We heard from Amy at West Sands Adoptions today. The CCAA reviewed our special needs file and we were pre-approved for Jiliang. They are pulling our original (non-special needs) file that China logged in on 4/19/07 to review it. It has already been approved once by China, so it is just a protocol. They will make sure that everything is in order and then the CCAA will officially approve us and send my travel arrangements to go and pick her up. Whew! We are still waiting on the updates for her photos, medical, and etc., and we can expect to receive that within the week.
With the recent passing of my beloved Grandmother, this is great news. I'd like to think that Jiliang will have a heavenly presence watching over her in China.
This blog is intended for our family, friends and other adoptive parents, as we share our daughter's adoption story from Gaoyou, China to Michigan, and our Faith journey through God’s Amazing Grace. *******ALL RIGHTS RESERVED*******
"When life gives you rain, God gives you rainbows." ~ Unknown Author
Monday, November 30, 2009
Big Brother T.J.
On another positive note, T.J. has really turned a corner on being a big brother. He talks about Jiliang ever day, and plans all of the things that he is going to do with her and show her. He understands that she will speak Mandarin (Chinese), so his job is to tell her what things mean in English. He is excited about being a teacher and has been role-modeling it for me. He is also excited about having a playmate, and I pray that they will offer each other that. Just a few weeks ago, he suddenly realized that she was going to be a reality, and he was afraid of what that would mean for him. He was really nervous about sharing his mom and dad, but especially concerned about sharing his grandparents! That has changed drastically, and he has come to understand that he doesn't have to give any up the people he loves, or the special traditions, like camping with Papa Harvey or truck and tractor rides with Dad. He is pretty happy about not having to shop for girl things with Mom, but knows that we will still make cookies together and read Johnny Tractor books together. He has learned to spell "Jiliang", and is excited to learn about the Great Wall of China.
T.J. is aware that I was 5 years old when I got a little sister (Leah), and he likes to hear stories about my little sister - the naughty stories of how I was jealous of her when my Grandma Donna came to see my newborn sister and I poured water on her diaper; and the heartwarming stories of how my little sister and I curled up and waited for Santa Claus together on Christmas Eve, only to wake our parents at 5:00 a.m., begging to check our stockings and presents under the tree.
T.J.'s Kindergarten teacher agreed to celebrate his official "Big Brother" status at school when the adoption is official. The talk of the celebration initiated his positive 180 degrees on the whole adoption scene. I will be sending in Bugs On A Sunbutter Log or something that day. LOL :)
T.J. is aware that I was 5 years old when I got a little sister (Leah), and he likes to hear stories about my little sister - the naughty stories of how I was jealous of her when my Grandma Donna came to see my newborn sister and I poured water on her diaper; and the heartwarming stories of how my little sister and I curled up and waited for Santa Claus together on Christmas Eve, only to wake our parents at 5:00 a.m., begging to check our stockings and presents under the tree.
T.J.'s Kindergarten teacher agreed to celebrate his official "Big Brother" status at school when the adoption is official. The talk of the celebration initiated his positive 180 degrees on the whole adoption scene. I will be sending in Bugs On A Sunbutter Log or something that day. LOL :)
The Waiting Process
Yesterday was officially 3 weeks since we accepted Jiliang's file. We are still waiting to hear back from China. It feels like forever. We asked for updated pictures, clarification on her medical condition, and her complete medical file for a chosen Cardiatric Peds Surgeon to review it. It is a lot to have translated, so it may take a little longer, but we are hoping to hear something soon, so that we may officially call her our daughter. It will also be nice to finally plan for the trip to China. Currently, I have no idea when I might travel to China. That alone is a huge stressor for me and us as a family, financially, emotionally. We are working on getting her room completed. It is all a very positive thing for us, but a stressful change in our lives as far as planning and preparing for her arrival sooner than we had expected.
All in all, her homecoming will be a huge blessing and closure in our lives, bringing much peace to her very long, anticipated arrival. It is hard to fathom that in October we were on the brink of giving up hope of having her become a reality for our family. We were beginning to think that our adoption wait would be endless.
Fortunately, in spite of all of the anticipation, unforeseeable events, stressful paperwork chase, financial race and unanswered questions, the adoption is moving forward and it is a huge blessing in our lives. I thank God for this opportunity and impatiently await news on Jiliang Gao.
All in all, her homecoming will be a huge blessing and closure in our lives, bringing much peace to her very long, anticipated arrival. It is hard to fathom that in October we were on the brink of giving up hope of having her become a reality for our family. We were beginning to think that our adoption wait would be endless.
Fortunately, in spite of all of the anticipation, unforeseeable events, stressful paperwork chase, financial race and unanswered questions, the adoption is moving forward and it is a huge blessing in our lives. I thank God for this opportunity and impatiently await news on Jiliang Gao.
Monday, November 23, 2009
T.J. is getting excited about his little sister now!
