Our United Family of Five

Our United Family of Five
Hooray!

Waiting for our Sweet Girl

Waiting for our Sweet Girl
Before Lulu's Arrival

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Getting Ready to be a family of Five

For a while now, I have been delaying preparing for Lulu's arrival.  Many months ago, I thoroughly enjoyed the nesting process and I discovered all the adorable things out there for girls.  Over the past few months, I chose not to attend to "things" as I realized that we have a good start and that hopeful place in my heart was becoming more and more sensitive as it became harder and harder to wait.  It was time to focus attentively on our family of four and just let us become five when the time was right.

We took a lovely Spring Break in San Diego and spent time at the beach and the various parks around the area.  It was fantastic.  I noticed Asian daughters everywhere I looked.  Most with Asian parents and many with caucasian parents.  I found myself absolutely looking forward to someday taking our daughter to see the Koalas and Pandas and Giant Anteaters at the wonderful San Diego Zoo. 

The first step in realizing that I am ready to finalize the nest was when I saw a booth at Legoland where wonderful artists paint names with shapes from nature or from stories.  Both boys have had, since early childhood, their names drawn with flowers or animals in that Chinese painting style and hung above their beds.  Right away, I knew it was time to get Allura's.   We had her name done in princesses/fairies with various hair colors and flowers.  I just love it!  We also had a smaller one with a hula girl as the "L" in Lulu. 

I understand and can only imagine how complex the naming issue is going to be for our little girl.  We will find out, when we receive her, what she prefers to be called and we will call her that.  But we do hope to work in or at least establish an appreciation for the name and nickname her parents gave her in love and appreciation.

Someone in a blog has mentioned two books to read about adoption.  One is a fictional fantasy book and one about names.  I will attach the Amazon info here but I have not read them nor read their reviews at this point.

Next, I need to work on how to have a 5th seat at the breakfast table look natural and not just added on.  I think it will go from a table for 4 to a table for 5 by simply expanding the one we have.  Or we'll go to Ikea and get a round table.  We always wanted to do that anyway so people can stop being afraid of our creaky kitchen chairs collapsing underneath them.  Hasn't happened yet but it does sound like the ice cracking on a frozen lake or glacier when a person sits down or even shifts their weight...  Ahhh, another item on my list for preparation for Lulu's arrival.  I love this list that I am building in my head because it means that I truly believe that the day will come that we are a family of five.
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1 comment:

  1. Harp MamaApril 10, 2010 at 10:48 AM

    The second book that someone mentioned was The Three Names of Me. Again, I know nothing about these books but I am either going to order them from Amazon or from the library.

    By the way, if you order anything I have linked to my post from Amazon through the link itself. I few pennies from the purchase will go to Lulu's GET Fund (college fund). No pressure though.

