Don't you just love surprises?
Here's the email I received today around noon from my travel coordinator:

Dear Travel Group 132,

We are happy to announce the arrival of all Travel Approvals! Because Travel Approvals were not delayed by Chinese New Year celebrations, we are able to move your tentative travel dates up two weeks earlier than originally anticipated. Your travel group will tentatively depart for China on March 13th and will return to the US anywhere between March 25th-27th. We will move forward today to request your Consulate appointment. We anticipate a response from the Consulate in 1-5 business days. Once we receive the official Consulate appointment date we will be able to establish concrete travel dates, finalize flights, and complete in country arrangements. Please continue to wait patiently for concrete travel dates, as we promise to contact you as soon as we have any new information.

Congratulations again on receiving your Travel Approvals!

Yep--that's right. 16 days and we are on our way to see our girl! Yes---we are so excited! No---I'm not at all ready! But that's OK...it will all work out. More tomorrow, I promise!

Love,

Alissa

How cool is this?

Our 16-year-old friend Bianca did this amazing pencil portrait of Leila from one of the photographs we received (she did it in about 24 hours, actually). She and many other kids from our church are going on a mission trip to Jamaica this summer, and this is one of the ways she is raising money for her trip. We are so thrilled---we can't wait to have her do one of Leila smiling!

I am ready to send the care package tomorrow, as Bianca also wrote a letter for us in Chinese (this is one talented girl!) to put with the package. It is so beautifully written, even if I don't have a clue what it says! Bianca's father is Chinese, her mother is American, and she spent many of her first years in China. We are so thankful to know her and her family, and are looking forward to getting to know them better!

If you would like to support Bianca or the other kids at LSCC going on this summer mission trip, and would like a portrait done like ours (she does best with one or two faces), let me know and I can get you in contact with her.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Madison, Caeden, Rudy, and Leila's Mom

More fun facts about Leila Grace!

We received a translated growth report for Leila last week and have read it over and over since it arrived. I have to say, it is kind of surreal to read about this little girl we've never met, who lives thousands of miles away, and yet know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was meant to be ours. Here's what we know so far:

• Leila was found on February 21, 2006 at 9:40pm wrapped in an orange blanket. We believe she was found in a public park (it's actually illegal to abandon a baby in China, so the moms leave them in a public place where they will likely be found quickly). The police were called and officers went to the scene immediately. No family/relatives were found and thus, she was identified as a 'foundling' and taken to the police station. She was then sent to the Chengdu Children's Welfare Institute, where she has lived since.
• Leila 'appeared' to be approximately 6 months old, and thus her birthday was backdated to August 21, 2005. She was diagnosed as a healthy baby girl when found.
  
• Leila's name "Gou Er Ting" was given to her as she was found in the year of the dog (Gou). "Er" means "Child" and "Ting" means "Graceful." (She may be the ONLY graceful Potocnik!)
• My favorite fact about her is that in the orphanage, they call her "Ting Ting." When Maddie read that part, she said "Oh we are SO calling her 'Ting Ting,' Mom!" I'm sure we will use this sweet name to transition and make her feel at home.
• She was rolling at 6 months, sitting at 10 months, but loved to be held. She was standing at 12 months, but didn't walk until she was almost two. It says that once she started walking, it was 'the most exciting thing to her' and that she loves to listen to music and dance.
• When she moved to the "little sisters" program at age two, she had trouble transitioning. She did adapt, and now enjoys this class as much as her first 'class.'
• Ting Ting's personality is timid, quiet, and shy; she is relatively introverted. (Poor child...wait until she meets Rudy!). It also says she is 'obstinate at times' (sounds like a true two year old!)
• She is on a great schedule every day, and is potty trained. She "has deep sleep" (my second favorite part of the report).
• She eats rice cereal, veges, ground meat, noodles, and biscuits (cookies?)
• She is doing well with motor and language development, loves to play outside, and enjoys 'musical toys.'
  

The rest is about labs and immunizations...none of which I fully understand. However, I think I've memorized the rest. We know that she'll most likely have a tough transition, but we are praying that the nannies are preparing her as best they can, and that God is preparing her heart for the next 5 weeks before we travel.

