Whew...

Busy busy productive day!

Print off US approval to bring Elise home I-800A...Check

Visit the Cobb County Clerk's office for certifying...Check

Head downtown to Atlanta for our State's seal of approval...Check

Purchase Money Order for Houston Consulate...Check

Prepare package for MyChinaDocs.com...Check

Get Cashier's Check for BLAS...Check

Make out a few special agency checks...Check

Stop at the bank to send wire to China CCAA...Check

Back to work for all the copies of these precious docs...Check

Off and running to FedEx...Check

Overnight 2 docs to Cindy at http://www.mychinadocs.com/  ...Check

FedEx 2 day the rest of my fancy dossier to http://www.baas.org/ ...Check

SO the net net of all this is that my part of the paperwork is DONE.  Dossier To Agency Baby !!  Only about 5 months away from our baby girl :)

Making Your List, Checking it Twice

Listen to this as you sit down to write out your Christmas Wish List this year...



This happened to come on the radio tonight as we were leaving the Lake Lanier Island Light Show.  WOW, oh wow what a finish to our wonderful family fun filled evening.  I can't wait to get to share the fun with our new baby girl next year!

I-800A Approval

YAHOO!!  Just got an email from our lovely officer (who obviously did come in a work on her holiday) that our I-800A has finally been approved.  I am SO excited to finally have this last piece of our dossier.  Now I will be off and running to the notary, the county, the state, and of course then the Fedex store on Monday morning.  Wish me luck :)

PS:  Oh and yes we had a happy Thanksgiving and certainly have lots to be thankful for!!

A Tiny Glimpse

Just a tiny glimpse of my girl to brighten my Thanksgiving weekend.  I can spot those cheeks anywhere!  This was taken in August. Can you find her?!? 

I Want It Now

This is what I feel like doing to the NBC who is taking their sweet time approving my homestudy and I-800A...I WANT IT NOW!!  After leaving a sugary sweet voice mail for my officer this morning, she called me back.  It went something like this:

Me: Donna Straight

Her: Hi Ms. Straight, this is Officer W with the NBC returning your call

Me: Yes, I was hoping to find out when my approval was going to be completed

Her: Well didn't I tell you that I just had 30 files thrown at me all at once, I haven't gotten to yours yet...

Me: Yes, you mentioned that last week that you would get to it this week, so that is why I was checking in

Her: Well, it is ONLY Tuesday

Me:  Haha, yes I know but unfortunately since the holidays are approaching fast, the week is almost over

Her:  Well not for me, I am going to be working on Friday to catch up. 

Me:  Oh you are working Friday, sorry for you, but sounds good for me :)

Her: Yes, Yours will be done this week.

Me:  Okay great! Are you still going to be able to email my agency a copy of the approval like you said you would last week. 

Her: Yes, I will do that.

Me:  Perfect, thanks so much for your help (As I clenched my teeth snarling at the phone in my best sugary sweet voice)

UGH, double UGH!!  Yes, I am praying that she shaves off a week by emailing the approval, but oh how I wished it was coming in today.  This waiting stinks. And yes, I do realize the waiting only gets harder :(

Birthday Weekends

Lots of November birthdays in our group:  Caleb, Austin, and Sheila!  Here are some pics from our party adventures :)

Meeting Tonight

I am passing along the open invitation from Denise at 3rd Friday to what looks like an incredible opportunity for parents tonight on November 19th.

Here is the invite:

Dear Families,

I hope this email finds everyone doing well! I am very happy to announce that in honor of November being National Adoption Awareness Month, we will be having a panel for our meeting this month. We will be having six adult adoptees coming to speak with us, discuss adoption, and answer questions. Three of the adoptees were born and adopted in the United States, while the other three were born overseas and then adopted by American parents.
Please join us for this special opportunity! Babysitting is provided, donations graciously accepted. Light refreshments will be served. 

It will be on November 19th, at 7:30pm.  Meeting is held at:

Cornerstone Church

2458 Duluth Hwy. 120

Duluth, GA. 30097

......
Denise Carroll
Facilitator, Hand In Hand
Edcuation and Support for Adoptive Families

I am taking off early from work today so that I don't miss this great opportunity to learn more about the issues my girls will face growing up in today's world.  Give me a call if you need more info or want to meet up before the meeting tonight: 678-296-9975.  Hope to see you tonight!

Project "Joshua"

One of my little projects is almost complete...Stephanie is finally on a plane to get this little adorable scruptious little boy that captured my heart many months ago.  Remember this post way back when??  Stephanie saw it and well the rest is history.

I am SO happy that he found his family!!  Stay tuned for her Gotcha Day on Monday.  I can't wait to see little "Joshua" finally become little Parker, and safe in his mommy's arms.  Stephanie has been kind enough to grant me "Aunt Donna" status for this little guy, and I have been able to share in the joy of their upcoming union.  I can't wait...

We Have an Officer

Well at least we are one step closer!  I called today and we have finally been assigned an officer to our case-YEAH.  And yes, I do call or email every single day in case you were wondering ;)

Pulling my hair out as I wait for our I-800A approval...

Just Waiting

Unfortunately, we still have not been assigned an officer to work on our I-800A application-UGH.  We have to have an officer in order for that officer to review our homestudy and fingerprints, and then "hopefully" give us our final APPROVAL to be able to bring in a child from China.  Good ole USA government at work I suppose.  They received our application 32 days ago, and we haven't even been assigned an officer :(  Don't they know this precious little girl is waiting to come home?!?!

