Just got the email from our agency letting us know that the CCAA has given a pre-approval of our request to adopt Joshua! Now we just need to pray for those remaining documents to come back quickly. We have a deadline of February 26, 2011 to get all our paperwork to China for our final referral approval.
This was such a fast PA! Hope the rest of the process goes so quickly!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Three Little Letters-- L O I !
We did it! Today we sent in our LOI, or Letter of Intent, to the CCAA. It's a pretty special day for those of us in adoption land! It's the day we officially declare to the Chinese government that we are serious about wanting to become the parents of a particular child.
I wish I could post photos of him for the whole world to see, but we have to wait until China officially approves our request. This could take a few months.
But in the meantime, our family will pray for our Joshua, and eagerly look forward to the day we get to meet him.
I wish I could post photos of him for the whole world to see, but we have to wait until China officially approves our request. This could take a few months.
But in the meantime, our family will pray for our Joshua, and eagerly look forward to the day we get to meet him.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I'm being indulged!
I feel like God is just pouring out the most gracious blessings on us right now! Not that He isn't always blessing us, and our family truly recognizes that, but this past week in regard to "Joshua", our cup overflows!
After reviewing his referral file last week, I compiled some questions for our agency to ask of the orphange. These are the questions and the responses we got.
And I was delighted, to say the least, to get about ten unexpected photos with this email! I was almost sad that he's grown up so much in the past several months. He looks like he's a very healthy child, and may possibly not even have spina bifida at all. His back has a small bluish spot, like a very tiny Mongolian spot next to a tiny white dot that looks like a scar. He's had no surgery at all, but has no bulge. I am wondering if he possibly had a birthmark instead of spina bifida, and was just misdiagnosed. In conferring with some other parents of children with SB on a yahoo group, I have found one other mother in Sweden whose daughter was also born with a bulge, according to her medical report, but at the age of 2.5 has absolutely nothing on her back that indicates there was ever any kind of abnormality.
I am amazed that God allowed this child to be placed on a special needs waiting list when he's so very healthy, and then he was on the list for a few months and no other families even looked at his file. I am convinced that God was saving him for us, and that makes me adore God and love this child all the more. He was hand-picked for our family. And there he sits, growing up so quickly in an orphanage. I feel like I've got to get to China NOW!
So I have moved into high gear with the paperwork, already filling out our I800A application for the USCIS, even though we don't have our homestudy complete. And that can't be done until we get all our fingerprint clearances back. So much is out of our control, and I'm okay with that. But if there's anything I do have even the tiniest modicum of control over, I intend to push forward and leave nothing overlooked. I do not want to be the weakest link in the chain of getting this boy home!
I wish I could share his photos now, but I am under an obligation to protect his privacy until the CCAA has approved and accepted our application to adopted him. Until then, we will just continue to pray he stays healthy and that our fingerprints are not delayed.
***Update***
This morning I got a phone call from our family coordinator. The orphanage sent a very short video, of only about three seconds in length, of Joshua in his crib trying to snatch a toy from a cribmate. This is the first time in all of our adoptions that I've gotten anything like this from an orphanage. I am blessed among Mommas!
After reviewing his referral file last week, I compiled some questions for our agency to ask of the orphange. These are the questions and the responses we got.
1. Would you describe his back as having a dimple or a bulge?
Nothing, looks like other normal kids.
2. If it is a bulge, does it feel like it is fluid-filled or fleshy/fatty?
It had been absorbed long time ago.
3. Is he cruising/walking, holding himself up by furniture or someone’s hands?
He can walk now.
4. Can we see photos of him in a standing position?
See attached.
5. Can we see photos of his back?
See attachment.
Nothing, looks like other normal kids.
2. If it is a bulge, does it feel like it is fluid-filled or fleshy/fatty?
It had been absorbed long time ago.
3. Is he cruising/walking, holding himself up by furniture or someone’s hands?
He can walk now.
4. Can we see photos of him in a standing position?
See attached.
5. Can we see photos of his back?
See attachment.
And I was delighted, to say the least, to get about ten unexpected photos with this email! I was almost sad that he's grown up so much in the past several months. He looks like he's a very healthy child, and may possibly not even have spina bifida at all. His back has a small bluish spot, like a very tiny Mongolian spot next to a tiny white dot that looks like a scar. He's had no surgery at all, but has no bulge. I am wondering if he possibly had a birthmark instead of spina bifida, and was just misdiagnosed. In conferring with some other parents of children with SB on a yahoo group, I have found one other mother in Sweden whose daughter was also born with a bulge, according to her medical report, but at the age of 2.5 has absolutely nothing on her back that indicates there was ever any kind of abnormality.
