Our Article 5 documents were dropped off in Guangzhou, China on May 12th and are scheduled to be picked up and taken to Beijing on May 27th.  After that "pick-up," we will wait for "Travel Approval."  Travel Approvals have been ranging between 10-18 days for most people lately.  Some come faster and some families have had to endure longer waits.  We are hoping for a middle ground so that we have a week or more to make travel plans for us - and for Nana - who is coming in to help take care of the boys.

TIMELINE SO FAR:
1/3/13 - Submit application to our agency (Emily was born on this date)
January - May 2013: compiling/notarizing/State sealing/Consulate authenticating all dossier documents, home study visits/home study finalized
6/1/13: I-800a submitted
7/3/13: Fingerprint day (walk-in)
8/3/13: I-797 approval
9/16/13: LID (dossier logged into system in China)
3/12/15: Referral for Emily - see her face for the first time
3/15/14: Official "yes" - submit LOI (Letter of Intent) and receive PA (preliminary approval)
4/11/14: LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter) generated in China
4/15/14: sign LOA and submit I-800 to USCIS
4/28/14: I-800 approval
5/2/14: GUZ number received
5/6/14: NVC letter received
5/12/14: Article 5 drop-off
5/27/14: Article 5 pick-up
???????: Travel Approval
???????: "Gotcha" day in Jiangxi province (red area in map below)
???????:  Consulate appointment
???????:  Come home

More things showing us that Emily is meant to be our girl

One of the first things I noticed about Emily's file is that she was born the very day we submitted our application to our adoption agency.  (She was left with a note indicating that she had been born Jan. 3, 2013)

Shortly after we submitted our Letter of Intent for her, I posted about her on a "closed/secret" Facebook group of other parents who are in the midst of the adoption process.  One of the comments I received about her picture directed me to check my personal messages.  I checked and this story then unfolded:  Another family had received Emily's file in October - when she was only 10 months old - and had submitted a Letter of Intent for her and had begun to complete their paperwork to adopt her.  They had also intended for her middle name to be "Jean."  A few months into their "paperchase," their son - who had been involved in a terrible car accident several years before - had to undergo additional surgeries, a multi-week hospitalization, a fight against a serious infection in his leg, and severe pain.  The mom wrote to me that she felt that God was giving them a sign that they needed to focus on their son.  They made the very tough decision to release Emily's file and then began praying that they would somehow find the family who would adopt her so that they could share some pictures and updated information that they had received during their time "holding" Emily's file.  The mom said that she had prayed that God would give her peace about her decision to release the file.  When she saw my post announcing our excitement about adopting Emily, she said it was her sign of peace.  She then sent us an update on Emily from October 2013 and pictures from her first birthday party in January 2014 (they had sent a cake to her to help her celebrate), and pictures from another update along the way.  Thanks to this generous family, we'll have pictures of her at every single birthday and even more baby pictures of her.  The mom told me that she believes that God had her family hold Emily's file and pray for her until we were ready to receive the file and say yes.  What an incredible story!  I hate that our joy is connected to this other family's struggle.  We are so grateful to them for sharing their story and Emily's pictures and for their prayers for her all along the way.  And the very fact that we connected with them in this way is just further proof to us that Emily's journey to us was meant to happen exactly the way it did.

Here are some of the pictures that this family shared with us:

 

 

(They were told that the brown streak in her hair came from when she was with her "nanny" (caregiver at the orphanage) while the nanny was coloring her own hair.  Apparently Emily has quick hands and grabbed the hair color and swiped some through her hair too.  I guess we need to baby-proof even more than we had planned!)

 

 

 

 

While on our annual, wonderful spring trip to "Polly's Beach," we got an e-mail saying that our LOA had been generated in China and should be at our agency - and then in our hands - the following week!!  This marks the last phase of the waiting and paperwork process.  This also means that her country has approved us to adopt her. 

These sweet brothers can't wait to meet her.  She is going to love them so much (we hope!) :)

AN UPDATE ON EMILY JEAN!!

Since Emily's was about seven months old when we received it, we requested an update on her through an outside organization that has relationships with and deals with orphanages on behalf of adopting families.  In just 2 days, we received an update showing her continued great progress and we received these pictures of our adorable and sassy little girl (if I do say so myself!)

 

 

 

I about flew out of my chair at work when I received the e-mail with these pictures!  It's such a weird feeling to have only seen baby pictures and then to receive these pictures showing her 7-8 months older!  We hate that we are missing all of these months with her, but we are thrilled that she is smiling in these pictures (sadly, not usually the case with orphans) and that she looks happy and healthy.  She is out on a playground and is clearly walking and playing and someone has cared enough about her to put her hair in a little "horn-on-head" ponytail and to give her sunglasses to wear in the bright outside light. 

