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

Thursday, October 21, 2010

First Family Birthday Party

Well we had another dream come true recently.  One of our huge hopes in adopting Lulu was to get her home in time to celebrate all further birthdays as a forever family.

Last Friday, October 15th, we had the tremendous joy of bouncing, sliding, and racing through obstacle courses with a huge group of friends and family.  I can't tell all of you how many birthday parties I had been to, between our pre-approval in 10/09 to our adoption 7/10, where I had imagined what it would be like to see Lulu surrounded by her peers and excited for her to hear her birthday song, to blow out her candles, to gobble cake and to open and then play with the lovely gifts her friends had chosen for her.  Afterward, our NW family came over for a little family time.   Family from afar sent gifts and made calls/emails to express their good wishes.   It was all such an expression of love and joy that I know Lulu will remember it forever.  She had an absolute blast and her brothers were thrilled to pamper her all day.  They even taped 9 dollars of their own money into a card for her just because they wanted to.

We were fortunate to have received a video while in China which was made by Lulu's fantastic foster parents showing Lulu with presents and a little cake at her 3rd birthday along with other precious moments.   We had sent a memory stick to the orphanage hoping they would download photos for us (they agreed to accept it and do something with it). The video was totally unexpected and an amazing gift.   That birthday celebration was special too because it shows how all Lulu's mothers have loved her over time.  As mother, I imagine the love her birth mother felt in carrying her and bringing her into this world.  I have already seen through photos, a seven page letter, and a video how much Foster Mommy loves her.  And now, she has Forever Mommy to love her for her entire life.  I am so grateful to be that person for our kind, loving, patient, funny, brilliant, talkative, adorable 4 year old daughter.  I just want to say that word over and over and over.  Daughter.  It has so much meaning because it means that she is a girl that belongs to her parents and we belong to her.  It's just the best thing in the world for all five of us.



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1 comment:

  1. AnnieOctober 29, 2010 at 9:56 AM

    How fantastic to be able to celebrate as a family together and have Lulu right in the middle of it all, enjoying everything you hoped she would enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

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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