LOA!

I don't have any brain power left tonight to come up with a more creative post, so I will just say that I received my Letter of Acceptance/Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter today!

In less fancy terms, China officially approved me to adopt and officially approved me to adopt Ella!

The wait for my LOA was longer than I was expecting, if I am being perfectly honest.  I thought I would have it before the end of June.  So when the end of June began approaching and the wait was looming on, and I was being told it might be August before I received my LOA...it was hard.  Waiting is hard.  But the beauty of waiting is that just like *that*, it's over.  Late last week I received word that my agency was expecting my LOA in the next 1-2 weeks.  I was expecting it tomorrow, to be honest, so I was pleasantly surprised (delighted, thrilled, overjoyed) when I got the email TODAY that it was here!

It has been signed (saying I accept Ella's referral) and sent back to my agency.  They will then file more immigration paperwork on my behalf.

On to the next step!

The question everyone asks is "When will you travel?"  The estimate is within 10-14 weeks.  I am hoping for a little sooner, but obviously I will be very pleased if I travel in three months.  That's sooner than you'd think!

I'm so happy, and my head is still spinning!

Some of my Favorite Reads

I have always been a reader.  So naturally, one of the things I have been doing during this period of waiting is reading as much as I can about the adoption process, adoption adjustment, the trip to China, and adoption attachment.  I still need to formulate my own thoughts and my own "attachment plan," which people often post about before they travel.  This is not that post.  But there is a wealth of information out there that has been so valuable to me, and I thought it might be at the very least interesting for you all!

First, Love Without Boundaries has a wonderful, wonderful blog series called "Realistic Expectations."  This entire series is so thoughtfully written and useful to parents.  Some of it may not pertain to each individual child, but it is a worthwhile read.  It helps put in perspective some of the cultural differences that are faced in Chinese adoption, as well as ways that we can love our kids well by respecting their culture and their past.  I recommend that whole series.

Love Without Boundaries - Realistic Expectations:  Clothing

Every child handles this day differently, of course, but just remind yourself before you walk into the building to meet him or her for the first time that your child is about to lose everything they have known.   The only concrete and material thing from her past life could very well be the clothing on her back or the shoes upon his feet.    Watch their cues carefully on how important those items might be to them.  If  having to snuggle your new child in a stinky sweater is all that your child asks of you in those first few days together, then just take a deep breath and give thanks.  

Love Without Boundaries - Realistic Expectations:  Child Preparation

Remind yourself that you had a really long time to prepare your heart and mind for this adoption, and chances are you had your own moments of pure panic along the way. Your child certainly deserves at least as long to process and come to terms with the possibly brand new concept of “adoption.” As mentioned above, the orphanage or foster parents might have had their own reasons for wondering if you were actually going to step through that government door as well.

No Hands But Ours - The Best Mama

I can’t even begin to compare myself with the mothers who loved Cora so sacrificially. I often say that adopting Cora was the most selfish thing I’ve ever done. We pursued her adoption for no other reason than simply loving her and wanting her. Our motive was not to “help” her, but to fill a void in our hearts that only she could fill. And we have been so incredibly blessed by the sweet little firecracker who finds new and creative ways to turn our world upside down on a daily basis. Yet…by a sovereign act of God’s grace I’m not only Cora’s third mama, but her forever mama.

And on my nightstand:

The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis
Toddler Adoption:  The Weaver's Craft by Mary Hopkins-Best

These are just a few of the things I have read that have been extremely helpful in shaping me as I prepare for Ella to come home.  Anything exciting you have read?  Any recommendations?

Day 12 of LOA wait...

and nothing is happening.

Sorry to get hopes up!

I mean, lots of things are happening!  My dossier was logged in to CCCWA on May 7 (giving me a Log-In Date, or LID, of May 7).  From there, it goes through translation, then review, then match review.  When these steps are complete, then they will issue a Letter of Approval (sometimes called a Letter Seeking Confirmation).  These are running around two months, so hopefully sometime around the first week of July I'll have this document.

The school year is winding down, and I am so excited.  I have a lot of things I want to do to prepare for Ella (little things, like making stuff for her room) that I feel like need to wait until Summer.  We have 24 days (calendar days, not working days) until we are free for Summer!  I am very excited.  This will be my first summer in a long time not working summer school, and I am really excited about that.

