The Pre-K Graduate!!!!!

Dakota graduated Pre-K last night! We are very proud of all she has learned this year and all that Ms. Minnie has taught her. She recieved an award for "Best Penmanship!!!" (Yeah, all those hours this year of writing letters with her paid off!!) The class sang and recited nursery rhymes for us. Dakota did great reciting "Jack & Jill" with the hand movements in front of everyone!

TA .......Shiloh Here we come!!!

Our agency called this morning before lunch to tell us we got TA (Travel Approval.) We should leave on the 16th of JUNE!!!! I was adding up the days last week and if we leave on the 16th, we will have waited 783 days to get to that point and a few days longer to hold Shiloh in our arms. I think we sometimes wondered if we would ever get to this point in the process. I have watched other families get their children for way over two years now and would hear of someone getting TA, and wondered how that must feel....well now I know. It feels like it is actually happening. The reality of being handed a 2 and a half year old who probably has no clue who we are is pretty overwhelming, but so was the moment I first got to hold Dakota. I have no idea how this is all going to go, so it is nice to know that God is in charge!

The Journey by Date:
04-24-08 Initial Agency Meeting
04-25-08 Approval to Adopt in China
05-10-08 Agency Orientation of process
05-10-08 Begin Building Dossier
06-04-08 #1 and #2 Home Study Completed
06-10-08 #3 Home Study Complete
06-17-08 #4 Home Study Completed
07-13-08 I-800 to Immigration for Fingerprints
09-05-08 Fingerprinting
12-04-08 I-797c Recieved from immigration
12-11-08 All 13 Dossier Documents Complete and to Agency
12-24-08 DTC-Documents to China
12-29-08 LID-Log in Date with China
05-4-10 Special Needs Checklist Submitted
09-02-09 Home Study Update #1 to NICIS
11-18-09 Recieved Shiloh's File from New Agency
11-25-09 LOI-Letter of Intent sent to China
12-01-09 PA-Pre-Approval from China
01-14-10 Fingerprinting Update
01-22-10 Transfer and New LID with New Agency
03-22-10 LOA-Letter of Acceptance
04-06-10 I-800 Approval
04-09-10 Cable
04-16-10 NVC Letter
05-04-10 TA-Travel Approval
06-16-10 through 7-2-10 Travel
06-22-10 GOTCHA DAY!!!!
06-30-10 CA-Consulate Appointment

Just maybe....TA???

There is the chance that we may get TA tomorrow as a package is coming to our agency. It may be TA's but we do not know if it is ours as it is still kind of early for our TA. But we are so hopeful and it might mean we leave June 16th!

Dakota...ready for kindergarten!!!

I spent this week on a trip to Nashville for work, so Nana and Poppy took Dakota to her elementary school for her pre-testing for kindergarten. She made 99 out of 100 on all the questions and tasks they asked her about. (And the one question she missed, she corrected a few questions down, but it was too late to count!) The teacher told Nana and Poppy that she had done very well and that she was ready for kindergarten....(I hope I am!) So needless to say, we are incredibly proud of her abilities and know that she will do well. (The sad part is miss type A personality was worried about the one that she missed and thought we would be disappointed....no way, so we are really playing it up about how proud we are!) I have been the working mom who has worried if she was on target so this is a great relief. Ice Cream for everyone!!! Thanks again Nana and Poppy!

Look who we spotted.....

A family that recently went to BaoTou for their child got back a camera they had sent and decided to share the photos that contained other kids in the SWI (Social Welfare Institute-orphanage). I quickly scanned and spotted Shiloh HongMei in the red sweater with a white strip and red pants with white lines. Do I detect a hint of a smile in some....maybe she likes to be outside? Isn't she really pretty! The little girl in the gray sweater with the 71 is a friends little girl named Zoey. (They travel to get her on May 26th.....and if possible they will visit the SWI and get pics of Shiloh if allowed.) Of course we will try to do the same for other families when we travel. (It looks like these pics were taken between Jan and March...2010). We have been truly blessed in being able to track down or discover so many previous pictures of Shiloh's early life. Little by little we have some of the pieces of the puzzle for her to one day understand the path her life took before we knew her. This is very important for children who are adopted and really feel the need to understand their past. We plan to be very open with her about her life before coming to us.We are still waiting for our TA (Travel Approval). It is now on this last step that the wait seems to be the hardest. We have shopped and gotten together all we need for the trip except food, which we will get closer to travel. Our guest bedroom has stacks and piles we will need to go through to get to China...some things will go and some things will stay once we really see what our luggage weighs. Of course now the air fare is incredibly high as this is the travel season to China. No matter...we are ready, but now the waiting is so much harder than we imagined. Nana says she pulls these pictures up all the time and it feel like she is watching her at daycare....I guess it is kind of like that...what a cute little smile in the one picture.

