PA!

We got our Pre-Approval (PA) on Friday. I spent a lot of time today on the phone with Hope and Small World trying to get things going, so we can get this dossier done asap! I'm sure hoping it is on it's way within the week. That will really get things moving.

We met with Ellen and Donna today for a quick lunch and talked a lot about the procedures and how things are different, etc. Donna always has a wealth of info. I personally think she could run her own agency and get lots of babies out of China and into homes! I wish that Frannie and Shelby had joined their moms, but Ally did OK with Lauren there and behaved herself with thoughts of an ice cream for being a good girl!

Sara got home today from Disney with lots of fun stories and laughing and in need of some sleep! She had so much fun and "learned" so much from Miss Randi (Sara told me "these people are professionals") about maximizing your Disney experience!

In ALL Directions

Our family has gone in so many different directions this past week. Lauren went to camp with her friend Amelia; Doug and I went to NYC for our 20th anniv; Sara is at Disney World with her friend Brittani. Ally didn't go anywhere!

Ally stayed at our house with Aunt Amy and Sara. She went to visit Miss Sheryl each day while Sara was babysitting. Aunt Amy said they both did very well. We really had fun in NYC, but are still tired from walking the entire time! We saw "Hairspray" and "Spam-a-lot" and did some shopping in Chinatown and downtown. We had so much fun! We ate cheesecake every day and got a great spot right behind Al Roker on Today (we had a sign that said, "It's Our 20th Anniversary and We Miss Our 4 GIRLS... 3 in GA and 1 waiting in China".

We also met (for the first time ever) Doug's half-brother, Jeff and his wife, Victoria. We ate lunch with them and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking and talking. They were both very nice and it was interesting to get to know them!

Sara called us yesterday and was really excited. She was waiting for the bus with Brittani, Randi and Shelbi Grace when she saw a little Chinese boy run by. She thought to herself, "I wonder if he is adopted?" so she watched him go to his parents. She realized that the little boy was TRENT when she recognized his parents! Trent was one of the little boys in our group from HOPE that travelled to China together! AND, they live in Texas! They are deaf, so Sara was a little reluctant to approach them, afraid they wouldn't remember her or that she would not be able to communicate with them... but she managed (with Randi's coaxing) to let them know who she was! How amazing is that? What a small world!

Steps Closer

I got an email from Dianne at Hope (our Home Study agency - the one we used with Ally's entire adoption)...

Just a quick note to let you know that your Subsequent Home Study is our priority today. We have received all of the Child Abuse Clearance checks as of yesterday. We are checking the home study with a fine toothed comb to be sure it is Hague compliant.

Yeah! So, we will pick up our current marriage certificate tomorrow. (yes, we have to get a NEW one that is dated within 1 year of submitting it to China -- the ones we got almost 3 years ago won't do -- same with our birth certificates!) Yes, just another little thing to wait for and spend a little $ on. Luckily, the marriage cert is the LAST piece of paper we need to get our little hands on for our dossier!

Once our Home Study is finalized (and we do hope it meets the new Hague requirements the first time thru), it will be put with the other documents to compile our dossier. The entire dossier will be sent to China, translated, and then we wait again! Not sure of the time frame from there. We will have to get our CIS (US Immigration) fingerprints done again, as ours expire in late July. Then we will wait for the new (and improved???) 800A form! Wait, wait, wait! At least our wait won't extend as long as it did for Ally. I just hope we get to Alaina by (or shortly after) her 6th birthday.

Sunshine!

Yes, it is warm in Georgia! We have really enjoyed our pool since returning from the beach. We are taking every opportunity to get Ally into the water. She will go under "2 times", as she says. She doesn't hate it, but it isn't her favorite thing. She is kicking and using her arms with me holding her. We are trying to get her used to the feeling of the water before she takes swim lessons (parent assist, yeah) in mid-July. I think she will do fine. Miss Debbie also taught S and L how to swim, but at an older age. She is excellent, but tough, and doesn't put up with cryers or whiners! So, we'll see.

I am certainly not much of a cook, but we had a delicious dinner tonight. I'll explain. Right before we went camping, our stove caught on fire (and not because I was cooking!). Doug put a bagel in the oven on broil and the back control panel popped and flamed up! I was in the dining room and heard Doug scream. I ran into the kitchen to see flames coming up from behind the stove. He pulled it away from the wall and I blew out the fire. It all happened so suddenly and then it was over. Anyway, nothing (but the stove) was hurt, but we have been without an oven for 2 weeks. So we have done a lot of grilling and using the electric skillet. Tonight we fried shrimp in the turkey fryer. It was amazing - crunchy and hot! Also had a delicious spinich-strawberry salad. YUMMY! After that we all hopped into the pool. Dash even got in on the fun, by digging into the freshly planted and watered plants in the back yard - he was filthy! He also carried a stale hot dog bun (intened for the birds) around the yard and finally burried it for later!

We are very close to completing our home study for Alaina's adoption. We have everything we need, but are waiting on our 'child abuse clearance' letters from 2 counties. We are eager to get that done so our dossier can be sent to China on our old fingerprints (that expire in late July). We will have to have them re-done anyway for the new 800 A requirements, but it will "buy us some time" and get our paperwork into China and into the system.

I talked to my friend Donna, who is also paperchasing for her second China girl, and she and I are following similar paths. Shelby and Ally were on the same lists from Hope, and that is how we met! Anyway, she is rockin-and-rollin on her paperwork and will easily catch up with us. We talked a bit about how this time around "feels" different. Not that we aren't excited, but so much of the mystery is gone. We know what to expect about the travel, planning, packing, etc. We know a little more about attachment and bonding as well. Also, with Ally we were logged in for SO long that by the time we "found" her, we were ready to go!

