www.wesselsworld.nl/ccaa.htm
I came across the link above from one of the yahoo groups we particpate with. It shows the actual matching room in the CCAA in China. It is pretty interesting to see the pictures.
Julia
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Matt here...We found out that the timespan from LID to referral is currently running at 14 months and may conceivably lengthen further. Referral to travel typically runs around 8 weeks. This means that portions of our paperwork are likely going to expire. Who knew that certain paperwork actually has a "shelf life". So, we are likely going to have to have some of our paperwork redone and repay certain fees as we move along through the waiting period. This development stressed both of us out this weekend and Julia's back went out. She was pretty much bedbound yesterday. She is feeling a bit better today. To get out of the house, we went to Pottery Barn Kids store to see the nursery set we had picked out on the internet in person. We ended up buying several pieces today and have them in what will be Emma's room. Some pictures of the "store vision" of the room are below:
The link to look at the information on the set we have picked out is: Twinkle Twinkle
The link to look at the information on the set we have picked out is: Twinkle Twinkle
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Halloween afternoon we FINALLY received our "Log in Date" from our agency (affectionately known as LID). China registered our paperwork on September 18, 2006!! Yea us!! We are part of the September 2006 families.
For those unfamiliar with the term and its meaning... as mentioned above, LID is the actual date that China registered our dossier in their system. By the LID China will keep us updated on the location of our dossier. Monthly our agency will forward this information to us in an email. Families anxiously await the "places everyone" email which will tell us if our dossier has moved from one step to the next. The process looks something like this: LID to Translation to Review to Matching.
The bad news is that China is reporting a 14 month turn around to referrals. This could possibly mean that we will have to re-do the much dreaded immigration paperwork (which have an expiration). To re-do the immigration paperwork we will be required to re-do: homestudy, medical, financial, fingerprints and more. Needless to say we are discouraged by the daunting tasks but greatful for being so close (yet so far) to the end.
For those of you attempting to do the math... assuming the time span of 14 months does not lengthen- we should be receiving our referral on or around November 18th 2007-- possible travel to China would be December 07/January 08.
Please keep us in your prayers. We both feel we need strength to make it through this stage of the process. We trust that God has "it all" under control.
Julia
For those unfamiliar with the term and its meaning... as mentioned above, LID is the actual date that China registered our dossier in their system. By the LID China will keep us updated on the location of our dossier. Monthly our agency will forward this information to us in an email. Families anxiously await the "places everyone" email which will tell us if our dossier has moved from one step to the next. The process looks something like this: LID to Translation to Review to Matching.
The bad news is that China is reporting a 14 month turn around to referrals. This could possibly mean that we will have to re-do the much dreaded immigration paperwork (which have an expiration). To re-do the immigration paperwork we will be required to re-do: homestudy, medical, financial, fingerprints and more. Needless to say we are discouraged by the daunting tasks but greatful for being so close (yet so far) to the end.
For those of you attempting to do the math... assuming the time span of 14 months does not lengthen- we should be receiving our referral on or around November 18th 2007-- possible travel to China would be December 07/January 08.
Please keep us in your prayers. We both feel we need strength to make it through this stage of the process. We trust that God has "it all" under control.
Julia
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
We are "DTC" (Dossier to China)! This is part of the email letter we received from our agency describing what we are to expect next...
"Dear Families,
Your dossier was mailed to China today! It was truly a pleasure working with you during the Dossier phase of the adoption process. As you are moving into the next phase of the Adoption (the waiting time between completion of dossier/DTC log-in date at CCAA to referral time)... Your assigned Referral Counselor will be in touch with you in the near future to introduce herself and to guide you along during the wait.
While you are waiting, we’d like to make you aware of some final “touches” after the completion of your dossier. First, please watch your mail for a package, sometimes called the Brown Envelope, from the American Consulate in Guangzhou , China . The package will usually arrive to you about 3 to 5 months after the completion date of your I-171-H. After you receive this package, please make sure to safely store it away. You will not need to do anything with it until after you have gotten your referral and are getting ready to travel to China . Our Travel advisors will go over the contents of the package with you; most of the documents will not need to be completed until after you are in China . If you do not receive the Brown Envelope in the above-stated amount of time, please contact us and we will check with the American Consulate to see if they have received your information from BCIS.
