Hello! Well it is official... 2 weeks from now we will be on our way to China! Sometimes it seemed as though this day would never get here! As we look towards the upcoming trip, I just wanted to share a letter with you all that other adoptive families have used and which I felt was good information. At the end of the letter I have also added our own little note. We look forward to sharing this journey with you all!...

Dear Family and Friends,

As we prepare for the arrival of our daughter, we have learned that while decorating the nursery and stocking up on baby essentials is important, even more important is the emotional health of our baby. In her short life, our daughter will have gone through more changes and life altering experiences than most adults could handle. Imagine how much harder the changes will be for her. While she may not consciously remember the events, she will still experience immense loss, including feelings of grief and trauma. She's already experienced the loss of a birth family and will soon experience the loss of familiar and comforting caretakers as well as the sights, smells, and language of her birth country. Her world will turn upside down. She will struggle with feeling safe and secure and she may lack the ability to trust that we will meet her needs.

We have prepared to meet her emotional needs so that she does learn that we will always take care of her and we will always keep her safe. We need your support. In order to form a strong and healthy attachment we will allow her to regress so that she has the opportunity to go through all of the emotional stages with us despite her chronological age. Although it may appear that we are spoiling her, we have been advised that it is best that we meet every need quickly and consistently. Until she has learned that we are her parents, we will need to be her primary caretakers at all times. It is essential that we always hold her, feed her, and do all of the nurturing. You may wonder how long this will take, but the timeline is different for every child. We will follow her lead and trust our instincts as her parents rather than worry about what society expects.

We have all been waiting anxiously to bring Sadena home but she has not been waiting for us. She may show her grief and confusion in many ways and we are prepared to help her through it and prove that we are a forever family and this truly is her last stop. We trust that as our family and friends you will help us to do what is best for our daughter, and we thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

Many of you have asked about visiting and seeing us when we come home. Please know that we want to share Sadena with all who have prayed for her, and us, on this journey, but after a 26 hour plane ride from the other side of the world, what we will need most in the beginning is sleep and bonding time with Sadena for her to get used to her new environment and her new parents. Believe me when we are ready for visitors we will let you all know! There have been a few asking about the flight arrival to Orlando International. For those interested in these details you can contact my mother at: Brenda.Yates@HCAhealthcare.com and she will get back to you about it! We cannot wait to start our new life with our daughter and look forward in the coming weeks and months for her to get to know all of you, too!

Hello!! WooHoo!!! We leave for China on July 9th, 20 days to go! We will get Sadena on July 14th and return home on July 25th. Just a quick note to tell you all. Thanks for putting up with me! LOL!

Angie

Wahoo! Our TA (Travel Approval) was received at our agency today! They have requested some dates for our consulate appointment. As soon as they have confirmation of a date they will inform us of our travel dates. This is when everything kicks into high gear! LOL. We will keep you posted of the dates as soon as we hear!

Well it looks as though a new batch of referrals have arrived. They have made it to January 20th, 2006. We are still waiting for our TA (Travel Approval). There were rumors that some would be arriving this week and a few have trickled in but none for us as of yet. I cannot wait! I think the wait for TA is so much harder than the last 20 months because now we have a picture and I just want to bring our baby home! Well we have been staying busy - working and preparing the house and getting things ready for the trip.

We also had our 2nd baby shower at Yvette’s house, lots of fun! I hope the next update is about our TA! Until then, enjoy the warm summer days!

Well for those of you wondering... we received the LOA (Letter of Acceptance) and overnighted it back. I am including pics of it...

We were also able to send a care package over to Sadena. It cost $40.50 to ship it to China! Enclosed were lollipops for the kids, chocolate Kisses for the nannies, 3 outfits, a blanket, a soft doll, Minnie Mouse, 2 disposable cameras and a photo album with pictures of us and the dogs.

Yesterday we went to Monkey Joe's to celebrate Crystal’s 5th birthday!...

This will be the last birthday party for the kids until Sadena is home! Yeah!

Have a great Memorial Day and be safe!

Well it is with much excitement that we are able to say that we received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) yesterday, May 20th, 2008. I am up early this morning awaiting the FedEx man who will deliver the overnighted package with the official referral from the CCAA. After we receive that we will sign and overnight back and it will be returned to China on Friday. The agency thinks we will be looking at travel around the beginning of July! Can you believe it? She is finally coming home! We cannot wait. Now the excitement is in full swing with so much to do and now so little time! LOL!

