Katelynn's Big Day

I'm feeling a little old tonight but also very happy and proud. Thanks to God's guidance Jeff and I have managed to navigate one child through her teen years and safely out the other side. Katelynn turned 20 today! Not only did she come out in one piece, but quite successfully in my humble opinion.

Katelynn is a senior in college this year working on an accounting degree at the University of Colorado. Her tenacity in taking the most difficult classes throughout her school years has never flagged and she continues to find new avenues in which to stretch her mind. For example, this semester she is taking Chinese so she will be ready for either an internship or a semester of study in China next summer. (And, of course, teach Mara a bit of Chinese along the way, I hope.)

Katelynn has a passion for sharing the Lord in very practical ways. Her favorite is to go on missions trips that focus on service in under-privileged communities, though this summer she joined a team that ministered one-on-one sharing the gospel, but again in a very poor community in Peru. She took on a new challenge this fall as a mentor for a group of teen girls in Boulder. She is my prayer partner for a great little guy I tutor through our church's Kid's Hope program. She has done hours of volunteer service in Boulder for those needing help with handicapped or young children. In short, she quietly allows the Lord to shine through her by serving others in any way God asks.

And Katelynn does all of this while she supports herself and pays for her own college. (Okay, so she has a few student loans, but who doesn't?) It hasn't always been easy and every once in awhile she has to ask for a little help, but by working full-time during the summer months and part-time during the school year she manages to provide rent, board, vehicle maintenance and fuel, tuition and books by herself.

Since Katelynn once again became a big sister, she has proved herself ready to be a mother, though I certainly hope it will be a few years before that happens! She is wonderful with Samara and has earned a special place in that little girl's heart. They are great friends and Mara certainly misses her when she is in "Bowder."

Actually, we all miss you when you are in Boulder, Katy. I'm so proud that you are my daughter and I thank the Lord daily for the blessing that you are to our family. Keep growing in the Lord and living in his will. I love you!

Now We're Gettin' Somewhere

Woo Hoo! I feel like we are actually making some real strides now. Yesterday we went to Denver for our fingerprints. These go to Immigration (USCIS) as a piece of the I-171H puzzle. (I'm sure you remember that this is--altogether now--"the holy grail of the Chinese adoption community.") Mara had to get up at 6 a.m. to go with us as we wanted to be there when the office opened. (Jeff had a 9 a.m. meeting he hoped to make.) She was chipper and friendly all the way down which was amazing considering she was awake at 11:45 the night before when I went to bed. Sadly on the way home her on again, off again car sickness reared it's ugly head.

I also finally received word yesterday from the doctor that my most recent blood test was O.K. He immediately filled out my paperwork and we e-mailed it to Myra, the social worker, last night. She assures me that the home study will be sent to the Adoption Alliance for review in less than a week. From there it goes to the USCIS for, yes, the holy grail. (That is so much easier to type than I-171H--try it!)

Jeff WAS going to take all of our dossier documents to Denver today for notarizing at the agency and then to the Secretary of State for certification. However, when I came out this morning, 90 minutes after his departure, there sat the nice, neat stack of documents with all of his careful notes to himself on procedure on top. This is only an issue in that he has so much travel this month that he was not going to be back in Denver for almost two weeks--not during business hours anyway. But he has decided to forego some "boring" meetings in Estes on Friday and go take care of all the adoption stuff then spend the rest of the day working on a "more important" project at the office. I know he is just being nice so that I don't have to take a trip to Denver with Mara in tow, but I think I'll let him do it anyway. Thanks honey!

We are getting close to where we can sit back and wait for the USCIS to do their job. The only thing we are waiting on, besides the home study, is a copy of Jeff's birth certificate to arrive from Nebraska. (I know, you are saying to yourselves, I thought that was all done. Nope, this is another copy of the B. C. for the USCIS. That one was for the dossier which goes to China.) I had this piece until a few weeks ago when I cavalierly allowed Jeff to take it to Weld County with a file of stuff for Mara's Court Validation with the comment, "oh I can get another one real fast--last time it came in three days." Famous last words; we've been waiting 10 days now. God will get his way on timing no matter what! But that's okay. Look who he gave us last time. She is definitely worth the extra month my lack of attention cost us during her adoption.

Well, that is the adoption update for today. I'm not sure what I'm going to be putting in this journal during our 6+ months we wait for referral after our dossier hits China. But I'll find something to go on and on about. Succinct I am not! Thanks for checking in anyway.

Just For You Katelynn

A certain daughter of mine has been whining that I don't update my blog often enough. So, Katelynn, tonight I'm sitting down here to do this even though I'm really tired and have had a very long day and really just want to go to bed. See how much I love you? Actually, I'm just kidding. She is right and I don't sit down to do this often enough. Mostly cause things aren't moving super fast and there isn't much to say about our "paperchase."

We did go to orientation on Saturday, finally. Our agency wasn't very happy about us missing the assigned orientation in August due to our California trip. Of course, that could have because we totally forgot to call and tell them we wouldn't be there. The presentation itself was a bit tedious since I've already accomplished most of what they were explaining to us about our dossier and since we've been through the process once already. However, we really enjoyed the opportunity to visit with Kristi Kloenne from our travel group who is also starting adoption number 2. We are so excited to have Kristi and Jeff going through the process at the same time we are. It would be a blast to travel with them again, but what are the odds?

We also had our last visit with our social worker for our home study update before the orientation. She will finish up our update and send it on it's appointed rounds as soon as I get positive blood tests back. We are hoping that will happen late this week and she can be done next week. This is really the last piece of our dossier that we have even an ounce of control over. After that we rely on government bureaucracies to finish the process for us. When we get this report we can take everything to be notarized and then for certification and authentication. That can all be happening while we wait for the USCIS to decide if we are still sound candidates for parenting. Sounds like a lot, but it is mostly just waiting from here on out.

