Fingerprints and Camping

I meant to post this yesterday, but we didn't get home until after 10pm.  We had our fingerprint appts. at 1 and 2pm.  I went first and Brian was able to come right after me.  Even the girls came up.  It all took less than 15 min.  It really is great that we are fingerprinted electronically so we know right away if the prints are good.  When we got home, I shot off a letter to USCIS to have them forward our prints to the US Visa Center and the US Consulate in Guangzhou ASAP. 

I have to work the entire holiday weekend, so Brian decided to take the girls camping at Turtle River State park about 20 miles from home.  This is his first camping trip with just the girls.  I did come out for about 3 hrs. after work.  They were coming home tomorrow.  The biggest part of the adventure is that it's currently raining (10pm).  Hope the tent is waterproof.

LID partners

We met our first family from CCAI that has the same LID as we do. Their names are Tiffany and Michael. They are from Salt Lake City, this is their first child, and they are both RNs. I can’t imagine waiting more than 4 ½ yrs. for your first child. When we signed up for the LID release last month, I was disappointed to learn that the list of people was for the whole month and the LID wasn’t specified. After that I figured that I’d just wait until we were matched to meet others.  It's nice to meet someone ahead of time. 

North Shore Backpacking Trip

Brian and a friend went on a backpacking trip to an area on the Superior Hiking Trail along the north shore near Silver Bay, MN.  He spent two days backpacking about 10 miles the end of April.  They spent one night at a campsite near an inland Bear Lake that is only accessible from the trail.  The trip was filled with beautiful views and was different with no leaves on the trees yet.  Only saw a few hikers on the trail and only one other backpacker made it a very peaceful trip.  We climbed Mt. Trudee, crossed Palisade Creet, and visited Baptism River/Falls.  Attached pictures of this adventure.

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Air Show

We spent most of the day at the Grand Forks Air Force base air show.  The big attraction was the Thunderbirds.  The last air show was 4 yrs. ago and it was very hot.  It was supposed to be warm today, but we got some rain overnight, so that cooled it down.  It was also very windy.  We decided not to go as early to the show as we did last time since we have seen it before.  That was probably a mistake.  It took about 2 hrs. to get from the highway to the actual air show area.  Thankfully we could see alot of the air show while we were driving and waiting in line for the bus.  The air show itself was fun.  Wish the weather wasn't so windy.  After the show was over, we walked to the tahoe (over a mile) and then waited.  And waited, and waited, and waited some more.  We actually didn't move from our parking space for almost an hour.  It was the worst parking mess I have ever been in.  It took over 2 hrs. to leave the base from the time we left the air show area.  Thankfully Mikayla had a book and the rest of us had a Brian's cell phone with a game on it.  Definitely needed some better planning.  Guess we had some good family in the tahoe bonding time.

Fingerprints

I received a call today from CCAI about our fingerprints.  They were just checking to see if we were getting them redone.  They expire on July 16 and 17.  We have an appt. to be refingerprinted next Friday 4/28.  Hopefully everything will be sent to the proper places by the time we travel so nothing is delayed in China.

Planting

Brian is in Montana and I haven't worked all week.  It was pretty lonely around the house.  I had a nice long phone chat with Mindy this AM.  I was so anxious for the girls to come home for school and hoping they didn't have any homework.  When the girls did get home, we headed out to get flowers to plant around the trees in the berm.  I also picked up some corabells to replace the ones that died last year.  I don't remember the cora bells being so expense ($12.98 a plant).  We got the flowers planted by the trees, but the cora bells will have to wait until the weekend.  I also noticed that it looks like one of my hostas has died. 

Evian Song Zimmerman

Today was “Gotcha Day” for Russ and Di. So exciting! It was emotional even for me. Knowing someone who is personally going through this so close to us makes it feel so much more real. Evian is from Guangzhou, so they didn’t have to travel to a different province.  You can follow their blog at http://www.eviansongz.blogspot.com/.

The weather is Grand Forks was beautiful today...upper 70s.  I washed bedding and hung it on the line.  It's supposed to be nice all week.

Baby book and Ballet

I ordered a baby book a couple weeks ago that is specific to Chinese adoption. It came in the mail Monday and I love it! We were able to pick the style of the fabric that is on the outside. We chose red brocade with pink flowers. It looks a little oriental. The part we really love is that the pages are so specific to a child adopted from China. It talks about the paperwork process, referral, adoption trip, readoption, etc. I even started writing some things in it.  It is a 3-ring binder, so I plan to take one of the blank pages and make copies so I can add more stuff.

Tonight was the 1st night of the girls' ballet recital.  They both did well.  Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Roger came to see it tonight and Grandpa Ron and Grandma Tammy are watching Saturday night.  Then ballet is done for another year.  Yeah!

