Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Referrals from China taking longer these days

So, I heard yesterday that the wait for referrals has changed from 6 months to 8-9 months and possibly longer! This means that my LID of 10/31/05 might have been as early as April (6 mo), but now will likely be more like July or August. Some are even saying it could be longer than 8 or 9 months... 10-12 months even! Crazy.... that doesn't even count the wait for travel.

I'm getting myself prepared for this wait now, which is good. This does mean it gives me a little more time to get my finances in order.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Other things going on in my life...

Besides the money stuff, I haven't taken much time to decorate the baby's room yet or to start a quilt for her. I am going to try to do that the week after Christmas, when I'm on vacation!

I had a quilt that I volunteered to quilt for a group, that I'm trying to get finished this week. I also have a couple purses to make for Susan (Mindy's best friend) for her mom and sister for Christmas. I need to get a few things listed on Ebay and call St. Vincent DePaul to come get some stuff.

Plus, I've been working a lot of over-time at work for the past 2 months! Thankfully, our project is slated to go in on December 17 and this will slow down a bit for awhile. Whew.

The big thing I've done this year is run. I've run 7 marathons, 3 half marathons, 1 10 miler, the Turkey Trot (5 mi) and a couple 5K races. I was thinking of trying the HUFF 50K race on December 17, too, but we'll see how the weather is.

I ran:
February - Yellow Springs 10 miler
March - Heart Mini 5K with Joe (his first)
April 10 - Glass City Marathon, Toledo, OH (sprained my ankle)
May - Miamisburg 5K with Joe and Kat (her first)
May 28 - Bayshore Marathon (memorial day weekend)
July 31 - San Fransisco Marathon
Aug 7 - Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon
Sept 17 - Air Force Marathon
Sept 25 - Dayton River Corridor Half Marathon
Oct 23 - Detroit FreePress Marathon
Nov 13 - Healthy Huntington Marathon
Nov 20 - Cleveland Distance Classic Half Marathon
Nov 24 - Miamisburg Turkey Trot (with Joe, Kat, Mindy!)
Dec 3 - St. Jude Memphis Marathon

I have a few runs I'd like to do between now and June... just have to figure out how to pay for them!

December Happenings...

Ok. So, My dossier is in China and waiting to be processed for my Referral. Now, what do I do?

Well, for starters... I've sat down and looked at my finances. Ugh. What a daunting task! I've got to come up with a LOT of money between now and June or so. I've been a slacker in this regard. Now it is coming back to bite me in the arse. Oh well, I've just got to completely buckle down and get it in order. Adoption isn't cheap kiddies.

I've still have:


Post Placement Deposit (refundable) $500 - Check/Credit Card
Visa to enter China $80 per person – Credit Card
US Domestic & International Airfare $900 - $1,600 by coach/per adult plus $100 - $150 return lap ticket for child under 2 – Credit Card
In-China Travel & Accommodations - Approximately $1,700 for two adults – Personal Check
Adoption Registration and Notarization $400 - $800 – Cash
Child’s Passport $100-$150 – Cash
Orphanage Fee $3,000 – Cash
Food $600 - $800 per couple - Cash/ Travel Check/Credit Card
Child Physical & Photo $70– Cash
Child U.S. Entry Visa $380– Cash
Post-Placement Support Varies by home study agencies
Court Validation Fee Varies by state
Child Birth Certificate Varies by state

Approximate total of this part is: $10, 680.00

So, the total is approximately going to be $18,000-19,000.00 by the time the adoption is complete.

This does not include extra spending money in China or extra houspayments put aside for time off work. Although, I've got to still figure out how much time I can manage to have off work.

I get 3 weeks of vacation a year. I also get a little sick time. Plus FMLA, but I'm not sure how much this is or if I get paid at all if I take FMLA. There will be 2 weeks in China. So, that leaves me with one week of vacation left. I will likely have to take that before FMLA kicks in. I would love to stay home for at least 2 weeks after she comes. But who knows. I know I could take more, but I just don't think I can afford it. We'll see.

Monday, November 21, 2005

LID!

On October 10, my dossier was sent to China.

As of October 31, 2005, I am officially Logged Into China - LID! This means they have received my paperwork...and I'm "officially" paper pregnant! WOOHOO!

Now the wait begins...

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

First week in October

Hi again! I heard last Tuesday (9/27) that CCAI received my completed Dossier paperwork(not the pics I owed them, though, and some fees). They worked on them last week and my paperwork as of this Tuesday (10/4) is almost ready to be sent to China!

