Tag Archives: Adoption

We have made a lot of adoption progress over the past month! If I’d been in town, I would have blogged about it. Instead, here’s the quick rundown.

On the Wednesday before I flew to Michigan, we signed the adoption agreement. The following day, we drove down to Olympia to visit the Secretary of State’s office. There we completed the first round of authentication. We went through a big hoopla trying to get a notary to sign our paperwork. If you are wanting to adopt from Taiwan, email me so I can offer some advice about notarizing “certificate of original” paperwork…

While I was still in Michigan, our agency emailed and said that she was ready to file our I600 and needed us to sign it. Awesome! Hubby filled out the application, signed it, and then overnighted it to me. I signed it and then overnighted the application to our agency so that they could submit it. Two weeks ago, we received a receipt from USCIS saying that our application has been logged into their system. The website says it takes 4-6 weeks to receive I600 preapproval.

In the midst of all of that, we found out that the social worker in Taiwan told our girl that we are trying to adopt her! We were shocked! All along, the agency has been telling us that they will not tell Z about us until we have submitted our dossier to the Taiwan court, which won’t happen for at least another month or two. But the Taiwan agency said that since she’s an older child, they want to begin preparing her now. The social worker sat down with her and told her that a family in America wants to adopt her. Apparently Z expressed some dislike toward that idea. Then the social worker showed her the photo album we sent over last summer. That caused Z to open up a bit and share some stories about when she visited the US with a hosting program two years ago. The social worker said that she is more open to the idea of America but less open to the idea of a family. Z stated that she planned to stay at the orphanage until she is of age and then move out on her own.

The social worker contacted our agency and ask that we please prepare a care package so that Z will become more open to the idea of adoption. No pressure! Usually a care package would be sent just out of love, but we’re sending one because we love her and because we are trying to convince her that a family is good for her. Because I was in Michigan while all of this was going on, there was no way for us to take more pictures or film a video. I wrote Z a letter and told her about us, that we love her, and why having a family is good. Hopefully she’s already received that and has been told that more will come shortly!

Last week and this weekend, we took a ton of new photos. All in all, we printed 32 photos to assemble into a photo album. Then I wrote up little captions for most of the photos and printed them on labels. We also bought Z a stuffed animal, a disposable camera to take pictures with her friends, and a small bag of candy. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea of also buying a cute bag for Z to store the gifts we’re sending her.

This morning we filmed a short video. I wrote out a couple things I wanted to share in Chinese, to show that I am learning Chinese to be able to communicate with her more easily. In the video, hubby also showed off all of the things we’re sending in the care package. The video is roughly a minute 45 seconds. There is so much I want to say to Z but wanted to avoid overwhelming her.

On Monday, we received an email from our agency that said that Taiwan has requested we send over the dossier now without waiting for the USCIS approval. That way they can start the translation process and cut a few weeks off our timeline! That is always good news!

Last summer, I quickly learned that the adoption process is a flurry of activity and then very long stretches of waiting. We just experienced our flurry. I wonder if that will continue or if we should brace ourselves for a long wait. I have a feeling we’ll be waiting awhile for any news on our dossier and we still have three weeks or so to wait before receiving our USCIS approval.

I am so glad that we are able to mail the care package today! I pray that Z’s heart will be softened toward the idea of adoption and that she will be even a tiny bit more accepting of the idea of having parents. All I can do is pray!

It has been a busy, busy week for adoption preparation.

First – We received an email saying that our coordinator has the adoption agreements in hand! That piece of paper that says that we have the guardian and the orphanage’s permission to adopt Z has been signed and is in the United States! Our agency should have them today or tomorrow, will be doing a couple things on their end, and then overnighting the agreements to us. Once the agreements arrive, we rush to the bank to finish notarizing our dossier. Then we’ll be making a day trip down to Olympia to start the authentication process. We are making progress!

Second – Our coordinator expects that she will have an update on Z any day now. She thought she would have it last week but it hadn’t arrived when I checked with her on Friday. Our last update was from July last year so the information is old. I want to know how my future daughter is doing and pray that the agency in Taiwan included a photo with the update. She’s growing up without us.

Third – We received an email on Sunday that requested that we put together a package to send to Z! The Taiwan agency said, “since Z is an older child, we want to start preparing her for adoption as soon as possible. Please send her a photo album, a video introducing yourselves, and a small gift.” I am so excited!! I am nervous about the video, since I want to speak to Z a little bit in Chinese to show her I am learning her language. I had hoped that I would be able to complete more of my Chinese course before attempting to speak to her, but God’s timing is best! I will trust that she will appreciate my humble early attempts at speaking Chinese, rather than it making her nervous that I still have a lot to learn.

Last night we went shopping, trying to find a photo album. We couldn’t find anything at the mall, but we did buy a gift for Z. It’s something we will either give her while in Taiwan or right after she comes home. We also bought her a disposable camera to send over now, so that she can take pictures with her friends. We’ll get the photos developed as soon as we return home. Tonight we’ll again try to find a photo album. I think we’re going to visit a Hallmark store and see what they carry.

All of this is going on, plus we have an appointment tomorrow to speak with a financial planner and I have a parenting seminar on Friday. Busy, busy! If our adoption agreement arrives Thursday, I’ll be skipping the seminar on Friday so that we can start our dossier authentication. But if it doesn’t arrive until Friday or later, I’ll be driving over to Seattle by myself, during rush hour for both directions. Eek! I’m going to be praying like crazy that God will protect this terrified driver as I attempt to learn more parenting techniques that will help our daughter overcome her childhood without a family.