No new updates on Ella.  When my LOA comes, they will request an update, so I am hopeful that in another couple of months I will get a good solid update on her.  I can't wait to see how she's grown and what progress she has made!

DTC!!

So it's been a little while since I've posted because there wasn't a lot to post.  Well, now there is!  I am officially Dossier to China!

The dossier is the big pile of paperwork I have been working on since November/December.  It's the piece that HAD to be to China by May 27.  It's on it's way to China 25 days early.  (Yay!)  First, of course, it went through the notarization and authentication process.  Then my agency did a critical review in which three separate people read each piece and checked it for accuracy.  Then they bound it and sent it on its way today!  

There is a tradition in one of my adoption groups of coming up with cute photos to announce that you are DTC.  I decided to paint it on the wall, since I am painting Ella's room tomorrow.  (With help.  LOTS of help.)

The next steps will be (hopefully) quick.  The dossier goes to the CCCWA and gets logged in.  Then I wait some more for my Letter of Approval.  I am so hopeful that it will only be a 60 day wait.  After that, there are a bunch of little steps.  Travel is still 4-6 months away (hopefully closer to 4 than 6!), but this was a huge hurdle to clear.  I get to skip the step of waiting after LID for a match, because I am already matched with precious Ella.  As one friend said a couple of weeks ago, if you break adoption up into trimesters, I am basically skipping the second trimester.  :)  

Just in case anyone needed a refresher on the cuteness...

I am so grateful to each and every one of you for your support over the last 5 months.  This process has been fun because I have the support of wonderful family and friends.  I am thankful.  

Potpourri

(Did you know that's how you spell potpourri?  I don't think I've ever typed it before.  Anyway.)

This is going to be kind of a catch all post.  So here goes.

T-Shirt Fundraiser:
I decided to jump on board the t-shirt fundraiser bandwagon and do a fundraiser through Bonfire Funds.  It is a wonderful site that allows you to use their stock designs or upload one of your own, and then if you sell a certain number of shirts (in my case, 50) they handle collecting the money, printing, and shipping of the shirts.  And the shirts are really nice quality (I have a few, thanks to some other adoptive families!).  Here is the design I am using:

This design was created by my amazingly talented friend Candace, who also designed Ella's puzzle.  I wanted a design that encompassed multiple languages/cultures, not just Chinese.  There are many, many adoptive parents in my little circle of friends, and (shockingly, ha ha!) not all of their kids came from China.  I also wanted a shirt that wasn't just specific to Ella's adoption, but was a cool shirt that people would wear, no matter what.  I think Candace accomplished that.  Plus I really love the color and I think the design is just awesome.  So far, 22 shirts have been sold, so 28 more need to be sold for the sale to be considered "successful" and the shirts to be printed!  You do have to purchase them through this website, but you are not charged until the fund is successful.  About half of each shirt sold goes to Ella's adoption fund.  And of course, it's fine to sell over 50 shirts - that's just a bonus!  The money from this (and from other fundraisers, such as the envelope fundraiser) will go toward Ella's orphanage fee, fees for finalizing her adoption in China, and post-adoption service fees.  If you are interested in purchasing a shirt, click the link {here}.

Paperwork:

So I sort of skipped a celebration in my last post.  When I mentioned that my last two documents were on their way to China, I failed to celebrate the fact that one of those last two documents was my I-800a approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  That approval can take up to 90 days (that is how long they have to approve it); mine was approved on day 37 and I had the approval in hand on day 40.  This was a HUGE blessing.  My goal when starting my paperwork was to file that before February 28, and I had it filed February 26.  I was trying to leave 60 days for approval so I could have the entire month of May to get the sealing done; as it stands, it should be done before the end of April (Lord willing!).  I am incredibly thankful that the good folks at USCIS are moving more quickly (and that my really great, motivated social worker does not drag her feet).  I know there are paperwork steps to complete after my dossier is to China, but I don't really know MUCH about them yet, so I try not to get ahead of myself.  (Let's just say there are a lot more initials to learn!)

Preparing for Ella:

I didn't want to get ahead of myself in preparing Ella's room, but early on when looking at bedding I decided I didn't really like anything in the stores and I wanted to make her quilt myself.  So I set off to find some fabric that I liked in colors that I liked (I kind of followed this tutorial I found on Pinterest).  I made the quilt top in February/early March, but waited until Spring Break to finish it.  I used my dear friend's quilting machine and her seriously incredible quilting expertise to get it done.  I am really proud of how it turned out.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it turned out really well.  