Finally, the Referral Education Team will notify you when your dossier has been logged in or registered at the CCAA. Please note that while CCAA may log-in your dossier after receipt, it may take up to 6 weeks for us to receive the log-in date (also known as your Dossier To China or DTC date). Again, we will notify you as soon as we have the information. "
Yea! We are officially parents in waiting!!!
"Dear Families,
Your dossier was mailed to China today! It was truly a pleasure working with you during the Dossier phase of the adoption process. As you are moving into the next phase of the Adoption (the waiting time between completion of dossier/DTC log-in date at CCAA to referral time)... Your assigned Referral Counselor will be in touch with you in the near future to introduce herself and to guide you along during the wait.
While you are waiting, we’d like to make you aware of some final “touches” after the completion of your dossier. First, please watch your mail for a package, sometimes called the Brown Envelope, from the American Consulate in Guangzhou , China . The package will usually arrive to you about 3 to 5 months after the completion date of your I-171-H. After you receive this package, please make sure to safely store it away. You will not need to do anything with it until after you have gotten your referral and are getting ready to travel to China . Our Travel advisors will go over the contents of the package with you; most of the documents will not need to be completed until after you are in China . If you do not receive the Brown Envelope in the above-stated amount of time, please contact us and we will check with the American Consulate to see if they have received your information from BCIS.
Finally, the Referral Education Team will notify you when your dossier has been logged in or registered at the CCAA. Please note that while CCAA may log-in your dossier after receipt, it may take up to 6 weeks for us to receive the log-in date (also known as your Dossier To China or DTC date). Again, we will notify you as soon as we have the information. "
Yea! We are officially parents in waiting!!!
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I have to let 'yall know how unlucky we are feeling.
As you know, we have been waiting for the past 90 days for the CIS to send us immigration paperwork. (This is the last stage of the dossier. Once it arrives we can complete the dossier and turn it in to China) Well, it arrived today! With a note attached that says they are unable to process our application because our homestudy agency did NOT sign the document! What?!?!?!?
After speaking with our agecny they assure us they will over night a revised document and have it expadited for us. (We are not sure how they are able to do that!)
Add insult to injury... Matt goes out to blow off some steam by mowing the grass. He runs over a yellow jacket nest and is stung on his pointer finger (where it bends).
Is this supposed to be a day full of tests?!
As you know, we have been waiting for the past 90 days for the CIS to send us immigration paperwork. (This is the last stage of the dossier. Once it arrives we can complete the dossier and turn it in to China) Well, it arrived today! With a note attached that says they are unable to process our application because our homestudy agency did NOT sign the document! What?!?!?!?
After speaking with our agecny they assure us they will over night a revised document and have it expadited for us. (We are not sure how they are able to do that!)
Add insult to injury... Matt goes out to blow off some steam by mowing the grass. He runs over a yellow jacket nest and is stung on his pointer finger (where it bends).
Is this supposed to be a day full of tests?!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
June 6, 2006. A day of infamy. Today in history, June 6 1944 was D-Day. How appropriate.
Our 1st packet of paperwork has been FedExed to The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston, TX.
We spent the morning at our local Kinkos making 160 photo copies. Also, we opened our very own FedEx Account! Which we found out is necessary for mailing back and forth to all the organizations involved. Of course, we get to foot the bills.
We remain in a state of confusion...not knowing if our paperwork is accurate enough to sail through to the next stage.
Our 1st packet of paperwork has been FedExed to The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston, TX.
We spent the morning at our local Kinkos making 160 photo copies. Also, we opened our very own FedEx Account! Which we found out is necessary for mailing back and forth to all the organizations involved. Of course, we get to foot the bills.
We remain in a state of confusion...not knowing if our paperwork is accurate enough to sail through to the next stage.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Friday, the beginning of our highly anticipated 3 day weekend. The day started quiet with our internet service knocked out last night with the storms. Expecting a crazy day full of court house tirades and waiting around for MaBell to show up at our home I baked the morning tension away by making my favorite bannana bread! Yummy! This time with a crust topping of brown sugar and cinnamon...can't wait to eat it tomorrow. Obviously, the internet is up and running. Dude man showed up at our home right on schedule and finished w/in 30 minutes. During the wait I made some lemon bar cookies. For some reason I am in the mood to cook.
