So the next step in making this little girl our daughter is to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI). The LOI is written to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and in it you tell them why you want to adopt this specific little girl. They want to know why you want her, what you know about her condition, what research you have done on the condition, the treatment plan for her, how you plan to pay for the expenses involved, the support network available to you and how your existing children feel about her.
The LOI is supposed to be a paragraph to one page, but needless to say, ours was 2 pages long! So after a little editing, we sent the letter to our adoption agency on Monday. It was translated to Chinese and sent to the CCAA along with our family pictures on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.
In the next 3 weeks, we should receive a pre-approval letter indicating the CCAA's acknowledgment that we intend to adopt her. In the meantime, we need to update our home study report, again, specific to this little girl and her condition and send to the U.S. Immigration Office. You have to get an I171-h form from Immigration in order to bring a foreign born orphan into the United States. Once we have this form, it is sent to the U.S. Consulate office in China and the CCAA. After that, the CCAA sends us a formal Letter of Acceptance and then our Travel Visa! This whole process could take 8-12 weeks, so we still have some waiting to do.
In the meantime, we have been busying ourselves with converting the spare bedroom/office/game room/Kathy's room/Karen's room, into the Baby's room! Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE to decorate, so it is on! I sold the sofa-sleeper and dresser in 1 day and our end table found a home at Auntie Sharon's house. Chris has already begun to prep the room for paint and the crib and dresser should be here by Friday. This past weekend Mom and I went and did some shopping and bought lots of girly clothes and a diaper bag. It was sooooo much fun! I'll post pictures of the Nursery when it is done as well as when we receive our pre-approval. It's 8:30 p.m right now here in San Diego and while we are settling down for the evening, our daughter is getting ready for lunch. Can't wait until all 5 of us are settling down for the night. . . . . .
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
We Have a Daughter!
Yep, it's true!
We received the call from our adoption agency yesterday at around 11:30 a.m. letting us know that they had a special needs baby for us. She is 11 months old and has congenital cleft lip and palate. For those of you not familiar with this condition, a cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the lip and a cleft palate is is an opening in the roof of the mouth in which the two sides of the palate did not fuse, or join together, as the unborn baby was developing.
In the United States, clefts occur in 1 in 700 to 1,000 births, making it one of the most common major birth defects. Clefts occur more often in kids of Asian, Latino, or Native American descent. The good news is that both cleft lip and cleft palate are treatable. Most kids born with these can have reconstructive surgery within the first 12 to 18 months of life to correct the defect. Our daughter (Wow, that sounded cool!) has not had surgery, for which we are grateful. Some of the best Pediatric Plastic Surgeons, specializing in the repair of clefts are right here in San Diego. We can't wait to bring her home! Click on the link to Operation Smile on the left to learn more about this condition.
Here are just a few of the things in her developmental report:
We received the call from our adoption agency yesterday at around 11:30 a.m. letting us know that they had a special needs baby for us. She is 11 months old and has congenital cleft lip and palate. For those of you not familiar with this condition, a cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the lip and a cleft palate is is an opening in the roof of the mouth in which the two sides of the palate did not fuse, or join together, as the unborn baby was developing.
In the United States, clefts occur in 1 in 700 to 1,000 births, making it one of the most common major birth defects. Clefts occur more often in kids of Asian, Latino, or Native American descent. The good news is that both cleft lip and cleft palate are treatable. Most kids born with these can have reconstructive surgery within the first 12 to 18 months of life to correct the defect. Our daughter (Wow, that sounded cool!) has not had surgery, for which we are grateful. Some of the best Pediatric Plastic Surgeons, specializing in the repair of clefts are right here in San Diego. We can't wait to bring her home! Click on the link to Operation Smile on the left to learn more about this condition.
Here are just a few of the things in her developmental report:
- She was born on September 14, 2008 - both of our boys were born on the 14th. Dylan-August 14th, Dustin-October 14th. Now we will have August, September, and October babies! She weighed 8lbs. 8oz. and was 19 inches long.
