Preparation . . .

Most expectant parents have about 9 months to prepare for the arrival of their baby.  On the other hand, we seem to have been given an endless amount of time to make our "nest".  We have purposely postponed a lot of baby-prep stuff just so we will have something to do as the time draws nearer.  We decided early on, about 4 months into the wait,  that we would wait to fix her room.  The thought of a decorated yet empty room was a little much for us.
The first few months of our wait, I jumped in and started collecting diapers and wipes that I could get on sale.  I made it a little game for myself- I looked for coupons and subscribed to formula companies like Similac and Enfamil to receive free samples.  I accumulated around 1097 diapers and Larry thought it was best I stop there, I agreed since that was a pretty good stockpile.  I also have a huge assortment of wipes and can't really give you a number there.  The funny thing, (I have to find humor in the wait), I had to give away all the formula because it was going to expire prior to our Little One's arrival and now the characters printed on the waistband of the diapers are not so popular or recognizable anymore.  I'm sure if anyone in our church nursery ever changes her, they'll think I bought the diapers at some on-line retro diaper emporium (if there ever was such a thing).
We have also participated in several Cyber-Baby Showers with two different yahoo groups on-line.  We would sign up in a database and then the moderator of the website would draw names and we would choose gifts according to themes and mail them within a certain time period.  We received everything from meal time items, blankets, pajamas, story books, bottles, towels, to stuffed animals, dresses, and matching shirts, pants, and sweaters as well as photo albums.  We've tried to resist buying much since we are unsure of her size and the season of  the year in which she'll come home.  But this year, may just be a year for a little retail therapy!!!!  We have bought a few things that were "irresistible" and we bought those in larger sizes or they were things that could be worn for a few different seasons.
We spent two weekends ago cleaning out the room we had designated as the computer/nursery/ home office/junk room.  We minimized and got rid of things, moved/relocated the computer and switched items around in the closets (still have more work to do in the closets though)  But we made a big dent in the task before us!  So this is how we are nesting and we will keep you updated as we go . . .

Adoption Lingo/Terms

Since I finished my "Friday's Frequently Asked Questions" series, I thought it might be time to try something else.  The questions are something we can always return to, but for now, I think I've exhausted the list of  the most frequent questions we've gotten. For now, I plan to provide some definitions of some terms I've been throwing around here or maybe ones you've heard us say.  So here goes . . .

Dossier (pronounced doss-ee-aye)- this is a compilation of all the documents we prepared to send to China, (two and a half months worth and weighing 3 pounds) it's a complete summarization of who we are.  Our birth certificates, marriage license, home study, fingerprint approval from BCI and Dept of Homeland Security,  financial disclosure, medical reports and doctor statements, photographs of us and our home, a letter requesting permission to adopt a baby from China and US approval to adopt(from USCIS) and copies of our passports.

LID (Log-in-Date) a registration date of when our dossier arrived and was registered at CCCWA in Beijing, China.  Our LID is 11-27-06.

CCCWA(previously the CCAA) China Center of Children's Welfare and Adoption.  This is the place that holds all the families' dossiers.  It's also the location in which the orphanages send the children's paperwork/files when they are ready for adoption.  This is a government run agency that oversees all the international adoptions in China.  It is also the place where all the magic happens!!!  This is where the Stork lives, if you will!  When the orphanages send the children's files to Beijing to CCCWA, they are then matched with the file/dossier of a waiting family, like us.  Each month they match files of families and children according to date and the number of children that are available.  They have currently matched families with an LID  through August 15, 2006 so next month they will begin with families with an LID of 8-16-06 and depending on the number of children available- that will determine how many LID days they will get through, ie, they may make it to 8-23-06 or 8-29-06 , just depends.

