If you want a real blessing, go to Youbube and type in the search "China Gotcha Day". Gotcha Day is the day you get your little one. There are MANY fantastic videos. I will warn you that they can be addictive. I must confess to being up till 1:00 AM at times because I think, "Just one more!" In many of them you will see large groups of people all getting their babies at the same time. Dillon does not send groups together any longer because of timing issues, so we will be going individually and will be accompanied by our personal translator once we arrive there. One thing I've noticed about almost all of the videos is that the children typically begin their journey with screaming and/or crying because they are grieving the loss of their nannies or old life. However, by a couple of days later, they are giggling and eating like crazy and having a wonderful time.
I've been told that it's a good thing if your child cries when she's given to you because that means that she is capable of attachment. She has been attached to a nanny and is grieving the loss. However, a lot depends on the child's personality as well. Even some of us adults like change better than others. This is true for babies as well.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Welcome to Kaylee's Journey Home
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your support and interest in this process of bringing little Kaylee Yumei Mitchell home. International adoption is a lengthy and complex undertaking, but so very worth it! Many of you have had questions regarding this journey, so I thought it might be helpful to begin a blog that will trace where I have come from and what's to come in this process.
To the left you will see listed the major milestones that have taken place as well as those that still need to occur before traveling to China to pick up Kaylee. The journey began July 20, 2011 with my Application Part 1. I chose Dillon International and they have been absolutely outstanding. It's been such a comfort to have them along side me in this maze of paperwork. They are a wonderful help because they are so knowledgable, but also because they are emotionally supportive and really know how agonizing the waiting can be.
After App 1 came Application Part 2 which was a massive amount of paperwork and gathering of documents containing information about every single area of my life including spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, and intellectual. That was followed by the Home Study. Again, Dillon has the most wonderful Social Worker! I just can't imagine anyone being better than mine has been!
Next came the approval from Homeland Security. If that doesn't sound daunting, I don't know what does! My dear dad and I left at 6:00 AM on a chilly morning in October to drive to OKC where I had to have biometric fingerprints taken. I spent a week working to get my fingers in "good shape" so that a quality print could be taken. This meant paraffin treatments, sleeping with softening gloves on, etc. Even then, my prints barely passed! There are horror stories of people driving for hours to have it done and then can't get a good enough print. Praise the Lord that didn't happen to me!
My wait for my I-800A approval from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) took almost double the normal time it does. I wasn't alone. Many people were lighting up the online forums with their frustrations. However, I have to say, the people there were very nice when I would call. No one seems to know why the slow down in that department at this time, but eventually I did get my approval letter from Homeland Security after 79 LOOOONG days!
Now to the exciting news! Today, the dossier was sent to China! So, I am now DTC! We will wait to get the LID (Log In Date) and then wait for approval (LOA)! Lots of acronyms, eh? Quite an education I've gotten through all of this.
Speaking of education, Dillon requires quite a lot of education hours and so does China. It sounds like a burden, but actually it's been very intriguing and I've learned volumes. Bringing home a child from another country is not an easy undertaking and there is much preparation to be done.
One bit of preparation that is almost complete is Kaylee's room. Pink of course! You will find a link for that page at the top of this one. Yes indeed, she does already have a few darling dresses. "Mimi" and I could not resist at least a few!
China did send us the height and weight of Kaylee Yumei. According to our doctor friend who frequently works with Chinese children, Kaylee is in the 10th percentile, so pretty tiny. However, he assures us her weight is in the healthy category.
Kaylee is currently in Foster Care in Inner Mongolia. Foster Care in China can mean an individual foster home such as we have here in the US or a home with as many as 50 or more children. We don't know which kind she is in. However, it is better than her being in an orphanage.
Many of you have inquired as to WHEN we will be going to get her. Unfortunately that's completely unpredictable. China doesn't have a consistent timetable, so it's difficult to say. The typical wait for the LOA (Letter of Acceptance) is 2 months. We're praying for faster and I have read of those who did get it faster. I'd appreciate your prayers that the time lost in waiting for USCIS will be made up for in other ways.
