are Pre-Approved!!  This time we fell into the few days!  

What does Pre-Approval mean?  Well this is what was given to us... "A pre-approval is essentially the CCAA’s acknowledgement or confirmation that your Letter of Intent has been received, along with the basic family information and photos you provided, and it represents the CCAA’s agreement to shift your file to the Waiting Child Program process. 

The next thing that we will expect to see from the CCAA is your acceptance letter (often called an “LOA”), which is part of the CCAA’s Match Room process to formally match your dossier together with your child’s information."

Once we have CCAA's LOA then we will post a picture of Jordan to share with everyone.  We will be that much closer and waiting for our Travel Notices issued from China inviting us to come to their country to pick up Jordan!  That will be a momentous day in itself!!  In the meantime I am going to focus on getting Alex settled into his new school and preparing for our upcoming trip to China.  I will keep everyone posted on our next anticipation... the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which could be in a few days to weeks... 

Immigration Here We Come

We just received word that our paperwork was approved by the State and now off to Immigration where the process can take 6-8 weeks.  The biggest thing we are waiting on right now is our Invitation to fingerprint.  This is a letter giving us a date and time to arrive at the local Immigration office to get our fingerprinting done.  I just hope that David, and I for that matter, are in town to do it at that day and time.  The letter will be the trigger to notify China with our Letter of Intent to Adopt.  From there we get a Letter of Acceptance and then to follow and Invitation from China to travel there to pick up Jordan.  That this process can be 3 - 4 months so now we are really pushed back.  I am going to call tomorrow for clarification but if that is the case we are looking at another 4-5 months in total from now, meaning November - December to travel.  This might make for an interesting holiday time.  I am starting to have a hard time waiting!!!

One more down...

Yippy!   Our Homestudy is off for approval to the State, then off to Homeland Security for Immigration approval.  We are moving forward.  In the meantime, I am home trying to get some cleaning out and organizing done before Jordan's arrival.  This was the plan prior to Lauren which did not happen.  I am thinking with three kids I will even less time to do these things.  Not that we have a lot to organize but since I am feeling so out of control, organizing seems to be a good way to get some back!

I think we are still looking at late September maybe early October but there have been moments that with our timing may be as late as November!  What will be will be... I keep reminding myself :)  

A glimpse at Henan

Well today was a big day. The finaized Homestudy was sent to Denver today so that it can be passed on to Adoption Alliance (State) for final approval. From there we go to Chicago with our Immigration Application and fee to be processed. This could take about two weeks to log it in, cash the check and send it to Missouri for final processing. Yikes. Well at least we are on the way.

I got a great link from my Social Worker, Vicki, for some photos of Chinese Orphanages. It is for adoptive families mostly. You can purchase their photos or the children's scrapbooks. They do have Jordan's orphanage which is in the Henan Province. When you open the link you need to chose HENAN and then Yuoyang. It looks like an interesting place to visit. It makes me want to jump on a plane right now! Here is the link: http://research-china.org/photos/index.htm

We have just received some of our Chinese Videos for the kids. Alex and Lauren have been watching them in the Mini-van when we are in there. Alex has already picked up quite a bit. He can say, hi, goodbye, little sister, want to eat.., apple, grapes, watermelon, red, yellow, green and numbers 1 - 10. It amazes me how quickly children can learn languages. It is wonderful!

It Will Be What It Will Be...

It will be what it will be... Did Confusions say that? I doubt it!! Today was a bit discouraging. We have received all of our clearances with a rocketing 4 week turnaround (really good on State levels) but even with that encouraging news we have still not wrapped up our Home study!! Ughh! There was a new program put in place a year or two ago called the Hague Agreement. From what I understand, it is an International agreement that standardizes adoptions. It is suppose to speed things up but of course it adds more layers and national involvement... resulting in time!! In talking with CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International, our Adoption Agency) we are still looking at about 4 weeks before our Home study and Application goes to Immigration and a two month turnaround from there. Yikes. That is a bit of a far cry from traveling to China in September which is what they were estimating. We are hoping that China and the States' proceedings run in parallel to avoid more time passing. I am a bit frustrated but I try to calm myself by thinking that the timing will be what it will be and it will be right for all parties. It is hard to keep that perspective when dealing with a possible job change with David, a new school for Alex and a child who I know is out there and I can't wait for him to even know that we are here trying to get to him. Yes, October or November will be more difficult timing and weather wise but it will be what it will be. Does that sound convincing? That statement is entangled with "Come On's" and "You have got to be kidding me's" For those of you who know me well you probably just heard me saying that in full voice and tone!! :)

In the meantime, that just gives us more time to learn Chinese. Mei Mei (May May),which means Little Sister in Mandarin, and Ge Ge, big brother in Mandarin, are busy watching Mandarin videos when ever we are in the car or watching shows. Alex is picking things up pretty quickly and is correcting me. These of course are simple phrases but it is a start!

Mini-Van Mama?!

Yes, it is true.... last week we bought a Toyota Sienna Limited. It is light blue with taupe interior! The kids love it and I have to say that I see that practicality of it. David just put a spoiler on the back to add a bit more shade in the back from our intense Colorado sun. He asked me as I drove it home from the dealer if it drove faster... I thought it was funny- do mini-vans drive fast and wouldn't I be looked down upon if I were blazing a trail down I-25 in a mini-van full of kids? I know David was kidding but it is funny how much a mini-van does define you!

