Go Nebraska!

No, no, don't worry, I'm not turning into a Husker's fan. Remember, I still have a daughter at CU. No I'm cheering for Nebraska because this time we got a 6 day turn around on the certification of Jeff's birth certificate while last time it was almost three weeks. The birth certificate returned from Nebraska yesterday so today I was able to get it off to Washington D.C. for step two of three for this very special document that can't follow the same route as all our other documents.

Today I got the birth certificate with it's very pretty certification letter from Nebraska, all ready to go, even calling the U.S. Secretary of State's office to make sure I had the right fees, address and methodology. Here's a fun little fact for those of you not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of adoptions. For some unknown reason, unknown even to the employees of the Secretary of State's office cause I asked, they will not accept documents for authentication which come to them through the United States Postal Service. This request and it's accompanying documents must be shipped to the S. of S. office via UPS or Fed-Ex. Doesn't it just give you faith, as a U.S. citizen, in your postal service?

Then Nikki, Mara and I trecked to the Post Office to get some method of traceable postage to include so they could return my documents to me after they authenticate them. Next we headed to the UPS Store to ship it all out, where I found out I could have gotten the same traceable postage right there. (Guess I should have made one more phone call before I left home.) I made copies and very carefully addressed everything, loaded the documents, authentication requests and said traceable return envelope into the UPS envelope, paid my UPS fees and headed home feeling quite accomplished. That feeling lasted until I walked in the door and found the check to pay for the authentication service sitting on the counter. So as I drove back to the UPS Store, who unlike the USPS would find my packet for me and allow me to insert the check, I thanked the Lord that the Secretary of State's office doesn't trust the United States Postal Service.

Now if you aren't thoroughly confused by my description of this step of the process, you have either adopted a Chinese child or you could start your own adoption agency. I realize there is just no way to phrase this so it doesn't sound confusing. Because it IS confusing and I'm convinced purposely so. (I think this might be a test to see if we are as smart as the kids they plan to let us adopt.) The good news is that you don't need to understand and I don't need to remember because this is the last time we will be going down this road. I think.

One more baby step finished. We'll be headed to China in no time.

One small step. . .

I started some of our paperwork yesterday and got it off in today's mail. While we have plenty of time to get this dossier done before CCAI will ship it out, I just wanted to get something moving. I got Jeff''s birth certificate off on it's rounds. Because he was born in Nebraska, his BC has to be verified there and then travel to Washington D.C. for Condoleeza Rice to say, "yep, that person who signed off on this in Nebraska is a real live human being and we say they are okay." Why Nebraska needs this extra step, I'm a bit unclear, something about having forms stolen dozens of years ago or some such thing. I don't get it, but haven't we always known Nebraska is, well, just a little "special." (Just kidding, you know we love all you transplanted Huskers fans.) Anyway, this process took awhile last time so I thought I'd get it moving again.

I also got our I600-A and the first large chunk of money in the mail for the USCIS to begin their magic. Monday we will get our request for a criminal background check into the CBI. We need this for both adoptions. Our county says we must prove we haven't been on a crime spree since February of 2004, (when we had a background check for our first paper chase,) before they will allow Mara's adoption to be finalized and issue her a birth certificate. It will be very good to have all of her paperwork done, finally.

So we are on our way--China here we come--again!

Ready to Roll

"Welcome back! Congratulations, your application has been approved." I just got this e-mail! But I had already received a phone call from CCAI telling me that they had finally gotten our third reference in the mail today and everything was good to go! I just love how personal CCAI is and the excitement with which they share each little baby step with us. Amazing people.

Along with the e-mail came a bunch of info to read and some stuff we can get started on--FINALLY. I'm so excited to begin some real work towards the dossier. Still three weeks to orientation, so no way I'm going to wait around till then to get everything going.

Let the games begin!

Mara's Big Day

Today is Mara's second birthday, or at least what some unknown doctor designated as the day to mark the anniversary of her birth. Because Mara was not abandoned within a day or two of birth as many Chinese babies are, her age had to be guessed by virtue of her size, looks and developmental clues. I know I will always wonder just how close that doctor came to the true date of birth but it really doesn't matter. What matters is that a wonderful but heartbroken couple gave up their sweet baby girl on October 12, hoping, I'm sure, that she would one day find her way into the hearts and lives of a loving family. And she has indeed.

We know they were wonderful because our daughter is bright, charming and beautiful. We know they must have been heartbroken because we also know the unbearable pain that comes with the loss of a child. So many times today thoughts of that couple, most especially Samara's birth mother, have dwelt strongly on my mind and I have wept more than once. We will never know under just what circumstances they found it necessary to abandon their baby but I know it had to be something unavoidable to find the strength to take such a step so their child could have a chance at a better life.

I often pray they will somehow know that she is safe, happy and very loved, that she has found a forever family that feels a bond as if she was born into our lives just as our biological children. Knowing that will not take away the pain for them, because I know Kelsey is safe and happy with our Lord, but I still ache to hold her in my arms, see her beautiful smile and talk with her as I once could. But there is peace in knowing that your child is not suffering or struggling and that life is enormously better than what she could have hoped for where she was.