There was only one glitch in my paperwork, and it wasn't my fault... the HomeStudy notarization date conflicted with the county clerk date (or something like that) and Kim had to call my HS agency to get them to fix this. July supposedly sent the update to CCAI on Monday of this week! I hope so!!

I had to send 8 family life photos (me and other people) and 3 photos of me by myself. I sent 3x5 size pics. I also had to send 3 passport size photos. The passport pics are the ones that China will match my daughter to me with. No pressure! lol.

I sent all my pics to CCAI on Monday (10/3) and so, Kim should have them this week, I hope! I didn't realize I needed to send copies of my passport**, so I had to find that! Eek. I did fax 2 copies of that to her yesterday, but she wants me to scan it in and send it that way, so that is the last thing I *think* I need to do, and I plan to do that today!

Kim said that my dossier should be complete in the next few days...and off to China it goes! :D

**I began looking for my passport a week or so ago just to make sure it didn't expire next year, because if it did, I would need to have it renewed. I couldn't find it. When I moved into my house, I *thought* I put it in this one drawer... but then I didn't see it in there... egads! So, yesterday, I went through the 2nd bedroom (the baby's room) closet...to no avail! OMG. I decided to go back to that cabinet with the drawer I thought I had put my passport in. I went through the shelves with a fine tooth comb. Then I decided to tear apart the drawers one last time. WELL, there is was! Right where I thought it should be!! It was just in a blue folder that I didn't remember putting it in (of course, I remember the folder now, but at the time I forgot). Whew! What a relief! :) (it is the case where your glasses are on your face and you forgot they were there. haha. what a goofball I am!)

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Another step closer to DTC...

Well, my dossier reached CCAI on Tuesday, 9/27! WOOHOO! The only thing it was missing are the pictures I needed to send them (3 pics of me by myself, 8 family life photos and 3 passport photos). I had my passport photos taken 9/30 and plan to sent them all plus the CCAA fee and a portion of the CCAI fee to them Monday!

On my way to being DTC... closer and closer! :)

Today, Mindy and I went garage-saling and I bought a toy box and last weekend bought a used child's oven! She's got so many toys already it is scary! But fun! hehe.

The baby's room is yellow. I need to decide if I will change the color before she arrives, or go with it. I love yellow, but some people say it is an aggitating color. I guess time will tell!

We are reading "The Lost Daughters of China" for bookgroup this time, and that is this weekend. We are having stirfry and eggrolls. Yum. I hope it is an interesting conversation!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Adoption Timeline

Ok, for us singles, we have to go about things a little differently than the married folks. In order to adopt from China (who allows singles to adopt, unlike some other countries) I had to find an adoption agency with a singles slot for 2005. China only allows 8% of their adoption families to be singles! So, I applied with CCAI in December, as they were having a lottery to fill their 2005 singles slots. Amazingly, I got in! Woohoo! I found out about January 4, 2005.

List of documents needed for my Dossier (some people need more or less depending on where you adopt from) :



  1. Adoption Petition,
  2. Birth Certificate (BC),
  3. Police Clearance (state or county, I chose state),
  4. Physical from my family Dr.,
  5. Financial Statement,
  6. Employment Letter,
  7. I-171H,
  8. HomeStudy report,
  9. Guardianship Affidavit,
  10. Single's Statement

Once I got all these documents together, I had to have them Notarized, County Certified, State Certified, State Deptartment Authenticated, and authenticated at the Chinese Consulate in Washington, DC! Whew.

In addition to these, I needed 3 letters of recommendation and had to have a background check done to say that I have never been convicted of anything, proof of sanitation (water) and a statement from my bank. But none of this went into my actual dossier. It was just for my homestudy.