ELEVEN

My first born child who started me out on the most AMAZING journey ever...motherhood.  Today we are celebrating my baby's 11th birthday!!  What an amazing kid I have been blessed with.  If you know him, then you know what a kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and heart warming child he is.  Oh and I must also mention what an avid fisherman he is, along with being the world's greatest big brother there ever was!!  Wishing my baby a very happy birthday today on his special day :)

Twins for Real

No, not mine, but my friend Cristy has her new baby girls!  Go on over and take a peek...yes, she is even crazier than me :)

Beautiful blessings for a sweet family!

Sick Again...

My Shelby baby was SO sick earlier this week, so she stayed out of school Monday and Tuesday.  After her tummy ache went away she went back to school.  I think she has actually caught this stupid stomach bug again from her classmates-UGH!  Here is the view in the car and now in my office today-poor thing :(

In Honor of my Dad and Papa

Thank you!

Got Em!

Tracking Something NOW

WOOHOO!!  It looks like we may have found our documents...in Houston.  I was finally able to pull up a positive response from the usps tracking information on our dossier:

Label/Receipt Number: EG43 9097 955U S

Guaranteed Delivery Date/Time: November 12, 2010, 3:00 PM

Class: Express Mail®

Status: Processed through Sort Facility

Your item was processed through and left our HOUSTON, TX 77201 facility on November 09, 2010. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Not sure why it states it won't be delivered until Friday, considering it is in an overnight Express Mail envelope?  But frankly, I don't care as long as it gets here!!  So holding my breath that it makes it here soon safe and sound.  God really does still answer prayers :)

Crazy?

A must read for you here.  Stephanie has an incredible passion for the orphans in this world.  Her words rang VERY true for me and my own heart for the orphan.  Take a minute to drop over and read her powerful thoughts. http://www.nihaoyall.com/2010/11/crazy.html 

Makes me think of the fact that God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called :)

Oh and if you want to get a chance at some of her free giveaway stuff you can go here to check it out:

Bubble Busted

Unfortunately I did NOT get the news I was hoping for today.  Cindy was told by the Consulate that they mailed out my docs this past Friday.  Normally that would be a good thing, but unfortunately it is not considering the fact that I still don't have them.  Yes, they were supposedly sent out via USPS Express Mail; however, the USPS does not show any record of the item being actually mailed from the Consulate.  We have tried and tried to track it, but nothing shows in the systems.  It just states "No record of this item."

SO, basically all of my hardwork, blood, sweat, and tears (literally) that have gone into these 10 documents are GONE?!?  No where to be found...

Praying for a miracle, but preparing my heart and head to start over...tomorrow.

Really Hoping Today

Well I was able to get Cindy at http://www.mychinadocs.com/ to start the "investigation" yesterday into where my docs are at the Houston Consulate.  Really hoping to hear something today about them!!

Oh and I emailed the NBC to let them know we had our prints done earlier than expected.  So really hoping they push through our I-800A approval soon too.  Really really hoping!!

Climbing the Mountain

We did it!!  CJ managed to get off early today, so we headed off to the USCIS (Homeland Security) Atlanta office for our official fingerprint appointment crashing.  We were successful and the guards never even checked the official appointment date on our paperwork.  So yes, we managed to save ourselves a full week to hopefully get our I-800A approval a week earlier than normal.

Unfortunately though I have hit a snag with 10 other docs that I sent to the Houston Consulate for final authentication.  It is only supposed to take 5 days for your documents to be returned, but it has now been 3 weeks?!?!  I was trying to save $150 by sending the docs without using a courier, but now that has come back to bite me.  So now I am going to have to pay the courier anyway for her to "investigate" directly at the Consulate on my behalf to find my paperwork...UGH.

Climbing this huge paperwork process, but still remembering the prize at the top...our baby girl!!

Gotcha Day Anniversary

Three years ago today our lives were changed forever!!  As I look back at her pictures now, it is so evident in her face how absolutely terrified Shelby was that day.  She cried and cried and cried.  Her little heart was broken as we stepped in and took her from everyone she had ever loved.  This is the part of adoption some people don't want to see or feel, but it is very real...adoption is traumatic for any child.

Fortunately, today we mostly get all smiles and giggles from our Shelby baby.  However, I am still reminded often of the loss my little girl has endured during her short 5 years.  I am so grateful that I get to be her mommy and get to be there to watch/help her heal from her past.  She is such a blessing to our family! 

We will forever love you Ning FuHong!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New Pictures!

Look what I woke up to this morning from Angela at http://www.ladybugsnlove.com/ ! Now how in the world am I supposed to get any work done while I sit and stare at them all day?!?

Oh and my sister-in-law just translated what the cake has written on it, "Hong Xinfang, be well and happy!" 

Fingerprint Date

Finally received our official "next step" in the paperchase.  We received our official notice to be fingerprinted (yes, AGAIN) from the Department of Homeland Security.  Our date is set for next Friday, the 12th!  I am still hoping CJ might actually get a day off before then and we will try to sneak ourselves in for early fingerprinting.  Yes, I will even try to sneak in at Homeland Security if it gets me closer to this adorable little girl!

Tricks and Treats

We had a grand time on Faith's favorite holiday yesterday!  I know you only care about the pics, so in brief...Shelby went as a cat to school on Friday, then changed costumes for Halloween and went as a Rock Star!  Faith hated dressing up, so literally held her down and pinned on her tail to be a cat.  I threatened no candy if she took it off-LOL.  Travis went as Jeff Gordon, and Caleb was a hunter.  Oh and Nana was a scary ghost.  I went as myself, just a hot babe :)  Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!