- She was found abandoned on October 14, 2008 - Dustin's B-day. She was brought to the local orphanage after being found, but shortly after, placed in a foster home where she has obviously flourished despite her cleft lip and palate as she is a beautiful, chunky baby, weighing 18 pounds!
- Her name is Dang Xin Ju- we had always planned on naming our daughter Dani - so close!
- She learned to roll over when she was 4 months old and could sit up byherself at 7 months. She wakes up at 6:00 a.m and goes to bed at 9:00 p.m. She takes three to four naps a day (Yes!) for about a half an hour to an hour. She especially likes to play outside.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Happy Anniversary!
This morning I sent Chris a text message, letting him know that today marks 21 months since our dossier was logged in with the China Center for Adoption Affairs. 2 hours later we got "THE CALL"! I can't go into too much detail right now, but check back tomorrow for a possible announcement. Until then, below is an ancient Chinese legend . . . . .
"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,regardless of time, place, or circumstance.The thread may stretch or tangle,but it will never break."
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
So Why China?
This is the question Chris and I are asked the most. After making the decision to adopt, we really only considered two options - Local or China. I had always been interested in adopting from China primarily because I am one-quarter Chinese (see picture below of me and Grandma). After researching China's adoption process however, we learned that China is the #1 country for international adoption. This is due in part because the process is very regulated, and void of the corruption of some other countries, the babies tend to be healthier than other countries, and let's not forget the well publicized plight of girls in China. When it came down to it for Chris and I we considered all of those factors plus the fact that Chinese girls are just so damn cute! 
In all seriousness, the decision to adopt from China became not only about adding a daughter to our family, but also about providing a forever family to a little girl who might otherwise spend a great deal of her life in an orphanage. There are people who will argue that there are plenty of children here who need homes and all I can say is that adoption is a very serious and deeply personal decision. Adopting from China is the decision that was right for our family. Below is another picture of my Grandma in Honolulu as a little girl.
Let's try this again . . . .
OK, for those who remember my first attempt at a family blog, I'm giving it another try. Most of you know I left my crazy, stressful management position last November (great time to quit a job without a new one lined up!), and am now working at The Scripps Research Institute. This was a change for the better, not only for myself, but for the entire family.
So here I go again, documenting our family life and specifically, our journey to add a daughter to our family through adoption from China. A bit of background information to get everyone up to speed:
December 2006: Chris and I decided to take the plunge and adopt a girl from China (I'll detail why China in a future post)
January 2007: After researching various "China only" adoption agencies, we selected an adoption agency and submitted an application.
February 2007: Received approval from the adoption agency (Chinese Children Adoption International) and started the task of completing the necessary paperwork. In the adoption-world this is called the "paper chase" and it took us 9 months to complete (sometimes having to re-do forms 2 and 3 times until they were perfect!) and submit to our adoption agency for translation and submission to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). This is the government agency in China that handles adoption. The final paper work submitted is called your "dossier".
November 19, 2007: Received our log-in date (LID) from the CCAA. This is the date that all who are adopting from China live by. China processes adoptions in date order. . . kinda like taking a number at the deli counter and waiting for your number to be called.
When we applied to our adoption agency and began the paper chase, the wait was approximately 18 - 24 months from the time you receive your log-in date from China, until the day you are matched with a baby. When we finished all of our paper work and submitted to China, the wait was up to 36 months. There are a few reasons the wait increased, but the primary reason was that in May 2007, China changed the requirements for potential adoptive parents. While there were several changes, the main ones were age and the exclusion of single parents. Thousands of people scrambled to get their paper work submitted prior to the change in regulations. More on requirements in a later post.