  • January 4, 2005 - CCAI singles' slot approval
  • February 2005 - called different homestudy agencies in my area and chose Adoption Assistance, out of Danville, KY.
  • March 2005 - Went to an adoption seminar (that counted toward my homestudy)
  • April 2005 - April 19 - Employer letter was written and notarized by my employer, I received my Statement from the Bank that I needed for my HomeStudy. 4/26 - ordered copies of my Birth Certificate from Ohio, put in requests for my KY state police report clearance and Child Abuse Registery Check. I also wrote up my Adoption petition, Financial Statement, Guardianship Affidavit and Single's statement. I did all this in April because it was required for my homestudy.
  • May 2005 - May 18 - First homestudy visit! Boy, did I CLEAN the house for this one! LOL. May 26 (grandma's birthday) - 2nd homestudy visit in Louisville. Also in May, I drove to Louisville, KY, to get fingerprinted for the INS approval and submitted my I-600A.
  • June 10 2005 - Homestudy was complete on June 8 and sent to CCAI and INS on June 10! This means that I-171H wait starts now (hoping to have I-171H by end of August).
  • July - August 2005 - waiting, waiting, waiting for the I-171H!
  • August 25, 2005 - 66 days wait for my I-171H from the time my homestudy was submitted to the INS . I-171H received August 25! Woohoo! (KY average is 70 days for this document and you can't bring a child into the US from another country without this approval!)
  • September 2-9, 2005 - First week of Sept, USPS Express mailed my BC to Ohio to get state certified. Took one week to receive it back.
  • September 7-9, 2005 - I went to my bank to have all 9 documents (not BC, 'cause it didn't have to be) notarized. Some of these documents were notarized as originals and some were notarized as copies.
  • Sept 9, 2005 - Today I went to the Campbell County Clerk to have 9 documents authenticated at the county level.
  • Sept 15, 2005 - drove to Frankfort, KY, to get all 9 documents state certified (except BC). USPS Express mailed all 10 documents plus copies to Caring Hands courier in Washington, DC, to have them authenticated at the State Department and then the Chinese Consulate. As of Sept 23 (one week) they should all be done and on their way to CCAI today or tomorrow.
  • Sept 2005 - CCAI receive(d) all 10 documents from Caring Hands.
  • Oct 2005 - DTC - 10/14/05 and LID -10/31/05
  • Oct 2005-??? 2006 - waiting, waiting, waiting for REFERRAL
  • October 2005 - Feb 2007 - Waiting - HUGE slowdown, from 6-8 months, to 8-10, to 10-12 ... all the way to an 18 month wait.
  • Feb '07 - beginning of Feb meant I needed to get my fingerprints redone (they expired in August) and my I-171H redone (expired in Feb '07).
    • Fingerprints
    • I-171H
    • Home study updates
    • State police re-check
    • Child abuse registry re-check

  • April 30, 2007 - CCAI posted that they received confirmation that referrals have been sent AND that they are through November 1, which should include me!




4/30/2007
MATCHES MAILED!

We are excited to announce that the CCAA has mailed the next group of matches to our agency! We hope to receive this match group within the next 2-3 days. The CCAA has updated their internal website to state that they have matched dossiers logged in through November 1, 2005. We are very excited for our families who are expecting matches! As always, we will update this site when more information becomes available.







  • May 1, 2007 - 18 months LID

Here are a couple of posts that are important, to me, from this week - "THE CALL" week:

  • Here's the info for the April 30 confirmation:

Nov 1 Confirmation!

  • Macey's Mommy wrote the sweetest post on her blog for me and Mia:

she-has-baby-on-way

  • May 2 - "THE CALL" - My referral!!!
  • May 4 - LOA - Letter of Acceptance SENT DHL!

... now, waiting for TA and going to get a care package together!!!


Referral timeline when I became LID, was 6-8 months, which would have put me at a May/Jun/July 2006 referral. As of Jan 2006, the referral rate went up to 8-10 months and then 10-14 months... As of June 2006, the referral rate was 10-14 months. It exponentially grew from 12 months to 18 after that.

My Nephew's first day of kindergarden!

We knew this day would come... who knew it would come so quick?! My nephew is getting so big! It is amazing. :)


The big day!





Notice the Pink elephant on the school bus. There was some discrepancy as to what bus he was supposed ride... first it was a butterfly, then a fish, and finally a pink elephant! The whole family came out to wish him well for his first day of school! He is getting so big! :)


Please sign my guest book!

Hi, I have added a Guestbook. I would love to hear from you!

About me

Hi, welcome to my blog! My brother-n-law asked me if I had a good idea of the timeline for what all I've done in the last few months, or a journal about this journey. I said no, but I should, shouldn't i? So, here I am. I hope to write down all the things I haven't written down in a coherent form so far, regarding this adoption. I am very excited and scared at the same time, to become a parent, especially by myself.

Almost DTC

Hi all! I'm pretty new at this Blogging... but I wanted to start posting where I am in the process of adopting my little girl from China. I submitted my paperwork to the DC Consulate this week and am hoping it will get to CCAI (my adoption agency) by Monday or Tuesday of next week!

I need to get my pictures together and send them some money, and they will hopefully submit my dossier to China in the next couple of weeks! :D I'm very excited and scared at the same time!