Zimmermans

Our friends, Russ and Di Zimmerman left for Hong Kong today to meet their new baby, Evian Song.  They have been along side us the whole way.  They decided about the same time as we did to adopt and they are using the same agency.  Their LID was April 12 and ours is April 24.  Russ called us last night and thought we had received our referral.  Unfortunately not yet, but soon!  We can't wait to meet Evian and get our girls together.

Delay is not Denial

Probably about a year ago, someone posted this quote.  I think it was on their facebook page.

"DELAY is not DENIAL...not even withholding.  It is the opportunity for God to work out your problems and accomplish your desires in the most wonderful way possible for you."  God Calling, A.J. Russell

We have clung to that statement and the reminder that God's timing is always better than ours.  I really learned that lesson this spring.  Waiting has always been hard, but God is totally in control of this process and obviously knows when the best time is for the baby to come to us. I have definitely learned a lot over the last 4 ½ years, but I can honestly say that I learned something in March that will be invaluable to me when the baby comes home. I learned that I can’t micro-managed Miranda and Mikayla, especially in relation to their school work. I’m still working on it, but it has been incredibly freeing and we are all better off for it.  I don't think I would have learned this any earlier and it probably would have taken even longer if we had our baby earlier.

Am I disappointed?

I can honestly say that I am not disappointed that we didn't receive a referral this month. It really does work better timing wise for our referral to be in June.  The earliest that we would travel is in July.  This allows us to visit my sister in June, spend a good portion of the summer with just the girls, have 3-4 weeks with all of us home, and then Miranda and Mikayla will be back in school.

In the years past I wondered what it would feel like to be so close to our referral or to know we are in the next month. To be honest, I really don't feel much different than I did 3 yrs. ago. Of course we have done more planning, but I think somewhere in the deep cracks of my brain, I wonder if it will ever be real.

Referrals have arrived!

Referrals came today and went through April 21, 2006. I can’t say that I’m surprised. I was hoping that they would match through April 23 so that we would know for sure that we are next. However, given that April 22-23, 2006 is a weekend, it is very highly likely that we will get our referral in June, probably around Miranda’s birthday.  Getting a referral in June won’t be so bad because we’d have some time this summer with just Miranda and Mikayla, then we’d travel to get Megan, have a few weeks with everyone, and then Miranda and Mikayla would be back to school.

The Journey to Megan Mei

This blog was specifically created to chronical our journey to Megan Mei Weiss.  We have been on this journey since March 2005. 

March 2005

Brian and I attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Grand Forks. Of course, Chapman prompts Shoahannah’s Hope (Chinese adoption). The seed is planted.  Brian and I went on a Vision Trip with Campus Crusade to China to minister to college students on a university campus in Beijing.
May 2005
We have a discussion about having another child. I mention adoption from China and Brian says that he would be interested in doing that.
Summer 2005
We spend the summer talking to family members, friends, other families who have adopted from China, and searching the internet for agencies.
September 2005
We start the “paperchase” for your adoption. We chose CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International) for our agency because I had a friend from work that had just adopted with this agency. CCAI also was on the lower end for expenses and we were the most impressed with their info. We also chose Catholic Charities of ND to do our home study. We picked CCND (Catholic Charities of ND) because they were also less expensive then other agencies and we knew a few people who had used them and really liked the social worker there.
October 2005

We’re working on getting all the papers together. We both get physicals, order birth /marriage certificates, fill out a very detailed biography for home study, list references, get employment/income verification, send for paperwork for fingerprinting to USCIS, order criminal background checks, and write out our adoption petition.
December 2005
We finally get our criminal background check back and get our home study completed. We had 4 visits. Our social worker, Sharon Maier is great. Our home study visits included discussing our biographies, various adoption issues, and things to expect when we get home. Sharon also visited our house and met the girls.
January 2006
We receive our completed home study and start getting things notorized. I spend what seems like a lot of time convincing people that I know what I’m talking about re: specifics on the notorization wordings. We also made an appt. to have our fingerprints done.
February 2006
We get all of our paperwork except the I171H certified by the state and Washington DC and authenticated at the China Embassy. On Feb. 14 we get fingerprinted electronically in Fargo and receive our I171H about 2 weeks later.
April 2006
We send our dossier (which was insured for $1000) to CCAI where it is received 4/3/06. The dossier goes through critical review and is then sent to translation. Our DTC is 4/17/06 and arrives in China on 4/20/06. On 4/28/06 we received notification that our LID is 4/24/06.

I'll spare you the details of the next 4 years and just sum it up as WAITING!  Now, after close to 5 years of waiting, the time is almost here!