My mentors for adopting from China...

I do not want to let these two ladies go unmentioned in how they have both played an important part in us making plans and adopting from China. Kathy is a close friend I have known since I was in middle school. I watched as she adopted her first daughter from China as a single mom and then later, while I was pregnant with Dakota, she brought her second daughter home from China. She made adopting looks so easy and started the wheels turning in me back in 2000. Still, she has reminded me over and over that INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION is not for the faint of heart.....it is a tough process. (She was right!) Her daughters are so very special to us as is she and I think she has enjoyed being there for us with questions and answers, though the new Hague process has been overwhelming to us all. As we progressed in our adoption and eventually transferred from our first agency, I caught myself wondering why we were even with the first agency to begin with. Why had God lead us there only for us to end up finding Shiloh with another agency? Nothing really against my first agency, but the only answer I have for this is that we met Brandi and Trent. They have two beautiful birth daughters and we enjoyed their journey to their son Talent (from China) last year. Brandi has been full of answers for paperwork and processes since she recently went through the process herself. I will have to say about both of these ladies...they have been there for us and helped as they could with process, paperwork and prayer. Both are looking forward to our journey to Shiloh and cannot wait to meet her too. Once you have adopted from China, you love to be able to relive all the memories as someone else goes through their process. I hope they both enjoy the ride with us and I hope our children will always be best friends.

Happy Mother's Day...

You know, we went to church this morning and for 5 years in a row, since the birth of Dakota I didn't have to be sad that I was childless. The preacher talked about Hannah (Samuel's mother) praying earnestly to GOD for a son. GOD granted her wish but then after he was weaned she gave Samuel back to GOD, by leaving him at the temple with Eli. I remember the days of praying for a child and knowing that I was missing out on something wonderful. It was hard to go to church or anywhere with people wishing you Happy Mother's Day...not really knowing if you were a mother or not. I am so sensitive to that still. I went into Penny's and was wished a Happy Mother's Day by the clerk...probably her usual reponse to all the women coming through her line. Did she really say that to me? Dakota is 5 years old and I am still not use to hearing that coming my way. I walked to my car in tears....I am a mother. I am a mother to Dakota and to Shiloh waiting for us in China. So while this mother's day was a good one, there is still someone missing...my child is still waiting to know what it is to have a real mother. Mom's are special... and Shiloh deserves to understand that and see what she had been missing. So, as Hannah prayed to God for a son, only to give him back to God.....I send out my own prayer to God that I can be the kind of mom he wants me to be, so I can serve as an example to my girls and that they will also grow up to know what all following Jesus can do for them. Chuck and I both had excellent role models in character with our parents and especially our moms. So Happy Mothers day to two special mothers......

Article 5!!!!!

Our Article 5 was picked up yesterday from Guangzhou (GZ) China and arrived at the CCAA this morning! I am not sure I understand it completely but it means our paperwork met up with Shiloh's paperwork and is now in Beijing where we will then be assigned TA (Travel Approval). It will take probably 4 weeks or so to get TA. Once we have this, our agency will book our CA (Consulate appointment) in GZ. So it is looking like the middle of June for travel? CA's can back up and delay travel but we are hopeful we will get an appointment quickly. Most families travel 2 to 3 weeks after getting their TA. So Shiloh is only 6 to 8 weeks away. Only a short time until we meet her and hold her for the first time and we cannot wait. Shiloh we love you so much. Dakota prays for you every day and loves you too. We are coming soon! Your forever family is coming soon!