Details

I was so excited to post Lila's pictures that I forgot to add any details.

In December she was 29 inches tall and 17.6 lbs

She is in the Bishan County Social Welfare Institute in the province of Chongqing. Chongqing is the largest city in China, so large that it is a province in itself. This wikipedia link gives a lot of information about the area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing

Her birthday is May 25, 2007 so she is 3 years younger than Grace. I wanted my girls to be close in age like Carol Ann and I so they can be as close as we are, we're almost 2 years apart.

Her Chinese name Bi Si Shi means she is a beautiful cute girl and full of oriental temperament. Her nannies at the orphange wrote that when asked to make another little girl stop crying, Sishi would pat her back or hold her hands. Sishi is clever and has a ready smile. she has white skin and long eyelash which make her adorable. We all love this beautiful little angel. I know they are caring for her as best they can until we can start caring for OUR newest little angel.

Here she is!

We got our preapproval (PA) late last night which was early this morning in China!! We are very excited & relieved to have reached this step. Our next step is the official approval called the seeking confirmation letter (SCL) after that we receive travel approval (TA)then we go get her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were slightly delayed getting our PA but Christina (our social worker) kept reassuring me that it would come. She said there is truly no rhyme or reason as to how quickly approvals are coming right now, it's different for every case. ANYWAY we are incredibly happy, totally in love, and more impatient than I have ever been to get my baby!

We found her!

What an amazing, exciting, overwhelming day! I took Grace to the eye doctor this morning, as we were getting ready to leave Gerry called to tell me that Christina with CHI had just called and they had a baby for us to review. As soon as I got home Gerry & I sat down with her paperwork, without a doubt we decided that THIS IS LILA! We immediately called Christina back, left a message, she called, then we told her YES! We then sent in our Letter of Intent to Adopt. Now we wait for China to respond with our Seeking Confirmation Letter. At that point I can offically post her name, location in China, and pictures on the blog.

Snoopy totally sums up our feelings!!

Penguins

We went to the zoo today with Lisa & Hudson for a class about penguins. When we arrived the teacher told Grace that there was also a Gracie in the class. We all laughed about that then got seated. I had to ask Gracie's mom, "I'm sorry, I'm going to be horribly rude, but is she from China?" I quickly followed that with "we're a waiting family." It was a great experience to talk to another local mom with a daughter from China. We had a nice chat about their experiences, the wait, and the overall joys of adoption.

Grace & Hudson had a great time. They learned all kinds of penguin facts, learned how to balance eggs on their feet like penguins do when hatching, went to the aquarium to watch the penguins in their habitat, then came back to the classroom for a snack, craft, and story. The best part by far was getting to meet & pet a real penguin. One of the zoo keepers brought in a small, South African, penguin to meet the kids. The adults got to pet her too! Her name is Louis, yes, Louis is a girl. Her boyfriend's name is Lisa. I guess the only way to find out a penguin's sex is an exam by a veterinarian. They had already been named before their keepers knew their sex. They differentiate the sexes of the birds for zoo purposes with a black wingband for boys & a white wingband for the girls. Grace & I will have fun on our next zoo visit finding the girl & boy penguins.

There is an adorable children's book about penguins. The title is "And Tango Makes Three." It's the story of 2 male penguins at the Central Park Zoo that fall in love. They try to hatch a rock so the zookeepers decide to give them a fertilized egg. They proceed to hatch the egg and are wonderful parents to their little chick Tango.

A bright spot in a long week

This was one of those weeks then today brought a couple tidbits of exciting news. We have at long last received our immigration reapproval. It took over 6 months but it finally came today. What a truly wonderful surprise in the mailbox!! This afternoon we received an email from Children's Hope that they have received their official accreditation & submitted it to CCAA. We should know soon when we will be able to review waiting children again. It feels like we are back on track!

Adoption News!

We had our final visit for our 2008 homestudy update today. It was pretty easy. We filled out some paperwork then today Sarah, our social worker with Lutheran Family Services, our local agency, came over and went over everything.

We are through the review room. When our paperwork went to China it was placed in line to be reviewed by the China Center for Adoption Affairs. They make sure everything was done properly and if they see any situations where they might need more info. I was convinced that they would want more information from my doctor since I have had diabetes for 30 years. We went through without a hitch so now we are in the matching room. In the matching room they go through our file and match us with our Lila! It's a big step to make it into the matching room. We still have a long wait ahead but are relieved to have made it to this milestone.

Still waiting for our immigration approval. Last time I emailed Des Moines they needed more information from Lutheran Family then she would mail our approval right away. LFS faxed what she needed in November so we know it will be soon. I feel for the lady at Citizenship/Immigraton, I have been at that point at work where you can't get 1 thing done before 10 more come in the door. That overwhelmed, drowning, feeling is not fun.

Also our main agency, Children's Hope, had some delays with their approval for the Hague Treaty. They were reviewed again and have now received their accreditation. We were concerened for a few months that we would have to be transferred to a different agency. We are happy & excited for them & for us to be back on track.

So we are still waiting and praying that Lila is being cared for as best as can be, wherever she is, in China. I hope she will be home for the holidays next year.

Finally pictures of the parade!

Make a Smilebox slideshow