On the machine!  The quilting is large interlocking circles, so it gives a flower pattern in the middle.  

The finished product.  I love it!

The quilt isn't what I would have thought I'd choose for my hypothetical child's room even six months or a year ago, but one thing I have found throughout this process is what you think you'd do and what you actually choose to do can be two very different things.  :)

SO, when do you think you'll travel?

This is the question I am most commonly asked.  Right now I am thinking sometime in September.  It could be early September, it could be late September.  It depends on how long the wait for my letter of approval (LOA) is.  Right now lots of people in the same situation as me (who have had pre-approval for several months) have been getting them in less than two months, but the LOA wait is not standard at all.  Some people get them in 40, some get them in 80+.  Right now I am just assuming September and remaining noncommittal.  Once the LOA comes, it give a more concrete wait time and I can answer with more confidence.  :)

I think that's it for now!  I am really enjoying the Spring weather - it makes it sink in a little more that this is actually happening and that I don't have too much longer before Ella arrives on the scene.  I am very excited!

Paper Chasing. Literally.

(Alternately titled:  How Governor Steve Beshear Became a Part of Ella's Adoption Story)

This is a story about my plan and reality.  So you know it's going to go perfectly smoothly, right? :)

My plan:
Took today off.  I was going to get up early, drive my last two documents to the County Clerk Notary Office, get them certified, pick up my friend Stephanie, drive to Frankfort to get my last two documents certified at the state level, come home, grab some lunch, make my copies, overnight my last two documents to the courier in DC, maybe take a nap, take my rental car back to the place, pick up my car, go to church, so on and so forth.

So what actually happened?

I woke up a little late, sat in traffic, got to the County Clerk Notary Office.  The lady seemed a bit unsure of what she was doing but people were helping her and in the end it seemed okay.  So I left, picked up Steph at McDonald's, and off we went.  We got to Frankfort, parked, and headed in.

I noticed some people walking out of the Capitol building but didn't notice who.  I hear Stephanie say, "Hi!"  I turned my head because it sounded like a familiar "Hi."

Yeah, we walked right past the Governor.  Later we lamented not getting our pictures taken with him, so we took a selfie right where we passed him.

We were so close.  Just pretend he's there.

We went in, went to the Secretary of State, and were out in no time.  Stephanie did pick up a sucker and added her date-stamped sticker so that Ella will have it someday.  :)  Not that Ella will get to eat that particular sucker, but you know.  It's a keepsake.  We wandered outside in the sunshine to take a couple of fun pictures of me with my fancy documents.  Did I mention they were the last two?  I am a bit excited about that.

SO OFFICIAL.  (Sense the foreboding.)

So I get home with my lunch and my documents, sit down to eat, and my sweet friend Laura calls.  She was in town for a conference with her husband and kids, and invited me to dinner with several other friends tonight.  YES!  Absolutely.  Let me just ask to be relieved from the church nursery.  (That was no issue, thanks to our amazing Preschool Director at church.)  

I sat down around 1:15 to start making copies.  My computer was out of ink, which was a minor issue.  I looked at the seals on my documents one more time and I am glad I did.  Because the County notary seal on my home study was wrong.  They misspelled the notary's name.  

I called my agency, who very quickly recommended to go ahead and get it fixed if I could.  I called the Notary office, and they checked and confirmed it was spelled wrong.  They said I could come on in and get it fixed, no worries.  Which would be fine and no problem, except of course it had already been certified by the State.  

(A side note.  Staples are a big deal when compiling an adoption dossier.  Once the State's seal has been stapled onto the document, you cannot remove them.  If you do, the Chinese Embassy will not accept the documents and you have to go through the whole process again with that document.  So I knew fixing the County seal would nullify the State seal.  But it had to be done.) 

So basically I repeated my trip back downtown and back to Frankfort in one day.  I nearly literally chased these documents up and down I-64.  

