Renewing I171H

Since we have waited over a year so far some our paperwork is beginning to expire. The I171H is the USICS paperwork that allows us to complete the adoption on the US side and it has to be valid when you travel as well as valid fingerprints. To get all of this renewed you have to get an updated home study that is not bad because we love our social worker. Actual have have seen alot of her lately. USICS gives one free extension since everything has been taking so long so that was a nice little extra we did not have to pay for :) We now will just sit and wait we should have no problem traveling before this one expires.

2 Months and Counting.......

Another month has approached so quickly We can hardly believe we have been waiting 2 months. Referrals have been at a pretty slow pace there has been no new WC list. On 3/25 we received notification from our agency that things were going to change in the program. Well by now if you are adopting from China you should be use to change. So what is this all about. Here is what we have been told so far... All the agencies participating in the on-line system will now used the "shared" list which has all (or most) of the children listed. The reason for this is in hopes to place the children faster. Their are still some designated lists being sent directly to agencies but the are harder to place.

So what doe that mean for us, well our agency will find children that match the profiles of parents and then "lock" these files in. The process the to accept the referral and have all the paperwork in is only 48 hours with one 48 hour extension. Whew that is quick. I know we are in good hands so I have faith the program will get stable place alot more babies.

Easter

I love this time of the year Spring is in the air. This Easter holiday we spent with my grandparents they came for 5 days. Maddie loves having company. Lot's of shopping , church, game playing and of course eating. As Maddie would say we had a feast we cooked for 11 and all turned out well. I am getting pretty good at this cooking for groups. I do not want to let Steve get to confident in my cooking or I will have to do the cooking every night.

After Easter dinner the children all went to a neighbors Easter egg hunt well they hunted eggs for 30 minutes she got so many eggs she was cracking eggs till bed time and of course eating candy :)


1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

One Year LID Anniversay

It has been a year since we have been official logged in for Kinsey. Sometimes it is hard to believe a year has past and then other times I look at Maddie and see how she is growing and maturing and I wonder where the time went.

The other day I had read some information about concurrent adoptions from China and thought wow we can adopt 2 more beautiful children and yes Steve was on board I immediately called CCAI and asked how people were doing this and Sara stated she had not heard of this. Well I will pray that China will indeed allow a concurrent adoption SN and NSN. The thought of two more daughters just sent me over the top with joy.

When is your family big enough? I do not have the answer to that question yet for our family because we are not done growing yet. We will do what it takes to bring home our daughter or daughters. If this requires a bigger home then I will just have to forfeit the pool and some of the other big upgrades. God has a plan for each of us and he is not done working on the building of our family at this time I am happy to say. So the real question is How many more trips to China will we make?

Purging and Merging

That has been our motto for the last week. As Spring approaches it is time to clean up and clean-out. Now that winter is over for us we can pack away the sweaters and clean out Maddie's closet. She barely fits in her winter attire anymore so I know nothing will fit her next year so we will save some things for baby Kinsey but alot will be passed down to friends. I have been compressing all Maddie's smaller clothes into storage bags (great space reducer) but there are so many sizes to save. We are so glad we will be getting a referral in the next year because we are running out of storage space for clothes. I guess it does not help that I continue to shop for the girls :)



Next, is the house we are cleaning out all the closets and drawers and deciding what will go and what will stay this includes furniture. Before we go to China our goal is to have the house painted, some new furniture (I have a breakfast table I have disliked since I bought it), some upgrades to the kitchen, and of course Kinsey's room. Just a few things to pass the time.

Maddie goes Fishin'

Our little girly girly has a tomgirl side to her. The other night her and daddy went fishing down at the lake behind our house she was so ready with her fishin' gear ( a dora pole, a pooh chair, princess cup, and a walky talkie to call home). Now they had previously went to the store to by real worms yes real ones (yuck). She thought it was so neat how the fish was going to eat her worm ( I prayed that she would catch a fish). After about 35 minutes her bobber went under and she hooked her first fish. Well there was no stopping her after that she was finished and went and told everyone she caught a fish. It was a small little brim we believe in the catch an release even though she thought he should go in the fish tank (which she does not have one).

Now they have plans to fish at least 2-3 times a week and sometimes her little friends fish with her.

Maddiesm's

A Maddieism…

Maddie looked at Steve and I the other night and asked in a serious voice what is “Credit Card Debt and can I have some please? We went on to explain but kept it to a minimum (without trying to laugh). We asked where she heard it from because we do not use credit cards. She said from myself!!!

One Month Down…..with MCC log in

One Month Down…..
Wow time is flying we can hardly believe that a month has already passed since we submitted our medical check list. It is feeling so real now that we will be receiving a referral in less than a year I have started so many things it just has me so thrilled we thank God daily for his wisdom, strength and guidance. We have such great friends and family that have supported us on this decision and continue to pray for little Kinsey. The support group of the waiting child group is tremendous and to see all the families that have BTDT especially on the SN that we have selected even more so put you at ease. The only way life could one be better is if we had Kinsey and Audrey with us right now.

