Hanging out at Kinkos

These are copies- the originals were bright blue.

Friday, Camille and I ran up to Sioux Falls to retrieve our dossier from our adoption agency.  We had sent it earlier in the week to Pierre to receive it's state certification stamps from the Secretary of State, then had it sent back to our agency.  Now, we have to have 4 copies of each document with it's cover letter/seal, so we were off to Kinkos to make copies- it took almost 2 hours to complete it all, but it's done!! 

Then, back to the agency to give them 2 of the copies and the originals, and they are then forwarded to the National Bethany office for authentication and translation.    Then we are....

DTC- Dossier to China!!!

Each pile represents time spent the last 9 months gathering documents, taking physicals, interviewing for our homestudy, coercing relatives for statements, hunting down a notary public with a current notary seal.... They don't call it a paper chase for nothing.

 Tough paper pregnancy, but we are starting to see the fruits of our labor, so to speak.  (pun intended)

I've been taking deep breaths ever since we turned it in to Bethany.  Now if I can only keep myself busy as the process works itself out; our file travels to several offices to be stamped and moved on to the next desktop or file pile. The waiting is tough, because I want to scoop her up and begin loving on her as soon as we can!!  She's been without a mom and dad long enough.

 I've already begun preparing her room and purchasing clothes that should fit her this fall, and I've collected items for her baby book, repainted her room, and yes...I'm working on her first baby quilt!  Anything to keep my mind off of the wait, and feel like I'm doing something productive during this interlude until we travel. 

 Besides, it will be nice to have everything in place when we come home with her, so that we can focus on bonding with her and spending the time to help her adjust to her new home and family.

Let the nesting begin!  :-)

Dancing with the Stars

Our Activities department at our local nursing home is very active and encourages family and friends to be involved with the activities and events. 

Last week was the annual 'Dancing with the Stars', and Camille paired up with her friend, Dietrich, to compete.  They got together 2 different days to "practice", which is kid-speak for "work on the dance for about 10 minutes then play outside for 3 hours".

Thank goodness they are both quick to pick up on the routine!  They were so cute, blushing and bowing, and the residents just loved watching them perform.

                                                                

Viborg's version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

     They did such a great job, and even won 3rd place, which was zoo tickets and a gift certificate for pizza!!   



Great Job, Camille.  You are our Little Star!

We've made it to the Acronyms!!!

The adoption process has a language of it's own.  When you get the first of many lists, you will notice many acronyms that mean nothing to you, but will eventually mean everything!

After working and completing 3 very extensive to-do lists, we've made it to the fun part of the lists!  The words that get bantied and used on yahoo email groups of other adoptive parents, the phrases that people use to determine how far you are in the process.

"Are you LID yet? "
"We sent in our LOI and have PA back- waiting on our LOA.  Hoping we will receive TA soon so we can travel before winter..." 
"We are requesting a girl, AYAP, CL/CP,  and hope to be DTC this month".

Seriously- this is how they communicate!!  (And by THEY, I mean ME now too!)

And now, we finally have our own acronym to throw around.  

As of May 10, we have our LOI sent off to China!!  This is our Letter of Intent, telling the CCAA (I KNOW, another one!) in China that we want to adopt the little girl on our referral.

This starts the ball rolling as far as China is concerned.  It's no longer just working with agency requirements, now we are complying with the Chinese regulations in regards to adopting from their country.  This is where it gets REALLY exciting!

After China receives our LOI, they will send us a PA, Preapproval, and then we wait for them to review our file.  Once that is done, they will send us our LOA- Letter of Approval.  That means that it's a go!!  (Unless something goes very, very wrong, and we don't want to think about that :-( 

Tonight, I will make 6 copies of those very valuable documents in our dossier, which just got back from Pierre being certified, and then the dossier is ready to forward to China as well. 

Onward and upward- getting closer and closer to bringing our daughter home. 

 My insides are dancing!!

Mother's Day Gift...

This is what my son handed me for Mother's Day....

No explanation. 

I'm 4'11, and probably shrinking as we speak, so I was confused and slightly insulted.

When Loren saw the look on my face, he began to laugh!!  Then he explained that they got it in the garden section.

Ohhhhhhhhhh.  Now I get it. :-)

Mother's Day~

"I think my life began with waking up and loving my mother's face."  George Eliot

Every Mother's Day I face the dilemma of how to show my appreciation to my Mother with something as paltry as a card and random gift.  Truthfully, there is no way to begin to thank a person who has had the most influence on the person that you become.

And I realize that there is no "pay back" gift that can show how much we value them in our lives. 

The best way I can honor and appreciate all of the attention and nurturing that she gave me is to pass it on to MY children, so they can also grow up feeling valued... important...loved.

Me and my Mom

"One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade."  Chinese proverb

(I thought that one was pretty relevant, considering ...!)

So today, I spent the entire day doing things with the kids and showing them how much I value them. 

Mom, thank  you for leading me down the pathway of love, of right living, and of family. 

 You have helped shape me to be the woman and mother that I am, and I in turn, will shape my daughters to be the women they will become. 

Thank you for the legacy of love~







Birthday Bash

I'm clueless....completely clueless.  Must be the blonde hair.

My husband, family, and friends conspired to surprise me and throw me the best birthday bash EVER!!    They led me to believe we were all preparing for Matt and Sharon's anniversary dance, and all the while they were making secret phone calls and emailing behind my back!  The nerve.

Boy, was I surprised when we walked in to the "anniversary dance" a few minutes late, and there were around 60 people yelling "Surprise!"  Crazy fun!  All my favorite peeps were there!  Lots of hugging and "Did you suspect?" questions from everyone.  Lots of strange discrepancies from the past few weeks began to fall into place, and that made for alot of giggling!

 The whole evening, Loren was just glowing with happiness. Everyone enjoyed watching him shower me with love almost as much as I enjoyed being showered!

I got to dance with Loren to our wedding song and hear Travis sing karaoke for us- both of which  made my heart swell.

Loren also included a very humbling powerpoint presentation on my life, which made me feel like a celebrity and almost made me cry.  God, I love that man!

Turning 50 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  In fact, it was memorable.  :-)

I-800 Approval!!

Saturday was a momentous day here at the Johnson house- our I800 approval arrived!!  We had been logged in on March 9th, and last time I had called the USCIS to check on the progress of our file, it hadn't been assigned to a worker yet.  Then suddenly, (actually 52 days after submission) it arrived, just when I wasn't looking for it! :-)

For those of you who are new to adoption lingo, this form gives us approval from our US Government, to adopt a foreign born child.  They have gone through our homestudy and fingerprints to make sure we are "worthy", and this qualifies as a major milestone in the foreign adoption timeline.

Another arrival that day was the Ergo baby carrier/sling thing that I had ordered from the BabyDeal site.  They are toted as "essential" when adopting a child under the age of two in China.  Apparently there is alot of walking during the 2 weeks you are in-country, so consider me prepared!

Doing the Happy Dance at our house!