Monday, October 17, 2011

the deets

do you remember the song "Signs" (first recorded by The Five Man Electrical Band & then again by hair rockers Tesla)?  "signs, signs, everywhere there's signs - blocking up the scenery, breaking my mind - do this, don't do that, can't ya read the sign?" 

I was cruisin' the net one day - blog hoppin', yahoo group skimmin', etc - when I saw this pic
cute, right?  The name the agency was referring to her as was "Kristie" (my name is Kristi....sign #1).  I went back to look at her pic on the agency site several times that day.  I was able to see her referral paperwork on the agency's yahoo group - her birthdate was listed as February 2nd (Justin's birthday is in Feb & mine is on the 2nd of August - sign #2).  I decided to email a dr to look at her file - he emailed me right back saying that he was boarding a plane to Hong Kong (really, the dr I choose to email is on the way to China?  sign #3)  After getting a great report from the dr, I told Justin about her.  He was hesitant - he kept saying he wasn't totally "comfortable"......1 more college education, 1 more wedding, we are so busy with the other kids.  After much thought, discussion & prayer we decided that "Kristie" was our daughter.  We submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) on September 30.  On October 2nd, we attended a new church - the sermon that day was talking about God's signs.  That alot of times, God is giving you signs, the thought makes you "uncomfortable" but you can't ignore the signs.  WOWZA - it was like added reassurance that we were meant to bring this sweet little one home.

So what's next - we wait.  We have to check-off the following items before we can travel:
  • finish homestudy & have approved through agency & State of Illinois
  • apply for immigration approval to adopt from China (I-800A)
  • finish compiling dossier docs (documents sent to China including birth & marriage cert, certificate of income/financial statement, physical forms showing good health of both parents, police clearances)
  • send all docs to Lifeline (adoption agency) for certification & authentication - or we can do this ourselves & save a bit of time
  • DOSSIER TO CHINA (DTC)!!!!!
  • wait for log-in date (LID)
  • wait for Letter of Acceptance from China (LOA)
  • apply for immigration approval to adopt our child (I-800)
  • wait for NVC Cable, approval letter
  • wait for Article 5
  • wait for travel approval (TA)
our agency says the whole process will take 12-15 months - the adoption boards say anywhere from 8-12 months.  We would love to travel in the summer so the kids could go with us - if we get our TA in Sept or Oct, we will have to delay travel until after harvest.  So if you pray - we could use them for speedy clearances/paperwork, for quick travel, & mostly for our sweet Presley living half a world away.

5 comments:

Kjbikakis said...

What a cutie!!!! I hope you guys get to travel in the summer with the rest of your kids! Her name is really similar to mine, i'm Kirstie
Praying you're process goes fast! (:
God Bless
-Kirstie Bikakis

The Fab 5 said...

Wow such exciting news!!!!!! So happy for you and funny how God makes everything fall into place when we have no clue he is doing it!! Adoption is so awesome I totally wish we could do it again!!

HOPEdriven said...

I am so glad that "Kristi" found a forever home with you. We requested her file, along with our daughter's, and "Kristi" was already on hold - back in August - she caught my eye right away! We, of course pursued LOI on our current daughter...but, I have kept "Kristi's" picture in my bible and emailed Lisa periodically checking on her status. I was so glad to here that a family had PA on her. I will keep you all in my prayers and follow along your journey to her. It sounds like we our very close in the process. We have PA on "Maggie", our Isabella!

Jerry Jones said...

She's beautiful. Woohoo for her. Woohoo for you.

Dorothy.in.FL said...

When I read your post called "signs" I had a different thought in my head: signs as in sign language. I see your Presley with her left hand in a "nearly-I love you" sign. I honestly thought that's what your sign was...until I read ll the other signs you were given. I love God and His unspeakable ways!! Congratulations!