Tomorrow I will send a small care package, including a small stuffed panda, a photo album with updated pictures (all of ours are 3 years old!), and a disposable camera. Most families with children from this particular orphanage have had good luck with their children actually receiving the items, and even coming home with them on "Gotcha Day."

Have I mentioned how excited we are?

Love to all,
Alissa

Tentative Travel Dates: March 27-April 10th
We received our travel packet yesterday, and today received word that we do have tentative travel dates as above. We are getting so excited but there is so much to do. I have a lot to write about, but I keep getting distracted by paperwork, packages to mail, etc. Above are pictures of Jason and the boys right before we opened the package that held Leila's photos. Jason took the day off (we both just wanted to sit on the porch and wait for the FedEx man). He also bought me these beautiful lillies (same as the ones in our wedding!) with a card that said 'Hope does not disappoint!' That is for sure...we are just making the most of this season of joy, and coming closer each day to flying to China. I will post more about our itinerary when it is set in stone...thanks for checking in!

Love,
Alissa

Better than Christmas.

I have to say, aside from my wedding day and the births of my three biological children, this has been one of the best days of my life. I cannot describe the feelings I had when we opened that package and finally saw our daughter's face. I am so thankful, so in awe of a God who knew from the start who our daughter was and specifically placed her in our hearts so long ago. We found out today that her Chinese middle name means 'graceful' (we named her Leila Grace near the time of her birth). We also learned that my great-grandmother Leila Ross (our daughter's namesake) was born just one day earlier than our daughter (August 20, 1899). We have no doubt that this child was meant to be ours. We know there will be challenges and some difficult times ahead, but we also know that there will be so much joy. My day started with flowers from Jason with one pretend flower that said "It's a Toddler!" After receiving the package and showing the boys the pictures, I was able to share the pictures and news with everyone at my Bible study. What a great start to the day. I then surprised Madison by showing up at school during her lunch hour to show her (and all awaiting teachers) the pictures. The kids are SO excited! We finished out the evening with dinner at Fortuna Wok with some close friends who came to congratulate us (and many employees of the restaurant who were excited for us as well! They even translated a little bit of her paperwork for me!). All in all, an amazing day. Hopefully one we will never forget.

I've been leading a Beth Moore Bible study at my church focusing on Psalms 120-144 (Psalms of Ascent). I have learned so much in 4 weeks, but my new favorite Psalm is 126...it's so appropriate for this time in our lives! It talks about remembering a time of great fortune, and hoping for more of that in the future. This is the message version...such an awesome song!

Psalm 126: A Pilgrim Song

(The Message version)

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,
when God returned Zion's exiles.
We laughed, we sang,
we couldn't believe our good fortune.

We were the talk of the nations---
"God was wonderful to them!"
God was wonderful to us;
we are one happy people.

And now, God, do it again---
bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

I have received so many amazing emails since Monday just congratulating us and offering your best wishes. I want you to know that Jason and I just sat in awe of our amazing friends and family, and their love for us and willingness to be involved in the life of a child they don't even know yet! We saved every email, they are incredibly precious to us, but our relationships with you all are the most important of all. Thanks for your love and friendship.

Much love,
Alissa, Jason and kids

Here she is! We are head over heels in love with this girl! We received the package this morning, and have had the BEST day just looking at that sweet face and imagining having her home with us. Her medical exam came today and she is very healthy. We have also learned that she is in a very good orphanage (click here for more pictures), which is supported by Half the Sky Foundation---an amazing organization that is committed to orphans all over China. I promise to write more later, but wanted to get these pictures posted before too long! She might possibly be the most beautiful 2 1/2 year old we've ever seen (I know...we're biased!).

Thank you ALL for your awesome messages of congratulations and love. We are so glad you're on this journey with us!

Love,
Alissa, Jason, and kids!

It's A GIRL!

We are so excited to announce the referral of our little girl. Apparently God knew that we love surprises! Our "baby" is actually 2 and 1/2 years old!

Her name is Gou Er Ting
Date of Birth: August 21, 2005
In November, weighed 26 lbs, and was 85cm tall.
She lives in the Cheng Du Children's Welfare Institute, located in the Sichuan province. If you'd like to see pictures of her orphanage, click here
They tell us she is darling...we'll receive all the pictures tomorrow and promise to post them right away.

