Fingerprints

Today, Bob and I went back to the USCIS to be re fingerprinted. It has been 15 months since the first time we did this. Surprisingly today it went very smoothly. We were in and out within 15 minutes. I think last time it took us over an hour and we were expecting it to be worse this time since our appt. was so much later in the day.

We are now hoping that we will travel before our 171 expires, which is in January. We are still hoping for an early November travel time, however it seems like the Waiting Child program is slowing done. There are many families on our agencies Waiting Child list serve who are 40+ days ahead of us and they are still waiting too. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that we will all hear some good news soon.

The wait is getting harder and harder to deal with. We haven't received any new updates and we probably won't until right before we travel. It just breaks our hearts that Addison is spending her days in the SWI instead of with us, her family.

60 days & Counting

60 days and counting since we sent in our Letter of Intent for Addison. 60 days of Addison waiting in an orphanage while she has a family waiting for her here. It is so hard knowing that she is over there and we aren't with her.

No one really has a good answer on why it takes so long for the final approval from China. There isn't really any standard time frame. Some families wait a very short time and others wait and wait and wait. Right now there are families on my agencies WC family list that have been waiting 80-100 days with no word on when they will be traveling. It is looking like we will be waiting that long or more, especially since October travel is pretty much out. Now we are hoping that we will have Addison home before Thanksgiving.

Kassie and Monsters

Super Cute!

Okay, I know that as parents we aren't supposed to find kid's cussing cute, but this makes me laugh everytime I see it. It also reminds me that Bob and I are really going to have to start watching what we say once we bring Addison home.

Care Package #2

We are sending off our second care package to Addison. We really hope that it actually makes it to her. This time we added a couple of outfits, size 18 month. I hope they fit, if not then she can share them with someone else. I added lollipops for the kids and some lotions for the nannies. We also included a cute little bear that has a pic of the family on a sweatshirt. My mom made another adorable family picture book.

We plan on sending a care package each month until we get Addison. I hope that we won't have to send anymore, but I don't think that is going to happen. It is looking more and more like we will be traveling in November. There is a government holiday and trade fair in October which makes traveling to Guangzhou very difficult. It would be wonderful if we were surprised with a Sept. travel, but we aren't holding our breath.

We just hope that we will have Addison in our arms soon.

Sad News from China

Back in July we were asked whether or not we wanted Addison's lip to be repaired in China. We knew that it had been attempted back in May but she was sick and it wasn't able to be done. The SWI had rescheduled it to be done at the end of July. We were also told that whatever we had decided, China would still do what they thought was best. After much thought and prayer we said, "Yes, if China thinks it needs to be done, then they can go ahead and do it."

We got an email today saying:

Today the orphanage contacted me and told me that the surgery for Wu Chun Xing’s cleft lip was finished, but it was not successful, because after the surgery was done, she always cried loudly which affected recovery of her wound and her wound split again.
Here attached please find her current picture.
Also the orphanage told me that they did not get her discharge record for this surgery.

Both Bob and I are sick over this. Why didn't they use better pain management? Will this effect her future repair? Why did she have to be in so much pain?!?!? We can only hope and pray that whatever they did won't get infected or become worse and that the surgeons in the states will be able to correct whatever has been done.

The good news is that they sent us an updated picture. We think it was taken before her surgery attempt since there is no redness. She looks to be growing and seems to still be in good health. We just pray that the Chinese government will speed things along so that we can have her in our arms soon.

More on Addison

Addison was found March 11, 2006 outside of the Wuchuan City Social Welfare Institute. They estimate her birthdate as March 10th. Her name, Wu is her surname, Chun means Spring and Xing means Prosperous. She likes being outside and riding her rocking horse. July 2007 we received some updated info stating that she weighed 17.6lbs and was 28in tall. She is outgoing and likes to be hugged and touched.