This week was full of tasking. All our Clearances came back this week, all but one submitted the 2nd week in June, which is not bad turn around time. We had to have background checks in California, New York and Colorado. All the places we have lived since the age of 17. It was funny coming up with all the addresses we lived at since 17. It was not as long of a list as David's was! Then we had to get fingerprinted by Colorado as well. All of this information goes into our Home Study along with our Family Health forms, financials and three references from our friends. We also had to provide basic information about our house, which we originally had to supply a floor plan for approval. I think we are almost done with this process. The Home study, once completed and approved by our Agency, will then go to the State for an approval. This should take about a week. When the State approves it, the home study will then go to Department of Homeland Security with our Immigration/Visa request called I-800 (use to be I-600A but they have changed it since 2006 and it requires more info of course!). I am not sure how long this process takes but part of it is then receiving our I-800 Application and "inviting" us to go and get fingerprinted again for another check by Homeland Security. Meanwhile when our I-800 Application goes in China is working on their end. They need to find our Dossier, review it, approve our intent to adopt Jordan and notify us that we officially approved. Then they provide an invitation to travel to pick him up, one usually had 4-6 weeks to go and get the child from there. These steps in China can take a few weeks. This is from what I understand of the process. I think we are still looking at September so that is great. This is becoming a reality quickly!

3 Years Today

Today is our 3 year anniversary for our Log In Date (LID). 3 years ago we were so excited because China logged us in to their system and we were expecting to be going to China in about 10 months to bring home a child to fill our home. Going to CCAI to adopt from China felt so right to us. We knew our child was over there and we were so looking forward to going there and bringing them home. With the time lines increasing every month, every year it was starting to look like this was not going to be a reality for us. It was hard to think that something that felt so right was not going to happen. Now I know that our child was there and has been there for us. As I am learning over and over again, timing is everything. I wish that we could have been united earlier but I have to believe that he needed to experience more of China and we needed to do what we needed to do here before we were together. I am so thankful that he has been in a foster home being well taken care of and feeling safe. I am still nervous about our time when we meet him, hoping that he will like us and be a little excited to meet us, as we are so excited to meet him.

Jordan vs. Gordon

Well as I alluded to earlier we did have a lot of discussion about what we were going to name Dang Hao Long. They did give him an English name of Gordon, which was a cute name. We were told that he did not go by that name yet and it was more likely that he has only heard that name a few times. In the foster home he did go by Hao Long. This would mean that we could name him any name. I thought that we could modify it a little and call him Jordan. We had such a hard time naming Alex. Boy names do not come easy to us. I sort of presented that to Alex when we talked to him about Adopting Hao Long. When we showed Alex the pictures of him Alex immediately said "Mom his name is Gordon not Jordan". I forget how well he can read and Gordon was on his picture files. So Gordon was it for a few days as we worked it all out. I was getting use to Gordon and David and Alex... well they liked it from the beginning. As we were telling people we had a few friends tell us how they liked Gordon and how they had friends with that name. Then they would say.... "Well Gordy and I have known..." and I would say "Gordy?" "Oh yeah that is what we call him..." Gordy huh? So it is looking like the Gordon's of the United States get strapped with a nickname. Hummm. Do we really want to give this child coming to the United States with one name, changing it to an American/English name and then having him learn a nickname too?

So there in a nut shell I had a conversation with David and Alex about why I think Jordan should be Jordan and did we like that name? It is cute and simple and short of nicknames (I hope). My dad, who was also very interested in keeping his name Gordon thought that Jordan would be cute too. So it was official. Jordan Hao Long Kristoff. Our son was going to be Jordan.

Now I am off in a mad dash to get all the paperwork in for immigration and travel. Time is flying when we are having fun with bureaucracy !

How it all began

We got a call on Wednesday, June 10th at 1pm in the afternoon from our Social worker Vicki.  It was a surprise to hear from her.  We have exchange emails frequently and are social but it was interesting to hear from her.  She was in a hurry and wanted to ask me a question.  She mentioned a conversation a while back when Lauren was born.  We mentioned to her that we may be interested in opening our search into the Waiting Child Program (children with special needs or older than 2) and to open it to boys or girls maybe even older than the original 9 - 18 months.  She wondered if we would still consider an older child, a boy who is six.  I was shocked and said of course.  She told me that she would have to call us back after her appointment and talk to CCAI (our adoption agency).   When she called back our agency had forwarded this little boy's information and pictures over.  He was so sweet and looked so little.  She had told me that he was up for adoption and the family decided to wait for a girl.  She immediately thought of us and what a good fit he would be with us.  

This little boy was abandoned at 11 months and found in front of the orphanage in the Henan Province.  They estimated his birthday to be May 1, 2003 and named him Dang Hao Long, which in chinese means "nice dragon".  Then he was placed in the orphanage for two and a half years before he was placed in foster care, where he has been for the last two years.  From the looks of his evaluations and from his foster mother's notes he seems to be a sweet, smart child.  He also seems sensitive to the needs of him foster mother and foster family.  Other than his physical size, which is 37 inches tall, he seems typical.  They have give Hao Long the English name of "Gordon".  That was a bit surprising but we would deal with that later - it is a whole other story!  What could we do? 

Well we asked Alex what his thoughts were about having a little brother to share his room and toys with.  Alex was quick to respond with a sure.  "He is not a baby brother but a little brother, right Mom?"  I reminded Alex that this was not a quick sleep over but a forever thing.  He would have his brother forever.  That was perfectly fine for Alex... a brother forever.  And so our crazy, sudden, wonderful, exciting, scary, blessed journey begins......