We are thrilled...blessed...over the moon excited!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Pray for our daughter, her orphanage (the weather is a mess in China and many are without power, heat, etc.) Please also continue to pray for us as we prepare for a little bit older child, and all that this entails.

See you SOON Leila Grace!

12:45 pm, just received this email:

Dear Family,

It is with great excitement that we email you today to let you know that your referral has just arrived! We just received referrals for both Group 243 and 244 (LID's 12/20/05 and 12/22/05) You have endured the difficult wait and have persevered, and will soon see the face of the child that you have waited so long for. We look forward to contacting you soon to tell you about your precious child.

Blessings,

Anna M. Graham

9:15 a.m. Email received from my agency:

Dear Family,

America World would like to inform families that we are anticipating referrals at any time. Currently, we are experiencing technical difficulties with the CCAA’s internal website and cannot verify the processing dates of the referrals, but are expecting to receive LID’s 12/20/05 and 12/22/05. As soon as we have further information from the CCAA’s internal site, we will pass that along. We do want to remind families that AWAA does not receive information on when referrals will arrive or when they were sent, but we want each of you to be informed of where you are in the process. Once we have confirmed the dates that the CCAA has processed through, we will send that information to you. Please know that once referrals arrive, your child and your process becomes our highest priority. We will be working diligently to have information to you concerning your child as soon as possible. We hope to be contacting each of you soon with the news of your precious child.

Blessings,

Leah Rockey

We apologize...

Hello everyone! Thank you to all of you who check in regularly to keep up on our adoption. Jason and I were able to get away this weekend for some much needed rest, relaxation, and time to just be together before the excitement begins! Unfortunately while we were away, someone got into our blog and posted pornography where another photo used to be. We are thankful for a friend who caught this immediately and called my mom, who was able to delete the picture immediately. We have no idea how this happened and are sickened that someone would hack into a blog to do that kind of damage. If any of you came across it, we are so very sorry. It sounds like it was caught in a timely manner, but again, we hope no one had to be exposed to that kind of trash.

Now---on to the excitement: We are definitely expecting our referral this week, tomorrow at the earliest. Chinese New Year starts Thursday, so by Wednesday we'll have the news we've been waiting for (for 2 years!). We promise to post as soon as we know, and pictures to follow, of course. Thanks for riding this roller coaster with us!

Love,
The Potocnik 5 (almost 6)

No news yet...

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking in. Not much to report in terms of referrals but we're hopeful for Friday or next Monday. I did call my family coordinator today and she was pretty sure we'd receive our referrals next Wednesday at the latest (Chinese New Year starts Thursday---they always send them out prior to that day). In the meantime, I am trying to actually take care of my patients at the hospital, take care of my children at home, and not jump out of my skin every time that phone rings!

We have had an amazing week in so many other ways. It's after midnight and I can't write it all now, but please check back later this weekend as I plan to share the way God has blessed us through our friends, family, neighbors, and other loved ones in so many ways. It bears repeating: from Day One of this process, God has been so faithful to see that Leila Grace is a part of our family. We don't ever want it to be about us...it's just not. Jason and I are completely humbled by the love we are shown by all of those who already love Ms. Leila as much as we do. We are so thankful for you.

Here's hoping for Friday!

Love,
Alissa

Maybe this week...maybe next...we'll see!

Every day (okay, maybe several times a day), I check a website created by the "Rumor Queen." "RQ" as they call her, has two children from China herself, and does a great job of keeping everyone informed of any rumors she has heard regarding China adoption information. No agencies are mentioned (this is a rule), but her information is usually pretty accurate.

Here's the post from today (www.chinaadopttalk.com)

Matching has begun

January 27th, 2008

Word has gone out from one of the larger agencies that matching has begun.

No word from them on a possible cut off, but if matching has begun then they should (theoretically) be mailed sometime next week.

Not sure exactly what this will mean for us---we may be waiting one more week. But what's one more week in light of the 2+ years thus far? It will be a Happy Valentine's Day for sure---we love you Leila Grace!

