Oops - where did the comments go?

I just figured out that I have had comment moderation turned on for this blog the whole time - oops! I had been receiving comments in my Inbox and just noticed they weren't showing up on the blog. So, I have approved all the comments and turned off moderation and some other settings that weren't allowing some folks to comment. So, comment away! (And thanks to those who have been persistently trying to leave comments)!

Hugs, LB

We are DTC!

(Dossier to China) WOOOOHOOO! And, I have the DHL tracking number to prove it. We are on our way to our official count down to Mei Mei! We are looking forward to hearing our log in date (LID) from China. I will get busy planning potential itineraries for our travel. We are requesting through our agency that her case be expedited because of the length of time her file has been with a US agency for adoption (2 years and counting).

I also told Adam that we had better select Mei Mei's legal first name for her adoption paperwork! Her middle name will either be Mei or Ling-Mei, and we will call her by the name she is used to, Mei Mei, unless she wants us to use a more 'American' sounding name. We have to decide before we meet her, so we really can't ask for her input. I am open to suggestions. Her legal first name should probably be Hebrew/Biblical in origin in keeping with the family trend. I am thinking Hannah Mei is nice. Adam joked she could be Ellie Mei (Clampett). Of course, Eliana could be shortened to Elli someday, so that probably won't work. Sarah Mei? Sally Mei? No, that brings up bad memories of our student loans that took forever to pay off... Abigail is a nice Hebrew name - Abbi Mei?

I love the name Maggie Mei, but not so crazy about the name Margaret. I think Maggie is super cute when it is short for Magnolia (it must be the southerner in me - or the chorus nerd who watched Show Boat one too many times...though she was Nolie for short). However, the name Magnolia Cohn is just asking for trouble! Kind of like naming your daughter Pine Cohn, or Snow Cohn. :o) I guess Maggie could just be Maggie, but not sure it fits in with the Hebrew names Adam, Benjamin & Eliana.

It is fun to think about names and getting a room prepared and buying stuff for Mei Mei. Much more fun that paperchasing. And this part of the wait is out of our hands. So...off to go look at our Marriott Rewards account and start planning!

Hugs, LB

Immigration approval received!

Guess what I found in my mailbox this morning? The last piece of paper we need to complete our dossier - our I-797C approval notice. Hooray!

Tomorrow I will go into DC, have a copy notarized as being a "true and exact" copy, take that to the DC authentications office to get the seal stating that the notarization is authentic, take that to the Department of State to get another piece of paper added on top from the US Secretary of State (yes, Hillary Clinton) verifying that the DC authentication is authentic, and then take that to the Chinese Embassy to get their seal of approval added onto the back of the Dept of State authentication. That will be added to my stack of 15 other documents that have been through this same, excruciating process for each state involved (Florida, Illinois & Virginia), and the whole precious packed will be overnighted to our adoption agency, who will scan it in and submit it to China for translation and approval, and ship the originals as well. Whew!

After that, the ball will be in China's court. Frankly, I am more comfortable with our fate being in the hands of the Chinese government than the US government. Sad, but true! We will see if the CCAA is willing to expedite Mei Mei's file because she has been waiting 2 years now for a forever family to adopt her.

Hang on, Mei Mei, we are coming for you!

Jumping through hoops!

Well, it is the week of our original deadline to have our dossier to China to adopt Mei Mei and we are STILL waiting on USCIS (immigration) approval. I emailed the officer in charge of our case this morning and she just received a file she needed in order to complete the investigation and thinks she "should be good to finish the case sometime this week." As expected, we had a set of fingerprints come back as 'unclassifiable' and jumped through some extra hoops for that. Though, to USCIS's credit, they let us skip one of their usual hoops - a second fingerprint failure - and proceed directly to giving a sworn statement.

Our adoption agency, Madison Adoption Associates, requested an extension of our paperwork deadline from China and this morning they forwarded me a copy of the approval notice. We now have until November 11th to submit our dossier to the CCAA. I originally hoped to be in China getting Mei Mei close to that time! Even with the delays we should be DTC by the end of August - hopefully even by the end of next week. This seems to put our travel into December under the best of circumstances. January seems more likely, especially given that under the new Hague regulations there is an extra step in between receiving our approval from China and getting our US Consulate appointment following travel approval.

There are some additional potential obstacles that we are also hoping to avoid that have nothing to do with our specific case. Swine flu being the first. Swine flu has caused some delays for adoptions in China. For a while Travel Approvals were not being issued by China, some SWIs have stopped allowing foreign visitors altogether, some adoptive families have been put into quarantine upon their arrival in China, and some parents and children have even been separated in the process. Everyone is on high alert and if anyone on your plane is found to be sick, the whole plane full will go into quarantine. Since a vaccine is being fast tracked through the US CDC and the WHO, hopefully things will settle down a bit and this will not impact our trip.

The second concern is a new US CDC (Center for Disease Control) policy that went into effect on July 1st of this year regarding testing all persons entering the US on an immigrant visa, including newly adopted children of US citizens, for TB. Because of the type of vaccine used in Chinese orphanages, many children adopted in China will have a positive reaction to the TB skin test. That test alone requires 3 days to be read once it is administered to the child in Guangzhou. If the skin test should be positive, a chest x-ray is required to determine if TB is present. If the chest x-ray is positive, the consequences are disastrous for the family and child involved. The first adoption related case that I am aware of that is testing the new policy involves a Virginia family who used our home study agency, Adoptions Together, as their adoption/placement agency. They now have a new 4 year old daughter who they had to leave behind in China until she tests negative for TB, which could take many months. You can follow their heartbreaking story on their blog: http://jayscruggs.livejournal.com.

I hope to post with good news soon! I will request new pictures and updates when we submit our dossier. :o)

Laura Beth