Tuesday afternoon update

So we just got an e-mail from our agency saying our documents are on their way to China. We are officially done with the referral process stage and have moved on to the Travel Phase! Grinning from ear to ear.

Documents and Care Packages

We received our NVC letter yesterday and Fedexed ALL our documents to our agency. This is HUGE! All of our documents, including our letter accepting our referral of Juni, will now be forwarded (hopefully today) to the American Consulate in Guangzhou and then on to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs. I can't believe we are almost there!!!!

Also we sent Juni a care package this weekend through an amazing woman named Ann at Red Threads. Her service is incredible. Within a day she had put together our entire package including a soft photo album of our family with a picture of Juni too and each of us identified in the chinese characters for mommy, daddy, brothers and daughter. Juniper will now know of us before we meet. And of course we are sending toys and books for her as well as gifts for the foster family, care takers and other kids in the orphanage. We feel so lucky to be able to do this.

A disposable camera that we hope her aunties will use to take pictures of her in her foster home, in the orphanage and with her friends. They will put this in a bag with her things for us to pick up when we meet our daughter for the first time.

We also ordered this beautiful little silk journal and put her photo in it and a note for her foster family and care takers to add any messages they would like.

I can't believe there are pictures of our family sitting in an album in China about to be delivered to our daughter! I love technology and the very kind people who put it to good use.

Another Step!

Yahoooooooooo! We received more great news today. Our U.S. Department of Homeland Security approved documents were cabled from the National Visa Center (Immigration) to the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China yesterday and we should be receiving our NVC letter in the next few days. This is fantastic because not only have we completed one more step but once we receive the NVC letter we can send all of our other documents to our adoption agency to be shipped to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs. Each step is one step closer to travel and one step closer to meeting our daughter.

This weekend we are starting to decorate Juniper's room. We set up her crib and a changing table with loads of clothes (Thanks Elissa!) but that's about as far as we have gotten. We received so many beautiful gifts at her baby shower in August and I'm super excited to finally be able to put them around her room. We are also going to paint the walls and Aidan wants to paint tiny hearts down one wall to "show her how much we love her." Then of course, we need to put up drapes, get a soft lamp or night light and I'm thinking we may have to order a little rug too. It's so fun to finally be at this stage after nearly five years! Before and After pictures to follow.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Juniper update!
We requested an update from our adoption agency last week. We only get one update before we travel but we really wanted to have photos taken near her first birthday. We also found out that Juni has been living with a foster family since she was just one day old and that is great news. She is loved. She has the ability to attach to others which doesn't always happen for kidaloos who live in orphanages. She also is learning how to walk and can say "mom" and babble. She can take a few steps on her own, has two teeth on top and two on bottom, and is active and outgoing yet shy with strangers. Oh and her nickname is Miao Miao. Seriously, how cute is that?!

We can't wait to hold our little girl and give her all our love!

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, 2010

I am done with this waiting. It is driving me mad. All I want to do is go get our little girl. Why does this process have to take so long?!

UPDATE: Okay, just got the I800 Approval in the mailbox today!!! Yipeeee! One step down. Now complete Juni's DS-230 visa application and we wait for our NVC letter saying they have cabled Guangzhou.

Baby steps will get us there. :)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28TH, 2010

HaPpY BiRtHdAy JuNiPeR!!!!!!!

I wish so much we could be there giving Juni a zillion kisses and hugs on her first birthday. We have to settle for sending out our love across the universe and knowing she will soon be in our arms.

Aidan is the sweetest 4-year-old boy in the world. He asked all his classmates at Montessori to make birthday cards for his little sister in China. There was this great big bundle of colorful handmade construction cards for Juni in his cubby when I came to pick him up. Great big crocodile tears of joy for my little man. He is so amazing!

Nana and Grampie also sent a beautiful birthday package today. In it was a really nice card first birthday card, a beautiful little red and black box with a gorgeous delicate silver locket necklace in it. Nana used to wear this locket when she was a little girl. I am crying now thinking of it. Thanks Nana!

Steve and I got Juniper a little Aardvark like Sam's but smaller. Sam loves his aardvark and so we thought she could have a tiny one and it could have a big brother aardvark. We also got two new pairs of incredibly cute shoes. One was a pair of pink sandals with seahorses on them. Big ol' smile picturing next summer down at the beach already. The second pair are so cute- green with a big ladybug on each foot. They are squashy soft, perfect for those just learning how to walk and they'll definitely be in our bags to China. Ladybugs are considered good luck charms in the Chinese adoption world. The boys always get excited when we find a ladybug and they giggle and talk about how it is good luck for their baby sister.

Oddly enough, it looks like the tiny aardvark just leapt out of these shoes.

I'm also sending out a silent prayer across the universe for Juni's birth mom today. I wish I could tell her how much we will love this little girl and how we will care for her forever.

Happy birthday to our beautiful ONE year old!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27TH, 2010

Still waiting.... 

Talked to our USCIS Hague case worker at NBC and he has Juni's file on his desk awaiting approval. Once approved, our file will be sent to NVS for visa approval. When approved, our file will be cabled to Guangzhou to await Article 5. Meanwhile, we will be sent an approval letter that we put in with our signed LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) and all other forms. We overnight these to Great Wall, they send all our documents to China and a courier hand delivers them to the CCAA. Once we have our Article 5 complete, we wait for our TA (travel approval). When we get this, we will have a consulate appointment set at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou and we can book our flights to China. 

Hang on Juniper. We are trying our best!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 13TH, 2010

After waiting nearly two weeks from referral to get our translated documents from Great Wall, we finally were able to send in our I800 application. We FEDXED them to the Texas lockbox on Tuesday, October 12th and they were received and logged in on Wednesday, October 13th. Now we wait for the review to see that we have paid all the appropriate fees and then our file is sent on to our NBC (National Benefits Center) Hague Adoption case worker in Missouri. More waiting....

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2010 MAGICAL DAY!

FOUR YEARS, FOUR MONTHS, ONE WEEK AND FOUR DAYS....
WE HAVE A DAUGHTER! A MOST PERFECT, WONDERFUL WEE DAUGHTER. WE ARE COMPLETELY IN LOVE!