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......