Our big prayer is that Kaylee would come home before she's 2. The flight for her will be full price once she's 2. Up till then it is only a tenth of the total cost of a ticket. If you or anyone you know has excess flier miles on United that you won't get used in time before they expire or you just have extra, if you'd like to donate them toward our trip to China, it would be most appreciated. We will have 3 round trip tickets and 1 one way ticket home if Kaylee's full price. The miles we do have are on United, so that's the airline we will need to go with.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers! It means the world to me and to my parents....and to Kaylee, though she doesn't know it yet! I will be writing more about this wonderful experience in the coming days. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions that I haven't covered the answers to.
This is MOST exciting! I'm so glad to be sharing this experience with so many precious friends!
Thank you so much for your support and interest in this process of bringing little Kaylee Yumei Mitchell home. International adoption is a lengthy and complex undertaking, but so very worth it! Many of you have had questions regarding this journey, so I thought it might be helpful to begin a blog that will trace where I have come from and what's to come in this process.
To the left you will see listed the major milestones that have taken place as well as those that still need to occur before traveling to China to pick up Kaylee. The journey began July 20, 2011 with my Application Part 1. I chose Dillon International and they have been absolutely outstanding. It's been such a comfort to have them along side me in this maze of paperwork. They are a wonderful help because they are so knowledgable, but also because they are emotionally supportive and really know how agonizing the waiting can be.
After App 1 came Application Part 2 which was a massive amount of paperwork and gathering of documents containing information about every single area of my life including spiritual, emotional, physical, financial, and intellectual. That was followed by the Home Study. Again, Dillon has the most wonderful Social Worker! I just can't imagine anyone being better than mine has been!
Next came the approval from Homeland Security. If that doesn't sound daunting, I don't know what does! My dear dad and I left at 6:00 AM on a chilly morning in October to drive to OKC where I had to have biometric fingerprints taken. I spent a week working to get my fingers in "good shape" so that a quality print could be taken. This meant paraffin treatments, sleeping with softening gloves on, etc. Even then, my prints barely passed! There are horror stories of people driving for hours to have it done and then can't get a good enough print. Praise the Lord that didn't happen to me!
My wait for my I-800A approval from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) took almost double the normal time it does. I wasn't alone. Many people were lighting up the online forums with their frustrations. However, I have to say, the people there were very nice when I would call. No one seems to know why the slow down in that department at this time, but eventually I did get my approval letter from Homeland Security after 79 LOOOONG days!
Now to the exciting news! Today, the dossier was sent to China! So, I am now DTC! We will wait to get the LID (Log In Date) and then wait for approval (LOA)! Lots of acronyms, eh? Quite an education I've gotten through all of this.
Speaking of education, Dillon requires quite a lot of education hours and so does China. It sounds like a burden, but actually it's been very intriguing and I've learned volumes. Bringing home a child from another country is not an easy undertaking and there is much preparation to be done.
One bit of preparation that is almost complete is Kaylee's room. Pink of course! You will find a link for that page at the top of this one. Yes indeed, she does already have a few darling dresses. "Mimi" and I could not resist at least a few!
China did send us the height and weight of Kaylee Yumei. According to our doctor friend who frequently works with Chinese children, Kaylee is in the 10th percentile, so pretty tiny. However, he assures us her weight is in the healthy category.
Kaylee is currently in Foster Care in Inner Mongolia. Foster Care in China can mean an individual foster home such as we have here in the US or a home with as many as 50 or more children. We don't know which kind she is in. However, it is better than her being in an orphanage.
Many of you have inquired as to WHEN we will be going to get her. Unfortunately that's completely unpredictable. China doesn't have a consistent timetable, so it's difficult to say. The typical wait for the LOA (Letter of Acceptance) is 2 months. We're praying for faster and I have read of those who did get it faster. I'd appreciate your prayers that the time lost in waiting for USCIS will be made up for in other ways.
Our big prayer is that Kaylee would come home before she's 2. The flight for her will be full price once she's 2. Up till then it is only a tenth of the total cost of a ticket. If you or anyone you know has excess flier miles on United that you won't get used in time before they expire or you just have extra, if you'd like to donate them toward our trip to China, it would be most appreciated. We will have 3 round trip tickets and 1 one way ticket home if Kaylee's full price. The miles we do have are on United, so that's the airline we will need to go with.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers! It means the world to me and to my parents....and to Kaylee, though she doesn't know it yet! I will be writing more about this wonderful experience in the coming days. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions that I haven't covered the answers to.
This is MOST exciting! I'm so glad to be sharing this experience with so many precious friends!
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