LOA!!!!!!

Here she is, our daughter and sister, Katie Marie-SiYin! She is waiting for us in Gaozhou, Guangdong China. We are planning on traveling early November to bring her home.

In this picture she is 7 months old. I have prayed to be with her for her 1st birthday and it looks like that prayer has been answered. We have not received the update from the orphanage, but are hoping to hear in the next few days. They have been very busy making calls from waiting parents since the tainted forumula was made public.

Tainted formula,day 72 waiting for LOA

We found out 2 days ago that 22 baby formulas in China have been tainted with melamine. The melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. According to our referral report one of these confirmed tainted baby formulas is what Katie has been drinking, probably her entire life. Our agency is unable to get any information from the CCAA or the orphanage. Our agencies in China staff has done checks on the AWAA children waiting to come home and the finding was none were affected. What does that mean? I'm really not sure, I guess that means none of them have passed away or have been hospitalized. We are using a wonderful comany called Ladybugs and love to do a check on Katie. There is no guarantee the orphanage will give them information, however they have done it before so we pray they will do it again.

It has been 72 long painful days waiting for our LOA. The last 2 have been the worst. Our agency has no idea when our LOA will come. They expect it anytime, however it could take much longer. This is one of the hardest things we have ever gone through. We are helpless a half a world away from our baby. We KNOW God is with her. Please pray for Katie, and all the children who have been affected.

I hope the next time I post I will have some good news:)

Some things not to say to an adoptive family

I have heard from other adoptive parents the top 10 things not to say to an adoptive family. Over the years I myself have had well meaning people say things to me that they should not, or at least reword their question. Please remember we are very open to answering questions, but there is some information that we will not share. Even though our daughters are young, they are listening to what others say, and more importantly how we respond. So if you are reading this please take this to heart, not just for our family, but all adoptive families:)

1. We have 6 children, not 4 of our own and 2 adopted. God has blessed us with 6 children, period.

2. How much did she cost?

Well "she" didn't cost anything. The agency fees, the state dept. fees, the airfare, hotel, visa,
certification, etc. do add up. If you have specific questions I will be happy to discuss this with
you. I mean think about it, if someone is pregnant and gives birth do people ask the new
parents how much did she/he cost? I've yet to meet anyone who didn't have fees to pay
whether it be the Dr., hospital, lab, etc.

3. She'll be beautiful after her surgeries. Her scar hardly shows.

By making this comment my almost 8 year old may be wondering about herself. Her self
worth. She knows she has a scar. Our girls are beautiful. Please don't put emphasis on their
clefts. Love them, pray for them, hug them, but don't make them feel "different".

4. Why is the wait so long, their are so many children waiting for their forever families?

This is a difficult one. I can only say it is due to the paperwork. The amount of paperwork
involved in adoption huge. When there are so many families in the process and so few staff
to process, it takes longer. I can give an example from our experience in the U. S. when we
were trying to to get our I600A, which is giving us permission to adopt internationally. We
have to have our fingerprints done in Detroit at the immigration office. They send our
fingerprints to the FBI to make sure we have no criminal record. Well it takes only minutes
for these to be cleared, yet it took 4 months for us to receive our paperwork .

Yes, it is sad that it takes so long, you don't have to tell us that, but thats the way it is at this
time.

5. Will they be real sisters?

Yes, in every way that counts.

6. The Chinese don't want the girls, and often I hear awful comments that accompany this.

The truth is the Chinese Gov't allows only 1 child per family. Yes there are exceptions, such
if you have twins, if you pay the additional fee to have another child. The additional fees
are usually equal to 1 year of pay, up front in cash. There are some places in China that
allow 2 children, but this is rare.

China doesn't have social security, there are no retirement plans to enroll in. The Chinese
tradition is that the son will marry and he and is wife will live with his parents and care
for them in their old age. If you have a daughter you have noone to care for you. It is
wrong, but this is what the Chinese Gov't has said.


