Our Timeline so far in the journey....

Click on the picture for a close up zoom.

Practicing Maderin

Eventually we will take a course in Maderin.

but here is some practice for you...

Hello Ni hao sounds like Knee How-(oh)

Good bye Zai jian sounds like Zeye JEN

Thank you Xie Xie sounds like See-AH See-AH (or seeYA seeYa)

You're welcome Bu ke qi sounds like Boo KUHchee

Yes Shi sounds like Sure

No Bu sounds like Boo

Good Hen hao sounds like Hen How-oh

Not good Bu hao sounds like Boo how-oh

I love you Wo Ai Ni sounds like Woah EYE knee

All Beautiful Babies

The June 2005 referrals (June 16-28th 2005) are coming in. The babies are so beautiful. I get tears in my eyes to think this will be us. It seems so surreal like I'm watching another person go through this. Like I'm the fly on the wall. It seems so far away but yet so near. Someone on the radio said it is only 6 months till Christmas. My first thought was maybe our baby would be born by then. I get teary thinking about it. I cannot wait till I get my hands on him/her.

There was a surprise boy referral! The parents were very surprised. They didn't have a boy name picked out. I think this gives Bill some hope for a boy. I know he doesn't care but I think it would be great to get a boy. We've starting talking about the baby's room. I want to go and decorate it. Bill just wants to paint it and then wait for the referral. Ughhh doesn't he know I want to shop???? I can be gender neutral. The problem is that if it is a boy -- it will be a boy's room -- football, baseball, University of Georgia stuff etc.... He will personally repaint any gender neutral color we put up.

Please pray that our I171H gets here soon!!!!!!!!! That's all we are waiting for to send our dossier to agency then onto China!!

Jen

fingerprints are done

Well we went to get Bill Sr's fingerprints redone. I was armed and ready to ask for a sworn statement (this is the next step in case these fingerprints don't pass). They told me they don't do a sworn statement (contridicts what our agency stated). They said they will take the best prints. He got 2 sets done today.

I called our agency afterwards and she said that they have never heard of this but things change so who knows. If we don't hear back in a week we can assume everything is okay. I also asked about the wait for the I171H -- I didn't know if the wait was from when the home study was done or when the last fingerprint was taken. They said when the home study was sent in. So that date is June 7th. They are stating it could take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks now. Let's hope on somewhere in the middle 6 weeks. I would love 4 weeks.

Other news is that CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs -- the China Gov't) matched up to June 28 2005. So the referral wait is about 12 months from your logged in date (LID) to China.
Here is a picture of the news :
Everyone on all the China boards looks anxiously for this announcement. I will be eyeing this as well as this will tell us how long the wait will be.

I have set up a Picture taking appointment with Picture People on July 14th. We need to have 3 couple pictures and 8 family life pictures to represent us. So far we have very little taken. So....I'm forcing us to go to Picture People. They do a good job. We will get a couple of couple pictures then some pictures with Emily.

We are going to Florida in a week so hopefully we will snap some more.

Jen

The fingerprint saga hopefully will be over today

My father-in-law goes today to get his fingerprints redone. Please say a prayer that it passes. We are told we are in for a 4-6 week from the time our homestudy was went in. Homestudy sent in on June 7th. So.......Maybe mid July if we are lucky....

crossing all fingers and saying a prayer...

Jen

The baby....

I have been trying to picture our baby. Bill and I refer to the baby as Ming. We called Emily, Sam I am when she was in my tummy. We read her Dr. Seuss books while I was pregnant and she would kick all the time to Green Eggs and Ham.

I really think we will be referred a girl but we have left the door open for a boy. The one bad thing about this is I cannot BUY anything clothes related. One -- we don't know the size and Two -- we don't know if Ming will be a boy or girl. At least shopping would keep me occupied!!!

We still need to work on the baby's room. Once our paperwork is done that is our next step. We need to get a contractor out to dry wall the room (there is paneling up in the baby's room with no drywall behind it).

The baby's name will either be Patricia (We will call her Tricia) or Patrick (leaning towards call him Ricky). The baby will be named after Bill's mom who passed away over 5 years ago. The middle name will probably be their Chinese given name.

Jen

The Wait.....

Currently, the wait for a referral is almost at 12 months from the time the paperwork is in China. Our agency states it could go longer 14 months. China doesn't have enough paper ready babies, plus the CCAA (the gov't agency in China that handles adoptions) is in the process of moving. There was also a Hunan Baby Trafficking scandal that shut down several orphanages in the Hunan Province.

I have been reading about wait times. They go up and they go down. Just like a rollercoaster. We are now in the up period. Maybe by the time, we get to referral it will be a shorter period. CCAA has told the agencies they want the wait not to exceed 12 months. Or at least that is what the rumor is.

My best hope is that by Christmas 2007 we are home with the baby. This is my worst case scenerio that I have accepted as of right now.

Jen

Update 6/15/2006

It has been a bit since I have updated. My paperchasing has slowed down to a crawl. We are almost done. We were fingerprinted on May 19th. My inlaws needed to get fingerprinted as well since they live in our inlaw suite. Father-in-laws fingerprints were rejected. We found out about a week after May 19th. He needs to go get refingerprinted on June 22nd. This puts us back on getting the I171h (document needed from Homeland Security) about one month. I was very upset about it then in the big picture of things what is a month.

Our homestudy was finally turned into the agency. It took exactly 4 weeks from the date we completed it. They sure weren't in a rush. I'm not sure why it took so long. We were done on May 6th. It was mailed off to USCIS (homeland security) on June 7th. Homeland Security needs our application (filed in late April), fingerprinted (May 19th) and the Homestudy (June 7th). They won't approve us now until father-in-laws fingerprints clear. I hope they clear this time. Please say a prayer to the fingerprint gods!

I was hoping that our paperwork would be to China in July. At this point, it looks like August unless Homeland Security performs a miracle. Once I get the elusive 171H back I need to get it notarized, county sealed, state certified and Houston Chinese Consulate authenticated. Then we have to send everything to the agency. It takes 2 weeks for them to critical review it and then off to China.


Jen