So have your documents been sent to China yet?

Thanks for asking! 

It could be worse....

We haven't had the greatest adoption paperwork week. We had some setbacks that aren't worth going into detail about, but were ridiculous and hopefully they are taken care of. Still no idea when our documents will FINALLY get to China, but in the interest of having a more positive attitude I decided to look up animals that have a longer gestation period than our adoption is taking. We started our paperwork in November 2012 so we're going on about 8 months and as shown below, it could definitely be worse!

1. Giraffes: 13-16 months, plus they give birth standing up and their babies have to survive the fall to the ground!

2. Manatees: 13 months

I especially love the look on the mama manatee's face as her baby is attempting to eat her arm.
Ahh the joys of parenthood!

3. Dolphins: 17-19 months

4. Elephants: 22-24 months

And finally the longest gestation period I could find (according to professor Google) is the frilled shark with a gestation period of 3.5 years. Seriously, 3.5 years???
Also, frilled sharks are really funky looking animals so I have substituted a picture that won't terrify young children.

So hopefully this post has given us all (mostly Brian and I) a little perspective.
We will return to regularly scheduled blogging when our file is finally on it's way to China!

Stuff we love

Hey all! Sorry for the lack of posts! 

As a change of pace, I thought I would show you some things for the new kiddo that we love. 

We have been really trying to hold off on buying much stuff until we are matched, but it is getting harder and harder the closer we get! 

We have received a lot of great gifts so far for our kiddo and wanted to give a big thank you!

 We REALLY appreciate the love! 

This carrier is very comfortable and will get a lot of use as we have been told that carrying our kiddo helps with attachment. Here's hoping our kid will be as light and easy going as the panda!

Source
This little puppy is the perfect size to bring to China (packing for this trip will be a whole post itself, I can't even imagine how hard that will be!). Plus with every purchase a donation is made to a rescue shelter. We have always been big advocates of pet adoption and hope to pass this passion on to our child. 

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Along the same lines, anyone in my family can tell you that I had a teddy bear obsession collection when I was young and I have several sizes of this Gund bear that I still can't seem to get rid of (even though they are missing eyes and are obviously falling apart well loved). 
So our baby definitely needs a Gund of his/her own (mostly because I don't share well)!

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Brian bought me this necklace for Mother's Day and I can't even explain how much I love it.
 I love the cut out of China, I love the saying underneath (I searched the world for you) and I love how the saying is a little hidden because our journey to our child is so personal and special. 

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I love this quilt (obviously with China instead of Africa)! It will make a great first comforter for them, as well as a beautiful keepsake for the future. 

Check back soon for more updates! Our documents are in their final stages of being sent around to various consulates around the US and will hopefully be on their way to China in the next few weeks! Once our documents are "logged in" we will officially be eligible to be matched with a child. Can't wait!

Where's Waldo?

Now that our I-800A approval is back, our dossier (aka our entire life in a stack of papers) needs to go through a few steps before it goes to China. I recently asked our coordinator where everything goes and Brian made a little visual.

Makes perfect sense, right?? 

So our paperwork could be in any one of those cities as we speak.

Hopefully they will be heading along the red arrow by the end of June! 

Watch out for the next step, its a doozy!

Remember this picture and this post?

Well look at it now!

Yay for check marks!

That final checkmark for the I-800A was done on Saturday when we received this document:

If you can read the tiny writing, it does say that we are approved for 2 children. We are open to twins or siblings, but the chances of it happening with Chinese adoption are incredibly rare, so don't get too excited.

Yes my friends, that means that we are OFFICIALLY done with the paperchasing portion of this adoption! Yes there are lots of papers to be filed once we are matched, but I think the excitement of being matched and finally getting to see a little face that is ours (and FINALLY being able to shop!) will take over and it will feel completely different than this past 7 months has felt. 

So what's next?

The most exciting part! Our dossier is being sent (hopefully today) to be translated and certified. Not sure how long that will take, could be a few weeks, could be a month, but once that is done our documents are sent to our agency's coordinator in China and they will take them to be officially logged in. Once we are logged in we will be eligible to be matched from the shared list (list of kids that are ready to be adopted) that comes out once a month. We are hopeful that we will be eligible for matching with the June shared list, but it's possible that the July list will be our first chance. Either way we are just happy to be looking towards the end of this part of our journey and more than ready to start the next part knowing who our son or daughter is. 

P.S. Extra bonus points if you recognized where the title came from!

An update in 2 pictures

This conversation repeats about every other day, 

which is as often as I'm allowing myself to email them. 

We will let you know when the reply changes! 

Why we need our own reality show

We have been getting asked a lot lately about the show "The Little Couple" and what we think about it.
For those of you who don't know, The Little Couple are Jen Arnold and Bill Klein (You can learn more about them here or here.) They both have forms of dwarfism and are pretty amazing people. We have been fans of the show for a long time. They seem like really nice people and it's fun to watch how they adapt their lives to their small stature and don't let it become an excuse for not experiencing life. Their new season just started and the season premiere showed them deciding to pursue the adoption of a little Chinese boy with dwarfism.

First let me say, I love love love that they are showcasing special needs adoption and obviously adoption from China is near and dear to our hearts. My issue comes from the fact that it is a little frustrating to watch how "fast" their process is moving. I am well aware of the magic of reality tv and the need for things to move quickly to keep viewers' interest.
The thing is, although you all are very sweet to read our blog and wanting to know about our journey, the reality of adoption is it is A LOT of hurry up and wait. We have been at this for 7 months now and are still probably 5-8 months from getting to bring our child home. It would be nice if they hinted at how long this process actually takes and that even fame and camera crews cannot speed things up.

Their most recent episode showed them deciding to also adopt a little girl from India and in the blink of an eye they were decorating a room and they made it seem as though they would be able to just swing by India on their way home from China and pick her up too. So not true. As far as I can tell, they are now home with their son and they are still waiting to travel to India to bring her home. It sounds like it has been 8-9 months since that video clip where they first heard about her.
That my friends is the reality of the international adoption timeline.

So, we are really happy for Bill and Jen (yes we are on a first name basis. I'm sure they are reading this right now and wanting to become our BFFs) and thrilled that international adoption is getting some tv attention, but if TLC is looking for people to star in a series that truly shows all the waiting, sighing, paper cuts, many trips to the post office and large check writing that REALLY comes with international adoption, give us a call.
We'll be here by our phones. We've gotten really good at waiting.....