When you get the documents, you have to make copies to send to the Embassy (you also need a set to send to the agency and a set to keep).  So I had to find a copy place since my home printer wasn't working.  It worked out that there was a FedEx close to the Post Office close to where I was to meet my friends for dinner...this feels like a version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  If I wasn't so tired, I would change this and make it so. :)

At any rate.  at 4:58 the Post Office accepted my documents, so they are back on track, my day off was certainly used well, and all's well that ends well.   I was blessed to have dinner with some very dear friends (some of whom I haven't seen in three years!) and enjoy some special conversations with people who are dear and special to me.  

So at the end of the long day, while I am certainly tired and spent more time driving than I intended, my original goals (minus picking up the car, but I worked that out to do tomorrow) were accomplished.  My LAST. TWO. DOCUMENTS.* are in the mail to the courier.  I got to spend the morning enjoying the sunshine and laughing with a good friend.  I ended the day with dinner with dear friends of mine.  It's been a great day.

And hey, my friend Stephanie said hi to the Governor.  So there's always that.

* - These are my last two dossier documents.  There will be other documents, but the big dossier document compiling is nearing its completion.  Which is exciting.  Hooray!

Ella's First 10 Books*

As most of you know, I am a teacher.  And as many of you know, I also love to read.  I have said many times (and said to my mom again last night) that if Ella ends up with an overabundance of anything, I want it to be books.  So from the beginning of this process, I have been picking up a book here and there for Ella's library.  I didn't want to go bananas, because I know she will receive some as gifts, but I had some that I specifically wanted to get for her myself.

Without further adieu, Ella's first 10 books (all links are from Amazon.com, and this is not a sponsored post, I just figured they were the easiest to link to!):

1.  On the Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillman

I really, really love this book.  It is great for kids who have been adopted, as it is not a typical "the night I was born" story, and it is such a beautiful story about how special each child is and how the night they were born is magical.  (When I read it to my nephew I told him that he was born in the morning and it was just as magical, and he could just change the words.)

2.  Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You, by Nancy Tillman

Another really great book about loving your kid.  It's a sweet, whimsical story told in fun language and with great pictures.  Who doesn't love great pictures?

3. The Monster at the End of this Book, starring lovable, furry old Grover

In the interest of full disclosure, I bought this book a couple of years ago.  I can't remember why, but I think it was because maybe my nieces and nephew had never read it?  At any rate.  I decided to be nice and put it in Ella's pile.  It was one of my favorites when I was little.  I have a lot of memories of my mom reading this book to me.  She was (and I imagine still is) great at reading this book!

4. The Very Cranky Bear, by Nick Bland

I bought this book probably my first or second year of teaching from the Scholastic Book Fair at school.  It is my favorite fun kids' book.  And if I'm being honest, I really debated giving this to Ella.  Okay, not really.  But seriously.  It's the best book ever.  I keep saying I am going to be the Very Cranky Bear for Halloween one year.  Maybe this year...

5.  My First Chinese New Year, by Karen Katz

This is a great little book that helped me learn about Chinese New Year this year.  I know it will help me teach Ella in the future.  Plus, the pictures are really cute.  

6.  Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker, by James Mayhew

This book was on sale after Christmas, and it looked cute.  It's more young elementary than toddler, as far as number of words and the attention span it will require to get through it, but it is a sweet little story about a ballerina named Ella who enters the world of the Nutcracker.  And who doesn't love a book with their own name in it?

7.-9. Ella the Elegant Elephant, Ella Sets Sail, and Ella Sets the Stage, by Carmela and Steven D'Amico

These were gifts from my mom for Christmas.  I knew she wanted to do gifts for Ella, but I didn't really know what she might need yet, so I mentioned the first book, and my mom was able to find all three!  They are just really cute books about an elephant named Ella with an elegant hat, and all the adventures she has.  Apparently there is a Disney Junior TV show too.  Which hey, maybe that means there's birthday party themed materials?  :)

10.  Humpty Dumpty (Indestructibles book), by Jonas Sickler

This book is really cool.  It's a picture only book, but it is the story of Humpty Dumpty set on the Great Wall of China!  I thought it was neat to take a classic nursery rhyme and put a spin on it that includes Ella's home country.  This company makes a lot of really neat stories, and all of their nursery rhymes are set in other countries (Hickory Dickory Dock is set in London, England; Mary Had a Little Lamb is set in Africa).  I am excited about this book.  

So there you have it!  Ella's first ten books.  I hope she has many, many more to read soon!

*Not to be confused with Ella's Top 10 Books, because those may end up being completely different.