The girls at work had a Chinese themed baby shower for me last night. It was awesome. Enjoy the pics!

We will keep you posted. The next step is travel approval...

Well it looks as though May's referrals arrived yesterday and the CCAA made it 3 more days to January 12th. This is so disappointing for families who are waiting. We are still waiting for the LOA (Letter of Acceptance) and today has been 10 days since LOI (Letter of Intent). It is anyone’s guess as to when it will arrive. We will keep you posted.

Today we received our PA (Pre-approval). Yes that is correct!! After only 5 days (and that included a weekend) we got word of the PA. Let's hope the length to the LOA (Letter of Acceptance) goes as quickly! We will keep you updated!

Yesterday was an average day for me. I had worked the night before and when I woke up I checked the phone for messages like I do every other day and there was a message from our agency asking for us to call them. I had no idea why they would be calling unless it was about some updated paperwork I had sent to them. Well, when Stephanie spoke with me they actually had called to tell me that they had a 14 month old little girl with a cleft lip and palate that they felt was a good match for our family. After some more info was given they e-mailed the file to us and let me tell you I think it was love at first sight. She has beautiful eyes. Then Mike had to check it out and we shared info with family and close friends. This morning I took the file to a local doctor to be checked out and he agreed that all looked well besides the cleft lip and palate and he said if it were him he would definitely proceed with the adoption. I then came home and called the agency and told them we were interested and that started a whole new whirlwind of things to be done. I met up with Mike to sign some forms and to have passport photos taken. I got everything they needed completed and sent back to them this afternoon.

So now you may be wondering what the process is? Well, we sent off our LOI (Letter of Intent) to adopt her to the agency today and it will be translated and sent to China on April 23rd, 2008. We then await our PA (Pre-approval) which has been coming in as short as just a couple of days. After that, the next step is waiting for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) where China sends a form stating they approve us for the child and we must sign and send back. The average I have seen for this is 20-45 days if you have already cleared the review room, which we have. After LOA we will be getting our TA (Travel Approval) and this is the info from China approving us to come and get her. This takes generally 2-6 weeks from LOA. Once we have this we can apply for our CA (Consulate Appointment) and when the agency has the date for this appointment we need to be in China approximately 12 days prior. The CA is the final thing in China to be completed at the United States Consulate.

So you may be wondering where the pictures are? Well, we are prohibited from posting them until after we receive a LOA. And are you also wondering when we will be going to China? The earliest will be June, and if not June, it may be after the Olympics. During August and parts of July the travel expenses will be astronomical.

Well I think that is it for now. We cannot wait for you all to meet her! Also, please remember that the raffle tickets are still available until May 23rd under the "Fundraising" section and we need to sell them now more than ever! Tell your friends if they are interested... LOL!

Well, here we are one month later and 5 days closer to our baby, Sadena... they referred through January 9th, 2006. I am trying so hard to stay positive. Some days are easier than others. Mike and I are staying busy and as you will see in the Fundraisers section, we will be staying busy in that way, too. I hope you all are having a great month. We have been sick again. Yuck! Hope next month is better. Until then enjoy a couple of pictures...

Guess what? We are finally into 2006! Yes that is correct. They have now referred through January 4th, 2006. Bring on the 2006 babies! Now I realize that October of 2006 is still eons away, but at least we are in the same year!

I hope you are all doing well! Until next month, enjoy a couple of pictures from this month!...

Here is a picture of me and Ali at the Chinese New Year celebration. Hard to believe she has been home 1 year already!

Here we are celebrating Annie’s 40th birthday, and a baby shower for our newest family member on the way, Jackson.

Hi friends and family! The latest update is that the CCAA has now approved the adoptions of Chinese orphans through December 27th, 2005. Yes that is correct! We are ALMOST to the year 2006! Hard to believe I know. Slowly but surely we are getting closer to our year! I thought I would share a little story I read on my friend's website... hope you all can find the humor in it as I did! Happy Chinese New Year!

"It's that time of month again... I don't mean PMS but PRS or "Pre-Referral Syndrome." This is a much more dangerous time of month than PMS is for most women, even worse than PMDD.

