D*T*C!!!

As of today, March 20th, we are officially DTC (dossier to China)! We received word this afternoon from Sara that our dossier was sent to China TODAY along with 3 other families. We should be getting information about the other families in the near future so we can get in contact with them prior to travel. In our case, maybe we can get together and commiserate over the wait. It is going to be a long, yucky 18+ month wait. Fortunately for us, we have 3 sweetie-pies at home to keep us occupied.

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Next stop...LID (log in date)...

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(Hopefully this will happen sooner than later!)

Drumroll please....

On Saturday, March 3rd (Grandma Sarg's 95th Birthday!) we received our final document back from the state of Wisconsin and shipped our whole entire dossier off to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. YIPEE! It is a bittersweet moment when that package leaves your hands and is put into the hands of a system (ie. the US Postal Service) that doesn't have a bit of emotional connection to its contents. I've seen the TV specials where postal people throw their postal bags into the ditch and their mail never gets delivered. Fortunately for us we DID have the envelope tracked and it was signed for on Monday morning around 11:00 at the Chinese Consulate. THANK GOODNESS! We should get that back by the end of the week and then we can meet with Sara to go through the final walk-through. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it will feel to get everything to China. Even though the wait is now 16 or 17 months (and climbing...), we still will be logged in and waiting. It will be a long, hard wait, but at least we know first hand about the miracle that awaits us in the end. How very appropriate that the end of our paperchase for Daisy is happening on the anniversary of Sofia's Gotcha Day! (2 years ago today!!)

I wonder when Daisy will be born???

And the winner is...

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We are very excited to have FINALLY come to a consensus on a name.

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We eagerly await the homecoming of our daughter/sister...

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DAISY MARGARET

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Named after my maternal Great-Grandma and Bob's Fraternal Grandma.

Cool, huh?

WOW!

Things seem to be moving so much more quickly this time around. This time I feel we are working against the clock because of the new regulations. Even though both my husband and my SW tell me that we will be FINE even if we, for some reason, DO NOT make the May 1st deadline for our LID, I still feel safer getting things in before D-day. I just want to play it safe. Within the last few weeks here is what has happened...adoption-wise:

• I got my physical (and a clean bill of health!!)
• Bob got his TB test and should be completely DONE with his medical exam
• Received a copy of the kids immunization records - will bring their paperwork to Dr. Ed tomorrow to be completed
• Bob and I both received the letters from our employers
• Finished the PILE of paperwork for our SW
• Police background checks came through clear (whew!) - These have to be re-written because of a problem with the notary...not a big deal, but still a pain
• We had our joint interview and I had my individual interview with Sara
• We received our fingerprint appointment date (Jan 25th! Yah!)
• Our home visit and Bob's individual interview with Sara is next Tuesday
• We've come to no concensus on a name...except for the fact that we CAN'T agree on anything!!! (If only Bob would see things MY WAY!!)

As I mentioned before, the process seems SOOO much easier this time around. Of course, I should probably shut my mouth...it isn't over yet...

Timeline to our Newest Lovey...

The Race for our LID begins!

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Thus far...

January - December 2006 - Spent time soul searching about taking the plunge again! The question was always "when"...it was never "if"!

November 28th - Decided it's a go! We're off! Call Sara for an application.

December 5th - Receive application in the mail. Immediately fill it out!

December 6th - Spill the beans to EVERYONE who will listen! Fam and Friends are SOOO excited!

December 8th - Our completed application is in the mail!

December 11th - Ordered birth certificates and marriage license.

December 13th - Talked to Sara; Scheduled 1st meeting for following Monday the 18th (my personal day)

December 18th - Met with Sara to get the skinny on what needs to be done (and redone! Grrrrrr...It's amazing how much needs to be repeated only 3 years after it was done for Sofia!!)

December 19th - Started to fill out the mountain of paperwork required for adoption from China. WOW! I had forgotten what was involved!

December 22nd - Bob had his physical. All is well except that he still needs to get his TB test done (in the near future) because the upcoming holiday weekend messes up the reading of the results.

December 20th - Filed the I-600 (Orphan Petition) - We are REALLY on our way! This is starting to get REAL!

December 28th - Received the reciept for our I-600 in the mail. It was logged in on December 22nd. I don't remember receiving this last time...we also will get fingerprinted BEFORE our homestudy is submitted this time. A definite change from last time. HOPEFULLY this will help to speed things up for us!

December 29th - Bob got our police background checks done at the Menasha PD. We are both clear! Yeah! - Have to be re-written because of problem with the notary

January 3rd - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Arranged our next 2 interviews with Sara. We will do our last joint interview and one single interview next Monday (8th); Our home visit and second individual interview will be on January 16th.

January 4th - My physical; Bring Sofia's adoption paperwork to clerk of courts to petition for finalization of her adoption (to be continued soon)

January 7th - Finish the PILE of paperwork required for International Adoption; Bob and I receive employment letters from our workplaces

January 8th - Joint and my individual interviews with Sara

January 9th - Bob gets his TB test

January 10th - Receive fingerprint appointments (YAH!) for January 25th

Just a few words from the peanut gallery...

Did I mention how excited we are??

Not too much to report. We are well into our dreaded paperchase. We got our birth certificates and marriage license, we got clean police background checks, Bob has had his physical (he has to get his TB test yet),I have my physical next Thursday, most of the paperwork for our agency has been filled out, our I-600 (orphan petition) is sent in...whew! I forgot how crazy this whole process is!

The news on the referral front is not very promising. Timelines continue to climb. By the time we are logged in we will probably be looking at a wait of about 2 years. We are, of course, hoping and praying that the pendulum will swing the other way during our wait and that we will be united with our daughter sooner than later.

The name situation is still up in the air! But we are considering all offers for naming rights and would probably yield to the highest bidder! (Just kidding of course...If only it were that easy! Bob and I might be in divorce court over the name before this whole thing is over!!)

The Countdown Begins...

On Friday, December 8th (I think) the CCAA met for their annual meeting where many new rules and regulations were added to the Chinese international adoption program. Apparently the Chinese program has become so popular with adopting families that they now are getting twice as many dossiers submitted as there are paper-ready babies. With that said, China is now becoming more stringent on their adoption criteria. The main areas that they are going to chang are with the singles adoption and there will also now be a weight requirement. As of May 1, 2007, single women will no longer be able to submit dossiers to China for adoption. I think this is so very, very sad for both potential mommies and babies. The new weight requirement states that all adoptive parents have a BMI of 40 or less. I guess that they are assuming that people above that level have a bigger chance of having serious health issues.

So what does this mean for us? Not too much. For starters, we hope to have our dossier submitted by April. We will definitely have our paperwork in on time, it is just a matter of how quick and efficient INS is with our fingerprint processing. It just stinks that we have to wait on something that is completely out of our control. If for some reason we don't make the May 1st cut-off we should still qualify under the new rules and regs.

Anyhoo, we meet with Sara on Monday to get our stuff rolling. I aleady ordered our birth certificates and marriage license...now we only need 10 or so more documents! Geesh...I forgot how much fun the paperchase is!!

The first of many...

We're on our way! Our application is in the mail!

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