This weekend, I sold a lot of Jiliang's infant clothes that I had purchased when we began the adoption process. T.J. made it a little easier for me to part with the cute little clothes as he helped me picked out a couple of sleeper pajamas for her: a kitty sleeper and an owl sleeper. He is starting to get excited about his little sister. He wants to teach her about backhoes and frontloaders, show her how to paint on his easel, and how to gently hold Jerry the Mouse. He also made it very clear that he no longer wants to go shopping with Mom - Jiliang can do that and he is going to stay home with Dad! He said, "Clothes shopping is B-O-R-ING!!!!"
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Waiting for Updates
Of course we accepted her within the 48 hour timeframe, but we did ask for updates on her heart condition and other pertinent information as well. The CCAA is allowing us to extend the 48 hour window until we have had a chance to review her full medical background and her orphanage's responses to our questions about her. We have already committed to this child in our hearts, but we need to follow the protocols. Until then, Scott has asked me not to officially post our intents about her until we are officially accepted as her parents by the CCAA. You will mostly likely be reading this in a few weeks. It is so hard not to tell the whole world how much I love the idea of this little girl being a part of our family forever.
We feel very blessed to have her become a reality for us, as we did not expect to hear any good news like this until late 2010 at the earliest. We made the decision to adopt in August of 2005. Officially, we started the paperchase in April 2006. Our application was DTC (Date to China) in March of 2007, and our official Log-In-Date (LID) was April 19, 2007. This is the date that it was logged in China. We found out a few weeks ago, in a round-about way that we could switch to the Waiting Child list, and by some miracle, we are now looking at an adorable photo of a beautiful little Chinese girl that is soon to be ours.
However, we do feel the anxiety weighing on us, because our lives are shifting gears quickly. This means tight finances, planning a trip to China, LOTS of paperwork, getting a room ready for her, and getting T.J. prepared. These are all good things of course, just unexpected blessings. T.J. has been hearing us talk about "Little Sister" for most of his life. I think T.J. thought, "She not really coming. They've been talking about this forever." Now he is trying to understand what this really means.
Please keep our little Chinese angel in your hearts and prayers. I pray that China sends her home to us quickly. May God bless her and keep her safe.
Jill :)
We feel very blessed to have her become a reality for us, as we did not expect to hear any good news like this until late 2010 at the earliest. We made the decision to adopt in August of 2005. Officially, we started the paperchase in April 2006. Our application was DTC (Date to China) in March of 2007, and our official Log-In-Date (LID) was April 19, 2007. This is the date that it was logged in China. We found out a few weeks ago, in a round-about way that we could switch to the Waiting Child list, and by some miracle, we are now looking at an adorable photo of a beautiful little Chinese girl that is soon to be ours.
However, we do feel the anxiety weighing on us, because our lives are shifting gears quickly. This means tight finances, planning a trip to China, LOTS of paperwork, getting a room ready for her, and getting T.J. prepared. These are all good things of course, just unexpected blessings. T.J. has been hearing us talk about "Little Sister" for most of his life. I think T.J. thought, "She not really coming. They've been talking about this forever." Now he is trying to understand what this really means.
Please keep our little Chinese angel in your hearts and prayers. I pray that China sends her home to us quickly. May God bless her and keep her safe.
Jill :)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Finding our Daughter
Well, we locked in a file for an adorable little girl on 11/06/09. Her name is Jiliang Gao and her name means "bright blessings". She is clever and sweet. She turned 3 years old on 8/26/06. We have 48 hours to review her file and decide if we can meet her needs. We are waiting on a medical translation and update from the CCAA.
If you look closely, her name looks similar to mine and my sister Leah's: Jilian with a 'g' on the end. :) I always thought that my adoptive daughter would have a middle name of Li. The actual spelling of her name is Gao, Ji Liang. It is like a combination of Jill and Leah (whom I called Le). A lot of people think Jill stands for Jillian, so I took her name as a good sign. We also reviewed her file on my lucky number date: 11/06 (1106 Murray Drive was the address in which I grew up). It has been my lucky number since 1990, and so far, nothing special has ever commenced on 11/06 until last night.
The translator stated that I pronounced her name well: "Gow, Gee Lang".
The funny thing is that I started buying 12 month little girl clothes when she was a year old, 18 month clothes when she was 18 months, and 2t/3t clothes this year, which is the size that she would have been this year. It is funny how that happens.
More updates to come!
Jill
If you look closely, her name looks similar to mine and my sister Leah's: Jilian with a 'g' on the end. :) I always thought that my adoptive daughter would have a middle name of Li. The actual spelling of her name is Gao, Ji Liang. It is like a combination of Jill and Leah (whom I called Le). A lot of people think Jill stands for Jillian, so I took her name as a good sign. We also reviewed her file on my lucky number date: 11/06 (1106 Murray Drive was the address in which I grew up). It has been my lucky number since 1990, and so far, nothing special has ever commenced on 11/06 until last night.
The translator stated that I pronounced her name well: "Gow, Gee Lang".
The funny thing is that I started buying 12 month little girl clothes when she was a year old, 18 month clothes when she was 18 months, and 2t/3t clothes this year, which is the size that she would have been this year. It is funny how that happens.
More updates to come!
Jill
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