We were off to the closest BOA by 2pm to have our final 2 documents notarized. Not realizing it we walked in to the banks busiest time of the week...and a holiday weekend approaching made it even busier than expected. We were out of there by 2:45 and on our way down to the Gwinnett Justice and Administrative Center, or "GJAC" as Matt lovingly calls it.
Our experience with Gwinnett County's Superior Court Clerk's office was pretty awesome. FINALLY a good experience at one of those places! We were walking to our car by 3:30PM! Happy as could be!! The only snare was one of the notary signatures was hard to make out...called around to find the correct spelling. Not too bad considering!
One more thing off our To Do List! Yipee! 3 day weekend here we come!
We were off to the closest BOA by 2pm to have our final 2 documents notarized. Not realizing it we walked in to the banks busiest time of the week...and a holiday weekend approaching made it even busier than expected. We were out of there by 2:45 and on our way down to the Gwinnett Justice and Administrative Center, or "GJAC" as Matt lovingly calls it.
Our experience with Gwinnett County's Superior Court Clerk's office was pretty awesome. FINALLY a good experience at one of those places! We were walking to our car by 3:30PM! Happy as could be!! The only snare was one of the notary signatures was hard to make out...called around to find the correct spelling. Not too bad considering!
One more thing off our To Do List! Yipee! 3 day weekend here we come!
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Yesterday Matt traveled into Decatur to have our home study notary certified/verified or what ever. His trip was not as stressful as the one a few weeks ago at the vital statistics office.
Update on our status:
1.) ALL Gwinnett County notarys need to be certified- planned completion date:Friday, May 26th
2.) ALL GA documents need to be verified- planned completion date: Friday, June 2nd
3.) Then we are able to send everything to the Chinnese Consulate in Houston TX!
4.) Dossier hopeful completion date: end of June
The RED Thread
There is an ancient belief in China that when a child is born, invisible red threads reach out from the child's spirit to all of the important people who will be part of the child's life. The threads may tangle but they will never break.
Update on our status:
1.) ALL Gwinnett County notarys need to be certified- planned completion date:Friday, May 26th
2.) ALL GA documents need to be verified- planned completion date: Friday, June 2nd
3.) Then we are able to send everything to the Chinnese Consulate in Houston TX!
4.) Dossier hopeful completion date: end of June
The RED Thread
There is an ancient belief in China that when a child is born, invisible red threads reach out from the child's spirit to all of the important people who will be part of the child's life. The threads may tangle but they will never break.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Today is Mother's Day! In honor of this I am posting a poem that I ran across. Through this process I have frequently felt that it is a dream and not reality. I am finding it hard to visualize that all our struggles will actually have a happy ending. Matt and I have been trying for over 5 years to start our family and now that we are actively pursuing adoption it still doesn't feel real. Today is a hard day of coping for me. I anxiously await the arival of our precious gift and answer to our years of prayer... this I dedicate to our precious "China Doll"
Dear Sweet Daughter
Author: Gayle Leubecker
Dear Sweet Daughter,
As a girl I had a common dream, to be a mom someday.
My baby would have eyes of blue and hair the hue of hay.
But now my dreams have been transformed. New visions fill my head.
Now the tresses that I long to stroke are raven black instead.
And in my dreams those eyes are not so big or blue or round.
Now in my dreams they're almond shaped and colored cocoa brown.
And in my dreams my arms can stretch across enormous seas.
They reach half-way around the world and hold you close to me.
As you grow in your mother's womb, carefully knit together,
you're also growing in my heart, where you will stay forever.
And in my dreams the moment that your mother says good-bye,
I'll be right there to comfort you and hold you as you cry.
Our features may not look alike; we're different as can be.
But still I know the Father has created you for me.
And though I've not yet seen your face, or held your tiny hands,
and though we're half a world apart in very different lands.
I'll be right there to get you just as soon as God allows.
But til He says the time is right I give to you this vow.
I'll pray for your protection every night on bended knee.
For God will hold you in His arms, until you're here with me.
Dear Sweet Daughter
Author: Gayle Leubecker
Dear Sweet Daughter,
As a girl I had a common dream, to be a mom someday.
My baby would have eyes of blue and hair the hue of hay.
But now my dreams have been transformed. New visions fill my head.
