LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got our LID "log in date" today for 1/08/2010. I knew it was coming today. AND it's Penny's 2nd birthday. Oh Happy Birthday. Now we are shifted to the next pile for LOA. Basically the BIG one. It can take anywhere from 30-100 days. We'll know when we'll be traveling to get her after LOA.

Lastest Measurements of Penny

25 lbs.
31.9 inch. Tall
4.7 inch. Feet "shrunk, LOL"
18.1 inch. Chest
18.7 inch. Head

DTC!!

Our 797 approval FINALLY came back from the Chinese Consulate authenticated yesterday, the 29th. I sent it off immediately to our coodinator. She received our document today and is sending out dossier to China tomorrow 12/31/09. We made it by the end of the year. Can't believe it!!!!! Now we wait for out LID "log in date" which is when China actually puts it in the process, then our LOA "letter of approval," which is approving us again. And some more approvals after that. But the big one is the LOA. It usually takes the longest of all the A's.

3rd Care Package

We sent out Penny's Christmas care package on the 7th. I had her doll, barbie 'both with brown hair because someone told me you can't find brown haired dolls in China," a few wintery outfits, Sami's last years Christmas dress "which I was really sad sending away but I knew it was going to a good place," a puffer jacket, her bday plates and stuff for her bday party/tinkerbell themed " her bday is in Jan and I will be sending a cake through a 3rd party service," planet earth horses, pocket puppies, stuffed animal squirrel thing, fuzzy crocs, socks and some gifts for the nannies. I think that's it. Oh, and cany canes and granola bars. He, he!! Oh and a few DVD's. She should be covered until her bday.

We are waiting for our final document to come back from Autentication at the Consulate. They received it yesterday the 14th. I am hoping to get it by Thurs so I can overnight it to my agency and they can send off our dossier finally to China.


UPDATES: Bao'An received Penn'ys package on the 16th. Said they were so thankful for all the things we sent. Hope Penny's likes her toys and dollie.

How do you know??

We in the adoption community often get asked the question, "how did you know it was your child?," or "did you know right away, it was your child?" This of course is referring to when you get a referral "child's file." It's hard to answer. For many, they fell that they knew the second they saw the picture, for other, it took some time and for some, even not until they actually met. It is OK no matter how it goes. I think it's more your gutt. If your doing a Special Needs program, it should be about the medical conditions and if your able to care for the child. But I guess that sometimes goes out the window as did with our son Felix. His conditions were not on our acceptance list. When we saw his face, we knew. I was nervous and did think for a minute after we accepted if I'd be able to deal with his conditions. We know now, thank goodness we accepted. He is a pefect fit into our family. As for our daughter that we know await, I knew the second I saw her face. I can't even remember who told me about her. I belong to so many yahoo groups that I can't keep track. Someone told me about a little girl 18 months with a cleft lip/palate. I called the agency and that was it. Done deal. Someone on a site that I go to for information said she actually turned down our daughters referral but fell in love with her. She said that they were looking for cleft lip only and were placed with their daughter 3 weeks later. I asked her if she was the one that referred me to my agency but she never responded back. I truley felt it was an angel guiding me to our little girl. I write about all this today because I was staring at our latest updated picture of our daughter and feel like I've know it was her forever. I stare deeply into those dark puppy like eyes and know it's her we've been waiting for. Having said that, I think it's ok to not know it is your child right away. Sometimes you feel it in different ways then just looking at a picture or the sign comes from somewhere else. It's up to you to recognize it.

800A approval!!!!!!!!

We were notified today that our 800A approval was sent out yesterday. I can't believe it. It took 2 1/2 months to get our approval with the finger prints not going through and other docs we needed because of it. Ugggggg. Now onto the next wait. Almost

Penny Updates

Just what I needed to get me through this long week. We are still waiting on our immigration 800A approval. I just got word today that our application is still being reviewed even though I've submitted all the additional required docs. I thought I'd have it sent out for certification/authentication by Wed, but that will not happen now. BUT just as I was feeling down, I got updated info about our little girl from our agency. She's looking cuter then ever and not that far off on the size that a 22 month old should be. I need to compare her size to August updates:

As of now she's

30 inches

21.3 lbs

4.9 inch Feet

17.3 inch chest

18.8 head

Dossier sent

Ok, well not really. I got the OK to send in my dossier, payments and all other materials to my agency today. Of course it is less our 800A approval. I'm glad it's going out of my hands though and to my agency. I wanted them to review everything while we sit and wait for the 800A approval, then to send it out to get certified, then authenticated. We could be looking at another 3 weeks here before it gets to our agency. They said ok, send it in, we'll review it. So I march down to get my cashiers check, oh, bank closed, post office closed, Veteran's Day. So it goes out tomorrow. Yippy. First thing. My coordinator will have it in her hands Friday AM.

Penny's package received!!

Yay. We found out today that Penny's care package was received yesterday. Yippy!!!!

Finger Prints Done!!!

Today we had our fingerprint appt. Hopefully they both went through ok as sometimes the scan system doesn't take them clear enough.

So much for that. I found out 4 days later that my prints need to be redone. This happens sometimes for some reason. I received my appt notice to get them done again. Only it wasn't until 12/1. I went into our immigration office the next day, 11/10 and they took me. I was in and out in 20 min and it was not busy at all. The security guard thought it redicules they gave me such a far out date. I have been in contact with my USCIS officer and he will fax me the approval when he gets it.

OK, yet another hiccup. I got message today 11/13 that my fingerprints came back unclassified yet AGAIN. I'm so glad I didn't wait for the 12/1 date to do my prints to find out 3 weeks from now, they didn't go through. I am asked to now get police clearance reports from every city I've lived in for the past 5 years. Thankfully, it's only 2. Of course I have my current one as it's needed for our process. I'm driving to the other city on Monday to get the report. Sheshhh. What's next? Nothing. It's all going to be perfectly smooth sailing from here.

Penny's Care Package

We sent our first personal care package to Penny on 10/20. It's suppose to get there in 5-10 business days. We'll see. I put the phone number to the orphanage in there, the address that we have in hopes it gets to where it should. I will have Ann from redthreadchina.com check in 2 weeks to see if they received it. I promised Ann I would order another package or 2 from her in the upcoming months.


As we were putting the package together, I noticed 2 pairs of Tinkerbell undies missing and a teddy snugglie. Hmmmmm. I've been collecting these items for about 4 weeks now and Sami has ben in and out of the bags. I'm sure the undies ended up in Samis draw as she loves Tinkerbell. As for the snugglie, we found him in the dirty laundry basket in the garage. It was fine because I wanted to wash it anyway. I rubbed some of the essential oils that the kids use after baths on the tessy so Penny can be familiar with her new smells. It smells SO good.


My moms cyber friend from her knitting group Anne, translated a letter for me in Chinese. So that went in the box too along with a pack of Lolli's and camera. All under 4 lbs costing me 28.00 to ship a tiny box. Not so bad. Totally worth it.

Documents in hand

IT CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!