Knowing that we will not have to wait 3 years for Kinsey was just a huge relief when I talked to Sara. Also just an update on NSN referrals they just came out for March and they only did 8 days just broke my heart and those 8 days included a holiday and a weekend. During those days there were not many LID’s so in reality for those who say oh 8 days you must really look at the amount of LID’s which is not many. Our agency did not even have anyone logged in the first few days of January. The wait is so hard for all.

Secret Pal Stikes Again

Another round has ended for one of our groups and Maddie and I got find out our SP. She was so sweet and thoughtful every month she thought of the whole family. Our final box was like having Christmas Maddie was so excited she could not contain herself. Everything was wrapped so neatly and labeled. She thought of everything adorable ladybug scrapbook, China calendar, chocolate covered pretzels (yummy and from Disney:)), china ornament, Olympic tee shirt (way cool from China), ladybug necklace, ladybug parka, ladybug journal books, an adorable outfit with ladybugs for Kinsey.

I am now excited about starting Kinsey's life/adoption journey book I did not know what to use and now I have the perfect book.

We can't thank our SP Nicole enough for everything over the past 6 months. We can't wait to follow her journey to her daughter.

Chinese New Year "Year of the Rat"

Each year we celebrate the New Year by going out and having with Chinese food. Maddie's favorite is soup and then a plate full of noodles with a side of chicken. We went out with some friends Angela, Abigail and Mathew. Maddie and Abigail came home together and over the last year we have become great friends and the girls have become very close.

Also, each year we have made a tradition to go to the local annual New Years celebration at the university for authentic Chinese food and some entertainment. We met some friends down their and the children had fun dancing and watching the big dragons. The program was to last 4 hours there was no way these little cuties were going to hold out that long so we stayed for 2 hours. Maddie likes to hear them speak in Chinese so she was contaent whilke there was entertainment. It was great to see people we had not seen in a long time. Everyone was ready for outdoor fun in the sun.

Well we are in 2/1/2008

Our MCC is offical 2/1/2008 it was faxed to CCAI and we are in line again this time for SN. Now we just sit, wait and pray. Based on the time lines we were given and the age we requested we believe that Kinsey is probably already born (very little) wow I have just been thinking what she looks like and where she might be right now. If she is in the southern part of China she is probably in the cold areas I pray someone is holding her tight and keeping her warm. God Bless our little one and all the other children in China.

Adoption Update

Steve and I meet with our Social worker on Friday to get our medcial check list signed off on for the Waiting Child Program. We are still requesting a little girl but but we are adding our name to the list of children with special needs.

When I originally felt led to adopt again I had ordered the paperwork in the early Spring 07 and Steve was ready to add to the family. I could not wait to get started and shared this someone but was talked out of a second adoption. I stopped persuing the adoption. I never shared this with Steve why I really stopped the process until the Fall of 2007 when it layed so heavy on my heart that I felt we had a second daughter in China and I told him why I changed my mind about adopting and immediately we began the paperwork. Since this I have learned so much to trust my heart so....

Fast forward to now we have talked for months and prayed about where our daughter might be and felt that the WC program is where we feel we need to be in line also. I know God will bring our family the perfect baby girl.

I want to thank Sara from our Yahoo group for her advice which gave me the shove I needed and of course CCAI they make things so easy. CCAI state 10-12 months for a referral and then 3-5 months for travel. Current referral times approx 10 months she told me and it all depends on what you check on th medical form. Steve and I were quite conservative in some ways we thought but actually according to statistic last year (2007) we picked the needs that were referred the most so I guess that could be a good sign.

Hold on Kinsey we all are praying for you daily! Mommy, Daddy, Maddie, Audrey, Aunt Beth and Great Aunt Rosalene and Uncle Gary and Lucy are all coming to get you.

Babies Everywhere

Four of my girlfriends are pregnant and due within 6 weeks of each other. God is good each one of them have a great story with there pregnancy. We are so excited for them but are keeping all in daily prayer as some are experincing complications. Hoping Kinsey will be somewhat close in age because now there will be 4 new playmates.

10 Months

Another month has gone by and not much activity in the area of referrals. Based on the trends of past referrals we are looking at another 3 years UGH! Some say attrition will play in but how much who know but all I now at this rate there will only be maybe 3 or 4 months referred in 2008 if were lucky. Hold on for another long year.