Typical Symptoms:
Women in the process of Chinese adoption will sit in front of their computers for days on end trying to find one tiny shred of fact regarding the latest LID cut-off or actual date of said referrals... either through forums, chat rooms or blogs.

Most women WILL lose some sleep during this time by choosing to surf for clues until the wee hours of the morning, get a few hours of sleep only to get up extra early to see if anything has surfaced in the 3 hours they were asleep. Most women feel anxious, go through bouts of excitement and depression and appear to be losing her mind to those around her. When she will allow herself to be torn away from her cyber hunt, she will be prone to bouts of sobbing, shopping sprees for baby items (mostly in pink), and will tend to eat copious amounts of Edy's Slow Churned ice cream.

In extreme cases some women will lose short-term memory, they will forget to take care of their daily responsibilities such as letting the dog out, planning dinner, going to work, etc. Some women will even forgo hygienic rituals... skipping showers, putting hair in ponytail, or wearing sunglasses to the grocery store to hide the dark circles and pale complexion due to lack of sleep and make-up.

Cycle Duration:
Women usually experience PRS symptoms from 2 days to 2 weeks before the onset of adoption referrals being received at adoption agencies and can show continued symptoms for 2 days to 2 weeks AFTER referral information has been officially announced.

Warning:
Those experiencing symptoms 2 weeks before AND 2 weeks after SHOULD SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION or at least have an extremely supportive network of family and friends who can make sure that she doesn't go to work in her underwear or fall asleep in unusual places.

Lifetime Duration:
This is a chronic disorder that will continue on a regular basis until the cure* is administered. Years ago experts in this area believed the duration of PRS to only last 6-8 months. Then 10-12 months, 22-24 months and now some believe it could go as long as four years. As you can see there is not a definite end to this syndrome and those considered experts actually have no idea either.

*Cure: One adopted daughter, home in her mother's arms."

Today is a day to celebrate! As of today we have been waiting 14 months for Sadena... and today on that anniversary we found out that we are out of the review room. This means that our paperwork is now moving into the referral room! Wahoo! I know it will still be a long wait but now we know we have been “officially” approved by China! Thanks for all your prayers and support! We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let's hope this year will bring a speed-up in the referral room!

Ps.. the Santa Bus event raised $2200 for Chinese orphanages. Enjoy a couple of the pictures! We had a great time!

Hi guys! For those of you asking about the monthly update it is here, but it is not good. The CCAA has now completed processing for families through December 14th, 2005. Yes, that does make us 6 days closer, but it feels like we are still an eternity away. Sorry to sound down, sometimes it feels like it will never even happen. The CCAA has assured all families in the process that their adoptions will be completed - there is just no guarantee on a timeline. The current families referred have waited 24 months and we are currently at 14. It would be nice if we knew the wait would stabilize at 24 months and then we would only have 10 months to go! Please keep our adoption in your prayers. On an up note, one of my adoption lists have been compiling a list of things we cannot wait to do with our children... here are the things I cannot wait for (in no order):

• First day of school.
• First trip to the zoo.
• The first time she calls me "Mommy".
• Going to the beach for the first time.
• Seeing Mike be a father for the first time, he will be AWESOME!
• Trick or treating and pumpkin patches.
• The question "WHY?" Over and over.
• Hugs and kisses.
• Seeing my mom when she sees her granddaughter for the first time.
• Sharing the story of Jesus and Christmas.
• Going to see Santa.
• Dressing her up in frilly dresses, hair bows, tights, black patent leather Mary Janes.
• Little pigtails.
• Watching her sleep all cuddled up in warm blankies with her favorite doll or bear.
• Seeing her eyes on Christmas morning.
• Dancing with her.
• Looking in the rearview mirror and seeing her in her car seat.
• Singing along with her in the car.
• Snuggling together.
• Driving around on Christmas Eve to see the Christmas lights.
• Baking cookies together.
• Reading to her.
• Taking the millions of photographs I'm sure we'll take.
• Teaching her about my dad who is surely her Guardian Angel.
• Bestowing a mother's love on this child that we have longed for all these years.
• Being a complete family with our daughter, myself, and my loving husband.
• Seeing my daughter's face for the first time.
• The father/daughter bond between her and her daddy.
• Disney for the first time.