USCIS-(United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) this is of course the division of our government's department of homeland security that allows people to become citizens, legal aliens, naturalized citizens and legal immigrants among other things.  They are the ones on the US side that grant us permission to adopt a child who is a citizen of another country.  This is also the division of government that will approve our Visa's so we may travel to China to adopt our baby.  We have submitted paperwork to USCIS four different times, each approval we receive is good for 18 months, therefore; due to the length of time we've been waiting - we keep having to renew our paperwork and fingerprint approval.  And once again this fall, the fifth (and hopefully the final time)!.

Stork Alert- an e-mail sent by our agency, when it is time for referrals, to alert waiting families that  they may be receiving "the call"

Referral/Match- this is all the information that prospective adoptive parents wait for, no matter how long it takes! This will be the very first time we know who our baby girl is, what she looks like, and all  mystery of this precious Little Person is layed to rest.  This would be the equivalent of  when a mama sees her baby for the first time.  When our LID is at the top of the pile and the baby that God has prepared for us are both aligned by Him,- then it will be our turn and we will get our referral.  At that time, the CCCWA matches waiting parents and babies together and we will receive all our referral information.  We will be alerted to be on the "look-out" for the Stork and then we will be notified by phone and receive "the call".  At that time, we will be given her name, birth date, location of orphanage or foster care home, basic measurements and general health info as well as receive referral pictures via e-mail.  Within a day, depending on how quickly the Stork flies, (or the Fed-Ex person drives) we will receive more information about her medical history and more pictures.

This just scratches the surface for adoption lingo but these are the ones we use most often.  Once we receive our referral there will be new terms for you to learn, like LOA, PA, CA, TA, but that's enough for now.  Have a joyful weekend!

Friday's Frequently Asked Question No. 5 "Have you heard anything about your baby?"

This question is probably the most frequently asked question that we are asked!  I think it's because people want to know if there have been updates and are just not sure what to ask.  But this question is really twofold.  "Have you heard anything (about the adoption)?" and "Have you heard anything about your baby?"  Let me answer the latter first. Have we heard anything about the baby?  Well, this is gonna sound weird, but if there is no baby, then we aren't gonna hear anything about her .  WHAT?  No baby?!  What are you adopting?  I mean I thought you were adopting a baby?!   Okay, okay, slow down.  There will be a baby for us, but  we won't know anything about her until it's time for us to be matched with her, so therefore; there is nothing to "hear".  When the time comes, our agency will provide us with pictures, medical records, orphanage information, early developmental history, etc.  And when we "hear", you'll "hear".  Maybe not on- line, but if you live very close, you may just hear the squeals, screams, and laughter!!!

Now, back to the first question.  "Have we heard anything?" Yes, our agency, keeps us well informed.  We didn't just "sign-up" or call an 800 number and now we're being scammed as we sit blindly and naively in the dark.  Not like that!  Our agency provides us with multiple e-mails each month; just last week we received three. We can contact our agency anytime we want and they are always quick to respond to e-mails and phone calls.  They are there to provide information, support, and updates.  We even have our own referral counselor that is assigned to our case and we know Beth by her first name.  Our agency also provides updates  regarding any US and/or Chinese governmental changes.  We will soon be taking on-line classes that are provided by our agency.  We can also connect with other waiting parents from our agency via yahoo groups and on-line forums.   So yes, we do "hear" things and communication is very open.  We just don't always share all the info because, frankly you'd be bored and not understand the majority of it.  No offense, adoption lingo can be complicated.  Let's be honest, when you ask, you mostly just want to know when we'll be bringing our Little One home- you don't care about log-in dates, paperwork renewal, home studies, USCIS fingerprinting, referrals, or stork landings.    So we spare you the details, and in the meantime, you probably think we've been lead astray by some hokey scam and we've sent all kinds of money to the Chinese government-for a baby we'll never see- that couldn't be further from the truth.  So when we share very little detail, it's really to spare you from all the boredom.  But rest assured, when we finally hear about the baby, you'll be the first to know!
Have great weekend everyone.  Feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions.