Another update!

We received a nice surprise today, look how cute he is !!! He looks so good, I just want to hold him and comfort him and tell him how much he is loved. I wonder if I pack my bags tonight would they let me leave tomorrow? I'm ready!!

Happy , Happy Day !

These last few weeks have been tough and tonight when I got home I sat down at the computer to read emails as I always do, but before I opened my inbox I stopped and prayed.
"Lord, I love you with all my heart and I trust your plan. You know the desires of my heart; you know we want so much to bring this child home to love him and to share your love with him and to help teach others of your love. I trust that you would not have taken us down this path if it were not in Your plans for our lives. If it is Your will Lord, please help us to complete this process.........."

After I had been online for about 15 minutes checking emails and starting to think about what we would do if we did not get approved I noticed a new message from Heritage. The CCAA has given official approval for the transfer of files !!!

Thanks Monica for always listening to my craziness, please tell Lily Mei that everything is going to be OK :-)

Room for Reed

I've been waiting for this day since we sent in our adoption application in May of 2006.
One might think I could have narrowed down my choices for color, bedding, etc. - Not! I looked online and in stores for 4 days before picking out the bedding.
I also have a really hard time picking out paint colors. The problem is that I get a picture in my mind of how I want something to look and I don't stop until I find it. We painted the room 4 different shades of aqua on Thursday and today when I went in the paint store the guy at the counter said "what do you need Mrs Hammond?". Not good morning or how are you, just "what do you need". So, I got 2 color samples and went to a different store for my next 2 when those did not work out!
Anyway- 7 shades later I found the perfect blue (as you can see the first 2 pictures show one of the colors that didn't make the cut)
I don't have any pictures or decor yet, but here's the wall color and the crib. I can't believe we finally have a crib in the house! How exciting!!!

oh, our dossier is back from Houston so I hope to send it to the agency on Monday. The CCAA has still not issued the official approval to transfer the files yet so we're still praying everything gets approved and we can continue without delay.

The paper chase is never dull

Just when we thought we were through with the paper chase; I got a call today from the courier and one of our county certifications is incorrect. Ugh! I don't know how it happened, but the court house listed the notary's name wrong on Tim's employment letter. The state did not staple anything so we will only have to re-do the county level.
All those adoption mama's out there know what I'm talking about. To my family members that are looking at your computer screen right now scratching your noggin, China is very particular with dossier documents and after authentications are attached to your documents you can not make any changes to anything or remove the staples. So, we should be ok as long as Tim can talk the lady at the court house into certifying a notary seal that is not in our possession. Hum.....this outta be good!

We finally managed to get everything notarized and certified. Next step: authentication.
For a mere $410 our documents will be hand delivered to the Consulate- General of the People's Republic of China in Houston. The proper authentication seal will be added to each document and returned to us. THEN we can send the complete dossier to our new agency and the real wait begins. Hold on baby boy, I'm coming!!!

Thanks for the prayers!

We just received an email from Stacey. The CCAA has agreed to transfer all files to Heritage.
Thanks to all our wonderful friends and family who have had us in your prayers.
Now our next step is to see if they will accept our home study since our SW is not with a Hague accredited agency.
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!

No news yet

Nothing. Please keep praying that the CCAA approves the transfer of files and that another agency takes our case soon!
We've managed to complete our dossier while we're waiting. Tim is going to get everything certified at the county on Thursday and then he will take everything to Montgomery on Monday.
The last step is Houston for authentications and then it's off to our new agency (that's the mystery)

Our precious son

One in every 600 babies are born with cleft lip and/or palate.

To me, he is perfect and beautiful. We know there are many surgeries and therapy sessions in our future. We love him and we will do whatever it takes to bring him home and give him all the love and support he needs.

To read more about cleft lip and cleft palate and to see how you can help: click here.

Update !

I only have about 6 readers on this blog so sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself when I post here. Today's a happy day, we received an update from the orphanage! If you're just now joining the blog, please read the older posts first so you can see what's going on. I'm still not confident enough to share this news with everyone, there are way too many obstacles in our way right now but we believe that if this is the child that God has chosen for us, we will bring him home!
1. Does his name have any special meaning?
Because he is handsome, he has beautiful skin and eyes, we named him Yu Jun.
2. Is he close to any special nanny? What is her name?
Her name is Li Zhi Qing.
3. What is his favorite food?
He likes sweet food. His favorite food is formula.
4. How would you describe his personality?
He is fairly extroverted, strong willed, and impatient sometimes. But he is gentle, has a ready smile, and likes to play with other children.
5. Has he received any surgeries to repair his cleft?
No.
6. Does he have a special friend or crib mate? What is his/her name?
He has a special friend that he really likes. Her name is Yu Xin Yue. She was born on May 21, 2007.
7. Do you have his finding ad? Could we get a copy?
Yes. We will give you a copy when you come to get him.
8. What is his favorite food? Same questions as No. 3. I have changed it to favorite activity.
He likes to sit in a walker and “walk” around.
9. Does the orphanage need anything in particular?
We need a automatic blood-pressure meter.
10. Can we send him a care package?
Yes.
11. updated measurements:
Height: 70cm ; Weight: 9.5kg ; Head: 45cm ; Chest: 50cm ; Teeth: up2, bottom 3; Foot: 10cm .

Not sure what to think

I asked Tim to call AH every 30 minutes today and leave messages until he gets to talk to someone. In the mean time, I decided to start calling the other offices listed on their website.
Someone answered the phone in PA and said that AH has closed. I told her that I have been trying for days to get in touch with someone and find out about our case. She said she was sorry and that the only people there are volunteers answering the phone and she could not help me. *sigh*


update: Stacey called Tim back today and said that we should keep working on our dossier.
Oh, and our PA date is 6/26, not 6/30! Guess we better get busy so we will have everything ready to go when we find out who our new agency will be.

Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite !