Pictures are here!!

Introducing my daughter!

How about that cute face!! I can't wait to feel those big soft cheeks next to mine.

I'd love to write more but I am speechless. I need to go sit in my soon-to-be active nursery and enjoy the moment.

Love, Maryellen

I Got The Call !!!!!

Much to my shock and surprise, I got the call today! I checked my voicemail at work at around 5:10pm and the social worker said I had a referral. I thought "that must mean something different - it's too early - and there are no rumors - and I just checked CCAA.org." So happy I was wrong!

What a shock!
My Daughter!
Chinese Name: Fu Xiao Shuang (totally confused on name now)

Date of Birth: August 9, 2005 - 7 months old - a baby!!!
Location: In foster care in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province since August 10, 2005

They have 3 pictures that I'll get on Friday. I heard chubby and adorable and I
was too shocked to ask anything else! I couldn't breath! (Lamaze might have come in handy! : )))))

This really works!!

I'll upload pictures as soon as I can!

Holy God I have a lot to do!

With a full heart, Momma Maryellen

My China adoption process to date

When folks ask me how I'm feeling, "about 13 months pregnant" is a common answer for me. I thought I'd share some info on the process.

looking back . . .

Today: Hoping my "referral" will arrive in a few weeks. The referral is the assignment of a child from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). This is the government agency in China that manages the adoption process. The referral will have the name of the child, where she is located (province), the name of her Social Welfare Institute (SWI) - what we refer to as an orphanage, whether she has been in an SWI or foster care, her birthdate, and some info on her height and weight.

Once I receive the referral, I "accept" it, the CCAA is notified, and an appointment is set to adopt her in China. The travel is then planned around that. Currently the travel to China is about 8 - 10 weeks after the referral - so I am hoping to travel to her in May / June.

Logged in Date (LID): 5/30/05. This is the date my dossier (all needed documents) was logged in as received at the CCAA in China. The referrals are granted in the order received. As of today, people with LIDs of 5/24/05 and before have received their referrals. I'm so close!!

Dossier to China (DTC): 4/15/05. This is the date my dossier was sent to the CCAA by my agency - Holt International. The package was allegedly pulled by customs en route, so the time from DTC to LID is longer than most.

November 2004 - Took the required classes, staying overnight in Sacramento, CA.

October 1, 2004 - Started my paperchasing. They say it takes 4 - 6 months to do the paperwork. "no way" I thought. I do paperwork for a living. It will not take ME that long. Almost 6 months to the day I, humbly, sent the last piece to the agency.

January 2004 - Signed up for the "singles" list at Holt. Only a certain percentage of adoptions from China can be to singles. I believe it is 8%. About 13% (at that time) of the applications were from singles, so the wait can take a year or more. Holt was my backup. (I can't say enough positive things about Holt!)

November 2003 - Signed up on a small agency's singles list. Still haven't heard from them. Glad I had a backup!

If you THINK this might be for you - get started ; )