March 2008: Realizing that statistically we are looking at a 3 - 5 year wait (and some argue longer) until we are matched with a child, I began researching the Waiting Child program with our adoption agency. China maintains a list of children waiting to be adopted that it deems "not fit" for adoption through the traditional program due to "special needs." These can be things such as age (older children are rarely adopted) to minor medical conditions such as a birthmark on the face to very severe medical conditions, such as spina bifida. After extensive discussion and research on certain medical conditions, Chris and I submitted our medical conditions checklist (basically a checklist of medical conditions that you are willing to accept, would possibly accept or would definitely not accept in a child) to the Waiting Child program in addition to remaining in the "traditional" adoption program.
That brings us to the present day. Having been in the Waiting Child program for over a year and a half, we know that we are essentially "at the top of the list" and could get "the call" from our agency any day now, telling us that they have a little girl that falls within the parameters that we specified on our medical conditions checklist. For those of you who know me REALLY well, you know that I am borderline OCD (self-diagnosed, but unanimously confirmed by Chris, Dustin and Dylan) and the wait is driving me crazy (possibly literally)! Thus, I need something to do with my time so that I don't go completely insane, drive my family crazy and spend all of our money! Hence, the Blog. I will try to update at least a couple of times a week with random family updates, information on China Adoption and once we get "the call", the next steps in our roller-coaster adoption journey!
So here I go again, documenting our family life and specifically, our journey to add a daughter to our family through adoption from China. A bit of background information to get everyone up to speed:
December 2006: Chris and I decided to take the plunge and adopt a girl from China (I'll detail why China in a future post)
January 2007: After researching various "China only" adoption agencies, we selected an adoption agency and submitted an application.
February 2007: Received approval from the adoption agency (Chinese Children Adoption International) and started the task of completing the necessary paperwork. In the adoption-world this is called the "paper chase" and it took us 9 months to complete (sometimes having to re-do forms 2 and 3 times until they were perfect!) and submit to our adoption agency for translation and submission to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). This is the government agency in China that handles adoption. The final paper work submitted is called your "dossier".
November 19, 2007: Received our log-in date (LID) from the CCAA. This is the date that all who are adopting from China live by. China processes adoptions in date order. . . kinda like taking a number at the deli counter and waiting for your number to be called.
When we applied to our adoption agency and began the paper chase, the wait was approximately 18 - 24 months from the time you receive your log-in date from China, until the day you are matched with a baby. When we finished all of our paper work and submitted to China, the wait was up to 36 months. There are a few reasons the wait increased, but the primary reason was that in May 2007, China changed the requirements for potential adoptive parents. While there were several changes, the main ones were age and the exclusion of single parents. Thousands of people scrambled to get their paper work submitted prior to the change in regulations. More on requirements in a later post.
March 2008: Realizing that statistically we are looking at a 3 - 5 year wait (and some argue longer) until we are matched with a child, I began researching the Waiting Child program with our adoption agency. China maintains a list of children waiting to be adopted that it deems "not fit" for adoption through the traditional program due to "special needs." These can be things such as age (older children are rarely adopted) to minor medical conditions such as a birthmark on the face to very severe medical conditions, such as spina bifida. After extensive discussion and research on certain medical conditions, Chris and I submitted our medical conditions checklist (basically a checklist of medical conditions that you are willing to accept, would possibly accept or would definitely not accept in a child) to the Waiting Child program in addition to remaining in the "traditional" adoption program.
That brings us to the present day. Having been in the Waiting Child program for over a year and a half, we know that we are essentially "at the top of the list" and could get "the call" from our agency any day now, telling us that they have a little girl that falls within the parameters that we specified on our medical conditions checklist. For those of you who know me REALLY well, you know that I am borderline OCD (self-diagnosed, but unanimously confirmed by Chris, Dustin and Dylan) and the wait is driving me crazy (possibly literally)! Thus, I need something to do with my time so that I don't go completely insane, drive my family crazy and spend all of our money! Hence, the Blog. I will try to update at least a couple of times a week with random family updates, information on China Adoption and once we get "the call", the next steps in our roller-coaster adoption journey!
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