PA!!!

Today we were called by our wonderful family coordinator Melissa to tell us they received our PA, which is pre-approval. This means the CCAA has reviewed our nurture and rehabilitation plan along with some other documents from our agency and they have moved us to the next step. We now are waiting for our RA which is our referral acceptance. We were told this can vary greatly from 1-6 months, with the average time 2-3 months.

More info on Katie

Today our agency sent our LOI(letter of intent) to the CCAA electronically. So now we wait again. In adoption there are alot things, alot of paperwork,alot of waiting,alot of emotions, but most importantly alot of faith in God.

Ok, I know, you're waiting for more info on Katie. I am still limited, but can share some more things about her. She is 7 months old, well almost 8 months. She has an unrepaired cl/cp. She looks alot like Brooke in her referral pictures. She is absolutely gorgeous. We cannot wait to bring her home.

Yesterday Brooke had an appt. with the ENT. Afterwards we went to Target to look at baby things, because of course we have none. We had asked for 0-4, trusting the Lord would match us with the perfect daughter for our family. Had Katie been older, she and Brooke would have gotten bunk beds. We were waiting to buy these until we knew how old Katie was. So now we are needing everything for our new baby. Brooke had so much fun looking at all of the baby things. She picked out a couple of things for her. She is a very proud sister.

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot even believe I can type that word, referral. I can't say alot, but I think I can tell you some. It is Sunday, July 13th. After church Jeff was sleeping, after working many hours this week. He had worked his 3rd 12 hour shift in a row. He taught sunday school this morning and was so tired after. We did not stay for church. We came home, had lunch and Jeff went to bed, for what we thought was a nice long sleep. I played scene it Nick with our 3 youngest. We had finished playing, not that long when the phone rang. The caller i.d. said America World. Now remember its Sunday. Our agency is a Christian agency and does not work Sundays. They don't work weekends, they are a business with business hours of Monday-Friday. I thought it was our PR director calling. Its not out of the ordinary for Mike to call. Steven Curtis Chapman is coming to our area this week and we had been emailing with Mike about a possible Shaohannahs hope booth. So when I saw America World I immeditely thought it was Mike telling us that yes, they are going to have a Shaohannahs hope booth, which by the way, they are not having at this concert. So I answer the phone thinking its Mike, but no, a female voice cheefully says hi Shannon, its Melissa from America World. At this point I am almost speechless, I'm wondering why is she calling me on Sunday? She quickly says that they are working today to check on the shared referrals and they had an exact match for us!! She then proceeds to tell me of the age and sn of our daughter!! I am in shock and holding back the tears. I cannot even believe what I am hearing. I said can you lock the file now? She tells me we must review the file first. So we excitedly wake up poor Jeff who has only been sleeping about 2 hours at this point. Needless to say he was in shock. He is going to be tired tonight. Who can sleep after hearing you have a new daughter?! We open the email and the most precious face was looking at us. We reviewed her file and called to tell her YES, please lock her file. Tomorrow we will be getting everything together to fax and or email to our agency. They then will do what they do and send our electonic acceptance to the CCAA. We then wait. We will probably first get PA (preapproval) and then wait for our RA(referral acceptance). This is telling us that yes indeed, the CCAA approves us for this adoption, and in turn we must tell them that yes indeed we want to adopt this child. This can take 2-3 months as we were originally logged in as special needs. We then wait for travel approval, which can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks. After travel approval our agency contacts the U. S. Consulate in Guangzhou to schedule our appt. This is the last leg of paperwork for us to do. This is when the will issue Katies passport to come home. So our travel depends on when we can get our appt. at the U.S. Consulate, which must wait on our PA and RA. Generally travel can be 2-6 weeks after TA. We of course know that these dates can fluctuate greatly.

At this time we cannot share any specifics on age, sn, name, or where she is. I can only tell you she is adorable and we can't wait to be with her. As soon as we get permission to share details, we will. Until that time we ask for your prayers. Not just for us while we're waiting, but for our dear Katie. Her entire life is going to change.

