Nearer to Noelle: Family Time

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Family Time

Last night was our first good night's sleep! YAY!. Maybe we're finally putting the jet lag behind us. Or maybe yesterday just wore us out. We visited two government offices before lunch, had lunch in our hotel room (NOT a relaxing experience), and got quick naps before rushing out to catch the group's bus to go shopping. After another not-relaxing dinner with three other families we were exhausted at the end of the day. We really enjoy our time with the other families but dealing with two active girls will take some getting used to.
Emma got a full night's sleep and Noelle just kept on sleeping this morning even with Emma running around the room making noise. Some of the families are visiting their children's orphanages today or taking sight-seeing trips but we chose to enjoy having nothing to do. Nothing, that is, except doing laundry and caring for our two girls.

Tommorrow we will receive some documents from the Notary Office and visit the local aquarium. Friday we'll receive Noelle's passport and head to Guangzhou to get her U.S. visa before going home.

1 comment:

TraciMarch 14, 2012 at 3:44 AM
We all looked at your posts this morning before school and the consensus is Noelle is "sweet, adorable, cute and brought a round of "awwwww's" when the pictures pulled up! The girls look like they are enjoying each other.
So glad to see you all together!! Much love to you all.
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Our Journey

We began the adoption process in October, 2006, and were approved by China on April 4th, 2007. At the time, we were expecting to travel to China in the summer of 2008. Little did we know...

While we were preparing to submit our application to the Chinese authorities, China announced big changes in the qualifications for adoptive parents; new restrictions on age, weight, and health. There was a flood of applications from people trying to be approved before the new restrictions went in to effect. What we didn't know was that China also greatly reduced the number of healthy children available for adoption.

The effect of these changes only slowly became clear to us. In the summer of 2010 we learned that, at current rates, we could be waiting another 10 years to receive a healthy child. A 14 year wait!?

So we decided to look into adopting a "special needs" child. We received counseling on special needs from a nurse practitioner who specializes in adoption, then had our home study changed to reflect our desire for a special-needs child and resubmitted our application, not expecting to hear back from China for another year or so. Imagine our suprise when when we were offered Liu Dan only six months later!

The time since then has seemed an eternity. After receiving a few medical records and photos, the flow of information stopped and now we wonder constantly how she's doing.

Our adoption approval from U.S.C.I.S expired (again!) and needed to be renewed. This process should have taken only about 60 days but took much longer. We had to get new fingerprints taken but Ann's new prints were rejected by the USCIS, twice! How long could this drag on while Liu Dan was sitting in an orphanage?

Then, suddenly (or so it seemed), everything started coming together and what seemed an eternity was now 1 1/2 weeks! OMG! Lots to do! That's the point where we created this blog.

I don't know how much free time we'll have in China but sincerely hope that we can share the trials and excitement of each day. Thanks to all our friends and family for investing the time to keep up with us. Those of you awaiting an adoption, you are welcome to contact us. We would love to be a resource for you as so many have been toward us.

Come along with us

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Family Time

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