Gatlinburg Getaway

After Christmas we had decided to get away for a few days to our favorite place Gatlinburg area in Tennessee. We took the girls tubing with Maddie being only 31/2 we had thought she would have to go on the kiddie slopes. Well do the warmish like temperatures (50's) there was a lack of snow and they were unable to make the snow therefore there was no kiddie area but the big slopes were open. Audrey was very excited and could not wait and Maddie said I want to go. I knew they would never let her she was to young. Ha Ha silly me age has nothing to do with it it is all about height. We went up to the counter and Steve and Audrey went to buy tickets and Maddie was begging to go and the cashier said she may go if you want to buy her a ticket I said she is only 31/2 she said she is so tall and they measured her, well she went over the 42" mark so off she went. The girls had a blast after almost 2 hours of tubing they still wanted to keep going. Picnics in the park, rock hoping, driving through the parks and of course we had to do a little shopping a the outlet malls.

For me it was not enough days for relaxation before we were back to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I knew coming home meant having to clean and take down Christmas decorations and start with my New Years resolutions:)

Christmas Day 2007!!!!!

The firt picture is the girls getting a letter from Santa boy were they surprised when they arrived two days before christmas.

It was up early 4:00am I could not sleep I was so excited I am worse than a kid. Of course I knew I could not wake the girls so I started packing for our trip but by 5:45 I could not stand it anymore. I turned on the Christmas music and Steve woke the girls and I video taped. Maddie was so surprised what Santa left. Ok he went a little overboard but it had been a rough last part of the year for our family.

The girls open gifts and and then we had breakfast. We had such a great day but it went bye way to fast. Since this was our first year to not be traveling for Christmas we had numerous invites from friends to spend holiday dinner with their family at first we were going to stay at home but when people kept asking we decided to spend the day with one of my girlfriends and her family. We had a Chinese, German and an American Christmas celebration. It was so much fun. Christmas dinner was great since most of my friends family is Chinese and German we had a very special/unique feast of all types of food (Chinese, German and Steve cooked several American dishes).

I am going to miss her family when they return to China we have had such a great time with all of them even though there is a language difference. When we travel for Kinsey we are going to visit them and my girlfriend hopefully will be on part of the trip also if not all of it. We feel so "Blessed" to have such great friends to celebrate with.

Madeline favorite part of Christmas is the Mary and Joseph set-ups aka Nativity. She talks about them so much and wants to be told the story over and over we ended up buying her her own nativity set for her room.

What a wonderful way to celebrates Jesus's birthday with family and friends. We are truly blessed our family has so much to be thankful for.

Christmas in the Park Maddie and her girlfriend exchanged their gifts at an enchanted event.

9 Months Down

Nine months 2 years ago referrals were arriving, now we are just in the beginning stages with a potential outlook of years :(. At least we are half way through December 2005 and October 2006 is out of the review room. Progress is happening at a very slow pace. Many family's did get wonderful Christmas gifts by getting their referrals this month. Let hope for the best in the up coming new year for referrals at least 15 day batches I do recall CCAI stating this.

Christmas is almost here!!!!!

What a busy season we have had parties, performances, get togethers, and more parties. Evey year I think I love Christmas more and more especially now with Maddie and Audrey in our lives. This will be the first Christmas we have both of the girls and we are so excited. Steve surprised us with a 5 day trip to go snow tubing in the mountains after Christmas and the girls can't wait to go. I am thrilled to just get away and have a break from the hustle and bustle. I will not be sledding this year due to my injuries from the accident I am having surgery after the first of the year :(

I can't believe in a week from now we will be having our family Christmas at home! We have some fun traditions:
Everyone decorates the main tree
The girls each get their own 4ft tree in their room
No presents out till all kids are in bed except for the gift you get to open on Christmas Eve
Everyone has cool PJ's but dad he wears sweats
Christmas dinner is Ham with all the sides
Up early on Christmas morning 6:00 am
Traditional breakfast is cinnamon rolls and country breakfast

Better to Give than Receive

This is not a new tradition in our family but one that we have started to teach Maddie as well as Audrey. This year I took Maddie to the Salvation Army Tree at the mall and we talked about the children who do not get Christmas unless families donate toy's and clothes to them. I let Maddie pick the name and age of the child and then she helped me do all the shopping and wrapping. Every night Maddie prays for this little girl Niyah. She talks about her all the time. I believe as she grows this will be a valuable lesson and tradition. Audrey also received a name from the tree and she is doing the shopping the wrapping and using her allowance money fill the wishes of her child.

Eight Months Log in

We'll another month and only a handful of referral but we are in December now what a great holiday gift for all those families! That is the bright side maybe it will only take 3 to 4 months to get through. A girl can wish. It's the holidays time so days will pass by quickly so the time between referral will seem shorter. It is hard to believe we have been logged in for eight months. By this time in 2005 the wait was over we had traveled and were home with Maddie and to think we are not even halfway through the wait. We talked the other night that Audrey will be ready to go to college just about the time she comes home if we do not get a SN referral. WOW!!!!