Monday, August 6, 2012

Update....



Yup, that's our baby girl :)  She is standing - though it looks like she is resting her elbow on the cabinet behind her.  Still, everything else looks good.  She hasn't gained any weight though - she is still about 22 pounds even though she is 2 years and 4 months old.  She weighs less than Simeon.  I just want to get her home and hold her!!!

Her update also said that she likes to be held and cuddled (yay!) and that she says three words now too.  I am thrilled with both of those updates. 

On the process front, we have our LOA!!!  This is the official Letter of Acceptance that China issues.  We had a PA (preliminary authorization) to be matched with Liliana and apparently they liked our dossier enough to say that we can definitely have Liliana.  Normally, the timeline for travel would be 10-14 weeks from today or so, but I am due in 9 weeks, which throws a monkey wrench into things.

I spoke with my agency today and they confirmed that it is pretty much impossible that she will be home before our next newborn arrives.  There is a big holiday happening in China in early October, so the agency is sending their last adoption group that will get through the process before the holiday.  That group will leave by September 12th.  After that, the next group probably won't leave until October 7th or so and I am due the 8th. 

I am coming to terms with the delay.  I just wish that our home study agency would be willing to move the process along at a reasonable pace after the baby is born instead of trying to drag it out as long as possible.  They keep saying to not rush the process - which normally I would agree with, but I fail to see how spending a few more weeks sitting around and waiting for them to write the report will help me in the process.  Oh well.  It's in God's hands at this point and I do trust Him with the timing. 

In the meantime, there is LOTS going on around here with B.J. settling into being the Assistant Principal and me trying to get lots of things done before Pelah arrives.  Add to that the usual business of life and our days are full.  One of these days I will get around to blogging about our two different weeks at Sandy Cove as well as B.J. and I getting away to Lancaster for a weekend, but for now, I need to get some sleep.  Please pray with us that our home study agency comes around and that God would prepare us for the weeks and months ahead.  God is good!!!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

One bright note.......

I heard back from the PA contact and was told that PA has no requirements based on what my agency provided about what type of visa Liliana will come home under.  Woohoo!  I'll take it!!!!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

God is good

I opened my email this morning to find a new picture of Liliana - the first we've received in a couple of months.  She is looking good and starting to fill out a bit so her arms and legs aren't so overly skinny :)  She is so precious and I just want to get her home! 

That's where the frustrating part of today kicked in.  First off, I made some phone calls to the state to find out what, if any, pre-adoption requirements PA had.  The lady started to rattle off so much information of what I would need to do that I was getting overwhelmed.  Fortunately, I have a great agency, CCAI, who was able to provide some clarification that basically said that the information I was given was no longer valid under the Hague convention.  So I went back to the state person and she replied with a very confusing email that I think said that my agency was right.  I emailed again for clarification and am waiting to hear more.

So, while I was already frustrated about that, I figured I should go for broke and request the list of required documents for our home study update that we have to have done after Pelah is born.  Mistake.  I got the document and could just about cry.  Basically, we have to do all the paperwork all over again that we spent 6 weeks gathering in January and February.  New references, clearances, book reports, finances, letters from physicians, etc.  I am so tired of chasing paperwork and now I have the looming due date approaching.  Unfortunately, a lot of it has to happen after the baby is born (references, Dr. letters, birth certificates). 

I know that God will bring Liliana home in HIS perfect time, but it would have been so much easier, in my mind, if things had hurried up and we could have gotten her home before Pelah is born and thereby avoided all of this extra work and expense.  Not to mention the several months this will add to the timeline which will in turn mean that we can't bring her home this year and we'll miss any extra tax credit too (sorry, I worked for a CPA for too long to not think about that one).  I know that God is good and HE knows best so I am choosing to trust that right now - even as I am frustrated and overwhelmed with doing this all over again.