Ok enough rambling... I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and I wish you all a safe and merry Christmas and a happy new year!

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November 5th, 2007

Today a new batch of referrals have arrived. They have started the month of December and have made it up to December 8th, 2005. Hopefully one day soon they will get to 2006... our year! I know it will still be a long way off but we will be happy to at least be in our year! We are working on staying busy. Enjoy some pictures from this past month! I hope to have better news next month!

Central Florida Adoption Group
day out at old town

Rodney, Myself and
Grandma in Kentucky

Camden and Angie on Halloween


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October 1st, 2007

Referrals have once again arrived and we can finally say November 2005 is FINISHED! The CCAA referred through November 30th, 2005, so let's bring on December! In fact can we just finish 2005 and move on to 2006? We are sooooooo ready! LOL!

Even though the wait for China seems like forever... we all try to keep our hearts and minds on the finish line when we will meet our children! I know when that day finally arrives this long wait will have been worth it! Please continue to keep Annie in your prayers as her pregnancy continues. We pray for a healthy child to join their family next April! And Diana and Nicky both had their babies in September so I will include photos of them!

Camden, Nicky and Kris' baby

Brandon, Diana and Frank's baby


Until next time... have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And I hope the fall weather will be beautiful for you all!

Daisy, at 3 months old


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September 3rd, 2007

Hi friends and family! Happy Labor Day to you all. I pray you all have a safe and happy holiday! The latest batch of referrals are out and they go through November 25th, 2005. That makes us a whole 3 days closer than last month. Slow and steady wins the race, right?!? In this long wait we have acquired a new family member... a new boxer puppy named Daisy.

Daisy, our new puppy


She is a cutie. Soon we will have new babies to add to our circle of friends as Nicky and Diana will both give birth soon and Annie is now pregnant! Please keep them and their babies in your prayers for safe and healthy pregnancies and deliveries!

Ginny's daughter, Ali.
Home since April


I hope to have better news next time!

Angie

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August 13th, 2007

Hi guys! Referrals have arrived for August and the CCAA has completed through November 21st, 2005... so once again we have moved 7 days closer to Sadena. I know you are probably wondering if it will ever happen - it will, just wait and see, then it will all be worth it! We just returned from a trip and had a great time relaxing together.

Enjoying Niagara Falls


We hope that all of you are enjoying your summer! Until next time... have a great day!

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July 5th, 2007

We hope that you all had a happy 4th of July! It was raining here and even our local town's fireworks were cancelled. The latest batch of referrals has arrived and they have now covered through November 14th, 2005... so we move 7 days closer to Sadena.

The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has said...

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before May 31, 2006. The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 14, 2005.

... the good thing this month is that the May of 2006 group was only in review for 2 weeks which is a lot faster than it has been running. The review room is where your dossier is checked to make sure there are no problems and if China has any questions they will call your agency for further information. Thankfully our agency checks them carefully before sending to China so we should have no problems there. It will be nice, though, to get through the review section and then just be waiting to be matched to our Sadena... until that time comes we just continue to stay busy and wait! Hope all is well!

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June 5th, 2007

The latest batch of referrals have arrived and they have now processed through November 7th, 2005. With our log in date of October 19th, 2006 we are still a long ways off! 346 referral days to be exact.

There has been a lot of information on the Internet that the months of November of 2005 and March of 2006 were huge months. Hopefully the other months will move at a quicker pace. It will happen when it is supposed to. We will look forward to the day when it arrives! Until then, we will continue to hope and pray, and get ready of course! And maybe a little shopping as needed for retail therapy! LOL!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads out there... I know if mine were still living he would be just as excited as we are to meet Sadena! For now, as Abby says, "Peace!" (she is too cute).



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May 1st, 2007

Today referrals are starting to be received from the CCAA. It is true what they say... we may be on a slow boat to China! LOL! Anyway, they processed an additional 6 days this month putting us at 352 referral days away from our referral. I guess any movement closer is better than none at all!

On a side note - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE! I hope this year you get closer to all of your dreams coming true! We continue to try and stay busy during the wait. A couple of weeks ago I went with the girls to a Beth Moore conference in South Carolina - it was awesome. I have included a photo of us together!