I am amazed that God allowed this child to be placed on a special needs waiting list when he's so very healthy, and then he was on the list for a few months and no other families even looked at his file. I am convinced that God was saving him for us, and that makes me adore God and love this child all the more. He was hand-picked for our family. And there he sits, growing up so quickly in an orphanage. I feel like I've got to get to China NOW!
So I have moved into high gear with the paperwork, already filling out our I800A application for the USCIS, even though we don't have our homestudy complete. And that can't be done until we get all our fingerprint clearances back. So much is out of our control, and I'm okay with that. But if there's anything I do have even the tiniest modicum of control over, I intend to push forward and leave nothing overlooked. I do not want to be the weakest link in the chain of getting this boy home!
I wish I could share his photos now, but I am under an obligation to protect his privacy until the CCAA has approved and accepted our application to adopted him. Until then, we will just continue to pray he stays healthy and that our fingerprints are not delayed.
***Update***
This morning I got a phone call from our family coordinator. The orphanage sent a very short video, of only about three seconds in length, of Joshua in his crib trying to snatch a toy from a cribmate. This is the first time in all of our adoptions that I've gotten anything like this from an orphanage. I am blessed among Mommas!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
I think it's going to be a longer trip than I thought
Oh Lord. I love, love, love the journey. I love adoption journeys. I adore the wait. Just thinking back to our wait for Katie Mei and how much I loved the anticipation makes me enjoy taking my time. But now that I've seen his face, I just want to hold him and love on him.
We are still so far from being anywhere near that, though. Our last home study visit will be this Friday, so the following week we should have that report complete and will be able to apply for the USCIS approval. But we still haven't gotten our FBI fingerprint clearance back, so that adds another uncontrollable dimension to the process. Jay is notorious for having rejected fingerprints, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has to get them done over again. It would have been nice to get everything done and the USCIS paperwork sent in by Nov. 23 before the fees go up, but if we don't I won't be too discouraged.
We got most of our child protective services clearances back. Tennessee and Georgia are the only outstanding ones at this time. We are ready to start sending dossier documents off for certification and should be able to pull the rest of the dossier together fairly quickly.
But aside from the formal paperwork, we have to have a doctor review his file. It doesn't have much information in it. He has a form of spina bifida called meningocele, according to his file, and his bulge or sac is stated as being in the sacral area of his lower back and only about 1 X 2 cm. But China is known for inaccurate or incomplete spina bifida diagnoses in their orphan referrals. So we're going to proceed with asking our agency to get some more information.
But right now we are of the mind to continue with his adoption, unless God gives us a very good indication that we are heading in the wrong direction. As I told a friend today, we trust Him. He has been faithful so far with our family, and He won't forsake us this time. God is good all the time! Whether this child's medical condition is as mild as it appears, or more complicated than we presently see, God will walk us through it. He is God, afterall!
And for the record, the agency has listed him as "Joshua". I kind of like that name. It might stick.
We are still so far from being anywhere near that, though. Our last home study visit will be this Friday, so the following week we should have that report complete and will be able to apply for the USCIS approval. But we still haven't gotten our FBI fingerprint clearance back, so that adds another uncontrollable dimension to the process. Jay is notorious for having rejected fingerprints, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has to get them done over again. It would have been nice to get everything done and the USCIS paperwork sent in by Nov. 23 before the fees go up, but if we don't I won't be too discouraged.
We got most of our child protective services clearances back. Tennessee and Georgia are the only outstanding ones at this time. We are ready to start sending dossier documents off for certification and should be able to pull the rest of the dossier together fairly quickly.
But aside from the formal paperwork, we have to have a doctor review his file. It doesn't have much information in it. He has a form of spina bifida called meningocele, according to his file, and his bulge or sac is stated as being in the sacral area of his lower back and only about 1 X 2 cm. But China is known for inaccurate or incomplete spina bifida diagnoses in their orphan referrals. So we're going to proceed with asking our agency to get some more information.
But right now we are of the mind to continue with his adoption, unless God gives us a very good indication that we are heading in the wrong direction. As I told a friend today, we trust Him. He has been faithful so far with our family, and He won't forsake us this time. God is good all the time! Whether this child's medical condition is as mild as it appears, or more complicated than we presently see, God will walk us through it. He is God, afterall!
And for the record, the agency has listed him as "Joshua". I kind of like that name. It might stick.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Are we there yet?
I'm hoping we are there, or at least part of the way there. It's just that every time we take this journey the destination always looks different. I really didn't expect to get there anytime soon. We still haven't finished our homestudy and are quite a ways away from putting in our USCIS application. We don't have our FBI fingerprints back yet, and haven't gotten a single dossier document certified.
But I think I'm in love.
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