Spring Festival (Also known as Chinese New Year)
　　As the cold winter begans to recede and the warm spring is about to begin, Chinese people customarily celebrate the first traditional festival of the year— Spring Festival (Lunar New Year). Every family put red couplets on the gates and lunar New Year’s painting on the windows, as well as decorate their houses. The evening before the Spring Festival, called the “Lunar New Year’s Eve”, is the most important time for family reunions. All the family members gather and have a “family reunion dinner” together. After the dinner, they sit together and visit or play games. Many people do not sleep that night, which called “Shousui”. The next morning, they go to visit their relatives and friends to pay a New Year’s call, to congratulate each other and wish for luck and happiness in the new year. During the spring festival, there are many local events all over China, among which events such as “Lion Dance”, “Dragon Lantern Dance”, “Land Boat” and still played most often.

Elephant pregnancy:
22 months

Potocnik's "pregnancy" (so far):
25 months

Happy 6th Birthday Caeden Michael!
We LOVE YOU!

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No news yet...but we will NOT be discouraged!

Well...not exactly what we were hoping for but at least there is forward movement. This is the announcement made on the China Center of Adoption Affairs website. Obviously they matched families logged in before December 19th (we were logged in the 22nd)...so no referral for us this month! We are determined to stay positive...we believe (as we did 3 years ago) that God has the perfect child chosen for us and He's developing patience in us as we wait. We are now praying for a Valentine's Baby!

Happy New Year, from the Potocniks!

We could be NEXT!

Thursday our agency posted this GREAT news!

"America World is pleased to announce some exciting news about our
referrals! Today we received 8 referrals- one boy and 7 girls. We also
received two referrals of Chinese heritage. One family also received
twins! The children ranged in age from 5 months-27 months and were from
the Jiangxi and Liaoning Provinces. Families receiving referals today
were logged in 12/12/05. Please join us in congratulating these
families on their exciting day!!"

The above group was group 242...in case you forgot...we're group 244. The log in dates for group 243/244 are only two days apart. Although this is sounds like gibberish to most of the world, to us it means that it is very likely they will process our groups together, and we may receive our referral NEXT MONTH!

We are beyond excited and even if I am getting my hopes up, I won't be too disappointed if it doesn't happen in January. At least it's a sure thing in February! Chinese New Year is mid-late February, so either way, we will probably travel in March.

If you are waiting on our Christmas card...it's coming late this year! I couldn't stand to send one more card saying "No really...we ARE getting our daughter this year!" so I'm sending a late one with the big news!

Please keep praying that they will process these 2 groups together next month!

Love,
Alissa

Home Study, Part 3.

Yesterday I received a packet from America World to help us in completing our 3rd home study update! We will need physicals again, confirmation of employment, criminal and child abuse reports (including fingerprinting), income reports---it's pretty crazy the amount of papers we will need to pull together in the next couple weeks! Oh well, this really
should be the last time we have to do this, and everything else is good until next summer!

In the meantime, fabric has been pouring in for our Bai Jai Bei 100 Good Wishes Quilt! It's so exciting to see what everyone has chosen and read the beautiful verses, notes, and good wishes from our friends and families! For those of you who are reading this and are worried that it's too late, it's not! Please know that you can send the fabric and note ANYTIME and we'll be thrilled! I'm working on getting the album organized and next week, Jason's mom will start getting the fabric that she does have together and cut out!

I will soon post a picture of the fabric we have so far---so much fun to look at and try to visualize what the quilt will look like.

Here's to QUICK referrals!

Much to be thankful for,
The Potocniks

I jumped the gun, but in a good way!

Just 30 seconds after I posted, our agency posted this announcement:

America World is pleased to announce that we received 16 healthy
female referrals today! Families receiving referrals were logged into
the China Center of Adoption Affairs on December 5th of 2005 (group
241). We also received a referral for a family who was expedited due
to Chinese heritage. The little girls are currently located in the
Jiangxi & Guangdong Provinces. The girls ranged in age from 9 months
to 22 months. Please join us in congratulating these families, and in
praying for them as they prepare to travel.

That's 241 checked off the list...now we just have 242 and 243 and it's our turn...did I say I was waiting patiently? I lied.

Blessings,
Alissa

"The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before December 8, 2005."

We are excited to hear that these dossiers have been processed, though our agency has been pretty quiet the past couple of days. However, I took the above quote from the CCAA website, so I believe it to be true! Our documents were logged in December 22, 2005...so just 14 more days worth of dates to be processed (this could take 2-3 months), and we're on deck!

No other news right now...just waiting...patiently!

Love,
Alissa