4th of July

Today is the 4th of July. I am thankful everyday for the freedoms we are privileged to have. I remember July 4th 2001. The 6 of us were at a fireworks display. We had spent the late afternoon and early evening enjoying different activities at a very large metropark. At that time we did not know who Brooke was. We were at the same stage we are now waiting for Katie. Waiting to find out who she was. I often think that we take for granted our freedoms we have in the United States. As Jeff and I watched the fireworks that year we were moved to tears and so grateful to be Americans. We are so grateful to all of armed forces and their families. They sacrifice more then we could even begin to imagine. We are also thankful for our police officers and firefighters. These are positions that may not call for deployment to another country or state for long periods of time, however do call for sacrifice from their families and loved ones. They don't do this for the wonderful pay, haha. They do this to protect, honor and serve their country. Jeff has been with the police dept for 22 1/2 years. He has seen alot of things. People often ask me if I'm afraid for him. Afraid is not the right word. When we were dating he told me what he was going to be. I knew then and there I would have to leave him in Gods hands, and I have. Now our oldest son Josh will be starting his second year of college next month. He has recently been hired as a paid on call firefighter for our city. He will be starting fire 1, and will have his associates degree in fire science. He has responded to more calls then any other paid on call firefighter at his firestation. In his short time there, he has already seen so much. He is learning what it is to sacrifice, to serve your city and protect its residents. We are very proud of him. So the next time you see a soldier, give him/her a hug and thank them, thank their family for their sacrifice as well. When you see a firefighter, thank them. You have no idea what goes into their training, not just initially, but career long. For just getting to sleep after working for 10 hours, having been up for 20 hours , and then responding to another call. When you are pulled over by a police officer and given a ticket for speeding, running a yellow light, or not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, remember that this police officer has taken an oath to protect the laws and the people. If you weren't breaking the law to begin with you would not be receiving the ticket. Laws are made to protect people, not hurt them. So lets thank of all of our public service men and women, and their families. They sacrifice 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

No referral news yet

Well we haven't heard from our agency yet. They have received a few shared referrals. What is a shared referral you ask? Its a new way the CCAA has been matching children with their forever families. The way it works is there are approx 50 approved agencies that the CCAA will send via email usually a pretty large list of children from ages of under 1 to about 12. These children may have several sn, maybe their age is their sn. The agencies then review the lists and then review the families they have waiting. They then will call the possible family match. At that point you receive the referral info via email. You are to then have a Dr. review this info asap as you don't know who else may be doing this same thing. Once you have the Dr. review and you are ready to accept this referral you contact your agency and they then lock the file, thus noone else may review. Then your LOI is sent to China and you wait for your final approval. This of course is very time sensitive as you don't know who else could/is reviewing the same file as you are. This varies in the agency individual list. This list is for only 1 agency. The agency will search through their families and match the children after much prayer. The family then has 7 days to review the referral. Not nearly as much of a rush. Our agency has not received an individual list for 3 months now. So we are praying a new one comes soon. Please pray for us and Gods perfect timing. We are still well within the parameters the agency told us for waiting, however it is still very difficult. We have asked for 0-4, but for whatever reason I feel we will be referred a 3-4 yo. We are leaving the age in Gods hands and know He will match us with the right child. Either way we know she is on the other side of the world. We pray for her daily. It is just very hard knowing you have a child on the other side of the world and you can't be together. I think of her in the morning, wondering is she having a snack, getting a story read, brushing her teeth? In the evening I think is she just getting up, having breakfast, going to preschool, or in a walker? Our family has alot of faith in the Lord, and this is one of the times when your faith has got to be strong.

DTC !!!!!

Today 4-18-08 we are DTC, which means dossier to China. This is a huge milestone. The next step is waiting for our agency, AWAA to match us with our Katie. Our agency receives special needs referrals about every 2-3 months. When the referrals are received and the information is translated they begin the matching process with many factors involved. The single most important thing is when the families dossier was logged into the CCAA. Other factors include what special need(s) the child has and matching him/her with a family who has asked for that special need(s). This is a very big responsibility for our agency. They pray for each child and ask God for guidance in matching the family with their child. So now we wait for Gods perfect timing.

I171H Received!!

Wednesday April 2nd we received our I171H. For those who don't know what this is let me explain. When a family is adopting internationally you must get approval from Homeland Security/ Immigration. Once you have an approved homestudy, meaning the social worker knows every detail of your life, starting from the time you were born until the current, as well as your future plans, checks your finances, your marriage stability, oh and of course your home and all of those living there. At that point you overnight the homestudy to Homeland security and wait for a fingerprint appt. Once you are fingerprinted these go to the FBI for anyone in your home 18 years or older for a criminal clearance. Once those are cleared through the FBI the results are forwarded back to Homeland Security and they will issue the I171H. This approves the family as well as starts the paperwork rolling at the U.S. Consulate in Guanzhou China. So that when we have Katie, and the adoption is final in China, China will issue her a Chinese passport, then we will fly to Guangzhou from whatever province Katie was in. At that point we have major paperwork to do to process her visa to come into the U. S. So this document is crucial in the adoption process for many reasons. So now we wait for our dossier(all adoption paperwork) to be returned to us via prepaid fed ex envelope. At that point we will make copies of the authentication page on each document and fed ex our dossier to AWAA. When they receive our dossier, they do the once over again, as each document was faxed to them as they were completed. They will then fed ex it to the CCAA where it will sit in the special needs pile somewhere waiting for us to be matched with our Katie. When our agency calls us with a match we will send the CCAA a LOI(letter of intent), they will then pull our dossier and begin the approval process. At this time it is taking anywhere from 3-6 months for this approval.