7. Do you know anything about her real parents?

First let me say, we are her real parents. Her biological parents are who you are referring
to. No we do not. In China there isn't an adoption program for biological parents like here
in the U.S. Most of the children in orphanages in China were abandoned. I cannot imagine the
pain of the family when they must leave their precious child. The children are usually left
in a very public place in the very early morning. This may be a market, hospital, police
station, train station, etc. Usually the family member who takes them will hide and wait
for the child to be found. I can only imagine how heart wrenching this is for them. If
anyone is caught abandoning a child, the punishment is severe. So you see the birth
family shows great love in taking the risk of making sure the child is found.

8. Will you tell her shes adopted?

This one cracks me up. Its pretty obvious isn't it? haha But yes, we have shared from
as long as we can remember her adoption story with her.



Please take these things I've said to heart. I know no one means any harm when they say things. We have all said things and then thought to ourselves, why did I say that. We love all of our children, they are all our own.

40 Days of waiting

Well, tomorrow marks 40 days of waiting,in 4 days it will be 6 weeks since our LOI was sent electronically to China. Our agency speculates we will receive our LOA 2 months after LOI. Of course it could be longer, it could be shorter(of which I doubt). We were able to get an update on Katie this week!! She looks very healthy in her pictures, thank you God. She is drinking from a cleft bottle. She sleeps well, isn't crawling yet, but sitting alone. She is very tiny still, only wearing a size 3-6 months clothes. She is a petite 13 1/2 lbs and 26 1/2 inches long. Just a peanut. I've mainly been buying 6-9 months clothes with a few 12 months. I probably won't buy anymore until we have her, with the exception of sleepers, as we have none.

As always, keep praying for all of us, and for our LOA to come sooner then later:)

Waiting

Today is 5 weeks since we received the phone call that will forever change our lives. We have 4 pictures and a complete referral packet which talks in detail of our Katie, yet she is half way around the world. We must wait for the seemingly never ending paperwork to be processed. We only are given an estimate for the timeframe, which is 1-6 months, but most likely 2 months. Which if it were 2 months we are only 3 more weeks away. Only. Then we must wait for one last round of paperwork to be processed. Our invitation to come to China to meet our Katie, and again more paperwork.

Each day gets harder and harder waiting. I can't help myself but look at the clock and know what she is doing, at least according to her schedule that we have been given. I tell you the truth in that each morning the first thought that comes to my mind is what is Katie doing? Sometimes I am dreaming about her and it takes me a minute to acclimate to the fact that she is not here, sleeping in her crib. The reality sets in that we are still waiting.

Our house is never quite right when one of our children are not here. Over the years we've gotten use to sleepovers, and as our oldest two sons may be gone more then before, however it just seems like something is missing. In our case now, our youngest daughter is. We ache to have her with us. Brooke is practicing holding her with her babies. She talks about her baby sister everyday. Katie is so loved.

The waiting makes me think of how God must feel, waiting for people to come to him. How He loves us so much, and yet people deny Him everyday. They may come to Him during a tragedy, but then get back to "their" lives on their own. We saw this happen as a country after 911.

30 days waiting for RA/LOA

Today marks 30 days that we have been waiting for our RA/LOA. Remember, that is the next approval process we are waiting for. This says that the CCAA has the last approval for the adoption, and also the CCAA is asking us, are we sure we want to continue. Of course we are!!

Last Sunday I was talking with a gentleman from our church. I told him how hard it is to wait. How I think of our Katie waiting for us. He told me that I should think of this waiting time as if I were in a room waiting, and Jesus was sitting with me waiting. He knows how hard it is, and I need to remember that His timing is perfect. So as I wait I have been thinking about how Jesus is sitting next to me, and Katie too. It is hard, but I keep my faith in His perfect timing.

My husband was filling in for the senior citizens sunday school class and spoke about how we grow in the valley, not on top of the mountain. I feel I have grown so much during this process. Its something I can't explain. I think differently then I did before. I have been in the valley, and continue to be there. I'm thankful for the vallies, as difficult as they are. They are not fun while we are there, usually they are pretty painful. But as you begin to near the mountain, then climb , and ultimately reach the top, we can praise God for being with us, being patient with us, and loving us. In this particular case with us, we will be on top of the mountain when we are united with Katie, and yet we know there will be vallies again. However we know that God is faithful, and we once again will grow.

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.