Therefore, the whole process feels different. It feels a little more mechanical than emotional. So much of the process that we went through with Ally was making the decision to adopt in the first place. Now that we have done that, the decision to adopt again was somewhat easier! I think that is why so many people go back to adopt again (and again!). I never ever thought this would be our path, and it took me longer to "warm up" to the idea than it did for Doug. But now that we are on the same page, I'm getting excited. Thinking that we could possibly be in China by the end of the year or early in 09, is so amazing. I never would have believed it, but here we are.

Beach Week - Details!

Sunbathing Beauties - Ally wants to be just like her big sisters!

Ally, Drew, Zane and Madison cooling off in the deck pool!




We had so much fun this year at the beach! There were so many times that I remembered how we felt 2 years ago ... hoping to know something about Ally. And 1 year ago ... just days before we left for China! It was just so fun to have a little one running around learning to enjoy the sand and waves. The big girls enjoyed playing with Ally and their 3 little cousins! It was a busy and, at times, noisy, house. We all had such fun. Here are a few more pics.

Beach Week

Lots of FUN!

A while ago, we bought a (very) used pop-up camper. When we got it home, we found that the zipper "tent" sides were dry-rotted, so we had them replaced. They were delivered shortly after we returned from China last summer, so, needless to say, we had not done anything with them. Well, that all changed last weekend, when Doug got inspired to put the camper back together! Luckily, it all fit properly and we went camping for 2 nights at Stone Mountain. I, unfortunately, forgot the camera, so no pics. Anyway, we all did fine (Ally's and Dash's first camping experience). We did smores, cooked out, swam, walked, saw the Laser Show twice and went to Target 3 times! Ally slept fairly well until about 4:30 AM the second night, when she woke up screaming for me. In order to let the rest of the family and campground sleep the rest of the night, she and I moved to the front seat of the car. We "played" and talked a little and finally, she fell asleep on me. I dozed, but didn't sleep much, because she kept moving around. Oh well, we had a lot of fun, despite the heat (mid-90's already).

I did remember my camera when we went to the lake with our friends, the Hills! The day was beautiful and hot, and the lake was low, but that didn't stop the fun. Ally's first boat ride was great! She enjoyed swimming in the lake (wearing her vest all day) and riding in the boat. She got 2 nice naps on the boat, even! Sara, Lauren and Brittani had a blast riding the Super Mable and skiing. We had so much fun! I so many times thought back to the day we spent last year before we had Ally. I remember finally being able to say, "this time next year, we will have her"! That was the best -- looking at Ally, being right there with us! Just another part of our family!

Good News!

I spent a good while on the phone with our "new" agency today. The rep called me quite worried about our "status". She (fortunately) didn't realize that many of the things I had sent a few weeks ago was already filed. SO, we had to send only one thing via scan/email. She is (I think) ready to send out LOI on Friday! Also (even bigger and better news), we have a form (797) that has not yet expired from Ally's adoption that we can use to go ahead and get out dossier to China! We will still have to wait for another NEW form (800A), but at least this will allow us to go ahead and become DTC/LID. Needless to say, after our conversation, she was really excited!

For those of you who are not versed in the international adoption (IA) lingo. I'll try to post a list to the left under "Timeline"! Maybe that will help.

So, in summary, we had originally thought we would be another 3-4 months until we were DTC, but it is looking like we will be DTC (possibly) in July. So, what does that all mean, you ask? It means that after that we could be looking at a 6 month wait to go to China again for Alaina! THAT is amazing and quite a lot to take in!!!

Ally-isms

Ally is learning so many new words and makes us laugh daily! We are amazed with how she is learning. Here are a few of our favs:

"ME??" - we will make a comment like, "Ally, we are going to the beach next week!" and she will point to herself and say "ME?" in a really high pitched voice. It's so cute! She does it ALL the time now. Just tonight I said, "Mommy's going to put lotion all over Ally" and she replied "ME???".


"No T-T Elmo" - Ally is potty training and she has several pairs of Elmo panties. We will say, "Don't TT on Elmo" and she will say "Ally no TT Elmo". She is doing really well, but a few weeks ago, when we were just getting started, she took off her panties and TT'd on the floor. She looked right at me, with her Elmo panties in hand, and said, "Ally no TT Elmo". I guess she was right! Now she gets an M&M for going potty; and she gets 2 if she can name the color of the M&M! She says "nim a nim". She even asks Lauren for "5 nim a nims".

She sings along with the blessing at dinner, closing her eyes and saying "la-la-la-la" all the way through the prayer.

"Yesh" - for "yes" - which is better than what she used to say, "way" for yes

"I do not want" - need I say more?

Home Study Stuff

This morning we had 2 home study visits in one! The first part was Ally's post adoption placement, which was required to take place within a month of our "1 year anniversary". We actually got this done a tad early in order to combine the visit with our subsequent Home Study for Alaina! So, it saved a little $$ (always a good thing) by doing both visits in one! Luckily, our home study update that we did just before going to China last summer was still valid and we only had to do a "subsequent" study.

The visit went well! Our new social worker, Vija, was really nice and we got the entire thing done in about an hour and a half. Not bad!

I just hope everything comes together in time. There are still a few unknowns as far as timing, so we are still not 100% sure this will work out (for us to get Alaina). Our GBI clearances came through, so that is good; but we are still waiting on a few of the Child Abuse Registry clearances to come through (did I mention that we have to have this for every COUNTY we have each lived in since age 18?). We did not have to do this with Ally's adoption. Many new hoops through which to jump!!!