At the Beth Moore
conference with the girls


Hope you all have an awesome May! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

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April 9th, 2007

Today referrals were received at our agency through October 26th, 2005... yes, you read that right, only 2 days closer than last month! So that puts us 358 referral days away from Sadena. Mike and Nicky keep me straight by reminding me that we are still getting closer no matter how slow it may feel. I feel that the months are passing fast so I just pray that she will be here sooner than we all think!

This past week Mike was on Spring Break and our nephews, Marcus and Miguel, spent the week with us. We had a great time. We even went to Sea World with them! I am including a couple of pictures from our trip... click on the Smilebox to play...

Make your own | Click to play

I hope you all had a great Easter! Maybe we will receive an early batch of referrals this month! Until then, keep praying for our adoption!

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March 16th, 2007

Well a little more than a week ago, the CCAA sent out a new batch of referrals. They processed adoptions logged in through October 24th, 2005. We have finally made it to under 1 year difference in LID's. Only 360 days difference! If only they processed those days quicker. Oh well, it will happen exactly when it should. We are working on house projects and staying busy! Hopefully the next update will take us a few days closer to Sadena! Until then, here is a link to one of the latest babies referred...

www.chinabutterflydreams.blogspot.com

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February 1st, 2007


Hi Friends and Family....

It appears that the stork is once again making a special delivery to many families today. The CCAA has referred through October 13, 2005; we are now at 371 days difference until our referral. I would guesstimate that we will see our baby’s referral around January to February of 2008. We hope that things speed up and they prove us wrong on those dates. I thought this month I would include some info on China since this is the month of the Chinese New Year....

The Chinese New Year has a great history. In other traditions, by this time in the year, most resolutions made on December 31st have been subtly forgotten and placed in a cupboard marked "maybe next year." However, all hope is not lost, as there's a second chance to start afresh with the celebration of Chinese New Year on February 18th.

The Chinese New Year is very similar to the Western one, swathed in traditions and rituals. The origin of the Chinese New Year is itself centuries old - in fact, too old to actually be traced. It is popularly recognized as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15 days.

Preparations tend to begin a month from the date of the Chinese New Year (similar to a Western Christmas), when people start buying presents, decoration materials, food and clothing. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and windowpanes are given a new coat of paint, usually red. The doors and windows are then decorated with paper cuts and couplets with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed on them.

The eve of the New Year is perhaps the most exciting part of the event, as anticipation creeps in. Here, traditions and rituals are very carefully observed in everything from food to clothing. Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. Delicacies include prawns, for liveliness and happiness; dried oysters (or ho xi) for all things good; raw fish salad (or yu sheng) to bring good luck and prosperity; Fai-hai (Angel Hair), an edible hair-like seaweed to bring prosperity, and dumplings boiled in water (Jiaozi) signifying a long-lost good wish for a family. It's usual to wear something red as this color is meant to ward off evil spirits - but black and white are out, as these are associated with mourning. After dinner, the family sit up for the night playing cards, board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the occasion. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks.

On the day itself, an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet, takes place. This involves married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes. Then the family begins to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbors. Like the Western saying "let bygones be bygones," at Chinese New Year, grudges are very easily cast aside.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a celebration with singing, dancing and lantern shows. Although celebrations of the Chinese New Year vary, the underlying message is one of peace and happiness for family members and friends!

I am also including some links to websites of families receiving their referrals. Lets all share in their excitement! One day it will be us!

www.achinajourney.blogspot.com/

www.babyjellybeans.com/
web/do/site/home?ID=87642

http://kb8wfh.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Annie! We love ya!

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January 5th, 2007

Hi friends and family....we hope that you had a great holiday season. Our latest update from China is that they just released referrals through September 27th, 2005. That puts us currently at 387 days worth of referrals until we will see Sadena’s beautiful face!

Let’s continue to pray that a speed up occurs! We would be happy to see our referral by the end of 2007 and will remain hopeful!

Hope your new year is off to a great start! Remember to stick to your resolutions!

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November 30th, 2006

The new batch of referrals are now arriving and they have matched through September 8th, 2005. This puts us at 406 days to our referral....at least that is better than the 420 we were at. It will be nice to get down to the 300's!

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are preparing for a wonderful Christmas! Merry Christmas!