Sierra "THE Incredible" Chihuahua Avenger!! She is able to make giant leaps in one bound when she hears her nightly "Vitamin B" call for bed time - BACON!!!!!!!!

As we approach late summer (hard to believe) we ponder our next step with the adoption process. Yesterday we spoke with our agency to confirm expiration dates of our immigration paperwork and to discuss time lines to update paperwork.

Our agency said there is a high possibility that the wait time for referral will reach 24 months from LID (Ours is Sept. 06). With this in mind we do not want to start too soon on updating our paperwork due to the possibility we will have to do it a THIRD time! The thought of this just sends us both into a mental breakdown!

Recently we received the necessary papers from our Homestudy agency to update our homestudy (which is nec for immigration). We plan to begin completing these and have them finished by the middle of July.

The USGovt did give a bit of "win" to all "waiting parents". As of July 31st the renewal fee (for the immigration paperwork) will be waived! Yea!!! However, should we have to re-new a 3rd time the fee will be re-instated. The only caveat here is that we have to re-new before our current paperwork expires (Sept 07). Thus we plan on waiting until August 01 to mail in our renewal paperwork (but no later than late August). Again, we find ourselves with our fingers crossed that this process will be over sooner rather than later.

Also, we asked our adoption agency what would happen if we received a referral before our paperwork was received from USGot.... luckily she said the agency would make calls for us in hopes of rushing the paperwork and if need be push back our travel dates until the paperwork arrived.

Another concern is what happens if we travel around the time of the Olympics (summer 08). She said the agency is already making plans to bypass Beijing and send adoptive families directly to their children's Provence's.

In the meantime we are starting to research other possibly quicker options. We are in the early stages of discussing ideas with our homestudy group. Likely at this point it may be just as well that we stick with the Chinesse adoption. We shall see and keep everyone posted.

Please keep us in your prayers as our journey to having our own family continues.

I have to share this quote, it pretty much sums it up...

"No, still waiting.
No, no news.
YES, make it a double!"

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share this information for anyone interested...

"China From The Inside" -- New PBS Documentary
Public television (PBS) will air a 4-part documentary beginning on
Wednesday, January 10, entitled "China from the Inside."

For details, see
http://www.pbs. org/kqed/ chinainside/

The preview notes said the documentary will delve into both China's
history and its current political landscape. It will, among other
things, examine China's treatment of women, its problems with air and
water pollution, religion in China, and the government's slow response
to the AIDS epidemic.

The documentary' s 4 parts will consist of the following:
* "Power and the People"
* "Women of the Country"
* "Shifting Nature"
* "Freedom and Justice"

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

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 weekend before Halloween we had our friends Connie and Daniel over. We went to several Fall Festivals in our area. After our day in Dahlogena Connie taught us how to carve fancy pumpkins. We spent the evening carving and roasting pumpkin seeds.

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

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!!!

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?!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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:

1. Atlanta, Adoption Planning, Inc. 770-437-1907
2. Atlanta, Families First 404-853-2800
3. Alpharetta, AAA 770-844-2080
4. Marietta, Cradle of Love 770-955-8550

The only stipulation is making sure that we will have a "Masters License Social Woker".

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.)!

We received an email today from Great Wall, letting us know that they have received our application and are reviewing it. And so the saga continues...

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.

It has been a few weeks since returning from the cruise and what a wonderful time we both had! The high light for me was swimming with the stingray. Matt surprised me by his calm demeanor. Unfortunately I had a hard time relaxing until I was out of the water watching from the boat.

The stingray behaved much like cats. They would butt into you and then rub their body along your legs, between your legs, on your back, anywhere and everywhere all the time searching for their much sought after calamari.

The Latest

Well, we are in the information-gathering phase of things in terms of whether we are going to adopt or not. We have been looking at two agencies thus far: CCAI and Great Wall China Adoption. Both agencies seem to be really professional, very caring, and comparable in terms of cost. We're also considering domestic adoption, but there are some pluses to international adoption that are continuing to have us leaning in that direction.

In a few weeks, we are taking a cruise for our seventh wedding anniversary. We're definitely excited about this trip. The uncertain portion of the trip is that two of our ports of call (Cozumel and Key West) were hit hard recently by Hurricane Wilma. Cozumel, reportedly, was virtually destroyed. Key West suffered significant flooding. It will definitely be interesting to see where we end up going. We're sailing on the Norwegian Cruise Line's MAJESTY. We depart from Charleston, SC on 11/12 and return on 11/19.

Nashville Trip 2005


October 7th to October 10th, we spent the Columbus Day weekend in the great town of Nashville, TN. It is not a bad trip at all from Atlanta. Pretty much a 4 hour drive on the nose. There is a lot to do there, particularly if you have a fondness for country music, or really just music in general. There is a thriving music scene, and a very cool vibe to the city. We arrived in Nashville around 1:00 pm on Friday the 7th, checking into the Hotel Preston


After checking in and getting the dogs settled, we set out to explore the town. We drove further down Briley Parkway to the Opryland area. We needed to know our way around this area because we had tickets to attend the Grand Ole Opry the next night. Just adjacent to the Opry itself is Opry Mills, a GIGANTIC shopping complex. We walked through the shopping center, people-watched for awhile, and stopped for a bite to eat at the Alabama Grill. It may have just been the time of the day, but the food was not all that terrific. The atmosphere was kind of cool, though, with a lot of country memorabilia, much of it autographed.

After eating, we drove around the area a bit more and did some geocaching. After that, we swung over to the Opry and picked up our tickets for the next night. We decided to go back to the hotel and hang out with the dogs for the remainder of the evening.

The following morning we got up and went out to do some more geocaching and explore more of the city. That evening, we went over to the Opry Hall. A lady that we encountered outside took our picture at the sign:



That night at the Opry, we saw a nice mix of country legends of yesteryear and the stars of today, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Porter Waggoner, Daryl Worley, and Hanna-McEuen.

The next morning, we got up and did some additional geocaching. We also went downtown to do some exploring. We got the opportunity to tour the historic Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman is a really cool place with a great vibe and is really an important location in the history of American music. The history of the building is interesting because it is actually a converted church. They say the acoustics in the building are second only to the Mormon Tabernacle. Below is a picture of the Ryman windows, complete with stained glass. Below that is a picture of us onstage at the Ryman. Being up there you can truly feel the "aura" of the legends who had been right where you are standing.





Our next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame. This was an interesting place, especially knowing the wonderful relics of country music that are archived and stored in the library there. Our final stop was the tower, a tall, round room where the persons voted into the hall are honored with plaques. During our tour of the Hall, Matt stopped to pose with a large picture of his cousin, bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs:



After leaving the Hall of Fame, we wandered up Broadway to the area of the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Along the street are sculptures of guitars. Julia had Matt pose with the guitar below, which has the likenesses of various country legends:



We stopped for a bite to eat at Jack's Barbecue, which boasts some of the best barbecue we have ever eaten. We then moved on to try to check out the famous Wildhorse Saloon. Unfortunately, it was closed for a private function, but we did have our picture taken with the Wild Horse: