Hello everyone! It has been quite awhile since I last posted, but felt I should update everyone on the current status of our adoption. We are learning that the referral process has slowed considerably since we first applied. Our documents remain in China, and have been there for almost three months now. However, what was once a 6-7 month process, has now turned into an 10-11 month process. We are hopeful for a referral by the end of the year...we'd love to have Leila home by Christmas. However, we know that God's timing is always better than our timing, and we plan to just rely on Him in this whole crazy process! Thanks for checking in---we promise to let you know when we hear ANYTHING!

This is the corner of Leila's room, which is also Madison's room. We are so excited for Leila to get here, but we believe it will be at the end of summer or early Fall. Right now, groups 210-211 are headed to China. We are group 244...so we have a ways to go. Thank you for checking in, for praying for us, and for our youngest daughter.

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night,

May you be safe as you wake to the morning's light.

May you feel my love from so far away,

May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.

I will pray for you my little one,

Until our time of waiting is done.

I will pray the the Lord keep you safe from harm,

Until the child of my heart becomes the child in my arms.

-- Anonymous--

Happy New Year!

We are so excited that it is 2006...the year we will go pick up our baby girl in China! As I said in my last post, our paperwork was sent to China on December 9th. We just received word today that the paperwork was officially logged in to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs on December 22, 2005. This is great news, as it often takes longer between DTC (Documents to China) and the actual log-in date. Our agency is telling us we should receive a referral in 7-10 months, so now I really do feel pregnant! We appreciate your prayers for Leila, as we are guessing she has been born by now, and for our family as we wait patiently for that phone call! Thank you for checking in, and for journeying with us.

Love,
Alissa

Our dossier has been approved!

Hello everyone, thanks for checking in with us! My sister was able to pick up our documents on Friday from the Chinese Consulate in D.C. She then mailed them to our agency for us, and they were received today. I received a call this afternoon that the dossier was reviewed by two coordinators and no problems were found. This is GREAT news but the best part is, the dossier will be sent to China on Friday! So now the big wait begins. We are excited to receive our group number later this week, as well as a list of people who will accompany us on our trip to China. It's all becoming very real now...

Thanks again for your interest and for following along with our journey. Have a great week and a wonderful holiday season!

The paperchase is almost over...

Last week we received our 171H form back and we mailed all of our documents to my sister Karen in Washington D.C. Today she took all the documents to the U.S. State Department for authentication. This process took about 30 minutes and everyone was apparently very helpful. Karen then took the documents to the Chinese Consulate for final authentication. She was told that they would be ready on Friday after which the entire Dossier will be ready to send to our adoption agency. We expect our documents to be sent to China by the end of next week, and we hope to be given a group number at that time. (The group number is something we can track in order to have some idea when we'll receive a referral). Words can't express how much we appreciate Karen being in Washington D.C.--usually I don't appreciate that because she's just too far away! Karen's enthusiastic willingness to help us paperchase for Leila is amazing. Each phone call I got today from her saying "I'm done at the State Department!" or "The papers are safe at the Chinese Embassy!" just felt like a giant step forward in the process. Her excitement to be part of the process means the most to me, and I can't wait to share in the China experience with her as she and her husband Taylor travel with us.

In not so great news...the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs is currently moving their offices (in China). Our agency has informed us that they anticipate delays which means our referral (the big phone call telling us that they have a baby for us!), could come anywhere from 7-10 months from when our documents are logged in at the CCAA. We are praying that it will be more like seven months, but at this point, I have given up trying to pinpoint a specific time. We know that God will give us the child HE chooses for us, and He will do so in His perfect timing.

Most of all, we are so thankful for those of you who are praying about this process for us. We would ask for continued prayer regarding the scholarships we have applied for in the past month (one at our church, two national foundations). We hope to hear from 1-2 of those in the next couple weeks. In the meantime, keep praying for baby Leila, that she'll be home with us soon!

Moving Forward...

Thursday was a big day for us. We started the day bright and early at the Kansas City Department of Homeland Security. The appointment was relatively fast, and the people were very un-government like...compassionate and genuinely interested in getting us in and out of there as fast as possible. Even the security guards were cheerful at 7:45 am! We turned in our I-600A form and were fingerprinted, then on our way in just over an hour.

Thursday afternoon I went to the Secretary of State's office to certify my MO documents. Aside from one small glitch, all went well and again, everyone was very happy to help. There is something about knowing that another child will be safe in a loving home that seems to warm hearts and make even total strangers excited for the road ahead of us.

I have had a few friends ask recently what they can do to help in this process. My number one response is to just pray for our daughter and for the process in general. Obviously the financial aspect is another concern, but we have been blessed by a few family members that have helped tremendously in just getting us as far as we are right now. Just today, we received acceptance from the Eternal Family Program, which is sponsored by our agency, America World. The fund allows us to receive donations from friends, family, or church members as it is a nonprofit (501-3) organization, and can then get those funds to us to help with the midpayment and final fees. We are not planning on sending out unsolicited letters, as we don't feel that this is the proper way to fund our adoption. However, for those of you who have mentioned wanting to help, please just drop me a quick email at cherrykitchen@peoplepc.com, and I'll let you know how you can contribute to the Eternal Family Program.

Now, as I said in my last post, we will wait on the treasured '171H' form (the acceptance letter after fingerprinting), after which my wonderful sister will be walking all of our documents into the State Department and Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., where she lives. This is an incredible blessing, as we will not have to rely on the mail system and someone we trust will have our documents in hand the entire time.

Real religion, the kind that passes muster before the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. -James 1:27 (The Message Bible)

Wow! So much has happened since I last wrote. Our home study is officially complete and in my hands. We have certified our Kansas and Nebraska documents, and just have Missouri documents left (I hope to walk those in to the KC office this Wednesday). Once all those documents are certified, they will be sent to the Chinese Consulate and then on to China! Once our documents are in China, we hope to have a referral in 6 months or so. This Thursday, we have our CIS appointment, at which time we'll get fingerprinted and fill out the paperwork necessary to bring an orphan on to American soil. This is a huge step (the final piece of paper) and here is where we ask for your prayers. From speaking to many families, this process usually takes approximately 2-3 weeks (to receive your approval letter). However, it can take up to 90 days, which is a distinct possibility with the upcoming holiday season. Every week longer that it takes is another week we wait to get our documents to China, and another week later that we go pick up our daughter. We would ask you to pray for a speedy turnaround of this 171H document...and thank you in advance for praying specifically for this need.

Other than that, things are moving forward. We received our new passports, we are applying for financial assistance from many organizations (they all require a completed home study before letting you apply), and we are getting more and more excited for next summer! Thank you again for checking in---we love and appreciate you!

Jason and Alissa

Hello everyone!

Today we reached a milestone in the adoption process---we survived the 'home visit.' Our social worker, Julia, came to the house today at 4pm and was here until 6:30pm or so. She started by interviewing Jason and me together, asking many questions about why we have decided to adopt, what our expectations are, and how we plan to help Leila adapt in the United States. Julia then interviewed us separately, which felt a little like being on the "Newlywed Game." We couldn't help but compare answers after she left and decided that we were pretty consistent overall. She then took a tour of the home, which went well. The only things we were asked to do were to place our fire extinguisher in the kitchen and come up with an 'evacuation plan' in case of fire. Otherwise, she felt like we had enough space and plenty of 'room to play.' Finally, Madison got a chance to be 'interviewed.' She was a little shy at first, but soon warmed up and put on a show for the social worker. A sampling of the interview:

Julia: What do you think about having a sister?
Madison: Um, It's OK.

Julia: Are you excited at all?
Madison: Yes, half excited.

Julia: Well, what about the other half of you?
Madison: Well, I'm just worried that she'll only speak Chinese and I don't have a Chinese dictionary.

Julia: What is the most fun about living in this family?
Madison: Being the oldest. Oh, and, I have a lot of great resources.

Julia (looking puzzled): Resources...okay...what do you mean by that?
Madison: Oops, I meant to say relatives. I have a lot of great relatives.

Sometimes the kid just can't keep up with her vocabulary!

All in all, the visit went well. The home visit was the last piece of the puzzle in our home study, which is still at the typist. We now move toward finishing our Dossier and getting all of our documents certified and authenticated. Thanks to those of you that were praying for us today, and for Traci Mattis who came over for a couple hours to help me clean my house before the social worker got here. Now that's a great resource!

Good news! Our home study has been sent to the typist and will be sent to us in the next 2 weeks for revisions. We also set up our appointment today for our home visit, which will occur September 25, 2005. All of these seem like small steps, but they are all part of the journey!

As a follow-up to my story below about Caeden sharing his plans as a big brother to Leila on the way to mail our paperwork...

This past weekend we were visiting Jason's grandmother down in Cherokee, Kansas. We were talking about this blog and mentioned Leila's name. Caeden immediately lit up and said, "Leila's going to be my baby sister!" We said, "That's right, Caeden, and where is Leila right now?" Caeden thought for a moment and replied, "At the post office!" Hmm...seems we need to do a little more explaining, but we all got quite a kick out of that one.

No other news to report...waiting to hear about our home study and just waiting on a couple more documents for our Dossier. Thanks to all who have visited, and thanks for your ongoing prayers and support.

We can't wait to have a sister!

Madison Claire, Age 6

Caeden Michael, Age 3

Rudy Charles, Age 2

Hooray! We have reached a milestone today by mailing in our home study to our agency here in Kansas City. It was a great feeling to take that envelope to the post office this morning! The agency will now read and revise the documents, send certain items back to us for changes, and then submit the study as the first big step completed in this process. In the meantime, we will have our home visit in September, and begin working on our Dossier. The Dossier is many of the same documents, but require a notarization, certification, and authentication process for each of them. (In short, you must send them all over the country and have them signed and resigned by important people such as the Secretary of State and the Chinese Consulate).

On a more personal note: the kids are getting very excited about this process. Madison has been helping me organize the copies necessary for each part of the process. Caeden finally seems to be understanding what is going on and often says "Leila is going to be my baby sister!" Today in the car, I was telling Caeden that we were going to the post office to turn in important papers in order for Leila to come home. He replied, 'I'm going to be Leila's big brother. And if she decides to jump, I'm going to catch her.' I'm not sure where he is expecting her to jump from, and why this same sentiment doesn't apply to his very cute and adorable 2 year old brother, but it was sweet nonetheless.

I decided to post a little poem I wrote for Leila when we first decided to adopt. Please remember that I am not gifted in this area, but I do think that it is a clear picture of Jason and my feelings at this time.

Leila Grace

Maybe you are but a twinkle in His eye. If this is true, you can be assured you are the apple of His eye, and you can trust that He has been thinking about you since time began.

Maybe He has already knit you together in your mother’s womb. If this is true, you can be assured that He has created you in His image, and you were crafted with a purpose in this life. Your mother may already be wondering, “What will be the fate of this child?” while you, dear one, grow each day, closer to your debut in this big, confusing world.

Maybe, you lie in a hospital nursery, while your sweet mother cries in the next room. Maybe she wonders “why?” Why must she part with the most beautiful gift she has ever been given? Does she feel the loving hand of God on her shoulder?

Maybe you lay sleeping in a basket…on a roadside…in a marketplace…or on a soft bed in a crowded room. Do you know that you are already loved?

Wherever you are, Leila Grace, your Creator is with you and loves you more that you can imagine. He is crazy about you, do you know that? And somewhere, halfway across the world, waits your family.

Until we meet, sweet baby, I pray that the God of both of us will hold you in His loving arms until He places you in mine.

Love,
Mommy

Welcome!

This blog is for the purpose of keeping our friends and families updated on the status of our adoption of a little girl from China. For those of you who do not know what has been happening over the past several months, here is a quick update:

Jason and I have known for a long time that we wanted to adopt someday. Jason's heart had always been geared toward international adoption, whereas I originally thought we would have foster children, and then follow the path towards domestic adoption. However, after praying about adoption and going to a seminar together last fall, as well as witnessing several of our close friends adopt from China, God made it so clear that international adoption was what we should pursue. I find it so awesome that God changed my heart to line up with my husband’s heart, so that we were of one mind in this great adventure.

Last winter, we began obtaining the necessary paperwork but placed everything on hold until we moved into our new home. We did not want to have to duplicate any parts of the home study process. We moved in May and in July, officially 'signed on' with America World Adoption Agency, an amazing Christian adoption agency that we learned about through our church. (www.awaa.org). At that time, we began the 'paper pregnancy,' as it is called and are now ready to turn in our home study packet.

The home study process itself has been amazing. I never knew how many documents were necessary, not to mention disclaimers, agreements, autobiographies, child abuse reports, references, physicals...just to name a few. Although the process has been a lot of work, the listmaker/organizer in me, has loved every minute of it. Jason teases me because although the agency does a fine job of giving us checklists and timelines, I find it necessary to make my own checklists, spreadsheets, and databases.

By next Tuesday, we will have all forms necessary for Step One of this process, and will mail our form to our agency here in Kansas City. We will then wait to have the actual home visit, which should occur mid-September. We will keep you updated during the process over the next several months, and we anticipate flying to China next Spring or early Summer. In the meantime, we would ask for your prayers in terms of finances and patience with all the paperwork. Most of all, we ask that you would pray for this baby, wherever she may be at this time. We have requested a 6-18 month old girl, and we'll name her after my Great-Grandmother, who was such a wonderful role model and one of the Godliest women I've ever known. Her name will be Leila Grace, and we can't wait to meet her!