LOA...Finally.

We got our LOAs for both kids on October 10.  It was 141 days when the average has been running about 50.  Just yesterday I heard of someone getting their LOA after 34 days.  34!!!!  So, 141 was painful to say the least.  Maybe the new system is finally making things more efficient, like we were promised when they first implemented it.  

A few days after our LOAs arrived, we got some devastating news that I haven't had the heart to blog about yet.  We are reeling.  Hopefully in the next week or two, as things settle down a little bit, I'll type it out, but right now we just need to take care of ourselves.  

Mid-Autumn Festival and Sukkot

I realized at some point recently that the Chinese holiday of Mid-Autumn Festival and the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (Sue-COAT) will be at the same time almost every year since the Chinese calendar and the Jewish calendar are both lunar calendars!  This is so awesome!  We are so excited to be able to celebrate both holidays simultaneously with all of our kids in the coming years.  Because the Chinese lunar year starts sometime usually in January/February and the Jewish lunar year starts sometime in September/October, the holiday will line up exactly on two out of every three years.  On the third year it is not exact but very close.   Fall is always a very busy time of year for us with many Jewish holidays and all of our birthdays, and the usual Halloween, Thanksgiving and back to school events.  It is great that we will get to celebrate two holidays simultaneously and that one of them is Chinese!  

Mid-Autumn Festival is also called Moon Festival, because it takes place on the full moon.  The festival celebrates three things: gathering of friends and family, thanksgiving (for the season's harvest) and prayer.  I look forward to learning more about it in the future as we celebrate every year.  

For folks who don't know about Sukkot, it is a festival that commemorates the time the Jewish people spent wandering in the desert living on faith and in tents but it's also a time for thanking G-d for the harvest of the past season.  This year when we built out sukkah (SUH-kah), it had a Chinese theme with red lanterns.  I'm sure we'll build on this theme every year.  We build a temporary structure in the backyard to remember the tents of biblical times and hang out in it as much as possible for the duration of the holiday.  It's a really fun holiday in addition to the spiritual part and the kids think that it's great fun to build a gigantic "fort" in the backyard! 

One important prayer that is said at Sukkot (and many, many other times!) is the Shehecheyanu which translates roughly into English as "Thank you G-d for creating me, sustaining me and enabling me to reach this moment".  This prayer and this festival are all about rejoicing and being grateful for what we have and for being alive. Note that this *not* a prayer to ask for anything.  It's just about gratitude and that's something I think all of us should take time to celebrate!  There is more to Sukkot than that, but you get the gist. 

The after dinner jam session in the sukkah, drums and guitar.

This year all I could find were Korean moon cakes, but it was a kind of last minute effort as we have been so busy...next year when our Chinese children are home, it will be a priority to find Chinese moon cakes!  The moon cakes I bought were delicious by the way, with a sweet sesame paste inside and an outside that was like a steamed rice dough *and* they were freshly made locally.  I understand that a lot of the Chinese moon cakes are packaged and shipped so not very fresh.  The Korean ones were much more plain than the Chinese ones I have seen which usually have an ornate pattern or design pressed into the top and are actually quite beautiful.  

In other news, the LOA still isn't here.  The Adoption Authority in China has been close for Mid-Autumn Festival so hopefully they will be working overtime this coming week and we will get our LOA SOON!  I did recently hear of several families whose dossiers were "misplaced".  Apparently they were all put in a pile and forgotten about for a month or two.  Our was *not* in that pile (thank G-d!) but do you think it might be in another pile somewhere else, misplaced or forgotten?!  We have been so patient up until now, trying to trust the process, but I am going to ask our agency to check, email, call or do whatever they can do first thing on Monday morning!  So far, they have been super helpful and very efficient as far as what needs to be done on their end, but this wait is verging on ridiculous! 

 

Waiting Kids

I just started a separate page where I am going to be listing some waiting kids.  Please check it out!  So far, I have just one little boy listed and he's been waiting at least three years.  Please help me find his family!  Every child needs a family to love them and help them thrive.

Please email me if you want more information about the children on my waiting kids page.  The kids I'll be advocating for are part of China's waiting child adoption program and therefore many of them have minor and/or correctable special needs.  To find out more about China adoption and if you qualify to adopt a child from China, please read more here.

Day 89

We're on Day 89 of waiting for our LOA today.  I am starting to feel discouraged.  By tomorrow we are officially at the outer limit of the average time it takes to get LOA.  In our minds, our littles are already part of our family and we are so, so ready to bring them home!  

In the middle of last week I was really feeling bummed about how long we've been waiting for LOA until  I realized that our kids have been waiting for a family for almost four years.  That really puts it in perspective for me.  Four years.  To be so little with no mama or papa to tuck you in or kiss your boo-boos.   It makes me so very sad...and while it also makes me feel impatient, I realize that 89 days really isn't that much.  And, maybe, just maybe it will come tomorrow!  (Then we could still be average!  Never thought I'd be striving for average.  Haha!) 