Now the tresses that I long to stroke are raven black instead.
And in my dreams those eyes are not so big or blue or round.
Now in my dreams they're almond shaped and colored cocoa brown.
And in my dreams my arms can stretch across enormous seas.
They reach half-way around the world and hold you close to me.
As you grow in your mother's womb, carefully knit together,
you're also growing in my heart, where you will stay forever.
And in my dreams the moment that your mother says good-bye,
I'll be right there to comfort you and hold you as you cry.
Our features may not look alike; we're different as can be.
But still I know the Father has created you for me.
And though I've not yet seen your face, or held your tiny hands,
and though we're half a world apart in very different lands.
I'll be right there to get you just as soon as God allows.
But til He says the time is right I give to you this vow.
I'll pray for your protection every night on bended knee.
For God will hold you in His arms, until you're here with me.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
2/2/6 12:45PM
Our applicaiton has been approved! OMG! How exciting!
I just got a phone call on our home phone from Alicia with Great Wall. She is the application specialist with GW. Alicia will email us a contract to complete and mail back with our first installment $$. Once the contract is received we will be assigned a caseworker who will help us through the paper chase.
While we wait for our caseworker we are encouraged to call and choose our home study company. We will call Allison, GW regional volunteer and our friends Mike & Sandy to find out who they both used. Also, Alicia gave me the following names and numbers to call:
Currently the CG states that the wait for referal (once the dosier is completed and received) is 8-10 months. Alicia anticipates the wait will increase as the year progresses. -- need to get our dossier done as quick as possible! So, we can hurry up and wait! Some of the items that we are required to obtain are time sensitive- expiring after 1 year (home study, finger prints, etc.)!
Our applicaiton has been approved! OMG! How exciting!
I just got a phone call on our home phone from Alicia with Great Wall. She is the application specialist with GW. Alicia will email us a contract to complete and mail back with our first installment $$. Once the contract is received we will be assigned a caseworker who will help us through the paper chase.
While we wait for our caseworker we are encouraged to call and choose our home study company. We will call Allison, GW regional volunteer and our friends Mike & Sandy to find out who they both used. Also, Alicia gave me the following names and numbers to call:
- Atlanta, Adoption Planning, Inc. 770-437-1907
- Atlanta, Families First 404-853-2800
- Alpharetta, AAA 770-844-2080
- Marietta, Cradle of Love 770-955-8550
Currently the CG states that the wait for referal (once the dosier is completed and received) is 8-10 months. Alicia anticipates the wait will increase as the year progresses. -- need to get our dossier done as quick as possible! So, we can hurry up and wait! Some of the items that we are required to obtain are time sensitive- expiring after 1 year (home study, finger prints, etc.)!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Big update to the blog.
We realize that we haven't been updating the blog like we should. Life has been busy and is about to get a lot busier. We have taken further concrete steps toward adopting from China. This past Saturday (1/22/06), Matt sent off his passport application. We should have the passport back in 4-6 weeks. Over the weekend, we also made our adoption agency choice and have decided to adopt through Great Wall China Adoption. We put the finishing touches on the application late this afternoon after Matt got home from work. Julia is going to drop it at the post office this evening on her way to a Southern Living party at a friend's house. This is a really exciting day for us. The thought that within the next year we might be parents is both exhilarating and terrifying.
On the hobbies front, Julia has been doing a lot of scrapbooking and Matt has been doing a good bit of geocaching. We will add some new pictures of our doings in the coming days. We promise to do better about updating much more frequently.
We realize that we haven't been updating the blog like we should. Life has been busy and is about to get a lot busier. We have taken further concrete steps toward adopting from China. This past Saturday (1/22/06), Matt sent off his passport application. We should have the passport back in 4-6 weeks. Over the weekend, we also made our adoption agency choice and have decided to adopt through Great Wall China Adoption. We put the finishing touches on the application late this afternoon after Matt got home from work. Julia is going to drop it at the post office this evening on her way to a Southern Living party at a friend's house. This is a really exciting day for us. The thought that within the next year we might be parents is both exhilarating and terrifying.
On the hobbies front, Julia has been doing a lot of scrapbooking and Matt has been doing a good bit of geocaching. We will add some new pictures of our doings in the coming days. We promise to do better about updating much more frequently.
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