It seems that Mara has suddenly moved to a new level of language ability. She has begun to answer our questions appropriately rather than just repeat the last word we have said to her. Suddenly communication is so much easier! She has also taken up another very charming habit, that of wandering around the house singing. I have no idea what she is singing but it is very pleasant. What a happy little girl she is. We are so thankful that God has blessed her (all of us really) with such a successful bonding and adjustment to her new life and family.

Nikki is quite busy with her senior year. She has an "extended essay" to complete for her IB program which is quite the big deal. (It seems like a regular old "term paper" from my high school days, but is presented in a much more ominous fashion to IB candidates.) She also must complete 150 CAS hours (creativity, action and service,) another requirement of IB which I'd love to explain better but I simply don't understand so I'll leave it at that. She successfully auditioned for Spartones, the school's jazz choir and hopes to win a role in the upcoming school musical. Homecoming is this Saturday and she plans to attend with friends. Yep, typical Nikki schedule!

Katelynn is busy at CU with both classes and job. She is taking Chinese along with her business classes and it sounds HARD! But good preparation for a Chinese business internship she is longing to do in the next year or so. She has a job in the dorms again this year but it is in a convenience shop for students rather than straight food service like the past two years. Sounds more interesting to me, hopefully she is enjoying it as much as a college job can be enjoyed.

Jeff is still trying to finish up the yard before winter hits. He has finished a really cool playset for Mara and single-handedly put up a great fence. (Well, actually Nikki helped him manuever the equipment for the digging of post holes--thanks Nikki!) The weeds are mostly gone and landscape cloth has taken their place awaiting their coverings of mulch and stone. We still hope to get a few trees in before fall is over. It WILL be done someday.

Well, that's our lives these days. See why I don't update Katelynn? Not much to say. We continue to ask for your prayers as we complete the dossier process and for our little girl in China. If we receive a child similar to Mara's age at referral, she would be 6 months old already. Isn't that strange to think about?

One is Done!

Okay, so remember that Birth Certificate of Jeff's that I started on it's rounds July 23rd? It has finally arrived back in my hands with all it's pretty little certification and authentication pages attached. It is ready to go to China! I was glad to have it safely in my hands but it seems like a very small thing in light of all the things that still must be done and are out of my hands!

Our social worker was up last weekend, mostly to chat with Nikki and make sure she is on board for this whole thing. Now we have only one more meeting with her on the 10th to be finished with our home study update. She said she should be able to finish it up very shortly thereafter and we can get moving on the BIG item, our approval to once again be parents from the USCIS who will issue the much sought after I-171H Document. You will be hearing lots about that particular item as is the biggest piece of the puzzle. (USCIS is the most recent reincarnation of what we've always known as the INS--Immigration.)

There has been one glitch in the proceedings that will hold us up for hopefully only a week or so. I forgot how easily I become anemic when I don't take regular iron supplements. I apparently inherited this tendency from my mother who has struggled with it for years. Last time we adopted I was so anemic when I had my physical that it caused the doctor to hear a heart murmer! He dosed me up with iron for three weeks and I was back in the normal range. So this time around I should have started on the supplements weeks ago but forgot! When I had my blood test last week, sure enough, I am pretty low on my red blood count, though not as bad as last time. So I am once again taking mega doses of iron with the hopes that it will only take the three weeks to get back to normal again. Since the doctor can't sign off on the physical until the blood tests are clear, this will mean our home study update can't be formally finished until I give her a clean bill of health. Please pray I get back to normal as quickly as last time!

Mara had her 2-year well child checkup this week. She is quite healthy! Finally she has grown a little, not quite an inch in height and about 2 pounds in weight. She has matured so much since her last visit in March. Then she cried all the way through her visit. This time she was happy and curious for almost all of the time we were there. She didn't talk to the doctor but she didn't shy away from him either. She let him do all the things he needed to do without one fuss. As we were leaving she spied a skeleton in the next exam room and wouldn't leave until she had the opportunity to check it out. That sounds gruesome doesn't it? Of course, it is just one of those learning tools, not a real skeleton, and it had sunglasses on which intrigued her greatly. She took hold of it's hand, cocked her head to one side and said "hi baby" just like she does to her stuffed animals and dolls. I've always thought skeletons are creepy so her very matter of fact attitude cracked me up. Maybe she's destined to be a doctor.

We have orientation next Saturday and we were so excited to hear from another couple who traveled to China with us last time that they have also decided to adopt again. They are a Denver couple so will be at the orientation with us! It would be so neat if God put us in the same travel group again. Not only would we love to spend the time with them again, but it would be fun to have both of our children have friends from the same orphanages living so close.

This week we are very saddened by the disaster in the Gulf Coast area caused by Hurricane Katrina. It is hard to believe the circumstances have become so desperate in a U.S. city. I have become aware that while I expect to hear these types of tales from disasters in third world countries I never expect to hear such sad stories within our borders. It is humbling to realize it can happen here. We were very relieved to hear that two families from our travel group that live in affected areas of Mississippi are safe and have food and water. They went without power for a few days and have some damage to their homes, but nothing major in relative terms. Still waiting to hear from Mark and Jacqui, assuming they are okay in the northern part of Alabama.

Can't believe it is September! I don't like winter so I'm not so happy when fall starts bearing down on us. Even worse, it is time to look at my finances for the month and pay some bills. I really hate that. So I better quit playing around on here and get busy. Onward and upward!