I wish I could thank them for the incredible joy we have because of their loss. It seems so wrong that our joy is the product of their sadness, but that is the simple reality. It makes me hope that somehow, someone in this world has a better life, a better understanding of God's love and power because they knew our Kelsey and watched her incredible strength in her last months. Maybe there is joy somewhere that is a product of our sadness.

This evening Samara found out what an American birthday celebration is all about. Cakes and candles, singing and presents. Lots and lots of presents! She giggled with joy throughout the evening and we all giggled right along with her. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the celebration which was half the fun for Mara. And she had all the fries and "chalkawalk" she could handle. (Chocolate milk.) Because she enjoys nothing more than a huge order of fries, Dad brought home McDonald's for dinner. A little unorthodox for our family, but the kids traditionally choose their own birthday dinner fare. After opening and playing with her huge pile of gifts, (okay so we all got a little carried away,) she dug into the Sesame Street cake complete with Elmo and Big Bird. Life doesn't get much better than this for a two-year-old. It wasn't easy getting her to settle down and go to bed but when she finally did her favorite gift, the Build-a-Bear Workshop special edition Elmo from her big sisters, was right there beside her asking for hugs at the push of a button.

It was a great day and we look forward to many more in the future. None will be quite so special as this first one, however. We thank God for the incredible blessing he has given us in Samara. She has brought more joy into this household in the last 6 months than I thought I'd see for the rest of my life. I apologize, sort of, for the sloppy sentimentality, but there just isn't any other way to express what this gift means to us. Happy Birthday, sweet, sweet girl. We love you!

I love this Birthday thing!

Still Waiting

We're still waiting on our references. Hmm. . .you guys having trouble deciding if we can handle another one?

I keep thinking I'll take some time to revamp all of our petitions, financial statement, etc. so that I will have something done. But then I figure there's no hurry so I put it off in favor of checking out another forum or looking for that elusive something I just can't live without on Ebay. I can't wait to get moving on something substantial but I know from our last adoption process that God has his timing and this dossier will land in China, on the right desk, in his time and NOT ours.

Meanwhile in other family news, Katelynn returned safely from her trip to Peru this morning. Praise the Lord she is home safely and had a great time doing the Lord's work. Jeff returned home yesterday after 5 days in Boston to find he had a major repair to do on the sprinkler system to keep our lawn from expiring in this extreme heat wave we are going through. Nikki finally quit a job that was much too part-time for her and is searching for a new one. And we are all getting ready to celebrate Mara's second birthday on Monday. We can't help but think this is probably the first time she will have any sort activity celebrating her birth. Quite exciting for all of us!

Quick Turnaround

Wow, yesterday we got an e-mail from CCAI telling us that our application looked great and that once they have our personal references we can be officially approved. Last time that was a quick process as well, so we should be on our way soon.

All Colorado families must attend a second orientation which won't occur until August 13th. We won't be given a new dossier guide until a short time before that. I assume everything is pretty much the same, but I'm a little leery of rule changes, so I probably won't do too much with our documents until we get that guide. I know we have until December, but it would still feel good to get things moving just in case we end up with some huge, unexpected snag along the way. Oh well, God's timing!

On the up side, we have our first appointment to work on the homestudy update and we have all the copies of birth and marriage certificates ready to go for certification on a moment's notice--including Jeff's from the notoriously slow state of Nebraska. And best of all, we have a much better understanding of the entire process now. I know I've forgotten lots, but I don't feel nearly as intimidated this time around.

Nikki, Jeff, Laurie, Samara and Katelynn

This is my first attempt at blogging and I expect to make many mistakes. Please bear with me as I learn how this is done.

We started our first adoption journey with many doubts and fears but with the knowledge that it was God's idea and plan. Most were very supportive when they heard of our plans but we also weathered many skeptical reactions along the way. We still get some pretty strange looks when we are all out together, but now that Samara has joined us, we have absolutely no doubts that adoption was right for our family.

The original decision to adopt always included plans to adopt two children so that we would not be raising a virtual only child. With Katelynn already in college and Nikki not far behind, we figured this little girl would need a sister closer to her own age. It took us all of Gotcha Day to know Samara was a perfect match for our family and we have all adjusted seamlessly to having this new family member in our household. All that remained was to determine the timing of our second adoption.

After much prayer and an assessment of our financial ability to do this again so quickly, we decided we will bring home another daughter as soon as possible. Our agency, Chinese Children's Adoption International, CCAI, says we may not begin the journey until we have been home for 6 months. That is TODAY and our application will be hand-delivered by Jeff before the close of business this afternoon. Assuming our application is accepted, we will have a bit less than 6 months to complete our dossier if it is to be in China the first day they will accept it, December 28, 2005. (China requires one year from the date Samara's adoption was finalized by them before they will accept another dossier.)

So here we go climbing on the roller coaster again, this time with much less trepidation and doubt and with great excitement to meet the little girl God has planned to bring into our family next. We invite you to join us for this journey and we so appreciate all of your support. We also ask for your prayers for all of us, including our yet-to-be daughter, as we once again work our way through this process.