Pre-approval is here

Pre-approval letter came 2 weeks after our Letter of intent. It basically means that they have moved our file over to the waiting child pile.

hopefully in 60-90 days we will get a letter of acceptance. then comes Travel Approval then comes going to China!

Jen

boy how things change.....

I didn't even notice our 12 month wait went by. I guess we don't have to count anymore. Life has a funny way of throwing you curve balls.

To say that we are so not prepared for Ricky's arrival is an understatement. We thought we had 2 plus years of waiting. I know we signed up for the waiting child program but I really didn't think we would get a referral this quick and one that we would accept.

At this point we are so overwhelmed my head is spinning. It doesn't help that my work is very busy. I feel like we have so much to do and so little time.

The agency is saying we have anywhere between 3-5 months. I'm figuring on January 2008.

We are in the middle of our homestudy update. We had to add an addendum onto our homestudy because we were not originally approved for a waiting child. That is done and has been sent off to China. Our social worker is coming the first week of October to do the homestudy update. We have to update our homestudy because our approval from the US expires on Jan 24, 2008. We cannot take the chance of this expiring. We might have enough time, we might not.

Yesterday we went to Scottish Rite Craniofacial Center who will perform Ricky's cleft palate surgery. They were really nice. It was an informal let's get to know you type of meeting. It lasted 30 minutes. They told us what to expect for Ricky's first surgery and possible other surgery's as he gets older.

I think it put Bill's mind at ease that we can handle this. He is still worried about some other aspects such as Ricky being teased because he might have a speech impediment. No one wants their child teased especially for physical limitiations. I'm still hoping with lots of speech therapy and lots of love, he will do fine. Watch out mean kiddo's, I'm on the lookout for you!

Right now, we are awaiting China's pre-approval of our adoption of Ricky. This is sort of just of formality. We should be hearing soon -- typically take a couple of weeks to hear this.

After that the next step is Letter of Acceptance. China send this as their formal declaration that you have been approved. This letter can take anywhere from 60-90 days.

After that is Travel Approval - typically within a month of the letter of acceptance.

Here comes Ricky!!!

I emailed our agency today and asked if we could post pictures.

They said why not -- he is YOUR son!!!!

So here is Ricky at 8 months.

then at 1 year just taken last week! He is in pink! Boys love to wear Pink!

WE HAVE A SON!!!!

I guess there is no other way to put other than shout it from the rooftops but we have a baby boy. This week we got to review a file of a waiting child from the Fuling Orphanage in Chongqing. He is just turned 1 on Sept 2nd. Happy Birthday, baby! He has a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palatte. We consulted with a wonderful international adoption doctor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham - International Adoption Clinic - Dr. Chambers. She has adopted twin girls from China in Chongqing herself. After our consultation, we accepted the referral yesterday.

As soon as I have permission to post more on the blog, I will.

Here is a picture of China and I have circled where we will be going hopefully in January 2008.