In America, if you'd like to get something notarized, you just pop over to a local bank--likely a less than 5 minute trip that costs you nothing but the gas it takes to get there. When you live in East Asia, however, getting something notarized means you have to plan a trip to the American consulate or Embassy. This requires a couple hour plane ride. And documents are not free to notarize; they are $50 a document! Thankfully, because we have kind friends to put us up, at least we don't have to pay for hotels.
Most of the time, I love living here. I'm not trying to complain. It's just that in our adoption process, when things like this cost us lots of time and lots more money, I get a little annoyed/frustrated (what's the right emotion?) when I compare it to how simple it would be there.
So, on January 20th, we have an Embassy appointment to get the last of our documents notarized for our dossier. It'll feel like deja vu since we just did this in May. But that's what happens in this process...unexpected delays, unknown requirements, and all we can do is just go with the flow.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Welcome 2012!
I have hope, expectation and anticipation for big changes in this year. I am praying that this will be the year two little ones will be placed in my arms and become ours. Our lives will never be the same again. Please pray with us that this dream of ours will come true.
I'm not sure if I've explained the hows of adopting two girls at one time. One comes from the waiting child list and one comes from the special focus list. Waiting children are children with special needs or ones that are a little bit older. CCCWA found out that some children are on this list a long time and still aren't adopted. In order to better advocate for the adoption of these children, they began the special focus program in September 2010. Children who have been on the waiting child list for more than 60 days or who are somehow deemed "hard to adopt" are placed on this list. (More info can be found here.) If a couple is willing to adopt a child from the special focus list, they can use the same dossier from a previous adoption. These adoptions can take place simultaneously, which is what we're hoping for, or concurrently. However, we're beginning to understand that finding a girl under two with minor needs from the special focus list may prove to be more difficult than we realize.
So, things are getting ironed out for our dossier to be sent to China...hopefully sent by late January, and our match for our first girl from the waiting list will come sometime in February. However, we are contemplating what may need to happen for a match from the special focus list. We may need to change our home study to allow us to adopt an older child or a boy. We're not sure. For now just pray that we will continue to trust that God knows who these little ones are and that His timing is perfect.
I'm not sure if I've explained the hows of adopting two girls at one time. One comes from the waiting child list and one comes from the special focus list. Waiting children are children with special needs or ones that are a little bit older. CCCWA found out that some children are on this list a long time and still aren't adopted. In order to better advocate for the adoption of these children, they began the special focus program in September 2010. Children who have been on the waiting child list for more than 60 days or who are somehow deemed "hard to adopt" are placed on this list. (More info can be found here.) If a couple is willing to adopt a child from the special focus list, they can use the same dossier from a previous adoption. These adoptions can take place simultaneously, which is what we're hoping for, or concurrently. However, we're beginning to understand that finding a girl under two with minor needs from the special focus list may prove to be more difficult than we realize.
So, things are getting ironed out for our dossier to be sent to China...hopefully sent by late January, and our match for our first girl from the waiting list will come sometime in February. However, we are contemplating what may need to happen for a match from the special focus list. We may need to change our home study to allow us to adopt an older child or a boy. We're not sure. For now just pray that we will continue to trust that God knows who these little ones are and that His timing is perfect.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
a frustrating week
Well, we thought we were getting close to a referral. It seems it's further away than we want it to be....
On Wednesday we received the disheartening news that we need to redo lots of paperwork for our dossier that we'd completed months ago. Apparently China started enforcing policies that they haven't paid attention to in the past. So now none of the documents in our dossier can be older than 6 months. Most of ours had been completed in Feb-April and then notarized in May.
So now, we're on the paper trail again. Please pray for quick contacting and processing of everything from new certified copies of birth certificates to criminal clearances in Ohio. There are a total of nine documents we need to redo. Pray this doesn't delay us too much.
We want these girls in our arms!
On Wednesday we received the disheartening news that we need to redo lots of paperwork for our dossier that we'd completed months ago. Apparently China started enforcing policies that they haven't paid attention to in the past. So now none of the documents in our dossier can be older than 6 months. Most of ours had been completed in Feb-April and then notarized in May.
So now, we're on the paper trail again. Please pray for quick contacting and processing of everything from new certified copies of birth certificates to criminal clearances in Ohio. There are a total of nine documents we need to redo. Pray this doesn't delay us too much.
We want these girls in our arms!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
An Update
In trying to be creative and sharing my heart’s impressions of adoption, I’ve been realizing that I’m failing to share with you where we’re actually at in the process.
We’re getting very close to referral time! Maybe before the end of the year, maybe before the Chinese New Year (mid January), we’ll see. A referral means that a specific little girl’s picture and information about her medical condition will be sent to us. We then have about 24 hours to decide if we want to accept or reject this referral. Reasons we would reject a referral would be that we feel this little one’s medical needs are more than we can handle living over here. We have limited ongoing resources available in our city, so we’re looking for something that would be more minor and correctable.
Once we accept a referral, it will still take 4-7 months before we can travel to get her. We need China’s official approval. We need to inform the American government which child we intend to adopt. Then, the US government’s approval gets sent back to China and then we receive permission to get our child.
I wish it could be easier and faster, but all of this back and forth protects children from trafficking, which is extremely important.
All of this is the process for one child, and honestly we’re still not entirely sure when we might get matched with a second child. Apparently it’s harder to find baby girls with more minor needs on the special focus list, which is what needs to happen for us to be able to adopt both at once.
So, we appreciate your prayers and we’ll keep you updated!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Acronym Answers
LOI = Letter of Intent…to adopt a specific child
PA = Pre-Approval
USCIS = United States Citizen and Immigration Services
CCAA = China Center of Adoption Affairs (am I wrong in this? does it have a "w" in it now?)
DTC = Dossier To China… meaning it was put in the mail
LID = Log in Date… dossier registration in China
LSC = Letter of Seeking Confirmation… comes from CCAA, gets sent to our adoption agency
LOA = Letter of Acceptance…China agrees we can adopt this specific child
TA = Travel Approval
CA = Consulate Appointment
Now when I or others use these little letters, you'll know what we're talking about!
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