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Our Adoption Timeline

  • March, 2011. Start re-adoption process in order to have US Birthcertificate.
  • February, 2011. Our first post-placement report due.
  • October, 2010. US Passport applied for and received.
  • September, 2010. All kids start school. Lulu to pre-school with Daddy.
  • September, 2010. Social Security Number.
  • September, 2010. Lulu receives citizenship certificate.
  • August 7, 2010. Home to the USA.
  • July 27, 2010. Thumbprints and footprints- we adopt our daughter.
  • July 26, 2010. We sing to Lulu for the first time.
  • July 20, 2010. Left for China.
  • June 25, 2010. Travel Approval received by agency.
  • June 3-4,2010. Article 5 picked up and overnighted to CCAA. To be received 6/4/10. We begin the wait for TA itself.
  • May 18, 2010. NVC letter received by Email.
  • May 14, 2010. National Visa Center notified Guangzhou US Consulate of I-800 approval.
  • May 7, 2010. I-800 received.
  • May 5, 2010. I-800 approved by USCIS and in mail to us.
  • May 4, 2010. We bought tickets to China!
  • April 22, 2010. USCIS receives our I-800 application.
  • April 19, 2010. LOA on Mama's Birthday.
  • April 17, 2010. Daddio's and Uncle Alex's Birthday.
  • April 13, 2010. Pop's Birthday.
  • Apr. 7, 2010. Nana's 65th Birthday.
  • Apr. 3, 2010. Auntie Kayce's Birthday.
  • Feb. 11, 2010. LID! Our dossier has officially been logged in on this date. We found out about it two weeks later but very happy with quick LID after DTC.
  • Feb. 2, 2010. DTC (Dossier to China with courier)
  • Jan. 29, 2009. Our official deadline from China based on our pre-approval dated Oct. 29,2009. As of Jan. 26th our dossier is on its way to China. Marilyn assures us that the Chinese component of authentication will happen over three days and then the dossier will be received officially by the CCAA. This means our documents will be officially in on Feb. 3.
  • Jan. 23, 2009. Received I-797 (I-800A approval) in mail. Too late to meet Fedex deadline but turned docs around right away to get them to Utah as early as possible. Will be received in Utah first thing Tuesday AM on the 26th. Due in China on the 29th. Please Marilyn, our dossier specialist, save us! Lots of praying to be done....
  • Jan. 19, 2009. Day after MLK day so first day office is open. Get call from Officer Harrison saying that approval not yet completed but will be completed today and mailed out.
  • Jan. 15, 2009. Spoke with Officer Harrison about I-800A and fingerprint approval. Lots of snafus, some real, some not. Took 3 people to manage them. Should be approved today.
  • Jan. 8, 2009. Fingerprinted by Homeland security (FBI fingerprints passed months and months ago) a week earlier than invited so that we have a chance of making the China deadline of the 29th. Agency says we will ask for an extension if our entire file is ready except for the USCIS approval (I-800A)
  • Jan 6, 2009. Receive notice that our documents are all in Washington, DC for final authentication at the US State Department.
  • Nov. 2009. We move into speed mode to get all the documents together for federal approval and for the China Dossier.
  • Oct. 29, 2009. We receive the pre-approval letter stating that we have until January 29, 2009 to submit our full dossier and that agree to process her file as a "Waiting Child" due to her age and need for multiple eye surgeries.
  • AM Oct 25, 2009 (Quinlan's 6th birthday). We receive a forwarded email from China entitled, "She's Yours!" by the US folks. Her file is "locked" to us and China needs us to get our photos and letter of intent to them immediately to complete the lock.
  • AM Oct 24, 2009. We call back within the hour to say, "Yes!". We are told that we will have to wait 24 hours to see if we will be matched to her. We know it is possible that we may not be lucky enough to match with her and try not to get too excited but it was impossible not to already be attached and to know that we might have to grieve her loss if we find that we were not meant to be her family.
  • AM Oct. 24, 2009. We review the multitude of medical, developmental, and personal documents and photos and recognize right away that we have found our daughter.
  • AM Oct. 24, 2009. We receive excited call from Kathy Junk stating that Wasatch had matched 2 families that day and that they have a child to match that they think might be our daughter.
  • Oct. 23, 2009. We mail our check to Wasatch to commit to adopting through their agency.
  • Oct. 2009. Min Lan celebrates her third birthday in China with her foster family who loves her very much.
  • Oct. 2009. Completed pre-application with Wasatch and sent in list of medical conditions we could work with in our family.
  • Oct. 2009. Researched countries, adoption agencies, and our own hearts and recognized that we would find our toddler daughter in China.
  • Oct 1, 2009. Completed our homestudy with the fabulous Allison Reeves.
  • Sept. 2009. Completed our huge homestudy documents by pouring our souls on the pages detailing every aspect of our lives from childhood on.
  • After a poor experience with one adoption agency, we had 5 glowing references for Wasatch International Adoptions.
  • Sept. 2009. We decided it was time to find our daughter.
  • Jun. 2007. Baby Lulu has her second eye surgery to try to reduce the congenital esotropia (pointed inward).
  • Apr. 2007. Baby Lulu (Min Lan) has a congenital cataract successfully removed.
  • Feb. 2007. Min Lan is placed to be found in order to receive eye surgery to save her sight.
  • Oct. 2006, Baby Lulu (Min Lan) was born in Guilin, China.
  • Oct. 2003, Quinlan's birth in Seattle.
  • Dec. 2000, Declan's birth in Seattle.
  • Early 2001. Saw "Wednesday's Child" on Portland, OR TV and recognized that we would love to adopt a child someday