SWI Pics

A family who is adopting their little girl from the same SWI as Addison, is over in China right now with their beautiful daughter. Her father, Mark, was allowed to visit the orphanage, see Addison and take pictures of her. We are so thankful for the gift that Mark and Rachel have given us. Here is the email and pics he sent us.

Adreanna,
I saw Addison! She is a beautiful little girl. She was very lively. I told her that you love her and that you would be there very soon. I couldn't help but tear up knowing how you feel with her being here and you being there. She looks very healthy and well taken care of despite having to sleep on a board. They said that she sleeps on her back and that shes was best friends with Lily(our daughter). Their cribs were right next to each other. I think, just looking at her, that she's in 12-18mth clothes now? I'm a guy...what do I know. She is much larger than Lily and she's wearing 9mth.

I have attached some pictures that they allowed me to take of her. I hopes that this helps you hang on for those next few LONG weeks of waiting.

Mark

We have found out that another family we know adopting a little girl from this SWI sleeps right next to Addison. We talk about how our little ones are hopefully keeping each other company through the days and nights. We try not to dwell on the fact that Addison's life is less than perfect right now. We only know that when she gets home we will shower her with all the love she needs.

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Finding Ad

Since 1999 the Chinese government has required the orphanages to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. This is called a "finding ad." Brian Stuy at www.research-china.org takes your child's information and researches the papers to see if he can find your child's finding ad picture. For most of us, this is the only infant photo we will ever have of our children.

We sent our information to Brian and he found Addison's finding ad. It ran May 30,2006 in the "Southern Farmer's Daily" and it was the 890th picture ad for 2006. While we are so excited to receive the photo and an actual copy of the paper, it was sad to look at all the ads. There were 33 finding ads in Addison's addition of the newspaper. It is hard to think that some of those 33 will never find a family or live in a house filled with love. It is heartbreaking to think that Addison could have been one of those children. We are just so thankful that God matched us together and that Addison will spend her life surrounded by people who love her.

Now if we can only get her home:-)

Update!!

Today has been an emotional roller coaster! First we get a call from USCIS saying that we need to fill out one more form and pay $585. Supposedly everyone who switches from non special needs to special needs has to do this. However, our agency and other families we spoke to have never heard of this. So we are trying to get to the bottom of this - calling our US Rep and our agency. The bad thing is that it takes 30 days to get approval. If all goes well we will be leaving at the very end of Oct., so we don't have much time to get this all figured out. We will keep you posted!

The great news is that we got on update on Addison! She looks so cute and healthy. Here are her stats - 29.5inches and 18.5lbs. She is right around the 12 month size range.

This is what China said concerning her health, development and personality:
Medical/Development:
Her current health is good and had no colds or fevers.
She eats well and can feed herself finger foods.
She is babbling, but can not say any words.
She can take any steps by herself.
She is bathed every day and it is shower.
She does suck her thumb.

Personality:
She likes ball.
She can move to music.
She can do these (waving and clapping her hands) before, but recently she does not like to do.

General:
Eating time: 7:00 am, 11:00 am, 2:30 pm, 6:00 pm, 10:00 pm
Sleeping time: 12:00-2:00 pm have a nap, going to sleep at 8:30 pm until next morning.

She seems to be doing well health wise and developmentally. The only problem I see is the 7am feeding:-) We are going to have to fix her sleeping habits - doesn't she know that sleeping in is a good thing:-)

It is so wonderful to be able to receive an update. We cherish every little fact and of course all the pictures! We can't wait to hold her in our arms. If all goes well with USCIS and we get our travel announcement soon we should be in China the very first part of November. It would be nice to be home for Thanksgiving.

It's Been one Year

Today is officially one year since the day we were logged into China. Thankfully, we have great news to share. Yesterday we received notice that we could download our Travel Packet II. This is a big milestone in the adoption process. It means that we have been through the review room in China and that our dossier was all in order. It also gives us the okay to begin applying for visas.

The Travel Packet II is followed by the official "Letter of Acceptance." This is the last document China needs before they can issue us a Travel Approval. It basically states that yes they are allowing us to adopt Addison and yes we are accepting her as our daughter. The big surprise is that we received ours today!! ONE DAY after TPII. The LOA usually doesn't arrive until later, so we are very fortunate to receive ours so quickly.

The downside is that we probably won't be traveling before the very end of Oct./ beginning of Nov. even though we will have the required documents. The whole month of Oct. if basically out because of government holidays and trade fairs which increase travel costs.

This past year has been a roller coaster of emotions for us. When we first started the process we were told that referrals were coming 8-10 months after LID for babies with no known health issues. Then the wait started to increase. Bob and I became more and more discouraged....we were so anxious to be parents for another child. Now we are so thankful that wait increase caused us to do some soul searching regarding a waiting child. It was there that our little girl was waiting for us all along. We can't wait until the day both of us are able to hold Addison in our arms. We have so much love to share with her.