INTRODUCING... EMILY JEAN ANAND

We received Preliminary Approval for our daughter on March 15 - the same day we submitted the Letter of Intent for her.   We decided - along with the boys - to name her Emily Jean.  Jean - after my mom.  We're not sure yet whether we'll call her Emily or Emily Jean.  We just can't believe that it's actually happening.  All of these months of paperwork and angst and waiting for phone calls and reviewing files and now we know who she is.  For three and a half years --- going back to when we first started talking about and investigating adoption -- I've I tried to imagine what our daughter might look like.  Now we know!  She's so beautiful!!

 

OUR GIRL!!!

WE KNOW WHO OUR DAUGHTER WILL BE!!!

After all of the discouragement and sadness of the past several weeks, we were trying to hold onto some hope that we would find the child meant to be a part of our family.  On March 11th, our agency rep emailed me to ask if we might consider a special need that was not on our special needs "list" (something the agencies ask you to research and "check" off so that they know best how to match you with a child) because she thought a child's file might appear the next night.  We asked for a day to research and ask questions and I remembered that a Facebook group had been asking moms to do short "tutorials" on their children's special needs.  One of the most recent posts was from a mom of a child with this particular need.  I re-read her post and e-mailed her for more information.  I also read more blogs, read health websites and medical documents, e-mailed some other moms on different Facebook and other groups, and we talked about whether this need might be something we could handle.  We were nervous about it, but it didn't really seem to be a big deal at all.  Overriding everything, though, was that we had just said "no" to two children and we did NOT want to ever do that again.  We were on the verge of telling our agency that we didn't think we could consider the file if it appeared when a friend of mine asked, "Would you say yes to reviewing the file if you had not said "no" to those other children?"  The answer was: yes.  We were just so worried about saying "no" that we were almost too scared to look at a new file.  Realizing that without risk, there is no reward, we told our agency that if the file appeared, we wanted to see the child's information.

The next night, I nervously watched the clock and the phone and, around 10 p.m., our agency rep called.  She had the file.  She told us that when she had seen the file pop up for a second on the "shared list" earlier in the week, our names came to her mind immediately.  She said that although the file disappeared from the list, she just somehow "knew" that it would come back Wednesday night.  We opened it cautiously and then saw our girl!  She was beautiful and big and SMILING.  Her file was full of positive information.  And she was born the VERY DAY that we applied with our agency in January 2013.   The day we took the big leap of faith, she was born!!

We sent her file to an international adoption pediatrician just to cover the bases, but we knew what he would say.  And, by the next morning, we had an e-mail from him that read:  "Lee Ann, we can talk more tonight, but I really just have three words for you:  GO GET HER!!"   "Nothing but positives" in her file, he said.  And we agreed.  I drafted our Letter of Intent and called our agency rep on March 15th and told her that she had found our girl. 

And with that decision/phone call, all of our worries and angst and discouragement and sadness of the past couple of months disappeared.  We called and emailed our families to tell them - and they were all so excited.  We showed the boys her picture and Graham kissed the Ipad and Jackson said that she looked like Elsa from "Frozen."   They immediately began discussing what specific things they would teach their sister. 

 

Not the One

Only a few days after we had declined the other referral that I wrote about, we received a call from our agency about another child.  Her file looked pretty good - although she was definitely small and somewhat behind developmentally.  We thought her progress seemed good, though, so we said "yes" and submitted our Letter of Intent.  At the same time, we asked the orphanage for an update on her because the file was very old - from almost 10 months earlier.  The update came about a week later and contained measurements and developmental information TOTALLY different from that which had been in the original file.  Where the original file said she weighed 13 pounds at 6-7 months, the "update" said she weighed 13 pounds at 20 months.  Where the original file listed her at one height/length, the update showed her 3 inches smaller.  Where the original file showed several good developmental milestones, the update did not have those listed.  Our agency asked for an explanation for the very different information.  Another week went by - and in the meantime, our LOA (something everyone is desperately waiting for to move forward with their adoption) arrived.  The orphanage finally responded that they were very sorry, but the original file was full of inaccurate information.  We asked for pictures so that we might be able to determine from those what was really going on, whether she had grown, how tiny she really was, what she could do, etc...   We asked for a picture of her standing or a full-body picture.  The orphanage sent only a headshot - nothing showing her body or size or abilities.  They refused to send anything more or to explain why they were now saying that the original file was all wrong.  We consulted with doctors again and they were very skeptical that we had any/enough valid and reliable information from which to make this leap of faith.  They also thought her lack of growth signaled that her brain might also not be growing.  Totally discouraged and sad, we returned the LOA saying that we could not accept this file.  I think this was the point when we felt the most discouraged and uncertain about the whole process.  I began to wonder if maybe we were mistaken about adoption being something we were supposed to do.  We were also really frustrated that some of the orphanages seem to be doing things that hinder the adoption process vs. help the children.