While thinking about how long our kids have been waiting for a family, my mind wanders to the other kids who haven't been chosen.  Some of these kids have been waiting far longer than our kids and the older they get, the less chance there is that they will be chosen by a family.  Stay tuned for some pics and short bios of waiting kids.  I think it's a good way for me to spend my time while we wait, don't you?  Maybe some other moms and dads will see *their* kid here...and there will be one less orphan.  

Almost there...C'mon LOA

Still no news, but our case manager from our adoption agency emailed yesterday to say that she thought our LOA (Letter of Acceptance, aka LSC or Letter Seeking Confirmation) was right around the corner!  Yay!  Today I spent about two hours today doing more paperwork for round two of immigration for our kiddos.  There were five forms for each child, plus other paperwork that just required signatures.  There were some funny things about the paperwork...like the part at the top of the visa registration form that says: "estimated burden: one hour".  I kid you not.  Hopefully you can see it in the top right hand corner?  

Also yesterday, two families we know visited the foster care facility where our son lives and got a lot of pictures.  Yay again!  Apparently the internet connection hasn't been that great...so not much has come through but we did hear that he is happy and doing well.  Phew.  These are the things a mama worries about, even (especially!) when her kids are on the other side of the globe and she can't be with them to keep them safe.  There have been a lot of reports in the news lately about air quality and general environmental pollution in China.  This is so worrisome, especially as we are stuck in the process and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it!  Very frustrating.  We are so, so close to LOA and we hold on to the hope that it will come through any day!  

As pregnant as a giraffe

We are on day 73 of waiting for LOA.  Average time is 30-90 days, so we are well within that timeframe, but we are so, so antsy!  We've been waiting for our son since September 2012 and our daughter since March 2013!  It feels like forever.  Apparently I have the gestational length of a camel or giraffe (13-16months)...let's hope we don't stray into dolphin territory (17-19 months)! 

It's been a long time since I've posted anything because, well, there hasn't been any news to report on the adoption front.  But, life goes on while we wait for the new additions and we've been busy!  

Mr. Incredible has been home with the boys as he is most summers and they've been having a great time together.   Fishing, kayaking, bowling, movies, shark tooth hunting and going to the pool to beat the heat have been the most popular activities.  The boys have been in swimming lessons most weekday mornings this summer and in the in-between times, we've managed to get away for a few short vacations. We spent a few lovely days on a large local river canoeing and camping with friends and also a few very hot days at the beach.  We were there over the Fourth of July and the kids got to hang out with their cousins, play in the waves, enjoy very noisy, bright, front row seats to some great fireworks and pig out at our annual visit to Five Guys.  We've made this a Fourth of July tradition because honestly, the burgers are so delicious that they're dangerous!  It would be easy to make a habit of it, so it's become one of our Fourth of July traditions and we look forward to it every year.   It's almost always followed by a trip to a local ice cream place...It's truly a day of gluttony!  This past week, the boys both are in camp while Mr. Incredible had meetings for work.

Based on conversations I've had with other moms in real life, by email and by some adoption forums I visit, it seems that things have really slowed down this summer for China waiting families.  The LOAs are the last part of things to be getting back on track apparently.  The US Consulate in China where our kid's visas are processed is closed for a week in July while they move, so they will have at least a week's worth of visa appointments to catch up on plus all the other work they usually have.  

This past week as we had to put a new transmission in the minivan and replace our washer, we felt sure that our LOA (and final fee along with it) would come any day!  In fact, as soon as I heard that the washer bit it, I called our agency, convinced that our LOA was "the third big thing".  But, there was no news and we continue to wait.   Everyday, we are hopeful that we'll get the call that our LOA has arrived and we can move on to the next step.  

In better news, some families we know are traveling soon, so that means that China's new computer system is working because their paperwork was processed and they will probably pick up their children in August.  These families also have kids who live in the same place as our son and we are hopeful that they will meet him and be able to tell us how he's doing.  

Hopefully next time I will have more (better) news to report!

Good news on the way? Ladybug sighting

I was picking strawberries the other day and came across this cute little ladybug in the middle of the berry patch.  (This was a cell phone pic so not the best quality.  Looks great on the phone, though!) Ladybugs have been considered good luck in the world of China adoption.  I'm hoping that this means good news is coming our way soon!  Come on LOA!  

Our son apparently has his summer haircut (NO hair!).  He is still very handsome and even in this still photo below (also fuzzy, sorry.  I can't seem to win) looks to me like he is plotting some mischief!   In the pic, he's at a going away party for his friend who is with her forever family now.  I'm so very happy for her, but a little sad for my son.  It has to be hard to see your friends leaving and wonder when *your* family will come for you.  I can't imagine.   Our son and this little girl have a special relationship; she is the little girl who he drags the nanny upstairs to greet every morning.  Or did before she met her family.  She's coming home to the US, so our kids will hopefully see each other again in the not too distant future!  They are both sharing the lap of a nanny in the pic below.