Could There be a Child

Step by little step we are getting there. Our dossier is getting notarized and we just might be starting to talk about a child.  Possibly. I don't know yet. I wish we were at that point when we knew who our child was but it doesn't seem to work the same as for some people. This meaning, they see a child, they apply to adopt the child, they get PA for the child. For other people it's a matter of going through the whole process of adoption and then wait for a referral of the child they will see for the very first time. Then at last, once they accept the referral or proposal will they have a child. So, step by little step we are almost there. I checked on our immigration application today and it says it is being processed. We might have to change our age range. Right now our age range is 2-5 but we might have to move it up some to have a chance at being matched sooner.

On the weekend we ended up having a lovely lunch at a Chinese restaurant and celebrated a little of the Chinese New Year. I love their desserts.

Immigration, Ladybugs and PKU

I've checked into how our Immigration application is doing.  It was received at the Immigration office on Oct 10th of last year and I was sent a letter saying the estimated time it would take to process it was 14 weeks. 14. Wow, I had no idea those things take that long. I just checked online yesterday and they started to process our application on Jan. 8th. Well, that's not so bad, only question is how long does it take to actually process it. I'm hoping the longest part is the waiting in line to get processed. I'm thinking we need this approval too before our dossier can go to China so that's another hoop to jump through in order to finally be LID. At first, I had no idea what these abbreviations meant but one learns as they go along.

Another thing is there was another ladybug in the house found by none other than my husband this time. It was a little tiny one like it might be a baby of the one from before. I hope that means more luck for us. I also wanted to mention that I keep hearing the wait to adopt a little girl from China is getting very long. It's at least a year if not two, three, five and eight. Someone waited eight years for a referral of a female child. That's  long time. That's the time we don't have. When we were doing the home study we were asked to be very specific and and we put down a female child but now I'm thinking that really should've said a child. Also, I suppose because I've been supporting one child, named Leah, for a year and she had PKU, I learned a lot about it and now find myself looking for a girl with PKU. I feel like if we could get to this child early in her life we could manage her special diet. I hear it's very expensive but we would do our best.  We put that on our home study. Actually, when we received our Letter of Approval from the Ministry they misspelled PKU - they put PKY - I right away pointed that out to our agency and at first she said that it wouldn't matter because the chances of finding a child with PKU are very slim to none. They checked back and don't show that they've ever matched a child with PKU.  Well, there is a little boy, cute as a button. Now, I'm stuck. Do we wait for a little girl who may not come before we age out of the program or do we go forward to try for this little boy? He is with another agency right now and we'd have to see if and how this could happen.

This would be one of those times I'd be looking for a sign from above. What do we do? Do we wait and wait and wait? For this little boy there is no waiting. Although the orphanage is apparently providing the special diet for him, how long would this last, what about the blood tests, what about the protein formula? We would have to get to him as soon as possible to make sure that he is getting what he needs before it is too late, before too much protein stunts his brain and changes his life forever.

Home Study Approved

At last, our home study has been approved by the Ministry. It was going on three months and frankly I was thinking things were not looking so good because it was taking so long. I figure now they could've been busy or very thorough or it had to go through different departments until everyone's on the same page. I was just asking the agency this morning if they'd heard anything and just now in the evening they received the emailed letter of approval. They still need to get the original letter in the mail for the China dossier. Man, I can just see it the dossier will just be sent off and arrive in time for the China New Year closure but all in good time. As I've learned along the way there is no way to hurry anything when it comes to adoption, including finding a child. I so envy those who have found their child and then started the process. Everything they do seems that much more viable, more urgent and important. For us right now it still seems like it's all for nothing. Even my parents asked me, is there a child? No, there isn't. We have to wait. Fine then, wait we will because I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Happy New Year !