It may be a crazy week, but I’m happy. I’m happy that we’re making progress with the adoption. I’m happy that I might have an update on Z this week. And I’m nesting. If I deep clean our house, we’ll be able to travel to Taiwan faster, right?

Our agency finally gave us a time estimate. They expect that we will travel to pick up our daughter in the spring of 2015.

I can’t believe it’s taking so long. When I first received the email, I was in disbelief. Then I was angry. Then I cried. Then I was angry. Then I cried.

I feel I am grieving for the loss of another year with my child. If our agency’s estimate is correct, we are missing another birthday. Another Christmas. Another Thanksgiving. Another year passes without her having a mom and dad.

It’s upsetting. I want her to come home.

I have so many thoughts these days but can’t seem to get them put onto paper (or computer screen). So I’ll just post about our latest adoption update. As of yesterday, the adoption agreement paperwork still has not left Taiwan. We need that paperwork before our dossier can start the authentication process.

While we’re waiting for the latest paperwork, I scanned our entire dossier and emailed it to my agency. Our dossier specialist is going over all of our paperwork to make sure it is correct. That way, as soon as the adoption agreement paperwork arrives, we can take the entire dossier to the bank to have it notarized. I’m praying that this last batch of paperwork comes quickly!

We also requested an update on Z. We haven’t heard anything about her since July last year and really want to know if she’s ok. Our Taiwan coordinator is supposed to be getting that done for us. Hopefully we’ll soon have some new information!

That’s the extent of our adoption progress this week. Maybe next week we’ll have more news?

I haven’t posted much about our adoption lately because nothing has been happening. Ever since we finished the fundraiser and updated our paperwork, we have been waiting for the legal guardian to give his or her approval. Someone suggested we write a letter to the guardian, explaining how we’ll be able to take care of Z and give her a good home. I wrote a letter that I hope was touching. It made me cry, at least. There’s something touching when you write “I promise to take care of your child forever, loving her as if she was my biological child.” I’m actually tearing up now, thinking about it…

I have no idea if our letter helped, but this morning we woke up to an email that said: “Your petition to adopt Z has been pre-approved by her legal guardian. Now, Taiwan will prepare the adoption agreement and power of attorney.”

Praise the Lord!! We have been praying for a few different things lately. 1 – That Z’s heart will be softened so she will allow us to love her. 2 – That she will be protected until we can pick her up. 3 – That the legal guardian will have faith that we will take good care of his/her child.

I can’t wait to go to Taiwan and start loving on her!

I am so proud of myself. I finished the first month of my video Chinese course! I’m currently working through a six month course on beginner conversational Chinese. I’m hoping this will help prepare me for our first Skype call with our daughter. And of course I hope that it will help when we finally meet!

So far we’ve spent a good deal of time working on pronunciation. I think most of my pronunciation is alright, though I’m still butchering the R sound. I’m trying to get it but it still doesn’t sound like the instructor’s R.

I’m adding a lot of vocabulary words to my Anki deck, plus some basic sentences that reinforce the grammar we’re learning. So far I’m learning how to say sentences such as:

我喜歡喝茶 – I like to drink tea.
我要巧克力 – I want chocolate.

That last sentence is particularly useful!

Tomorrow I’m attending a Google chat with the instructor to learn more about Chinese tones. I will conquer tones!

I’ve had several projects that I have wanted to post about this week. Instead of posting, though, I’ve been concentrating on making significant progress on said projects.

We did receive a terrific piece of mail today: our new home study! Because of the additional adoption funds we’ve received, we had to revise the home study to reflect that and the new positive net worth. I was anticipating receiving the home study on Monday or so next week but we received it today! Jeff was praying that we would receive it today so that we could overnight it to our Taiwan coordinator. The guardian in Taiwan wants to see the new home study before mailing us the adoption contracts. Hopefully everything will get processed quickly!

The downside of today is that I’m now sick with a cold. It came on yesterday afternoon and today I feel under the weather. It’s just a cold and I’m trying to remain positive. I just hate being sick and losing my productivity flow! I’m trying to treat myself well so that I can recover quickly and get back to my projects.

I keep meaning to post but get distracted by other things. Before I realize it, the day is gone and I missed another post!

This week has been all about emailing our social worker, dossier specialist, and Taiwan coordinator, making sure we’re all on the same page and that the right forms are getting filled out. Last Friday, we filled out our new financial forms to reflect the adoption grant. We emailed the notarized form to our social worker, who is working on updating our home study and getting new copies mailed out to us. Once we receive the new home study, we’ll be forwarding one copy to the Taiwan coordinator, who will be forwarding it to the social worker in Taiwan. They have to re-evaluate us in light of the new financial situation before we can get approval and contracts from them.

I’m tired just thinking about it.

I’ve been following a couple families who are currently adopting from Taiwan or finalized their adoptions in 2013. The average wait between dossier submission and travel is 7-10 months. We aren’t even ready to submit our dossier. I’m reminding myself that God has everything under control and that it will happen on His timing, not ours! In the meantime, I will keep knitting, quilting, learning Chinese, and taking care of my husband and our household. There is plenty to do in order to stay busy!

My thoughts are all over the place so I’ll have to post again when I can put together something coherent. But for now…

God is so good!! We received our miracle!! My husband’s boss just gave us a $10,000 adoption grant and we are now fully funded. Our adoption is moving forward!!

I am so thrilled and overcome with thanks to God and crying tears of joy. God said we’d make it across the lake and we did!